


Tarnished Legacy

by realisedourall



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-04
Updated: 2012-08-19
Packaged: 2017-11-06 21:00:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 76
Words: 622,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/423143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realisedourall/pseuds/realisedourall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two girls with an unlikely heritage make friends with the boy that should be repulsed by them. Every day, Dru and Rose are fighting for their own place in the world, on the right side, with the burdens of their family looming over them like you-know-who himself. Follow them through years 3 to 7 and the aftermath and see how they find their own place in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boggarts and Timeturners

**Author's Note:**

> We started this fic as a writing exercise and the first few chapters will be a little bit wonky. Please let that not throw you off. Annie has been writing for years and Anne needed to get the hang of it again. And she got it. The story starts out as quite mild, and will go up in rating as the chapters progress.
> 
> Story starts out as innocent and as the characters get older, they get different kind of interests.
> 
> If you've been reading over at ff.net, the first 38 chapters of this piece were already posted over there. Then the rating got a bit more out of control and we needed a different place to post this fic, just in case.

It was the beginning of their third year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dru Malfoy was waiting on platform 9 3/4 for one of her two friends to arrive. Several of her other class mates had already arrived. Dru was standing on her toes trying to look above the heads. Then she saw that idiot Harry Potter and his band of imbeciles, the golden boy with his lackeys. 

No matter what could be said about him and his ‘precious and horrendous past’, he was an idiot. And a well loved idiot at that. Dru never got along with him or with his friends, nor he with her. 

"Hi," a voice behind her said. Dru turned around only to see Vincent Crabbe behind her. Dru gave him a dirty look and turned away from him again. Crabbe was one of her brother’s minions. Dru didn't like Crabbe or anyone of Draco's friends, they gave her the creeps.

She and her brother were placed in different houses at the school. While Draco was placed in Slytherin, the house every member of their family had been in, Dru had been sorted into the rival house of Gryffindor. The only good thing coming out of that was that she had met her two best friends there.

Speaking of her best friends, she was in luck as Neville had just arrived on the platform. Apparently he had again forgotten something, because his Grandmother was having a go at him. Dru ran towards Neville. "Neville." She said happily and threw her arms around his neck. Neville wanted to give her a hug back, but Dru had already let him go and was now shaking hands with Neville's grandmother. "How was your summer?" Dru asked Neville

"Ok, I guess. How was yours? Neville asked. 

"Fine." Dru said and looked around to see if she could spot Rose anywhere. "Have you seen Rose yet?" Dru asked, she was getting impatient to see her friend.

Neville shook his head. He liked Rose, but he wasn't as good friends with her as he was with Dru. He and Rose were friends because they were friends with Dru. Neville looked out over the platform and saw Draco looking angry at him. Draco didn't like the fact that his sister was so close friends with Neville as she was. Neville suddenly felt Dru locking her arms with him and hold his jacket. When Neville looked at her, she was looking back at Draco.

* * *

Despite working for the ministry, her grandfather was... well he actually didn’t really _care_ if she’d make it to the train station in time or not. Her father, on the other hand, reminded her to pack her belongings the day before and had asked the house elf to accompany Rose to Kings Cross station so she could catch the train.

In all honesty, the only part that she liked about going back to Hogwarts was her friend Dru, but Rose thought that the material they were learning was mind numbing. It hadn’t been anything new, not something she hadn’t read or learned from her father’s old school books over the years.

Defense against the Dark Arts had been a laugh the previous years. And it was all about _Harry Potter_. Her father didn’t like her talking about him, so she didn’t, but she felt that everyone else had made him special, and he was getting special treatment too. In her mind, it had to stop, but there was nothing she could do or could have done about it. And on top of that, she actually didn’t think that Harry liked all the special attention either, and that was what she liked about him. All in all, he was a decent bloke.

She had bought some Muggle chocolate for her father and had given it to the house elf before it returned to tend after her father and after she had gotten her gameface on, she made her way to platform 9 ¾, only to find that she was just in time as the platform was nearly empty already and the train was about to leave. Rose hopped on the train and went looking for her friend Dru, which was easy once she opened a small portion of her mind to her.

“Hello!” Rose said, hopping into the train cabin and smiled widely, as she greeted her friend and Neville, the boy she felt so sorry for. 

"Rose Shepherd, I started to think you weren't gonna make it this year." Dru said smiling. "How was your summer?"

“Enlightening,” Rose deadpanned as she fell down on the seat next to her friend and propped her feet up on the seat opposite of them, right next to Neville. “Yours?”

"So boring! We went to Bulgaria, but it was no fun. I didn't see one dragon all summer." Dru moped. 

"Did you get my notes on Herbology that you asked for?” Neville asked Dru. 

"Yeah, they were very helpful. I think I got my homework right for once,” she replied. 

“I just hope that this year will be less _boring_ ,” Rose said with a yawn as she took an apple out of her jacket pocket and took a bite out of it. “The Divinations teacher looks like a mad hatter, should be interesting!”

"Remind me, why are we taking Divination anyway? I though you would teach it to us. We could have taken Muggle studies. That would have been so hilarious." Dru said, while she was searching in her bag for something.

“You can still take Muggle Studies if you wish,” she replied with a smile on her lips. “I, however, know enough of the Muggle world to blend in. I just want a good laugh.”

"Like father would ever let me take Muggle studies!” She rolled her eyes at her friend. “What about you, Neville? Muggle studies or Divination?" Dru asked Neville, who was reading one of his Herbology books.

“More herbology,” Rose grinned, getting up to open a window to throw her apple core out. 

“Oy, that’s not fair! I suppose Divination. I didn’t feel like sitting through Muggle Studies all by myself thank you very much,” the boy replied. 

"Well, to be fair, a class without us in it is a boring class. " Dru said as she smiled at Rose. "I can't find it anywhere. I'm sure I packed it." She stood up, pushed Rose’s feet of the seat and emptied the contents of her bag on it.

"What are you looking for?" Neville asked as Dru sat down in the seat on the other side of the cluttered seat.

"I got you two something from Bulgaria, but I can't seem to find it,” she replied frustrated and crossed her arms over her chest.

Rose grinned to herself. She actually wanted to say that Dru had been looking for her brains, but kept it to herself. Rose wasn’t _that_ mean. “Sweet! But I’m sure it’ll turn up sooner or later,” she sat down in Dru’s vacated seat and stared at Neville, she would ask him how his summer was, but she probably already knew the answer to it. Instead, she put her feet on Neville’s knee and closed her eyes as she relaxed into the seat. She hated travelling.

"I know it will turn up, but you're gonna need yours Monday, Rose. You can't start classes without a brain." Dru said with a playful smile on her face.

“Oh, you think you’re so funny, don’t you?” She replied, not opening her eyes and just trying to tune out the rest of the world for a while. “I wouldn’t eat the chocolate frogs off the cart if it comes round, just a heads up.” She wrinkled her nose and tried to shake the image of Neville vomiting all over her clothes after eating the frogs. 

Rose really hoped that this year, they’d have a teacher that would actually be able to help her control her peeks into the future, it was starting to get annoying. Of course, when she had told her grandfather about her … ‘curse’, he ignored her and her father wasn’t much help either, all he did was point to the mountain of books that he had in his room and she had already read them _all_. She was just grateful that she still managed to hide it from Professor Dumbledore.

“Oh, why not?” Neville asked with a whine. “I wanted one of those!”

Dru looked at Rose and then closed her eyes "You know what?! We'll get them and then you can have them when we at school. Just trust us, you don't want to take them now." She said as she put all her stuff back in her bag. She put it in the seat next to Rose and sat down next to Neville. 

She locked her arm with Neville's again and put her head on his shoulder. She was glad that Rose had her eyes closed. Rose, unlike Neville, wasn't clueless when it came to Dru's feelings for Neville. Until now Rose had kept her tongue, but Dru knew Rose too well to know that could never last long.

“Nope, at least not in the near future,” she muttered as she hugged her knees to her chest and dozed off for the remainder of the trip. “Stop thinking.”

Suddenly the door of the cabin opened and Draco stepped inside. He was holding two small parcels in his hand. "I was looking for those!" Dru said as took them from Draco. 

"You put them in my bag," Draco said and leaned against the door. "Nice summer, Rose?" 

“ _Swell_ ,” Rose remarked, realizing she wasn’t going to get any sleep on the train. “I heard you haven’t seen any dragons this summer, you must feel terribly sad.”

Draco smiled. "At least that means that Dru hasn't got any scar or burns." The reply made him be at the end of a mad look from Dru.

"You don't get burns or scars from a Dragon IF you know how to treat them well," Dru snarled at her brother. Dru had a disturbin view on dangerous creactures. She also though they wouldn't be dangerous if you were just kind enough to them. But not even Neville believed that to be true.

"Well, I see you at school," Draco said to Dru as he turned around to leave the cabin. "Nice to see you again, Rose," he said as he took another glance at Rose before stepping out of the carriage and closed the door on the way out.

Neville looked at Rose with a slightly tilted head. "He likes you." 

"He really likes you," Dru said with a giggle before placing her head back on Neville's shoulder. She though the idea of Draco dating Rose very funny, but she did like it.

“Oh please, he’s your brother!” Rose replied as she got up and opened the door as the sweets cart was already on its way towards them. “Remember, no chocolate frogs. Or buy them but not eat them until we’re in school.”

"Don't worry, we'll sneak one past her when she's not looking," Dru quickly whispered in Neville's ear as Rose was still standing by the door. She got her money bag out of her bag and order two chocolate frogs, one Bertie' flavoured beans and a pumpkin juice.

"You know, just because he's my brother doesn't mean he can't like you." Dru said and put the frogs in her bag. "besides, dating my brother has one very big advantage"

“I am not going to date your brother, you’re my best friend!” Rose exclaimed before closing the cabin doors again. “But, just for the sake of curiosity... what advantage might that be? Discount on peroxide? No thanks, I like my hair the way it is.”

Neville started to laugh uncontrollably. “Oh you two... you’re too funny!”

Dru laughed too. "Do you wanna know what is really funny, Neville?" she said while she looked at Rose with a devious look on her face. "Rose always says she's not gonna date my brother. But I know she will."

“Yes, because the lady protest too much,” Rose nodded and took Dru’s pumpkin juice to take a sip of it. “But I’m telling you, it’s not going to happen. No way. Not... well... we’ll see,” she continued with a smile on her lips. “Who knows in a couple of years he might actually be a stud, now he’s just a young colt.”

"Do you see what I mean, Neville" Dru said as she smiled at Rose. "She's even backing down as we speak I think she's already likes him, she just doesn't wanna tell us."

"I can never tell when someone like somebody in that way." Neville said as he looked out of the window.

"I know." Dru said. Her voice sounded sad, but only Rose picked up on that one.

Neville looked at Rose with a smile "But you do, so you will tell me, right! When someone likes me." Neville said.

“Of course I will, Neville, you know I will.” Rose replied and then whipped out her wand before pointing it at Dru. “ _Silencio_.” 

“You can’t use magic outside of Hogwarts!” Neville said surprised. “You can’t!”

“We’re on the Hogwarts Express, dear Neville,” She said with a big smile on her face. “At least for now, we’ll have some silence for a while.”

Dru tried to speak, but no sound came out of her mouth. She gave Rose an angry look, but then smiled. She took her bag and got out one of the chocolate frogs and gave it to Neville when Rose wasn't looking. 

Just as Neville was about to eat the frog, the train shuddered to a halt and the lights went out. “What...” Rose muttered as she opened the cabin door to peek her head out of it to see what was going on. Not seeing anything, she turned to Dru, who was kicking Rose in the shins with an angry look on her face. “ _Finite Incantatem_ ,” she whispered before looking out of the door again.

"Rose, come back in and close the door, now!" Dru hissed at her friend. 

“Oh come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Rose smirked and squealed when Dru pulled her back in the compartment. “Can’t be that bad... or maybe it is, I can’t tell.”

“It’s cold!” Neville said as he pointed at the windows that were frosting up. “Look at that!”

"Just be quiet, you two." Dru sneered. She pushed Rose back in her seat. "Just try to think at happy things as hard as you can," she said as she stood in front of the window to tried to look if she saw something outside. 

"Dru, what is it?" Neville said. He looked at Rose to see if she had any idea what was going on, but she was remarkably quiet all of a sudden and she was sitting on her knees as she looked out of the window as well. 

"You feel them too." Dru said quietly. 

"Dementors," Rose nodded, wondering why Dementors were on the train, wondering what they wanted with a bunch of kids... 

Without warning, the train shook again, as it was getting momentum again. Dru, who was standing on the tips of her toes, lost her balance and fell into Neville's lap, which made Neville feel extremely uncomfortable. “Oh... ehm...” He looked at Dru as his face was turning beet red. “Are you alright?”

“Yes...” 

“Would you mind?” Neville gently poked in Dru’s side. “You’ve ehm... landed ehm... wrongly.”

Dru quickly got up and walked to the door. "I.... I'm gonna check on Draco. I'll be back in a bit." As Dru left the cabin, Rose noticed that Dru's face had reddened.

“You’re really thick, aren’t you?” she asked Neville and knocked on his head with her fist. “Boys, you... you’re just... ugh!” Rose grabbed her jacket and laid down on the seat with her eyes closed. At least until they were at Hogwarts, she was going to sleep some.

* * *

Monday morning Neville was sitting in the great hall having breakfast with Rose and Dru sitting opposite of him. Dru hadn't spoken much since to Neville since they had arrived. Neville didn't seem to understand what he had done wrong, which annoyed Rose even more then it annoyed Dru.

Rose didn't want to keep the silence going and tried to think of a way to break the ice between her friends. She looked at Dru, who was searching in her bag for a feather, which made her have the best idea ever. “Hey, give us our presents already,” Rose said, and poked her friend with a fork. “Please? I’ve been a good girl! Neville doesn’t know how to be a boy but he’s been a good person!”

"Oy, I'm a much better boy than you’ll ever be!" Neville said trying to defend himself, but it came out wrong which sent Dru and Rose in a fit of laughter.

Dru got the one parcels out of her bag and handed It to Rose. "I hope you’ll like it,"

Rose excitedly unwrapped her present and squealed in delight. “A pendant! It’s great! Thanks! Oh...” she sighed. “Now I feel bad for not getting you anything!”

Dru took the object to show Rose something. "Look, there's a hook on the end. If you put it on the pendant, you can make it into an necklace.” 

“This is great, thank you!” she hugged her friend. “I’ll get you a big Christmas present, I promise. I just didn’t go too far away from home.”

"Forget it. I like giving things. Shall we go to class?”

“No. Neville’s present next!” She rubbed her hands together in glee. “Come on, what did you buy for him?”

"Oh, right, sorry." Dru said without looking at Neville. She took the other parcel out of her bag and gave it Neville. It was a bigger packet. Neville unwrapped it and took out a big crystal ball with a flower in it.

"Wow, Neville said. 

“It changes colour as the mood of the room changes." Dru deadpanned. “Can we go to class now?”

“Okay, you know what? Fine. I’ve tried.” Rose said, putting the pendant in her pocket and left the table to go and find a good spot in Divination class before everyone would enter. Her friend was so frustrating and even though Rose felt really sorry for Neville, there was only so much she would do. Some things she needed to keep to herself, she realized.

All of a sudden, someone tapped on her left shoulder. When she looked, she saw Draco with a smile on his face. “Divination, huh?”"d

“Yes, I didn’t figure you for a Divination kinda guy,” she replied as she glared at him. He was an annoying weasel, why didn’t he leave her alone?

"Girls like divination." Draco said smug.

“Yeah well... that makes you a girl then.” she reflected and sat down with her back turned towards him. “Enjoy class, Dracy!”

Draco turned around and bumped into Neville. "Watch where you’re going, Longbottom." Draco snapped at Neville and walked away.

"Sorry, Dracy" Neville said and sat down across from Rose, making sure that the only seat left for Dru was the one in between them. 

Dru sat down and took her books out. "Ready to unfog the future?" Dru said as she held the book up to Rose with a smile.

“Pfft,” her friend sighed as she slouched in her chair. “I can already tell that we won’t be learning _anything_ of use.” she poked her cup of tea. “Tea leaves? How about we read cracked porcelain, it has the same accuracy!”

"I could knock over some tea cups if you like,” Neville offered.

“Oh don’t be ridiculous,” Rose replied, shaking her head. “No no, I’ll do my best not to get bored.”

"You could try and cheer up a bit," Dru said as she was looking into her book.

“And you could try and stop to ignore _your friend_ ,” She shot at her and blinked when she saw the Divination teacher. “Oh God, I was right, she’s mad as a hatter!”

"i'm ignoring my friend? Have you even asked Neville how his summer has been or anything for that matter?" Dru whispered angrily.

“I don’t need to ask, I know, believe me, I know. Besides, he’s your friend.”

"I ask you about your summer even though I know the answer to that one too. And he's your friend too."

“I guess I am not as social as expected,” she shrugged. “Now let’s pay attention to class, shall we?”

None of them spoke another word during class. When class ended, Neville was the first one to get up and leave the classroom. 

"Did you really have to say that?” Dru asked Rose.

"Me? You’ve barely spoken more than three words to him since we got off the train. And since he has no idea that you're in love with him, the guy has no idea what he's done wrong." her friend snapped at her.

Dru awkwardly looked to the floor. She knew that Rose was right, she wasn't being fair to Neville. Dru decided to find Neville and make it right. She left class in a hurry and went to McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson. When she got to the classroom she was just in time to witness Draco making a treat to Neville. "Leave her alone or I ...." 

"Or you what?" Dru said as she moved herself between her brother and her friend.

"Nothing." Draco said impishly. He took another look at Neville and then walked into the classroom. 

After seeing her brother stomp off, she turned towards Nevillle and smiled widely. “Don’t you ever leave me alone. I’m sorry for ignoring you, will you sit next to me in class?” 

"What about Rose?" Neville asked. 

Dru put her hands on Neville's arm and place her head on his shoulder. "Well, would you rather sit next to Rose, or next to me?" she asked as she looked up to him

"You." Neville said. 

By the time Rose got to the classroom Dru and Neville had already taken their seats. Rose spotted an empty seat in the back of the class room and sat down.

"This seat taken?" Draco asked. but before Rose could tell him to go away, he had sat down. "Did you like the pendant my sis got you?"

Draco had been coming on to her ever since... sometime during the first year, and he never got the message. Rose wasn’t interested in boys, or girls, or anyone for that matter. She just wanted to suffer through school and spend the holidays at her ‘joyful’ home. She’d always had the feeling that she didn’t really belong at Hogwarts, and especially not in Gryffindor, where the students seemed to be extremely happy at all times and where they were incredibly nosey as well. But the law was the law, she figured.

She decided to entertain the boy enough not to be accused later of stringing him along. “Yes, very much,” she smiled. “Bulgaria must be such a pretty country, even if there weren’t any dragons.”

"I need you to help me something."

“With what?”

"Dru."

“Dru’s not an object, but fine, what’s wrong now?” Rose sighed as she tossed her book on to the desk. She felt a headache coming up and it wasn’t a pleasant one.

"I need you to help me making sure that Longbottom leaves her alone. Permanently."

Rose thought for a second and shook her head laughing. “Look, I know you don’t like Neville, but he’s a good guy, they’d be perfect for each other.”

“You’re just saying that because your father---”

“Leave my father out of it,” Rose interrupted him and smacked him up on the head. “Neville is a good guy, someone you can rely on. I’m not going to help you make his life even more miserable.”

"Fine! Have it your way then. I do wonder what my sweet little Dru is gonna say if I tell who you father really is. Let's see if she wants to be friends then."

“Oh Draco,” Rose said in her ‘dangerous when provoked’ voice, “Do you honestly think that I am afraid of you?” She cocked her head and decided to project her headache onto Draco for a moment. “How does that feel, huh?”

"It's not me who you should be afraid of,” Draco answered with a wince. 

“I don’t respond to threats very well, Draco. If you want me to help you, I’m going to make _your_ life even more miserable than what your parents have in mind for you.”

"Speaking of my parents. You like my sister don't you?"

“Yeah, you gotta work on your manipulation skills still, Draco.” Rose gently patted him on the back. “In fact, if I’d tell Dru about my father, you wouldn’t have anything to use against me anymore.”

Rose nearly jumped ten feet in the air when professor McGonagall stood behind them. “You two have been busy talking, I don’t think you know the last word I said, Mr. Malfoy?”

Rose smiled sweetly at Draco, she _knew_ exactly what McGonagall had been saying all this time, and she wouldn’t get into too much trouble.“Yes, Draco dear, what was the last word she said?”

Draco glanced at Rose. "I didn't hear it. I was too busy telling Rose that she's looking very beautiful today." he knew he would get into trouble, but decided that it was worth it.

“It was ‘untransfiguration’, professor,” Rose piped up. “You told us that it was the hardest thing you’ll teach in this class.” She _hated_ Draco right now, now the entire class room would think that she and Draco would be an item or something. “And please excuse Mr. Malfoy, he’s been inhaling too many peroxide fumes.” At least she got the rest of class roaring with laughter.

Professor McGonagall had a hard time keeping a straight face, Rose could tell. The professor pursed her lips and said; “Very well, ten points from Slytherin, five points from Gryffindor... and I expect an essay on Animagi on my desk at the end of this week from the both of you. Now, please pay attention for the remainder of this class.”

“Yes professor,” Rose and Draco echoed in unison.

* * *

Why wasn’t she told that Remus Lupin was teaching Defense against the Dark Arts? Surely, her grandfather would have known about it! Fortunately, Lupin was too _enamoured_ with Harry Potter and his two lackeys Hermione and Ron to actually notice her, and she would make sure it’d stay that way. 

Over the last few days, she had made nice with Neville and Dru, telling them both that she was suffering from ‘Muggle women issues’ and had decided to ride it out instead of going to the healer and magically make it go away. She had apologized for being such a pain in the neck to them. 

Because she had made peace with them, it was easy to hide behind the two of them. Neville was having a growth spurt and was getting really tall already. Rose knew what was in that wardrobe that was standing in the middle of the circle they had to make, and really didn’t want the Boggart to find her. “Boggart,” she whispered to Dru. 

"I know. I'll make the Dementor have rainbow colours. You think that will work?"

“Make it sprout flowers from its ears,” she grinned, not too keen on showing the class what she was most afraid of. 

“What is a Boggart?” Neville asked the two girls, just in time for Hermione and Lupin to explain what the creature was, and the associated spell that came with rendering a Boggart less dangerous. 

"What's yours?" Dru asked Rose, as Neville was called to the front of the class.

Rose shrugged with a smile. “Who knows? I’m not going to find out anyway. It’ll be Neville, Ron, you, one of the patil girls and Harry who’ll find out, unless Lupin changes the line up, then it’s all up in the air.”

Dru's face turned white. "Rose, get me out of this. I don't want to do this." Dru was starting to panic.

“Woah, calm down,” she hissed and kicked her friend in the shins, just in time to see Neville beat his Snape boggart with his grandmother’s clothes, and for Ron to take his place.

Rose looked over to Lupin, who was looking at Dru and herself, and winced. They shouldn’t have talked, at all. So much for trying not to draw attention to one’s self. “Fine, I’ll go,” Rose groaned, finding Ron’s spider amusing. 

“We’ll both go,” Dru said bravely as she grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her along as she took over the Boggart from Ron Weasely.

“What’s your Boggart, Ms Malfoy?” Professor Lupin asked with a smile on his lips as the Boggart was deciding what to turn in to. “Hmm... it looks like it can’t decide between two forms!”

Dru braced herself and thought about a Dementor turning into rainbow colours with flowers out of his ears. But the boggart didn't turn into a dementor. It turned into a woman waring a grey striped gown.

"Mom," Dru whispered in fear. The woman reached out to grab Dru, who stumbled backwards into Neville. She couldn’t remember the spell, why couldn’t she remember the spell?!

Rose gasped, realizing who the woman was, and stepped in front of Dru to protect her. “Hey! You’re not scary!” She called out to the crazy woman with a big smile on her face, only to see the woman change, too fast for her liking, into another woman, and soon Rose found herself looking at herself. 

She didn’t quite panic, but her mind was racing as she looked at Lupin, who was watching the girls in awe or fear, Rose couldn’t quite tell. How could she make herself look so ridiculous that she would laugh at it?

"well, that is frighting to look at," Dru remarked as she got her nerve back and was standing next to Rose again, trying to making the boggart look at her. "we'll confuse it." Dru said to Rose.

“Oh no, I’ve got this,” Rose grinned. “You’re not going to like it... well... someone’s not going to like it.” Just about as she was going to perform the spell as she thought about making out with Draco, the most ridiculous idea EVER, they were pushed out of the way by Harry Potter, the knight in dented armor. 

She was going to kill him. She really was. She and Dru weren’t damsels in distress, they were discussing tactics, they were working on the problem and that stupid Harry Potter decided to save them all, and Lupin obviously thought that Harry needed saving from his own Boggart; a dementor, and then class was over. 

Rose was still furious as she stomped out of class. “I’m going to jinx his ass into dark, scary places!”

But Dru wasn't listening to Rose. She was looking over the crowd. Her eyes were filling up with tears.

She stomped back into class and pulled Dru along with her. “Come on, we’ll mope somewhere private.”

Dru sat down on a desk and hide her face behind her hands. "Girls?" Lupin asked as he approached them. 

Of course he had to interrupt, she was trying to get them somewhere private, and this just had to be the day that Dru wasn’t cooperating. “We’re fine, professor. I think that Harry Potter is a bit more confused as to why you stopped him from facing his Boggart.”

“I will get to him later,” he smiled warmly and sat down on a desk as he got some chocolate out of his pocket. He handed it to Dru. “Here, eat this, you will feel better.” He waited for Dru to eat the chocolate, but when she was just fiddling with it, he spoke up again. “As your teacher, I was startled by your Boggart, Ms. Malfoy, do you have any idea who that was?”

"No. I saw a picture of her somewhere," Dru said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes at Rose. Teachers could really be thick sometimes.

Lupin chuckled warmly. “I was wondering what your answer would be, not to worry, your secret is safe with me. I do understand that certain things should remain buried,” he said, looking at Rose for emphasis, before looking back at Dru. “I can imagine that at your age, it’s really hard on a person to know what your family is capable of.”

Dru gave Lupin a dirty look. "I am all too familiar with what my family is capable of. You don't have to belittle me." She said angrily as she forcibly put the chocolate in her bag. “I do hope you’ll grade your students of what they are capable of, not because of what their lineage may be.”

“Oh yes, of course, don’t mind me, I’m just easily amused by how the children of two known Death Eaters, who shouldn’t have conceived a child on their age to begin with, have found each other, become best friends and are friends with the one person whose parents have suffered at the hands of their own parents.”

“Sorry, what?” Rose asked confused.

“Yes, what?” Dru echoed the sentiment. “My father is not a Death Eater!”

“Your parents are convicted of being a Death Eater, and so is …” 

Rose had been staring at Lupin, wondering if her stare could burn holes into the werewolf’s soul. She wasn’t surprised to hear that the Malfoys weren’t Dru’s biological parents as she didn’t look like Draco at all, but she would have liked it if he had shut his mouth about her father, because it complicated things. To the outside world, her father was _dead_ , and she had been talking to Dru about her father as if he was still alive, because he was.

“I am sorry, Rose. I think I am just amazed to see you in my class,” Lupin apologized, “I know who your grandfather is, and I would think that he’d keep you as far away from people like me as possible.”

“News flash, grandfather doesn’t care,” she retorted. “And thank you, _godfather_ , for opening a can of worms that should have remained closed.”

“Your mother...”

“Don’t!” Rose hissed furiously as she got up and started to walk out of the class room. “Don’t.”

Dru got up and defiantly put her hands on her hips as she looked at Lupin. "You’d better keep this information to yourself. although I don't think people would believe you. Werewolves are not that trustworthy, are they." She said, turning on her heels and walked out of the class with Rose. Oh she knew that they had been rude to talk to a teacher like that, but the man confronted _them_ and they were defending themselves.

When they were outside the classroom. "Thanks for that info on the werewolves." Dru said, as she finally caught up with her friend.

“Don’t tell Lucius, Lupin is actually a great teacher.” Rose said, kicking against the wall. All of a sudden, she wished she had stayed home this year. 

"You think he’ll ever talk to me again after today?" Dru asked, her voice sounded small all of sudden.

“Who? Lupin? Sure.” Rose replied, putting her hands in her pockets as they walked down the hallway.

Dru bit on her lip and ran her hands through her hair. "I don't care about Lupin, Rose." She sounded as if she was on the verge of crying.

“Then who? You have to be more specific, it’s not like _I_ can read minds.”

“I can.”

“Whatever, so be more specific.”

"Never mind." Dru said. They were at the entrance of the great hall. Dru looked at the gryffindor table. "You know what, I'm not hungry." Dru turned around and went up to the dormitory.

Rose was relieved that Dru was too busy wallowing in self pity and grief and sadness to interrogate her about what Lupin had said, and decided not to attend classes the rest of the day. She just wanted to go _home_ and -- 

She growled when Draco approached her, he was certainly not giving up. “Look, if it makes you be more respected or something...” she grabbed his face with both of her hands and kissed him harshly, before pushing him away again. “Happy now?” Rose shot at him as she made her way out of the great hall again and found an exit. She needed some alone time.

Dru entered the gryffindor common room. It was empty accept for Neville, who was sitting on the sofa staring into the fire. Dru took a deep breath and sat down next to him. "You did well with your boggart." Dru said, thinking that starting with a compliment would be a good idea.

Neville looked at her, he was angry. Of course he was angry. Dru looked down to her feet, not daring to look him in the eye. "Look, Neville, she's my aunt. I'm terrified of her.”

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Why did you call her mom?" Neville yelled at her. 

Dru gasped for air. He did hear her say it. "Neville..."

Ginny Weasley walked in the common room and frowned. “Uhm... I’ll come back some other time,” she nodded and walked straight out again. 

“You... you’re doing this to torture me even further, aren’t you? You want to be friends with me so you can laugh behind my back about me! Or maybe you’re just friends with me because you know what _she_ did and you feel sorry for me!” Neville blurted at his friend.

"No, that's not true. I like you because you're you!" This was exactly what she had been fearing. 

“Liar. You’re a liar!”

"Neville, please! You don't understand." Dru couldn't stop herself from crying, but she didn't know how to explain it to him.

“Oh I understand alright,” Neville spat and got up. “Don’t worry though, I won’t tell Professor McGonagall about your secret, but you... stay away from me.”

Dru got up and grabbed Neville's wrist. "Don't go. Please Neville. You're my best friend." 

“Find a new one.” He pulled his hand back and stormed up to the boys room.

* * *

A few weeks later, Neville still wasn't speaking to either one of the girls. Dru tried and tried, but nothing worked. Now Hogsmeade weekend was coming up and Dru went to Rose for advice.

"Rose, can't you asked Neville to come along? Maybe he will talk to you?"

“Wow.” she replied with an overly happy smile on her face, faking it immensely. “He won’t talk to me either, I’m associated with you, so he won’t, didn’t you get the memo?” Rose was glad that Neville didn’t know the truth about _her_ family - yet -, as that would break his heart, but he had been hanging around with that over-eager emo beaver called Harry Potter the last few weeks. “I think that the Patil sisters asked him to go to Hogsmeade, he’ll be there.”

"Are you still going?”

“Nah. I don’t like Dementors very much, they seem to be hanging around a bit too close for comfort really.”

"Really, or is it that you don't wanna run into my brother."

“Oh! Speaking of your _brother_ , you might want to find a cute spot that looks over the Shrieking Shack. You’re going to enjoy the show.”

"It's a shame I missed the other show. I would have loved to see his face."

“It was epic,” Rose grinned, realizing she meant the display of ‘affection’ in the great hall a couple of weeks ago.

"Well, i'm off to Hogsmeade. Are you really sure you don't wanna come?"

“Positive. I might send an owl to my dad.”

Dru left the common room. 

Rose started writing a letter to her dad, after she was finished, she went up to the owlery to send it. As she walked back to common room, she ran into Lupin. "Ah, Rose. Could you come with me with please?"

“Why?”

"Because I'm your teacher and I’m asking you to," He replied and lead the way to his office.

Rose reluctantly followed him. She didn’t know Lupin as well as she wanted to, mostly because her grandfather kept him away from her, but Lupin had known her mother, which is why Lupin was probably her godfather for some reason she didn’t want to understand. Had it been Snape that would have asked her to come to his office, she would have flat out refused, but Lupin was a safe bet. She couldn’t be in too much trouble.

When they were in his office, Lupin sat down on his desk as Rose leaned against the wall, waiting for her teacher to speak up.

"I have chairs you know." Lupin said and put two bottles of butterbeer on the table.

“I don’t know what you want to talk to me about, maybe a Firewhiskey is a better bet?” Rose smirked as she sat down in the chair opposite of the desk and looked up to him. 

Lupin smiled and handed her an envelope. "I kept these. Thought you might like them."

“What’s in it?” she reluctantly asked, not opening the envelope. For some reason she had the feeling that she’d cry hysterically if she would.

"Some photos I still had of your mother. You'll like them.”

“I really don’t want to talk about her, professor,” she said as she handed the envelope back. 

"You don't have to, but you can keep the photos anyway." Lupin smiled warmly and handed her a butterbeer that he had put out. "Have you been able to talk to Neville again?"

“The only problem Neville has with me is that Dru is my friend, and I like to keep it that way. Unlike Dru, the only reason that I tolerate him is because I do feel sorry for him.”

Lupin looked at her with a straight face. "Why do you feel sorry for him?"

“Oh you know why,” she glared at him.

“Indulge me.”

“My dad and Dru’s biological parents are responsible for Neville’s parents being permanent house guests at St. Mungo’s.” Rose muttered under her breath. “Happy now?”

"But why does that make you feel sorry for him?"

“Because he’s being raised by his grandmother and not his parents. Any child should have parents.” Rose’s jaw dropped. “I can’t believe I just fell for that. Well, at least his granny loves him and cares.”

"Your grandfather loves you too. He might not express it, but from what I understand neither does Neville's grandmother."

Rose shrugged, knowing that she had to watch her words. “It’s no secret that grandfather is the reason why my father was slightly crazy to begin with, what if it happens to me?”

"So, you think that Druella will become like her mother?"

“She lives with the Malfoys, that should say enough.” Rose retorted, but then shook her head. She often had some future visions of Dru being an all powerful Auror, happy and free of the burden that was her family. “No, she won’t,” she said with more conviction.

"Not all visions come true. You do know that, don't you?"

“The future is always in motion, nothing is set in stone, apart from prophecies. Don’t worry, I’ve read the books, I just wish I knew how to switch it off --- how did you know?”

Lupin smiled. "I have my ways."

“I’ve been reading about my father, I mean... he made the mistake of fathering a child with a straight up muggle with no magic, but nothing suggests that he was able to see things, he was a strong and powerful wizard, yes, but not a _seer_ , so, how do you know when I’ve been trying to close my mind at all times?”

“It’s the times that you don’t, that alerted some of my fellow teachers,” Lupin explained with a smile. “We all worry a little bit about you and they are afraid that you will choose the wrong side when the time comes.”

“What, when Voldemort returns?”

“If,” Lupin nodded. “Not when, but _if_. Now we’re on the subject of you being... _special_ , yes you’re just as special as anyone else in this school, even as special as Harry...”

“Ew.”

“I was wondering if you could enlighten me about Peter Pettigrew.”

“Who?”

“Alright, never mind,” Lupin sighed. 

“You should clean up the Shrieking Shack though, and maybe... well... no, I’m not going to tell you this.” Rose grinned, wanting to tell Lupin about warning Harry and Hermione about the Whomping Willow, but she thought they deserved _a ride_.

"Rose, you are a special, but you are also strong. But others around you are maybe not as strong as you think. Others need each other to get through life.”

“Exactly, which is why I won’t drop another bombshell onto Neville, telling him the truth about my family, or tell all the possible futures that I’ve seen about the upcoming war. It’s not _if_ Voldemort returns, it’s _when_. This war has to happen, you can tell Professor Dumbledore that. It has to happen.” Rose said slowly. “In the more closer future though, _you_ need to pay more attention to the map you’ve confiscated from Harry, _your_ map. Your friend will be in the Shack at some point.”

Lupin looked at Rose in awe. "Rose, what do you know?"

“A lot. It’s also a bit fuzzy though, but I’m sure that when the time comes it’ll become a lot clearer.” She downed her bottle of butterbeer in one long sip. “And this is exactly why I didn’t want to return to Hogwarts this year. It’s giving me a long lasting headache! Isn’t there a way to just... take this away?”

Lupin took a long pauze. "I'll asked Professor Dumbledore. maybe he knows of a way to help. In the meantime maybe you should let it go a little bit and try to have some fun. You are only 13, you know. You're a kid, maybe you should act a bit more like a kid sometimes."

“And you should give the same advice to Harry Potter, he’s been walking around as if he’s the bearer of the world... wait... oh man, I fell for that again. Can I have firewhiskey now?”

Lupin chuckled. "No, you may not. But if you go down to the great hall, you can eat. It's dinner time."

“Not really hungry,” she rose from the chair and reluctantly picked up the envelope. “I’m tired now, I might just turn in early.”

"If that's what you want. Oh but Rose, one more piece of advice before you go." Rose looked at Lupin, who smiled back at her. "You're doing a good job of telling me everything, without revealing your secrets to me. Maybe you could do that with Neville. Just a thought."

“I will... in a couple more days, I will. He needs this time without Dru and me, professor, but I will tell him in a couple more days.”

"Rose, you do know that when it comes down to it, he is much stronger than her."

“Believe me, we both know,” she nodded. “He’s a real force to be reckoned with and he doesn’t see it yet.”

"Well off you go then.”

* * *

It was Sunday and she had finally managed to pry Neville away from Harry Potter worship. Rose had been watching him all afternoon and decided that now was the time to try and explain Dru’s secrecy towards Neville, hoping that he’d understand or at least accept it.

“I know you don’t like me,” she started as she pushed him down to sit against the trunk of a tree. “But we need to talk.”

"Do we?"

“Yep, we have a mutual friend who seriously messed up.”

"Really? Who?"

“Your best friend, you oaf.” She sat down in front of him with a big smile on her face. “You know, I kinda like you. You take my weirdness for granted, like, when I say that you shouldn’t eat something or not do something, you listen to that. Why is that?”

Neville shrugged his shoulder. "you and Dr.....you are almost always right when it comes down to it.”

She nodded with a smile. “I also _know_ why Dru kept certain things from you... actually from everyone but her own family, just like you’re not talking about your own parents.”

"I don't wanna talk about Dru."

“Then let’s talk about your shame,” she shrugged. “You’re ashamed of your parents, that’s why you don’t talk about them. You don’t want to be seen as weak or as the son of two crazy people.”

"That's not true. I am proud to be their son. It’s them that ..." Neville stopped mid-sentence. 

“It’s them that what? You’re afraid that people will pity you if you talk about them? About how your mother actually seemed to be doing better last time you saw her?” Rose pushed. “But you see... Dru didn’t want to tell you the truth about her parents because she’s ashamed of them as well. Her parents were the death eaters that... well... she doesn’t want to be associated with them. She’s her own person, and...” she sighed. “Do you understand?”

"Yeah, you're right. I understand."

“Despite what her parents may have done to your parents, you shouldn’t hold that against her. She’s a wonderful friend and it makes me sad to see the both of you sad, as if Draco stomped over your pet roach or something.”

"i'm not holding her parents against her. But I do understand now. Now I know why she's my friend. I guess I've always known,”

“No...” she sighed. “It’s not... she’s your friend because she likes you, not because of what happened in the past. She sincerely likes you. Even more than like.”

"Yeah, she's nice to me and Draco is mean. And together they can have a laugh about me.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Draco is only mean to you because he knows that you’re meant for greater things, and that you’re more powerful than him.”

Neville looked at Rose. "You know, we've never been really good friends. But I always thought you at least be honest with me."

“I am! Seriously Neville, you are stronger than you think. I _know_ this.”

"Maybe, but that still doesn't explain Dru."

“Well, Bella and that other person did some cuddly stuff in bed and voila, Dru was there nine months later. There, Dru explained.”

Even Neville had to smile at that one. "Maybe it's better I'm not friends with Dru anymore."

“You haven’t been listening to a word I said, have you?” Rose dramatically laid down in the grass. “Romeo... no wait... Neville, oh Neville, where art thou? The nights are so cold without --- ehm... a blanket! Please my sweet Neville, hand me a blanket!” she mimicked Dru’s voice, pitch perfect.

"No, but seriously. I doubt her boyfriend wants her to be friends with me."

Frustrated, Rose got up again, placed her hands on his shoulders and shook him. “There is no boyfriend, she’s waiting for _you_.”

"Really?" Neville said and pionted behind Rose. A group of Slytherin boys was sitting on the lawn a few yards away. Dru was sitting beside them, with Blaise Zambini's arm around her.

“Blaise... he even tried to get into my pants.” Rose whipped out her wand and grinned. “Accio Dru!” She then laughed uncontrollably. “Okay, so that didn’t work.” She then sent a spark of harmless energy towards Dru to poke her to get her attention. “Are you coming over or what?!” she shouted.

Dru looked at Rose for a moment. She then wanted to go up, but Draco and Blaise pulled her down again. Draco bent over and whispered something in her ear. Dru nodded and didn’t look at her friends anymore.

“Fine, I’ll...” Rose got to her feet and pointed at Neville. “Stay. We’re going to do a hostage exchange,” she said before making her way over to the group. “Hello everyone,” she smiled widely and pulled Dru to her feet. “Off you go,” she said, before sitting down at her friend’s vacated spot.

"Dru, think about what I just said." Draco merely said and Dru froze at the spot she was standing. She looked at Neville, but she couldn't move anymore.

“Oh, Neville knows about stuff now,” Rose nodded with a smile. “He’s okay with it. And if you’re worried about me, don’t worry, I’ve been told that I’m stronger than a bunch of Slytherin boys all together,” she then projected the image of Lupin and Dumbledore protecting Rose in her own head for Dru to pick up on, including the entire conversation she had with Lupin. It was so easy to exchange information quickly with their combined powers.

Dru smiled, but still wasn't moving. Draco smiled devious at Rose. He block his mind so Rose could never get in and find out what Draco had said to Dru.

“Oh and of course, I could always go to the biggest gossip person in Hogwarts to tell them that Draco is a really really bad kisser, and that he sleeps with his teddy bear still.” That made the boys of chuckle, all the boys, except for Draco. “So if you’re really that scared of him, don’t worry, Rosalie the prickliest Rose on the planet has your back.”

Now it was Draco turn to laugh. "My sister has never been scared of me in my life. I just told her what she worth to me and to us. And what she never be to others."

“You know that Neville pees in his pants at the sight of a bunch of Slytherin baby’s, right? He even thought that Blaise was your boyfriend!” Rose nudged Dru with her foot. “Go on, he wants to talk to you, do you wish to see what I said to him?”

"Who says I'm not her boyfriend? Blaise said, as he grabbed Dru's hand and pulled her back on the ground.

“Oh please, Neville is so much better than you.” Rose rolled her eyes at him. “Do you guys seriously wish for me to hurt you?”

"Rose, stop it." Dru said. "Neville's made his choice, now I'm making mine. Please go."

Rose got up and stared Dru down as she lifted her wand with a smile on her face. “Just say the word, and they’re all bald.”

Dru got up too. She looked angry at Rose and had also pulled out her wand. "I mean it Rose. Stop this.”

Rose licked her lips as she was thinking about the possible futures that were coming up in her head. Expulsion, blood, more blood, some tears maybe... She tucked her wand away and shrugged. “Very well, I suppose that pride is more important to you than friendship,” she said simply as she got out of the circle.

"You girls do know, you fighting over somebody that isn't even here anymore." pansy said and pointed at the empty spot Neville had been standing.

“I swear this is the last time I’m trying to MEND things between friends because a TEACHER said so!” Rose yelled as she stomped away in the general direction of the entrance of the castle, picturing Slytherin tower getting blown up by bombs looking like Neville.

* * *

A few days later Lupin had surprised everyone with a ridiculous assignment that had to be done in previous assigned trio’s. Of course, Lupin had put Rose, Dru and Neville together, even if they were sitting as far away from each other as possible. When class was done he called Rose to his desk.

“You’ve created a warzone, professor,” Rose remarked with a pleasant smile as she approached his desk. “We’re not getting along at this moment thanks to some Malfoy pride, some Black... something, some Longbottom pantsyness and a very stubborn and angry me.”

Lupin smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. "What if i told you that after about 15 minutes into the work, you can walk out of them and still get a good grade?” He put three butterbeers on his table. "Make sure Neville takes this one, will you?”

“Oh, so playing the one who gets blown to pieces by her friend and semi-friend will earn me a good grade?” She shrugged. “Fine, okay, thanks,” she nodded and took the drinks with her as she returned to the table. She set the bottle that Lupin had assigned to Neville for some reason infront of Neville and put the other one down in front of Dru before sitting back in her chair and lounging as she sipped her drink. “So, how are we going to do this assignment?”

"I don't know." Dru said.

“No, you’re a Malfoy, of course you don’t know, you’ve been living with Draco’s peroxide fumes.” Rose remarked and looked at the book. “Looks simple enough.”

"You wanna talk about who you've been living with?"

Rose chuckled. After months, Dru finally showed that she wasn’t an idiot at all, but that she had just been dealing with her own demons and ignored the rest. “Corpses,” she pulled her feet off the table, grabbed her butterbeer and left the classroom.

"Brilliant, now what?" Dru said, taking her butterbeer in one hand before taking a big sip of it.

Neville didn’t say anything and quietly sipped his drink, trying not to look at Dru.

"Still ignoring me then?" 

Oh how Neville wanted to slap her silly for being influenced by her brother. He had been grateful for Rose trying to fix things, and then the stupid Malfoy curse hit the one person it hadn’t hit yet. He finished his butterbeer quickly and looked at the book before growing frustrated and said; “I understand, now.”

"Really, what do we have to do?" Dru said, thinking he was talking about the assignment.

“Nothing, but I understand, now.” Neville pointed out. “It all makes sense, what Rose said about you. You and I are actually quite similar and we shouldn’t have the past haunt us or form us in anyway.”

"Really?" Dru said. "Tell me, Neville, what else did Rosie explain about my behavior?"

“It came down to the fact that you’re as equally afraid as ashamed of your parents, as I’m equally afraid and ashamed of mine should I talk about them more often.”

Dru sighed deeply as the bitchy side of her was slowly disappearing. "Neville, I know you're not ashamed of them. I know how proud you are off them." she put one hand on her arm. "And so you should be.”

“It was wrong of me to react the way I did, Dru, but you _lied_ to me, and for a good reason, but you didn’t have to protect me, I know now that you like me for me, not because of what your parents did to mine.”

"Neville, you still don't get it. I didn't do it to protect you, I did it to protect myself. I didn't want you to see me as the daughter of a monster."

“No, instead you made me see you as the sister of another one,” he retorted, his confidence was unexplainable. 

Dru looked at the ground. She didn't wanted to look at him as she said this. "I wanted you to see me for how I am. I wanted you to lo....like me for how I am."

“I do. And I like you more than you think,” Neville answered with a big smile on his face. 

Dru still found it hard to look at Neville. Al her hope of him falling for her had gone out of the window since their fight. Draco had told her that there was no way that Neville would ever date her now that he knew who she really was.

Without thinking too long, Neville cupped Dru’s chin and softly kissed her on the lips. “See? More than like.”

Dru didn't know what to do anymore. Usually she was the one with the confidence, not Neville. She just closed her eyes and hoped she wasn't dreaming.

Standing in the door of his office, Remus Lupin smiled widely and closed the door. One crisis averted, the day was saved.

* * *

Dru couldn't wait to get to common room, but Rose wasn't there. She went up to their bedroom where Rose was laying in bed. Dru just jumped the bed and hugged Rose. "I'm sorry, Rose",

“Hmm...” Rose replied with a sigh. “Whatever, I understand. I just wished you’d let me make the Slytherin boys baldies.”

"We could still do that."

“It’s no fun _now_.” 

"Do you wanna watch me tell Draco that I'm dumping Blaise? Or do you want me to tell Draco something else?"

“Not now, sorry,” Rose sighed and pulled her pillow over her head. “Something’s funny... almost as if someone’s messing with the time or something, my head hurts.”

"What are you on about? Rose?" Dru asked as she concentrated and tried getting into Rose head.

“Get out of my head, you’re making it worse,” she sighed. “It’s nothing really... just slight ripples that I’m picking up, slight changes that have happened today.”

"What? Like Neville getting some confidence for once?" Dru smiled.

“Oh no, that was all Neville,” Rose gave a thumbs up. “Go Neville.”

"I know. I didn't know what came over me when he..." Dru smiled and looked to the ground. "i mean, I just completely froze. I could even say something anymore."

“What? I take it he apologized and shared that you and him aren’t that different from each other?”

"Yes, he said all the things you planted in his brain, but then he...." 

“I didn’t plant anything! I told the truth... what? What did he do?!” Rose removed the pillow from her head to look at her friend, but found that the light was too bright and put it back on her head for cover. 

"I still just don't believe he did that. It was so not like him, but then when he did it was so him. Like the him we always said was inside of him."

She felt around for her friend’s hand and squeezed in it, hard. “Tell me what he did! I don’t see everything you know! There’s a thing called ‘decency’ and a thing called ‘privacy’ and a thing called ‘too many people to watch actively’.”

Dru removed the pillow from Rose's head. She put her fingers on Rose’s tempel and concentrated on the moment Neville had kissed her. Dru wanted Rose to see it for herself. 

“Oh!” Rose responded. “That! Well, that’s great!”

"I know. It completely took me by surprise. I came straight over to tell you."

“And you didn’t kiss him back? Talk to him after the kiss?” She grinned as she put the pillow back over her head. “Go talk to him you silly cow!”

Dru's face turned white as she just realised what she did. "oh, my god! I'm a idiot! " Dru said. She bit her lip and was contemplating on what to do next.

“Sorry Neville, I had to run off to Rose to share the news that we’re friends again, let’s go and have tea now because I’m hungry,” Rose mimicked Dru’s voice again. 

Dru grabbed Rose's pillow and hit her on the head with it. "That's not funny. Imagine how much it must have took from him to kiss me and then I ran off. God, he must feel like crap now. How am I suppose to fix this?"

“Get off the bed, take the stairs down to the common room and pounce on him,” Rose said after a moment of silence. “He’s sitting in the common room and if you keep hitting me on the head with the pillow, or poke me with your fingers, I’m going to lower my defences and let you feel the pain I am in now!”

"Rose, I'm worried about you. Maybe we can talk to Snape. He'll know what to do."

“I’m fine, really. It’s just that... it’s not really alerting, these small changes in time, they’re small, not really in conflict with the original time line but it’s just giving me a headache and screws up my...--- Dru, I said, get off the bed and take the stairs to the common room.”

"Let me just stay with you till you feel a bit better." 

“Get off the bed and take the stairs down to the common room.” Rose said again. “Don’t make me throw you down those stairs."

"Is there anybody else there?"

“No,” she sighed. “Alright, let me make a deal with you... we’ll walk to the common room together, then I’ll leave you with your new boyfriend and I’ll go to the healer.”

"okay." Dru said and finally got off the bed. "But, he's not my boyfriend." 

“Yeah, he is.” Rose got up and pulled her friend with her as she headed down the stairs. “Neville, she’s sorry for running off. Good luck!” She quickly said and almost ran towards the infirmary.

Dru smiled awkwardly at Neville, who smiled awkwardly back. His confidence had gone away and he was coming to terms with what he had done. 

"Hi again," Dru said smiling.

“Ehm...” Neville blushed. “Hi...”

Dru sat down next to Neville. She put her legs on the sofa and put her head on his schoulder, like she had done on the train nearly a year ago. 

“Oh... okay,” he nodded and put his arm around her shoulders as he continued to read in his book. 

Dru looked up at Neville. "I gotta go dump Blaise tomorrow."

“Wait, he _was_ your boyfriend?!”

"I ...." Dru took a deep breath and slowly nodded. "I thought you were never gonna talk to me again."

“Blaise? Seriously?” Neville said stunned. “I’m a dead man!”

"Well, if you don't want me to..." Dru said as she moved away from Neville.

“No! I want you to! I want to be your boyfriend!” He blurted and quickly clasped his hands over his mouth, in shock of what he had just said.

Dru smiled. "You do?" 

“Y-yes,” Neville stammered and nodding his head. “If you want me.”

"Come on, Neville! Are you kidding me?"

“Oh well, okay then,” Neville shrugged with a sigh. “You’re still my friend though, aren’t you?”

Dru smiled, took Neville's book and threw it on the floor. She climbed on his lap and put her arms around his neck. "Okay let's try this again; come on, Neville, are you kidding me?"

“No, I am not,” Neville responded. “I want to be your boyfriend if you want to have me as one.”

“What do you think I want?"

Neville did the math; she was in his lap and her arms were around his neck and so close! He took a deep breath and dared to kiss her again. 

Dru kissed him back, then she smiled and said. "I can't believe it took me two years for you to actually kiss me."

“I’ve wanted to before...” he replied with a frown. “But you frighten me sometimes. Rose too... is she alright?”

Dru bit her lip. "Honestly? I don't think so. She keeps shutting me out."

“I am sure that there are reasons for her not telling you everything, Dru,” Neville replied with a nod. “But if she’s really sick, I will be angry with her for not telling us.”

"She's not sick, Neville. Something is troubling her, but she won't tell me. Which is what scares me more than anything. The things she won't tell me are usually bigger than big." Dru looked at Neville. "Neville, you understand why I didn't tell you about my parents, right?"

“You don’t want to be associated with them, I can understand that,” he replied, somewhat confused about the remark about Rose she had made before she changed the subject. “And from the pictures that I’ve seen, no offense, but your mo--- _she_ looks scary.”

"Neville, what do you exactly know about what happened to your parents?"

“Four Death Eaters spent hours torturing them for no good reason,” he said after a moment of silence, not wanting to be remembered by it. “Other than that, nothing that isn’t in the books or papers from the time, we don’t really talk about it, my gran and I.”

Dru closed her eyes for a second. She didn't know if she was doing right by this. "Babe, do you know who it were? The death eaters?"

“Well one of them is dead, the other three are in Azkaban. Bellatrix, her husband and his brother.”

"Yeah...." Dru took a deep breath. She didn't like to say it out loud. "....my mother, my father and my uncle.”

“Exactly, and a minister’s son. Blimey, that must have been hard on him, to put his own son on trial.”

"Neville, what would you say if...---" Dru closed her eyes. Was she really doing right by this?

“What?” He put his arms around her and pulled her closer. “You have more monsters hiding underneath your bed?”

Dru closed her eyes. Neville was finally holding her the way she wanted him to hold her for so long. If she told him the truth would he be mad again for lying to him? But if she didn't; could she keep lying to him? Would Rose feel betrayed if she told him? Oh hell, it wasn’t as if Rose thought of Neville as a real friend anyway.

“If so... I’ve heard that _Riddikulus_ works,” he chuckled.

Dru smiled and gave Neville a kiss. "I'm sorry."

“Tell me about your other monsters, Dru, I’ll keep you safe then.”

"Neville, what if minister’s son had a kid?"

He took a deep breath and managed a small smile. “From what I’ve learned this year is that you are not responsible for your parents’ actions and that you are your own person. I’d pity the child to be honest, I heard that he was a fruitcake.”

"Neville, don't say that."

“What? Because my own parents are not recognizing me? They don’t recognize me, but that Crouch boy knew what he was doing was wrong, or he was so dedicated to You-know-who that he didn’t care that what he was doing was wrong. And I heard he died, at least I still have my parents.”

"Yeah, we both do. But imagine having neither of them?"

“Is Harry secretly the child of …”

“No!” Dru chuckled and shook her head. “You’re funny, but no, that’s not what I meant!”

“Well what did you mean? You sound almost as bonkers as Rose at times!”

"Yeah, but Neville, imagine what's like having your mother killed and your father die in Azkaban for a horrible crime." Dru was on the verge of crying. Saying the words out loud made her realize what her friend had been going through. "I've been a bad friend."

“No, you’ve not been a bad friend,” Neville said and caressed her back. “You’re being Malfoyed, just like Rose said, the fumes are getting to you, and you need her and me to keep them away,” he kissed the top of her head. “And what happened in the past couple of months? We’re kids, Dru. We’re meant to fight.”

"No, I have been a bad friend. Al this time I was just thinking about what you and I went through with our parents. I forgot that Rose has been through hell too." Tears were now running down Dru's face. She felt horrible. Al the time she was so caught up in her drama with her and Neville, that Rose 's problems got thrown to the side.

“Wait, when did this conversation turn to be about Rose?” he chuckled and kept caressing her back. “You’re not a horrible person, or a horrible friend. You’re Dru and you’re amazing.”

"Seriously, Neville. don't you get what I have been trying to tell you?” Dru was getting a bit frustrated. She was so used to Rose knowing what was going on inside her head, that she forgot that Neville wasn’t able to.

“Yes about the minister’s son who had a kid... who... is at Hogwarts right now?” He guessed.

"Rose, Neville, I was talking about Rose." Dru bit her lip. She had so hoped he would have guessed it himself, so she couldn't be blamed for telling him.

Neville was quiet for a while, and took a deep breath. Deciding to show that he had truly learned from the mistake of ignoring Dru for so long after finding out that her parents were part of the group that hurt his parents, he took another breath and nodded. “Well, I thought she was muggle born, but this explains a lot...”

"Wait, where on earth did you get the idea that Rose was muggle born?"

“She doesn’t talk about her family much, I thought she was embarrassed because they were muggles, but this explains a lot.”

"Babe, did you really think my brother would go after a muggle born?"

“I actually thought it was one of those Slytherin dares, have one of them go after one of us and see what happens,” he shrugged. “What? I’ve been called unobservant before!”

"One of us? Neville, you're pure blood!"

“I meant one of us Gryffindor students, silly, it’s not like you girls have a reputation like the girls from the other houses have with both hands filled with the hand of a boyfriend or a boy she likes... it’s not as if Rose is approachable.”

Dru smiled. She took both of Neville's hands and let her finger slide between his. "Now I've got a boy in both hands. Do I have a reputation of one of the slutty girls now?"

“I can feel my popularity rising,” Neville laughed.

Dru smiled "I can feel it too." she put her arms around his neck again and kissed him.

“Oh, gross,” Fred and George chorused as they entered the common room. “Get a room you lot.”

"Jealous?" Dru said and started kissing Neville's neck.

“As head boy, I say cut it out now!” Percy’s hysterical voice sounded. “Or would you like me to report you to Ms. McGonagall?”

“Oh grow up, Percy,” Fred and George said.

“Young love!” Fred grinned.

“It’s gorgeous!” George added.

"I'm allowed to kiss my boyfriend, aren't I?" Dru said loud enough so everyone in the room heard it.

“That you are,” Rose’s voice sounded before she appeared in the doorway. “And might I say that you two look adorable

Dru glanced at Neville for a second to see how he would react to Rose, but quickly turned her head so Rose couldn't noticed it. "How's your head?"

“Numb, great herbs,” she replied as she sank down on the sofa next to Dru and started to warm herself by the fire. “I feel all floaty now, so if I start to float, you’ll have to pull me back down.”

With a room full of people it Dru figured this was the best time to tell Rose. "Neville knows."

“He knows?” Rose raised an eyebrow, wondering what her friend was talking about. “Okay? I guess?”

"Yeah, it's okay! He's understands, don't you babe?" Dru asked as she nudged Neville to say something.

“Yes, it’s okay,” he replied.

“Good, whatever it is that you know, it’s okay,” she smiled goofily and pulled her legs up to her chest. 

“I don’t think she realizes what you’ve just said, Dru,” he whispered in her ear. “She looks pretty out of it.”

Percy sighed as he saw the girl sit at the fire. She wasn’t even supposed to be out of the infirmary, but had somehow found a way to escape the healer. He scooped her up in his arms and looked at Dru. “I’ll take her back to the infirmary, she’s not okay.”

"I'll go with you.” Dru said and got up from Neville's lap. she was getting more worried by the minute. 

“Time, such a funny little thing,” Rose giggled as she put her arms around Percy’s neck. “Did you know that if you see things and something goes wrong in the future that you have to shut your mouth? Did you, mr. Percy Weasley, bestest head boy ever? It’s even worse in the infirmary, it’s the center of all evil that messes with the brain!”

"Percy, let her stay here. We'll put her on the couch. It's better." Dru ordered.

“Oh no, she’s going to the infirmary, she’s sick. Go back to the common room, this is not your duty.” Percy replied, looking at Dru before bumping into professor Dumbledore.

“Ah, Mr. Weasley, I was just about to get our escaped patient,” he greeted the head boy. “Be a good boy and hand her over, I shall take good care of her,” he said, stretching out his arms while looking at Dru. “I believe that Ms. Shepherd told you certain things?”

“Yes sir,” she nodded, relieved that at least Dumbledore knew about Rose’s ability. “She’s babbling about time and how it’s …”

“I know lass,” Dumbledore took the girl in his arms. “I shall keep her away from the center of evil and make her comfortable in my office, don’t you worry, I will take good care of her. The safest place for you to be right now is your common room. Thank you both,” he smiled pleasantly before quickly making his way to his office. For an old man, he certainly moved fast with a girl in his arms!

Dru didn’t want to hear it, even though she could hear Rose saying ‘weeeeee!’ as Dumbledore moved out of sight. Yes, her friend was out of it alright.

* * *

Rose felt _great_ the next morning as she woke up in Dumbledore’s office, with the man hoovering over her. The headache was gone, the feeling of something being wrong all the time was gone and she wasn’t as fogged up as she had been all year. 

“Good morning, Rose,” Dumbledore greeted her. “All is well again?”

“Yes sir,” she nodded. “I might even have my control back.”

Dumbledore then unofficially explained her what had been going on, so that she could make sense of it all and it did. Everything had turned out alright, she was just feeling sorry for Lupin, who was resigning before the parents could start to complain. He always ended up as collateral damage and it wasn’t fair, but it was obviously something he was used to by now. 

“Now, as you may know, professor Lupin has told me about your visions of this upcoming war...”

“It needs to happen, professor,” she said slowly, seeing the images in her head again. It was awful, it was bloody, messy and a lot of people would die, people she loved, people that didn’t deserved to die, but it needed to happen. “It needs to happen so that things will return to normal again, but I’m sure that your Divination’s professor has said the same thing.”

Dumbledore chuckled. “You and I both know that she’s... _unreliable_ but under my protection nonetheless,”

She shrugged it off. “But yes, the war has to happen, but the world will be a better place after it. I can’t tell you anything else in case I...”

“Trample the big scheme of things?”

“Exactly, sir.”

“Please do know that if there is something you do wish to share with me, or that’s really important, you’ll come to me.”

“Of course,” she said with a nod. “And thank you, sir, I know that trusting me might not be the easiest thing...”

“You are not your father, dear child. Do know that. We should not suffer because of what our parents have done wrong in their time. Now, please, there’s a really impatient girl waiting outside my office, waiting for you.”

Rose smiled widely and got off the settee. “Thank you again, professor.”

“Enjoy breakfast,” he said as she disappeared out of his office.

“Hungry!!” Rose yelled as she ran off the stairs and nearly jumped into Dru’s arms. “I’m fixed!”

"Thank god for that." Dru said relieved as she hugged her friend. "Don't do that again. You had me so worried."

“Damn Potter,” Rose chuckled and put an arm around her friend’s shoulders, not caring that she was still in infirmary garments. “Let’s have breakfast, I’m hungry now.”

"Let’s get you dressed first."

“Food, I’m decent enough. Who cares that I look like an infirmary person? I’m crazy, this makes people believe even more that they should stay away from me

"Rose, trust me! This will be a breakfast that you're gonna want to remember and years from now you'll be thanking me for getting into clothes,” she grinned.

Rose sighed deeply and then nodded. “Fine, clothes first.”

Ten minutes later, the girls were walking to the Great Hall fully dressed. "Come on." Dru said and pulled Rose with her to the Slytherin table.

“Goodmorning!” Rose greeted the table and curtsied. 

Blaise turned around and put an arm around Dru. She just looked at him. In a loud enough voice that could be heard across the entire Great Hall, Dru spoke up; "Blaise, i just wanted you to know, you're a crappy boyfriend and a lousy kisser. So I went and find myself a boyfriend that can actually kiss." 

Smiling smugly, she took Rose's hand and walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"What was that about?" Rose asked.

"Is everybody watching us?" Dru whispered

Rose nodded for an answer.

“Good,” she grinned as she sat down next to Neville and gently planted a kiss on his lips. “Good morning!”

“Ew, get a room!” Fred and George chorused. “You’re making me barf with this lovey dovey stuff!”

Rose didn’t pay attention to the rest of the table once she sat down opposite of Dru and Neville, between Seamus and Percy and started to inhale her breakfast. She was starving.

Dru started to laugh when she saw what her friend was doing. 

“Shut up, I’m eating,” Rose remarked and stole a piece of bread out of Percy’s hand as he had grabbed the last one from the bowl in their near vicinity. 

"You call that eating?" Dru said with a frown on her face.

“Aye,” she replied, mentally cursing herself for letting _that_ slip, she was supposed to be speaking proper English, not with any London accent or Scottish accent like her father. She took a deep breath and paused as she thought for a moment. “Hey, what does Neville know, exactly?”

Dru bit her lip. She suddenly regretted telling Neville. Rose was going be _so_ at mad her. She looked over at Neville before deciding the table was a better option.

“I know the truth,” Neville said bravely.

Rose blinked and then looked at her friend. Had Dru really betrayed her like that? She shrugged it off and marked the experiment down as failed. Nothing that a well placed memory charm on both of them wouldn’t fix. “No worries,” she said evenly as she took a sip of her tea.

"No more secrets," Dru said and put one hand on Rose's arm.

“Yeah... great,” she said with a small smile and took another sip of her tea. Both Neville and Dru were getting too close to her and it wasn’t good. It wasn’t what she had set out for when she had gone to Hogwarts almost four years ago. She was supposed to be alienated and alienate people, not building friendships.

Neville smiled at Rose, but Dru looked a bit suspicious. She loved Rose, but knew that she didn't always trust her either. Dru decided to let it rest, for now. "Would you like to go for a walk?" 

“Yeah, we should go and see professor Lupin,” Rose replied and finished drinking her tea. “You done eating?”

"I'm not hungry." Dru said, shoving her plate away from her. 

Rose reached for the pieces of toast and stuffed them in her pocket. “Alright, let’s go.”

Dru nodded, got up and followed her friend to the door. "Rose, why are we going to Lupin anyway. I thought you didn't like him?"

“He and I... have an understanding now,” Rose said slowly. “He’s done a lot for us, even more than you can even imagine,” she added with a sigh. “And you have to admit, he’s the best D.A.D.A. teacher we’ve had so far!”

"I'll admit the teacher part, but Lupin never did anything to help me." 

“Really now?” Rose said with an all-knowing smile on her lips as she almost danced towards his classroom, bumping into Harry after turning the corner. “Hey Harry, thanks for the headache, that was brilliant!”

“Uhm... you’re welcome?” the boy replied a bit unsure of what to say.

“It was my pleasure!” She giggled and continued her way towards the office, closely follwed by Dru.

"No, but honestly Rose! Tell me one thing Lupin has ever done for me?"

“Neville.”

"no, Neville got me Neville. I was there, remember. Neville kissed me and there was nobody there to nudge him on. It was all him.” 

“And a bottle of butterbeer that Lupin had given me.”

Dru looked at Rose. "How on earth did a bottle of butterbeer got Neville to kiss me?"

“Liquid luck,” Lupin replied as he was stacking a few of his belongings with an easy movement with his wand.

Dru's face turned red. She looked at the ground and wished for a hole she could disappear in. 

“No matter, it only enhanced his own confidence for a moment, he’s doing fine now, isn’t he?” 

This made Dru’s face turn even more red. "Yes," she mumbled. Getting a teacher to help to get you kissed by a boy is very embarrassing.

“All for the greater good,” he said with an all knowing smile towards Rose. “I take it that Professor Dumbledore told you that I’ve resigned?”

"Resigned?" Dru asked. Rose didn't tell her that part.

“People don’t like werewolves, check.” Rose replied with a sigh. “But you are a great teacher, I’m not sure why you should leave,”

“Because, I might not always be able to control myself. I might have nibbled on someone last night, I’m not sure,” he answered with a playful smile.

Dru scrunched up her face as if she’d just smelled something very foul.

_Sounds like impending Malfoy doom,_ Rose thought with a grimace as she played with a paperweight on Lupin’s desk. “I’d like to thank you, professor, for everything you’ve done.”

Dru suddenly realised three was a crowd in this conversation. "I'm gonna check on Neville. I have to make sure that Blaise and Draco don’t kill him." Dru said and walked out of the office.

"You are more than welcome," Lupin said to Rose as he sat down next to her on his desk. “Now, I need to tell you this, because your grandfather really doesn’t like me, but if there is anything _wrong_ where you live, or there is a problem you can’t solve, you can contact me, you know that, right?”

“I know now,” Rose smiled a little. “I still haven’t opened the envelope, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to look at those pictures,”

“Give it some time, I know you don’t have it easy with anything else that’s going on.”

Rose shrugged and sighed. “Dru and Neville know... I messed up. I only wanted the teachers to know who... --- I’m not sure if I trust them enough.”

"Do you have a reason not to trust Neville? Lupin asked. _Easy answers first,_ he thought to himself.

“It’s actually not necessarily _trust_ , it’s... I don’t know... they know this part of me that...”

"All three of you have a part of yourself that you kept secret from the rest of the world. You know theirs, don't you think it’s fair they get to know yours?"

Rose thought for a while and then shook her head. “It’s too dangerous that they know, isn’t it? It’s something they can use against me if they... not that I’ve seen anything of the sort in the near future, but still, it can happen, right?”

"Rose, I don't want to sound abrupt, but you have the better bargain here. They know you can use their parents story against _them_. And for them, their parents are still very present in their life. Your parents are more a part of your past, than theirs are."

She bit her lip and nodded. “I suppose, yes... you are right.” Rose sighed and handed him the paperweight. “Say hi to Tonks for me,” she smiled as she hopped off the desk and hugged Lupin. “Be well, professor.”

“Tonks?" Lupin said confused. He had no idea who she was talking about.

“You’ll see!” She giggled and waved as she skipped out of his office. “Have a good and safe summer!”

* * *

The next day, everyone had packed up to head back home for the summer. Rose was excited to go back home, even though it was _hard_ , but she had missed the Muggle world. Their hamburger restaurants were just addictive and walking around in other clothes other than her school robes was even better, more freedom. 

She was singing songs and jumping on her bed as she tossed the last things in her trunk.

Hermoine came up to the dormitory and handed a letter to Dru. "This just came for you." Hermoine said curtly and left the room again. Dru sat down on her bed and opened the letter. "It's from my mother.......yes!"

“Whi--- she’s going to see you in a couple of hours,” Rose snorted and sat down next to Dru. “Why would she send you a letter?”

"Do you remember us talking about me staying with you?"

“Yes...” Rose said slowly, knowing full well that Narcissa would say ‘no’.

"Well, father talked to your Grandfather last week at the ministry and I am going home with you for the next two weeks!" Dru said excited. She jumped into Rose's arms. "This is gonna be so much fun!”

“Yes... fun...” she tried to sound excited and just hoped that everything would be okay when they’d return to the place that she called home.

Two more weeks of not seeing her father, it sucked, but Rose could do it. She was reluctant, but she had to.


	2. Dreadful Summer

The cabin in the train was hot. It was the start of summer. And the sun had been shining brightly all day. Dry had kick her boots off and was lying with her eyes closed cross the seat on the left side of the train. Neville was sitting by the window with Dru's head placed on his leg. He was stroking Dru's arm with his fingers. Neville had only been her boyfriend for a few days. He probably would not have been her boyfriend at all, if it hadn't been for the interference of Dru's best friend Rose. Rose had done all she could to solve the fight Dru and Neville found themselves in over the last year. Dru was very grateful to her friend for that. Dru looked at the seats across from her.

Rose was sleeping with her jacket over her head. Rose hated riding on the train and always tried to sleep through most of it. For once Dru and Neville let her get as much sleep as possible. This way they could be somewhat alone together.

Dry sat up straight and leaned against Neville. "I can't believe I'm not gonna see you for two months." Dru said. "Can't you ask your Gran if you can come with us to the world cup?"

Neville put an arm around Dru. "I wish! I'm gonna be the only not going at all." he said. His grandmother had already told him she thought it was a waste of her money and Neville knew better than to wish that his grandmother changing her mind.

Dru looked at Neville. "I wish I could stay with you for a week or two over the summer." she said. She was now going to stay with Rose for the next fortnight. Not that she wasn't to stay with Rose. She had been dying to visit Rose's home for years, but she was going to miss Neville.

"Maybe you can try to stretch your stay and sneak off to my house. " Neville suggested. He too thought two months was a long time.

"I wish, but my father made the plans with Mr. Crouch himself." She put her head on his shoulder and her arm around his waist. Dru then smiled, "Besides, I am  _so_ grounded when I get home." Dru knew that her brother Draco would tell their parents about Dru kissing Neville in front of the whole school at the end of term. She knew all too well that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were not gonna be amused with their daughter's choice to date a Longbottom.

"Really? What did you do that was so wrong?" Neville asked.

Dru looked at him and said; "This!" she kissed him.

Neville pulled Dru closer to him as he kissed her back. Dru put her arms around Neville's neck. Neville pulled her onto his lap and put his arms around her. She was now with her back against the window. "I can't believe I have wait two months before I get to do this again," Neville moaned.

Dru caressed his cheek with the tips of her fingers. She had been in love with Neville for over two years. So now that he was finally hers, she wanted to be as close to him as she could. She let her fingers touch his lips and then kissed him again. It was different this time, the kiss was filled with longing for more.

Neville grew more confident with Dru by every second he was alone with her. He gently let his hand slide down from her hip down over her butt to her leg. Dru gave a slight giggle. She wasn't used to this confident Neville, but she was sure liking it.

There was soft growl from the opposite side of the cabin. Dru and Neville looked at Rose and both laughed. They waited for a second to see if she was awake, but there wasn't any more sound coming from Rose.

With Rose still sleeping, Neville kissed Dru again and took her by her hips, lifted her off his lap and into the seat next to him. Dru looked a bit confused at what Neville was doing, but he seem to know exactly what he was doing. Neville leaned in on Dru and slowly pushed her on her back. He kept on kissing her as he leaned over her. Neville slowly let his hands slide under the back of her shirt. Dru couldn't help giggling again.

"Seriously guys!" Rose said as she suddenly sat up straight.

"We didn't do anything!" Neville said panicked as he got off Dru as if he was bitten by a fire ant. His face had turned beet red in an instant and he didn't know where to look.

Dru was still lying on her back and just smiled at Rose. She didn't get embarrassed as easily as Neville. She put her feet up on Neville's lap and looked at Rose. She was curious to see her reaction on this.

"Just so you know..." Rose pointed at herself. "Kid fathered by someone under 20 years of age. You guys are almost 14. Please use your brains."

"I like it when Neville uses his other parts." Dru smirked.

"Oh man," Neville groaned and pulled his coat over his head. "Leave me out of this!"

"Uhm... the thing that you two were doing? It definitely needs two people, can't leave you out of it." Rose deadpanned.

"Well if you really want it I could always asked Blaise..." Dru said, with a sly grin on her face.

"Unbelievable," Neville said and sighed. "Would you two stop, please? 'Tease Neville' has worked. Congratulations!"

Dru pulled the coat off Neville's head and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Never,"

Rose watched as Dru climbed into Neville's lap again and sighed as she pulled her coat back over her head. "Behave!" she warned. "Or I'll go and sleep on top of the train or something."

"Well that works for me." Neville deadpanned.

Rose was shocked as she peeked at him from underneath her jacket. "Was that... Neville! You cracked a joke! Quick Dru, kiss him! He deserves it!"

"He always deserves a kiss." Dru said and put her head on Neville's shoulder. "Speaking of kisses, what ever happened between you and Draco after  _that_ kiss. You never told me that?"

Rose chuckled from underneath her jacket. "He's been leaving me alone! Bliss!"

"That doesn't sound like my brother."

"No, but I suppose because I kissed him in front of everyone else, they think we're together, so all he has to do is make up stories about me and be worshiped by his minions."

"I never heard any stories when I was hanging out with his friends."

Rose shrugged and hugged her knees to her chest. "Oh well, who cares?"

"Did he ever gave you your present, by the way?"

Sighing, Rose pulled her coat off her head and looked at Dru. "The only present I got this year was from you, and it was a great present," she replied and looked outside. They were halfway across Kent now, only one more hour to go on the train. "I think it's adorable that your brother thinks he's in love or in fascination with me, but... it is really annoying and I try not to pay attention to it."

"Shame, I wonder what he did with it?"

"He's probably saving it for your birthday," Rose chuckled.

"Doubt it! He said it wasn't my taste when I wanted to see it."

Rose decided to drop the subject and wondered who was going to get them from Kings Cross station. Usually she had to make her own way back through Muggle traffic or hail a taxi (but taxi drivers didn't like cats much) when she returned, but she was almost certain that her grandfather would be at the platform now, because there was a Malfoy staying over for two weeks, very important for the minister!

"You are going to take me to see the Muggle world, aren't you?"

"Are you scared?" Rose said as she licked her lips. "So many shops, food stuff... old buildings, paintings that don't move!"

"Why won't the paintings move?"

"Because they're not magical. They're painted with ordinary paint by Muggles such as Vincent Van Gogh or Rembrandt or... Monet, DaVinci... you'll love it."

"I am excited. I just hope my dad hasn't told your grandfather that I can't go see the muggle world!"

"Even if he did, grandfather is usually away for work. It's just me and the house elf normally." Rose gave a shrug. "You're going to love coffee."

"Coffee? That sounds disgusting!"

"Oh! But it is! But you know, the good part of coffee? It keeps you awake!"

"Shame  _you_ can't drink it all the time."

"I don't like trains," Rose muttered. "Sleep helps the time to go faster."

"That's what I hate about trains. They're going too fast."

"Go snog your boyfriend, you have another hour!" Rose grinned as she poked Neville in the leg with her foot before pulling her jacket back over her head. "Just keep it down so I won't have to try and think of what you could possibly be doing!"

Dru crawled deeper in Neville's arms. She knew she was getting into so much trouble, but there was one thing she feared the most. On the 16th, she had to visit her real mother. Her mother had a way of always getting into her mind. She didn't want her mother to know about Neville. Her mother would be furious and Dru was absolutely terrified of her mother.

"Hey! Two weeks of fun first, stop thinking about the not so fun thing!" Rose complained as she had picked up on Dru's sudden mood swing and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. "Besides, if you want, I can help you with that," she grinned as her father had given her this one book that had helped a lot with getting her seer part under control (okay, fine, it wasn't really under control this year but there were different circumstances, meddling with time is something completely different!) and she remembered that there was a part in that book that taught about invisible walls and projecting other images than your own thoughts.

Rose was pretty sure that the book was connected to Dark Magic, but it seemed harmless enough to actually be successful and nobody else needed to know. "Trust me, this year, you're going to impress her."

Dru shot an angry look at Rose. She didn't want to mention her mother in front of Neville. It was still a sensitive subject.

"I mean, crazy cat ladies are always... well... difficult to deal with, you've got those cats that she loves that hate you and start scratching you and things like that, and they usually have fleas!" Rose waved her hand around. "And then there's the cabbage breath!"

Dru nodded as if she knew exactly what Rose what talking about. Neville looked confused at the two girls and then shrugged his shoulder. He was used to not understanding half of what they said.

"I think I just described our own house elf..." Rose furrowed her brow and shrugged.

"Can't be worse than the one we have now! No humor, no funny stuff. I miss Dobby."

"I'm glad Harry stayed clear of mine."

"Stupid idiot, that Harry."

"Oi, do not talk about Harry like that, he's a good person!" Neville spoke up. "We all make mistakes, don't we? His are just..."

"Bigger and badder," Rose nodded.

"Ten times more arrogant," Dru added. "Did you forget he got you in detention, when he was trying to stick up my brother?"

"I prefer Neville. He kicks butt and can kick serious butt if only he believes in himself!"

"You two are mad," Neville replied with a sigh.

"Neville, we don't need a hero like Harry, because we have a better one." Dru said and kissed him on the lips.

"Really, who?" Neville asked

"We have Blaise Zambini," Dru teased.

"Yes, you two are mad."

"As a hatter," Rose said and reached for her pumpkin juice that had been on the table ever since the confection cart had come by. She took a sip of her juice, realizing that it had turned warm due to the heat on the train and muttered a spell to make the juice ice cold again. After taking another sip, she sighed happily. "Oh this is the good life."

Suddenly the cabin door opened and Draco stepped inside. Neville tried to get Dru off his lap, but she wouldn't move. "What is it, Draco?" Dru asked.

"We're going to arrive in ten minutes. Are you coming? You know father always wants us to stay together on the platform?"

"I'm staying with Rose for the next two weeks." Dru said.

"You're killing my pumpkin juice buzz, Draco!" Rose said as she looked at him.

Draco looked at Rose. He wanted to say something, but he kept his tongue. Instead he turned his attentions back to Dru. "Just you staying at Rose, or is there someone else coming too?"

"Just her," Rose said with a smile and glared at him. "What? Are you worried that Neville has fleas?" She chuckled. "He's not a crazy old cat lady!

"We're Malfoys. We don't go out with squibs."

Dru got up and took her wand out. "Neville's not a squib!""

"Well fine then, he's..." Draco thought for a moment as he looked at his sister with an evil smirk on his face. "A coward, he has two  _girls_ protecting him."

"Well, better than a loser who can't even get better grades than a Muggle born."

"Wait until father hears about this!" Draco sneered and stomped off. "You will be grounded for the rest of the summer!"

Dru stepped out into the corridor and yelled after him."Yeah, wait until father hears you've been going after a Muggle born yourself. Let's see who's grounded then!"

"Oh you know very well that  _she_ is different!" Draco called back.

"Maybe, but she's still muggle born, at least I picked a pure blood!" Dru yelled.

Rose looked at Neville and sighed. She muttered a spell to duplicate her pumpkin juice and handed the copy to Neville. "Cheers," she smiled at him. "This is going to last for the remainder of the 10 minutes before we get to Kings Cross."

"Oh just shut up." Dru sneered at Rose and sat down in the far right seat. She crossed her arms and decided to stare a hole in the floor. She knew Draco was right. She was going to be in so much more trouble than him. And getting grounded might be the easiest part.

"Well at least I can give Neville a kiss on the platform now. Father's gonna know soon anyway." Dru muttered.

"Oh, that would be awesome," Rose chuckled. "Oh come on, live a little! I live for trouble!"

Dru smiled and looked at Rose and then at Neville. "The look on your Gran's face if I kissed you."

"Oh god, she...she... she would send me to St. Mungo's for a thorough checkup to see if I'm really me! Maybe you better not kiss me in front of her"

Dru gave Neville an evil smile. "Are you sure, because you're not get to see me for at least two whole months."

Neville threw his coat over Rose's head, making her spill her pumpkin juice and clasped both of his hands around Dru's head as he kissed her. Rose was making disapproving sounds, but Neville didn't care.

Dru was laughing. "Cheer up, Rose, live a little."

"Shut up and kiss me, Dru." Neville said with a whine. "We're about to roll into Kings Cross, these are the final few minutes that we can kiss each other!"

"Look who's desperate." Rose remarked.

Dru put her arms around Neville. She always loved it when he finally got some nerve around Rose. She and Rose both liked Neville the most then.

Neville kissed Dru again, until the train shuddered to a halt. "I'll see you in two months," Neville said slowly as Rose had jumped up to gather her stuff and quickly made her way to the exit.

"I see you in two months, babe," Dru said. She gently lifted his wand out of his back pocket and put it in her boot next to hers.

The platform was madness. It was buzzing with over eager parents who were waiting on their children to return and running around as if they were afraid of getting lost (on a platform?) and Rose just stood there in the middle of the platform, with her stuff, waiting for Dru and Neville to exit the cart so that they could move out together.

She had already seen Neville's nan and had politely waved, but somehow she felt extremely guilty about that. Why was she feeling guilty now? Neville knew now. Why would she care what his nan would think about her? All she knew was that Rose was Neville's friend.

Sighing, she fiddled some chocolate out of her pocket and started to eat it, whatever Dru and Neville were doing on the train, it would probably be just snogging each other's faces off again.

Dru walked over to Rose and waved at Neville as he went to his gran. Dru had a big smile on her face.

Rose looked at her and said, "You're going to give him that kiss aren't you?"

Dru just smiled. She reached in her boot and got Neville's wand out. "I'd better return this." she walked over to Neville with a bounce in her step.

"Did you get everything off the train, dear?" his gran asked. "Where's your wand?"

Neville reached for his wand in his back pocket and realized it wasn't there anymore. "Erm..."

"Here, babe." Dru said and handed Neville's wand. She smiled and gave him a look that if he didn't kiss her right there and then, she was never gonna kiss him again.

"Thanks, Dru..." Neville said, blushing before giving her a peck on the cheek.

"How have you been, mrs. Longbottom?" Dru asked politely.

"Fine dear, thank you," she answered. "Thank you for returning Neville's wand to him, he can be so forgetful at times!"

"Well, this is my fault. I sort of distracted him on the train." Dru said as she smiled at Neville. She projected the notion that Rose should call Dru back in Rose's head.

"Dru!" Rose called for her friend. "Stop teasing Neville and come and kick my butt, I think I've squashed your chocolate frog!" she said with a big grin on her face. "Hi Mrs. Longbottom! You look well!"

"I'd better go. It was nice to see you again." Dru said as she shook Ms Longbottom's hand. She then turned to Neville, place her hand on his stomach and said. "See you after summer?" she stood on the tip of her toes and gave him a kiss on his lips, before walking back to Rose. "You better be watching this, Rose. I wanna pick the imagine out of your head." she said to her friend, trying not to look behind her at Neville.

"Sorry, I'm looking at the magnificent melted chocolate frog that I'm holding in my hand right now." Rose smiled widely.

Dru looked at Rose's hand, feeling disgusted. "It's a good thing I don't like chocolate." Her face then turned white as a sheet. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Come on, let's go. I haven't seen grandfather yet, nor Winky so... we'll find our own way to my home." She threw the frog into the bin next to them and wiped her hand clean as she pulled her trunk with her towards the exit. "Oh, and your father saw your public display of affection and he didn't look too pleased."

"Why do you think I'm going to be sick?" Dru whined again and pulled her trunk along as she followed Rose.

"Hey, you wanted to kiss him on the platform, not me."

"I know, i just didn't realize... Never mind, what's done is done. Let's worry about that in two weeks."

"Exactly! No real parental supervision for two weeks! You're going to love it!" Rose cheered and ran off the platform to the other side, waiting for Dru to come through as well.

Dru followed her friend, but couldn't help checking behind her to see her father.

Because of all the stuff they were carrying, Rose decided that they'd have to take a taxi home. She was slightly disappointed that her grandfather wasn't awaiting their arrival on the train station, especially after speaking to Lucius Malfoy about this. So much for making a good impression on the man.

They were finally at the house an hour later. "We're here!"

"We? We?" Winky's voice sounded as she bounced off the stairs. "Mistress Rose! Who's we? Master Barty hasn't said anything about you bringing a guest!"

"Oh you know how forgetful grandfather is," Rose sighed. "This is Dru, she's my friend from Hogwarts."

"Hello Dru, friend from Hogwarts!" Winky greeted the girl. "Do not go upstairs just yet, there is food in the kitchen, I need to clean up, yes?"

"Yes," Rose sighed and after releasing Moggy, her cat, she lead the way to the kitchen.

Dru was having a look around the kitchen. The Crouch home was full, with all kinds of stuff. It was a world of difference from the bare, cold house she was growing up in. "I really like this place, Rose." Dru sat down at the kitchen table and picked up a book that was lying on the table.

"Full of stuff. Stuff is just stuff," Rose shrugged and grabbed a few plates out of the cupboard for the cake that was standing in the middle of the table. "Cake."

"Thanks." Dru said as she took a bite. "Well, it's a lot cozier than our home."

Rose dug into the cake as well after reaching into the fridge to get a bottle of soda out. Fortunately, Winky was a good cook. She had to be, because grandfather loved his food if he'd return from work. But there was food in the house at all times. Normally, she'd take the cake up to her father's room and eat the entire cake with him. It had become something just for them over the years, whenever she had been away for a long time, and whenever she'd return, they'd eat a whole cake together. Why did the Malfoys had to agree with Dru staying over? It wasn't as if she didn't like Dru, but still...

"So, Winky will bring your stuff to my room, you can have my bed." Rose smiled. "I'll sleep in our spare room."

"Okay." Dru said. She was looking down at the book that was in front of her. " _Waterplants of the Highland Lakes_?" Dru asked. "I thought you didn't care for Herbology?"

"It's not mine," Rose said. "It's probably grandfather's, I haven't seen that book before."

Dru stared at the book. Her mind was going over the conversation she had with Neville in the train. She wish there was way she could get over to his house. She looked at Rose and shook the idea out of her head. She couldn't do that to Rose. Rose had so been looking forward to her staying there. They had been talking about this for nearly three years.

"Hey, you know, we could meet up with Neville in the next two weeks when we go into town, I am sure you and him will like that." Rose smiled as she got up and got two glasses from another cupboard to pour the soda into. "We could paint the town red, as the Muggles say!"

"Yeah, we could but how are you gonna get hold of him?"

"Owls, of course. Duh." Rose rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Sorry, Rose. I'm not being much fun, am I?" Dru asked. "Don't deny it. You've been crappy all day."

"You're just tired," Rose smiled widely. "There's a sofa in the sitting room, you can nap there if you like, I'll just go and help Winky to get the upstairs area cleaned up."

Dru got up and walked in the direction of the sitting room. "I'm sorry, Rose" she said as she walked out of the room.

"Don't be, you silly goose!" She laughed as she bounded up the stairs as if she was a cannonball shot from a cannon. "Nap some, you'll feel better!"

"Rose, who is that?" a voice came out of her father's room.

"Shh!" Rose hurried inside the room and pulled the invisibility cloak off her father before giving him a hug. "Good to see you again!"

"I missed you, child. Did you have a good year?"

"Not really, but it's all fine now," Rose nodded. "Father... my friend is going to stay with us for two weeks and I really would like it if grandfather or myself didn't have to spell her if she finds out that you're here."

"I understand, I shall be my usual quiet self."

"Really?"

"Of course, she is your friend, you never have friends over." Rose hated the way how her father's voice sounded. It sounded even, dull. "It is important to have friends, you do make friends at school, don't you?"

"I don't want to... I told you about Ha..."

"Yes you did!" He sneered, which made Rose jump almost ten feet in the air.

"Father, calm down, please," she hissed. "Anyway, a lot of things have happened in the past year and I'm willing to share, but it will have to wait until Dru has gone home, alright?"

"Alright lass, I shall be patient."

She hugged her father again. "Thank you. You know I love you, right?"

"And I love you too. But tell me, your friend's name is Dru?"

Rose narrowed her eyes on him. "Yes. And I do know who she is. And no, you're not going to see her. And no, you're not going to talk about  _him_  because that is  _wrong_ ," she said, tightening her grip on her wand, she had taken it out without even realizing it. "Do you understand, father?"

"Rose, where's your owl? I wrote a letter to Neville asking to meet us in Diagon Alley this weekend. Do you still have the Longbottom's address?" Dru asked from the bottom of the stairs.

She quickly pulled the invisibility cloak over her father's head again while Winky intentionally dropped something. She and Winky had become really good at misdirection. "Oh! Ehm... yeah! Owl is in the shed in the back garden, Neville's address should be there too."

By the sound of Dru's heels, she was walking towards the barn. Her father pulled off the cloak and looked at his daughter. "Neville Longbottom?" He was clearly not as pleased with that one as he was with Dru.

"Yes, father, the children of the people who tortured his parents are friends with their son," Rose rolled his eyes at him. "Oh and he knows who Dru and I are, so don't get your hopes up. As I said before, a lot has happened the last year."

"When are you going to use the memory spell on them?

"Professor Lupin said..."

"Lupin? A professor?" Barty sneered. "You listened to him?"

"Maybe I should call grandfather... I think..." Rose said slowly as she backed out of her father's room. "Winky! Take care of young master Barty, please. I... need to get Dru out of this house."

Dru was still in the shed. She was too busy petting the owl, then attaching the letter to his leg.

"Dru!" Rose ran out of the house and nearly tripped over her own feet. "Something has... something has happened in my family and... grandfather appeared in the fire to tell me that he's sorry but you have to go... and I know you don't want to go home, but how about you go to Neville's place?"

"Are you kidding me? My father would kill me! Dru said.

"He doesn't have to know, does he?" Rose tried not to look at the window of her father's room after seeing some movement. How was it possible that he seemed to be breaking free of the curse that her grandfather had put him under? Not that she would mind, she was absolutely certain that her father wouldn't hurt her, or Dru for that matter as her father was infatuated with the idea of loyalty to a very bad man and Dru was the daughter of someone who had the same infatuation with that very bad man, but she was afraid that her father would get hurt, or that he would hurt other people again all in the name of that very bad man.

Her mind was racing and she was visibly upset, and had forgotten to shield her panic from Dru.

Dru put her hands on her hips. "Rose, tell me the truth. Your grandfather doesn't want me gone, does he? What aren't you telling me?" she tried to touch Rose's skin so that she could look beyond the walls in her head, make a better connection.

"Forgive me," Rose said with a little voice as she raised her wand to her friend. " _Stupefy!_ " She saw how Dru got knocked back against the wooden chest in the shed and was rendered unconscious. This was going to be one hell of a mess!

Rose paced around the house until her grandfather arrived at the house. Of course, she had used magic in the muggle world, unsupervised and of course her grandfather would know about it. "Winky did it!" She blurted before telling her grandfather  _everything_  and that she had hoped that he and Mrs. Malfoy would say no to Dru staying over because of her father and what not. She was ranting insanely, trying to make sense of it herself, but she handled out of fear, and it was _his_ fault that she had to stupefy her friend.

"Rose dear," Grandfather spoke calmly and managed to smile a little. "I shall wipe her memory until the last few hours of getting off the train, and I shall return her to the Malfoys and will tell her that she became unwell. Do not worry. I shall also re-curse your father, everything will return the way that it was."

"But..."

"You've been listening to all the nonsense that Dumbledore and Lupin have been telling you, haven't you?"

"But they..."

"They don't know everything, dear child. Now go to your room, I will fix this mess."

"Yes grandfather..." she sighed and slowly walked up the stairs to her room.

* * *

Dru woke up with a splitting headache. She opened her eyes and looked around, finding herself in her own bedroom. Wasn't she supposed to be at Rose's? She got out of bed and put on a fresh set of clothes, clothes she didn't remember packing in her trunk for school. No one was in the house when she walked down the stairs and in the living room, but as the back door was open she decided to go to the garden where she saw Draco fly his broom together with some other figures.

She looked around and saw Narcissa sitting on a chair reading a book. "Mother, what am I doing here?" Dru asked as she walked towards the woman she had called 'mother' for years now.

As soon as Narcissa saw Dru, a big smile appeared on her face. "Are you feeling better?" Narcissa said as she hugged Dru.

"My head hurts, but I'm supposed to be at Rose. Why am I here?"

"You fell ill, so they brought you home."

Dru looked at her brother. "I can't remember anything. Last thing I remembered was being on the train getting ki..." Dru bit her lip and looked down.

"Yes, Draco told me about your little bet with him." Narcissa said disapprovingly.

Dru looked at Narcissa in surprise. "Did he now?" she asked.

"Dru, I understand that you want to have a bit of fun. Especially with the Longbottom boy. But did you really have to kiss him? You have to remember who you are!"

She was stunned, was she hearing this right? Did her mother understand  _exactly_ why she would want to have fun with Neville?

Narcissa smiled at her daughter. "Alright, I have to admit. Making him fall in love with you so you can later break his heart when you tell him who you are, is a brilliant way to torture the boy. I am proud to see so much of Bella in you. I can see it more every day." Narcissa caressed Dru's long black hair and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

Dru felt like she was gonna throw up. She didn't want to look more like Bellatrix! "I'm going back inside." Dru turned and walked back into the house.

She passed a picture on the wall of Bellatrix. She looked at it and she couldn't help to see the likeness. Her long, black hair and her eyes. She had the same eyes as her Mother. Dru ran into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Why did Rose have to sent her home? Why didn't Rose let her stay? She was supposed to be her friend! Rose could have taken care of her in her home! Dru picked up a picture frame that was on her bedside table. It was a picture of Rose and Dru from their first year. Dru smashed the frame against the wall. She hated Rose right now, great friend she was!

Dru went to her desk and got a piece of paper. She wanted to write to Neville to ask him to get her out there. Halfway through her letter she realised that Neville could never get her out of there. She crumpled the paper and tossed it into the fire.

She buried her face into her hands. Why would Rose do this to her?

* * *

She was sitting in a corner of her father's room, staring at him, studying him. In return, her father was studying  _her_. Grandfather had renewed the curse on him, so he was like his usual self for a while again, and she didn't want to say anything that would excite him even further.

"Father made a bad call in allowing your friend to be here," her father said in his dull voice. The Scottish lilt was still there, but there was no emotion behind it all, which was a good sign.

"Yes, I didn't even... I just entertained her with the idea of being here for the summer..."

"Of course, that's what normal kids do, but my sweet child, you are not normal."

"Yes I am, I am normal. I just live with so many secrets!"

"Do not enthuse young master Barty, mistress," Winky scolded her and ushered her out of the room. "He needs his rest now, go entertain yourself."

Rose growled, grabbed her bag and headed into London. She was going to paint the town red all by herself, thank you very much. Dru was going to be mad at her for not allowing her to stay, but it had been her grandfather's idea. Not hers. Well, maybe, but what else could she have done? She panicked, it's not like she could  _see_  everything or  _do_ everything!

She was thirteen years of age living in a home with barely any supervision, her grandfather was away all the time, especially now that he was busy organising the Quidditch World Cup, her father was a ticking time bomb who required constant supervision by the house elf, and since there was only one elf, where did it leave her? Oh, if she would take Professor Lupin up on his offer, his offer made as her godfather, not her teacher, then all hell would break loose at home that not even an imperious curse could stop.

She spent a couple of days in youth hostels in London, claiming to be older than she looked or whatever, foreign owners were easy, they were in it for the money and she had enough of that. When she got home, she realised that nobody had missed her. Apart from her father, maybe, but she wasn't going to talk to him!

Sure, she could send an owl to Lupin and tell him what was going on, but then what? It wasn't as if that would change anything. She just wished that things could go back the way it had been before she went to Hogwarts; alone and uncomplicated.

When she climbed into bed just to sulk, she realised that there was a letter on her pillow. She recognised the handwriting, and reluctantly opened it.

_Dear Rose,_

I hope you're well. I'm not. I don't know what happened the day we came back from school.  
I know I was supposed to go home with you.

But I woke up three days later in my own bed. With no memory of those days.

Rose, what happened to me? I've been told I got sick, but there's something else. Because the last thing I remember was that you was sleeping on the train and that I was kissing Neville.

I know Draco has got something to do with it, but I don't know what!  
what kind of spell did he use on me?  
Please Rose, help me out!

love Dru

P.S. i'm not angry at you for me being home. I realised you would never have brought me home, if you had any other choice

p.p.s what the hell happen between me and Neville at the platform. My father is not speaking to me anymore and I don't know what I did.

Rose groaned and crumpled the paper up before tossing it through her room. She didn't want to deal with …-  _"Other people may not be as strong as you_ ", Lupin had said. Maybe Dru needed to hear from her. But what was she going to say?

* * *

Draco opened the door to Dru's room. She was sitting on the floor surrounded by her school books. "What do you want, Draco?" her voice sounded cold.

Draco sat down next to her sister. "Would you like to come out and play some Quidditch?"

Dru shook her head. "I want to do my homework."

"You have hardly been out of your room for days! Come on," He took her book and tossed it aside.

"I want to be here. I don't want to go outside."

"Is this about Rose of that squib?"

"Really? Really, Draco? This is the way you want to try and get me to talk?" She got up and started pacing, just to be away from her idiot brother for a while. Didn't she tell him to leave her alone?

"Okay, pretend that I'm Rose for a second and tell her, me, everything that's going on inside your head."

She stopped dead in her tracks at her window and looked outside. "Why would I tell you? So you can use what I tell you to blackmail my best friend so she can help you to get Neville to leave me alone."

Draco smiled. "No, but that's a genius plan!"

"Draco, just leave me alone." Dru said.

He rose to his feet and walked over to his sister, before putting his hands on her shoulders for the 'serious' effect. "You should remember then I'm always your brother. And at the end of the day  _I'll_ always be there for you."

Dru looked in the distance. She was waiting for a letter from Rose. She had written her a few days ago, so she should get a letter back any day now.

Her brother sighed and fumbled a piece of parchment out of his pocket. "Here, this arrived yesterday or something."

_Hey Dru,_

You were home with me for almost a day, but sadly, the cake that we had been sharing was old and moldy and... yeah, it wasn't pretty. Grandfather didn't want to task our house elf with the care of two teenage girls and he brought you home.

Yes, he might have used a spell or two to heal you. What did he say? Oh yes, that boils didn't look pretty on a fair skinned girl! (Seriously, you should have seen us!) It might explain the memory lapse.

You stole Neville's wand in the train only to bring it back to him on the platform and you kissed him on the cheek. Since the Malfoy's don't like... anyway, I'm sure your brother made up this ridiculous story that actually makes a lot of sense to cover for you (don't lie to me, I've seen it!). You can use that ridiculous story to tell them that to continue this great prank, you'll have to spend some time with him... hint hint. (you're welcome)

Speaking of your brother, I don't think he's done anything to put you in harms way or make you forget things that you shouldn't have. I... dare I say this? I've  _seen_ him care deeply and genuinely for you. (Or maybe he's just amused by the idea of you dating Neville, which is good, because... well then he's entertained, right?)

I've spent a couple of days in London with ehm... myself and painted the town red for the both of us. I got you a few nice gifts for when we return to school at the end of the summer!

Oh, and grandfather hired some witch doctors to cleanse our house from clutter and spiritual stuff so I won't be home for a while. (All in the name of good sportsman ship, he said. Stupid Quidditch!)

See you at the game, I guess?

Rose.

Dru read the letter twice. She was relieved to hear that there was a simple explanation for what happened. She shouldn't always think the worst of people.

She decided it was time for her to grow up and start trusting Rose a bit more. After all, Rose had always been there for her. No more second guessing, Dru said to herself.

Dru closed her eyes, thinking about giving Rose the biggest hug in history when she'd see her at the World Cup and imagined to put that into Rose's head. Dru smiled, it was a pointless little thing, because there would be no possible way for Rose's thing to work over such a long distance, but it was comforting to know that she'd at least tried.

She put the letter in her nightstand and walked to Draco's room. He was sitting behind his desk, reading some obscure book.

"I thought you wanted to play some Quidditch?" Dru said, dancing further into his room.

Draco turned around in shock. "What did Rose write?" he asked with a frown.

"That I should be a little bit nicer to you. You still want to play?"

Like a bolt of lightening, Draco put his book down and grabbed his broom. "Let's go!"

* * *

Dru had been in a bad mood all day. It was her birthday and she hated it. Sure she always got a lots of presents and a huge birthday cake, although she didn't really care about them, she knew she was loved, she didn't need it validated with so many, and mostly expensive, presents. But every year she had to go visit her real mother in prison as part of the most ridiculous agreement ever.

She had just come home from Azkaban and went up to her room. The visit to her mother went better than she thought. She had been able to clear her mind of the imagines of Neville as she was desperate about the fact that her mother would never found out that Dru knew the Longbottom kid. Let alone that he was now her boyfriend.

She stood in front of the window. Her (and Draco's) birthday party was in full swing in the garden. Her parents invited  _their_  friends and  _their_  children as if it was  _their_ party. Draco didn't seem to mind, as most of their parents' friends were the parents of Draco's friends.

She didn't really want a party, because her only friends were Neville (a no-no in the Malfoy household) and Rose (who'd probably be welcome, but she was probably having a blast with her grandfather).

She wasn't going to get presents from them today. They already had given theirs last month. For the outside world Dru's birthday was the same day as Draco's. Even though Neville and Rose now knew she wasn't really Draco's twin, but his cousin, she had never told them that the 5th of June wasn't really her birthday.

Dru laid down on the bed. Sometimes she wished she had been sorted into Slytherin, then everything would have been easier. She wouldn't have realised that Neville Longbottom was a nice kid instead of the clumsy little boy that everyone else saw.

Getting to know Neville so well, made her hate her real mother. It had made her question everything she had been taught in life. She realized that she had a completely different mindset than the rest of the family. In her head, a part of her didn't feel like a Malfoy or a LeStrange, and she was wondering what she was still doing with them. Oh that's right, she didn't have another legal place to go.

She folded her hands behind her head and smiled. Who was she kidding? Neville was so brave and handsome and adorably naive that she would have falling in love with him no matter what house she'd have ended up in! He was still the boy that voluntarily joined Ron in a fight with Draco and his minions Crabbe and Goyle! Sure, no chance of winning, but he did it anyway and in that moment, Dru had found her true love.

Maybe that sounded a bit soppy, especially for a 14 year old, but there was nothing more heroic (or stupid, depending on how you looked at it) than to join a fight you couldn't ever win. And Neville was so brave!

Maybe she could use the flo network to go and visit Rose unexpectedly. Although... she wasn't sure if the minister would appreciate it.

"By Merlin! I'm stupid." Dru said out loud to herself. Why didn't she think of it before? She was going to give herself the best birthday present ever!

It was 11pm and Lucius and Narcissa were still in the garden. Dru sneaked into the living room and took a hand of flo powder. She looked around to see if she was really alone before stepping into the fireplace, taking a deep breath and said out loud; "The Longbottom residence."

Dru stepped out of the fireplace into what was clearly the home of an elderly lady. Dru smiled as she looked around. There were pictures of Neville everywhere. She resisted the urge to look at them. She needed to get into Neville's room, before she got caught.

She quietly made her way up the stairs and listened at every door, making sure that the snoring she heard was Neville, and not his grandmother before entering the room softly and smiled when she saw Neville fast asleep in his bed.

Dru had been thinking all evening about how or if she was going to wake Neville up. She had eventually settled on a kiss, but seeing him sleep so peacefully, she decided just to let him sleep. She crawled under the blanket next to him and after finding a comfortable position, she closed her eyes.

She could feel Neville moving behind her but just as she expected for him to put his other arm around her, the arm that she was lying on was pulled out from under her so fast, that she fell out of the bed.

"Dru, what are you doing here?" Neville said in panicked voice. He had the blanket pulled up to his chest. He clearly didn't expect to find a girl in his bed!

"Fine, if you're going to be like that, I'll go." Dru sneered, while she was rubbing her head. She had hit her head on the nightstand on her way down. This clearly wasn't her best day.

"No no... it's... I didn't expect you to... ehm... I... I can't believe they let you come... or... why are you here? It's late!"

Dru kept rubbing her head. "You know what? I don't know! I'd better go." she was on the brink of tears. This was not the reaction she had expected.

"I'm not saying that you should go... and I'm sure that gran doesn't mind you staying here... but you can't just come into someone's house in the middle of the night! It's mental! What if gran had spelled the house so that anyone who was trying to get in would get blown to bits? You could have died!"

Dru pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on it. She couldn't keep her tears back anymore.

"Oh come here, it's not that bad..." Neville sat down on his hands and knees and held out his hand for her.

Dru didn't respond. She felt so stupid. She just so wanted to see Neville so bad, she didn't think anything through.

Neville climbed out of bed and sat down on the floor with her. "It's quite nice down here," he said as he switched on his night light. "I take it that things aren't going so well?"

"I just wanted to have a nice day for once. I never get anything that I really want for my birthday," she sulked.

He put an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Then let us sleep tonight and then we'll do something fun in the morning, anything you want."

"Neville, I can't stay. I'll have to sneak back home tomorrow. I can only sneak out at night."

"Then tomorrow, I'll be prepared for you," he nodded. "We'll have a big cake and streamers and we'll stay up all night."

Dru looked up to him and smiled. "I missed you."

"Well, I missed you too, but if I'd show up on your doorstep, there'd be at least three peroxide monsters who'd want to blow me off their step, so..."

"I know! I'm just not having a great summer so far." Dru said as she dried her tears.

"Well, me neither to be honest. My only friends are unreachable! There's you, and then there's Rose, who seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth."

"I know. I only got one letter from her! Maybe she's still ill."

"Ill?" Neville asked confused. "She's sick?"

"We got sick from eating cake. I don't remember much."

"Ouch, that's the worst thing ever... getting sick from eating the most glorious thing in the world, cake!"

"Idiot," Dru smiled widely.

"I love that smile."

"By the way, did you tell your gran that I'm your girlfriend?"

"Yes, I did."

Dru smiled. "Was your gran mad? Father was furious at me for giving you that kiss on your cheek at the platform. Can you imagine if I had given you a kiss on your lips?

"Gran is a wise old woman, she's just happy that someone like you likes someone like me."

"Maybe next time I will kiss you on your lips then," She giggled. "Besides I'm the one who should be happy to have someone like you to like a girl like me." She wrapped her arms around Neville's waist. "And I'm not kidding. Having you liking me is the best thing that ever happened to me."

She liked being in his embrace for a while and cherished the silence before speaking up again. "Neville?"

"Yes?" He yawned.

"Can I stay here with you tonight?" It wasn't the question she wanted to ask but she dicited to not ask difficult questions when Neville was so tired. She'd ask him another time.

"Always," he nodded. "Can we get back into my bed now? It's cold on the floor."

"That depends. Are you going to kick me out of it again?"

Neville just smiled as he scooped her up and put her on the bed. He laid down next to her and put his arms around her. He closed his eyes as he really wanted to get some sleep.

"Neville?" Dru whispered.

Neville growled a little, but he wouldn't open his eyes.

"You still haven't given me my birthday kiss." She whispered in his ear.

This time Neville did open his eyes. He caressed Dru's hair out of her face. "Happy birthday." Neville gently kissed her. "Can I please sleep now?"

Dru nodded and laid her head down on his chest. She closed her eyes. For the first time in a long time she felt like she was home.

* * *

The next morning Dru had no problems sneaking back into her house. The first thing she did, was write a letter to Rose. Neville had been right. It was almost as if Rose had fallen off the earth. After she had written her letter, she looked at the fireplace. Rose did tell her to live a little. Should she dare do it? Dru missed her friend, she might love Neville, but he was not Rose.

Dru decided that it was what Rose would have done so she was going to do it. She went to the living room and took a little bit a flo powder. "Crouch residence."

Dru stepped out of the fireplace and into the sitting room she supposedly had been in weeks ago. Dru looked around. It didn't seem familiar at all. She walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Rose, are you home?"

No answer came, so she decided to go and find Rose's bedroom. Halfway through the stairs she remembered what Neville had said last night about getting blown to pieces. Not wanting to risk herself getting blown up, she went down the stairs again and went back into the sitting room.

She wanted to leave a note for Rose and looked around for a quilt and some parchment. "Hello there," she nearly jumped ten feet in the air and her heart pounded when someone behind her spoke up. She turned around and tried not to show fear, but that was a little impossible, wasn't it? She flo-ed into someone else's house and got caught. There was a tall handsome man standing in front of her. She had an inkling that she had seen him before, but she couldn't remember  _where_.

"I'm so sorry. I'm Dru, a friend of Rose. I was looking for her."

"Rose isn't here right now. Tell me, do you always sneak into people's houses?"

Dru grinned. "Just those of Rose and my boyfriend."

The man smiled back. "That is asking for trouble!"

"Yeah, but Rose always tells me to live for trouble. I'm sorry but... Rose lives here with her grandfather and you don't look old enough to-"

The man smiled and reached out his hand. "Allister Shepherd. Rose's uncle."

She hesitated but eventually shook the man's hand. She had never heard Rose mention an uncle, but decided to stay polite, it was  _she_ who was basically trespassing. "Oh really, Rose told me so many stories about you. It's really nice to finally meet you."

"And you are?"

"Dru Malfoy. Me and Rose are classmates from Hogwarts."

The man tilted his head a little. "Malfoy? Are you the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa? I never knew Lucius had such beautiful offspring."

Dru blushed, whoever this 'uncle' was, he was a charmeur. "You should see my twin Brother. He is the handsome one. He gets all the girl's hearts racing."

"Really, now? Does that include my dau...my niece?" He slipped up. He looked around for a wand, but the only one around was Dru's. But seeing as she kept her in her boots, getting it would prove difficult.

But Dru didn't hear his mistake. "She likes him, but she would never tell though. They got this cute cat-and-mouse game going on for years. it's quite funny."

All of a sudden, a house elf, Winky, apparated into the sitting room and started to squeal. "You! Not supposed to be here! Get out! Get out!" she said as she pushed Dru towards the fireplace. "Don't let them find you here! Get out!"

"Fine, I'll go. Now get your hands off me and stop pushing me!" Dru spat at the house elf. She looked at the man again and took the letter out of her other boot. "Could you please give this to Rose and do asked her to write back? I haven't heard from her for too long." she gave the letter to the man and stepped into the fireplace. She then reached for a small pelt in her pocket and got out her flo powder. "It was nice to meet you, sir. I'll have to tell Rose she has a very handsome uncle."

The man couldn't help but to smile. "Nice to meet you too, Dru."

A few seconds later Dru step out of the fireplace in her own livingroom again. She dusted herself off when she heard; "Where have you been?"

Dru closed her eyes, she was busted! Her father, Lucius, was standing right behind her.

* * *

Ever since she had stupefied Dru all those weeks ago and had shifted the blame to Winky, she had felt happy, content and almost as if she was floating on a cloud. Whenever Winky told her to do something, she'd happily do it.

However, some things just felt wrong, such as lying to Dru when she wrote that letter. Winky and grandfather had been worried that Dru might suspect something if she didn't write back, considering Dru was a Malfoy and all.

She spent a lot of time with her father in his room, just looking at him, not really knowing why, and she could tell that from time to time, there were moments that he had broken free from the curse that grandfather had placed upon him. And today, he was giggling to himself after hearing someone arrive through the flo-network.

She wanted to stop him, she really did, but she wasn't allowed to leave the room, so she didn't. She wasn't allowed to make a sound, so she didn't, but when she heard Dru's voice, all she wanted to do was scream for her to get out. But she couldn't, because she wasn't allowed to make a sound, and it was fine.

When Winky brought the unconscious body of her father back into the room, Rose cuddled up to him and fell asleep.

* * *

"I'm going to ask you again, where have you been, young lady?" Lucius Malfoy said as he reached for Dru's wand in her boot.

Needless to say, the rest of the summer wasn't a pleasant one with her being grounded. She was allowed to spend time in the garden, but that was all she could do.  _'live a little'_ , she snorted at the thought and would plan on killing Rose later. She didn't dare sneak out again with her father around.

She was gutted when she was told she wasn't even allowed to go to the Quidditch World Cup with her family and see her friend Rose. She had been looking forward to it for months.

On the day of the World Cup Lucius, Narcissa and Draco left early around 5am to go to the World Cup. Dru got out of her bed and got dressed before going down stairs. She stopped in front of the fireplace for a while and contemplated her next move. If she couldn't go to the World Cup, she was at least going to go and have fun.  _'live a little'_ Rose had said, and she was probably going to get into trouble for this... again.

Shortly after landing in the Longbottom home she quietly opened the door to Neville's bedroom. The object of her affection (or obsession, she wasn't quite sure) was sleeping peacefully on his back. Dru smiled, he looked so adorable, and crawled on the bed. While she was still on her hands and knees, she was able to kiss him tenderly on his lips.

Neville slowly opened his eyes and smiled. "Hi."

"Hi babe."

Neville sat up straight and Dru crawled into his lap, putting her arms around his neck. "I thought you were grounded."

"I am! But they're not home for hours. So I wanted to spend the day with you."

Neville smiled and kissed Dru as his hands slipped under her shirt. She gasped in surprise as his hand felt cold to the touch on her warm skin. Her head started to race, she could see herself kissing Neville, but there was something different about this all.

It took Dru a few seconds to realise that she wasn't seeing this from her point of view but from  _his_. She had never been able to get inside Neville's head. She knew that lingering inside his mind wasn't the best of ideas, but curiosity never killed anyone before, well, not to her knowledge at least.

_Neville's hands started to undress her as he had pushed her down on the bed and sat down on top of her._

Dru started to panic, she didn't want to see this! She was unable to sever the connection and this was even more frustrating. Whenever she'd connect with Rose, she could be in and out in a second, but for some reason, Neville's consciousness kept sucking her right back in.

All of a sudden she found herself on the floor of Neville's bedroom. She had no idea how she got there. She quickly patted herself down with her hands and realised that she was still wearing her clothes.

She looked up to the bed and saw Neville sitting up straight, his eyes were closed and his hand was rubbing his forehead. Had she hurt him?

"Neville?" Dru asked, unsure of herself.

"What did you do?" Neville groaned for an answer.

She quickly scrambled to her feet and sat down next to him. "I don't know. I don't even know what happened!"

Neville smiled weakly. "You shouldn't enter a teenage boy's mind when he's kissing his girlfriend. That's private."

"I'm sorry," She giggled, and a chuckle escaped from Neville's lips. "But I still don't get how I got on the ground." Dru said and rubbed her own head. She never had had any problems at all with connecting her mind to another, but there were at least ten Goblins inside of her head right now, pounding away with their little hammers and she wanted to kill them all.

"You panicked! You pushed yourself away from me and fell off the bed." Neville put an arm around her and smiled, the boy was too forgiving. "Why didn't you just get out of my head?"

"I wanted to, but I couldn't! I lost control. That never happened to me before." She sighed and put head on Neville's shoulder. "Sorry, this wasn't what I had in mind for today."

Neville smiled and gently pat her knee. "Let's get some breakfast."

When Dru returned home a few hours later, the house was still blissfully empty. She went to her bedroom and waited for everyone to come home. She couldn't wait to hear from Draco how it had been, it must have been an epic competition. She didn't really care about the Bulgarians, but she loved the Irish. She was now starting to regret that she got grounded and hadn't been allowed to go to the World Cup.

She was somewhat  _glad_ that she hadn't been allowed to go when Draco told her upon his return what had happened with a big smile on his face.

After the game, there had been Death Eaters all over the place and someone had summoned the Dark Mark. It didn't take Dru long to realise that her father, Lucius, had been one of the death eaters.

Dru looked at her brother in horror. He was really liking this, he had received a genuine kick out of all the mayhem. Dru hated Death Eaters. She could now only hope that Draco would never become one.

* * *

Rose blinked when her father apparated inside his room, and there wasn't a house elf in sight. "Hi!" She smiled widely. "You're not supposed to be without WInky! Or the cloak!"

" _Finite_ ," her father muttered, using Rose's wand that he had found downstairs. "Rose, we need to talk."

The fog in her head slowly lifted and images were flooding inside her head of the World Cup, the Death Eaters and what her father had done, almost as if she needed to catch up. But she had already seen this, why was it coming back to her now? She looked at her father as he knelt down in front of her. He didn't look like a maniac even though he was clearly free again from the curse. No, if she had to choose an emotion that would fit him now was that he was clear-headed and determined.

"How...-" it was still unclear though what had happened. Had grandfather put her under a curse and had her father cleared it? Father had always been a more superior wizard than grandfather, well at least that's how the stories went but why would her grandfather have done that in the first place? Or had her grandfather told her imperioused father to use the curse on her? "Oh... I think I'm going to be sick..." she muttered.

"Just breathe through it, Rose, it'll get better," her father said as he caressed her hair. "I am so sorry, so sorry."

Well that answered that question then. She slowly nodded for an answer.

"I am going to look for Lord Voldemort," he said with a smile on his face.

Okay so her father was still a demented old sod. She took a deep breath and nodded again. "You want my help, don't you father? And if I say no? What would you do?"

"I... I don't wish to hurt you, my sweet and beautiful child, but my allegiance lies with  _him_ and you are such a talented young witch... well you're a half-blood."

"Oh gee, thank you!" Rose shot a glare at her father and really wished she hadn't because her head had started to hurt again.

"He would not harm you if I would ask him not to, I am his most loyal servant."

"I can't believe we are having this conversation, father." Rose groaned as she slumped back into her chair. "And I can't believe you're asking me to help you find him. Next thing you want me to tell you is how you'd get Harry Potter to him."

"Did you see?" Her father replied with an eagerness in his voice. "Did you see me bringing Harry Potter to him? Oh that would be glorious, wouldn't it?"

"No, forget it!" The time for the war wasn't now, it wasn't in the near future, but in a couple of years, she wanted to give Harry at least a fighting chance if the right side of Magic had to win. "You can find  _him_ at his old house, but you're going to leave me out of it."

"You've seen it! You have!"

"Father..."

"Oh you know I wouldn't hurt you, Rose! You're a Mudblood but you're my daughter! And I am certain he sees it that way too, after all, I love him and he..."

"Dad please, you're making me feel sick."

"You are going to tell me  _exactly_ how I can get Harry Potter to him this year."

"No!"

" _Imperio!_ "

And back on her floating cloud she was, unable to resist answering all of her father's questions after he had taken her somewhere grandfather or Winky wouldn't be. She told him  _everything_ that she could see, and hated herself for it. Why wasn't she able to resist this? But it felt so good to tell everything that she had seen, as if she was being a very good girl while all she wanted to do was cry.

She hoped that her father would wipe her memory too, because it would be cruel for her to walk around with everything she had done, everything she had done to help getting Harry Potter to Voldemort. It would be so cruel to know that she had blood on her hands, and knowing that there wasn't much that could be done about it because it  _had_ to happen.

She realised that Harry had to suffer this year, that Hogwarts had to suffer this year, only to come out stronger, but -

Rose yawned as she got out of bed from the smell of breakfast. Glorious, old fashioned breakfast. She had always loved continental breakfasts, but Winky usually refused to make it for her, but this smelled good! She hopped into her slippers and made her way down the stairs to join her grandfather at the table. "Good morning!"

"Sweetheart, I have something to tell you, and you are not going to like it," Grandfather said with a sigh.

"Whatever it is, it can't be too bad."

"Your father... he finally managed to escape."

"Oh..." she said as she took a bite from her sausage. "Okay," she shrugged as she chewed on it. "I'm sure that you've done everything you could, grandfather. How was the World Cup?"

"A success," he smiled widely and handed Rose a green and white coloured scarf. "The game was very exciting, but you wouldn't have liked it, your friend Dru wasn't there."

"She wasn't? Oh, that's a bummer, oh well, better luck next time! When do I have to go back to Hogwarts?"

"In a couple of days."

"Okay," she smiled and used her fork to get some egg onto a piece of toast. "So... I'm going to Diagon Alley to get new books?"

"You're still a bit under the weather, my dear. I shall go myself to get you what you need."

"Right, because I've been... sick all summer?" Rose nodded as she wolfed down the remainder of her breakfast. "Where's Winky?"

"Unfortunately, she was the one who didn't keep an eye on your father as I had instructed her to," Grandfather sighed. "I had to give her clothes."

Rose stared at her grandfather, for some reason nothing of the conversation made any sense. "Where is she now?"

"Who knows? But not to worry, you're a big enough girl to take care of yourself when I'm not here, and you'll be going back to school soon." Grandfather said and rose from his seat. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I am late for work."

"Enjoy your day, grandfather!" She smiled widely and watched him disaparate.


	3. Back to Hoggiewarts

She literally pounced on Dru when she saw her on the platform towards the train. "I missed you!" she squealed. "How was your summer?"

Dru hugged her friend with a big smile on her face. "You should be so proud of me, Rose. I was grounded all summer."

"Ah, better grounded than ill, I can't remember most of my summer," she replied and put an arm around her friend before walking towards the train. "However, you can't tell me that you haven't snuck out... wait... is that what got you into trouble? Sneaking out to see Neville?"

"Well, no! Not really." her friend replied. "I did sneak out twice to see him, but.." Dru's happy face almost turned into a frown.

"But, what?"

"Let's just say It didn't really go as I had hoped. First time I spent half the night crying and the second time... well that was just really weird."

"Oh, young love, it's so adorable," Rose smiled with a bounce in her step. "Did your brother at least behave himself or do I have to beat him up?"

"I didn't see much of him." Dru lied. Draco's behavior about the mayhem after the world cup made Dru want to keep him out if Rose's way. "Have you spoken to Neville yet?"

"No, I haven't seen him," she replied and fumbled a banana out of her pocket. She released it from its jacket and started to eat it. "But I'm sure he'll turn up."

Dru decided it was better to talk about it before Neville joined the girls in the train compartment. She closed the door as soon as the girls got in and take care of their stuff. "Rose, something happened last time I was with Neville."

"What happened? Did he try and force himself upon you? You know that teenage boys are unreliable and thinking about sex all the time, don't you?" Rose said, still munching on her banana as she shrugged off her coat.

"Rose, first of all, this is Neville we're talking about. He wouldn't know  _how_  to force himself on a girl." Dru was getting a bit frustrated.

"Boys are boys, and Neville is a boy. Honestly, if we want him to be more... pro-active, we need to start treating him as such and not act as if he's the most precious thing there is."

"I meant he's ... He's a good guy. He would never hurt me like that." Dru didn't like that Rose was implying that Neville would do something like that to her. "I'm trying to talk to you about something important here."

"I know, but he's still a boy." she waved her hand around and sat down in the seat. "And stop beating around bushes then and tell me what is going on."

"I got into his mind. And I couldn't get out. I lost complete control. It was so scary."

"I can imagine," Rose said after a while and pulled her knees to her chest. She rested her head on top of her knees and looked at her. "What do you think happened?"

"I have no idea! I never lose control. But, Rose, I think I scared Neville too. I mean... he hasn't kissed me since!"

"Oh don't be so dramatic, I'm sure that everything is fine, and don't worry about losing control in the future, we're going back to Hogwarts, remember? Best teachers ever, and I'm willing to bet they wouldn't mind helping you out."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll just go to McGonagall and tell her that while I was making out with my boyfriend, I got my mind stuck in his. where I had to witness, the one thing he  _really_  wanted to do was to have  _sex_  with me." Dru said sarcastic.

The train started to go on his way. Dru laid down the seat on her side. She closed her eyes. Maybe Rose did have a point. Dru could asked if Snape could help her teach Neville how to close her mind. Although it would be tough getting Neville in one room with Snape if he didn't have to.

"At least you now know that the feeling's truly mutual? Dru, what do you want me to do? I'm the last person who can help you after last year's problem with my own thing."

"Yeah, but that's not your fault. You were out of focus because little miss know-it-all and her timeturner. Not because you're a hopeless always know how to help me, Please?"

Dru took a deep signe. "Rosalie, please? You're better in this than me. You're the smart one of us. If Neville want can't you help him close his mind against me? If he ever show up at least. You don't think he missed the train, do you?"

Rose sighed. "Okay fine, I'll see what I can do but I'm not making any promises, okay? Because I've been sick for the last eight weeks and I'm  _off_."

Dru got up, almost jumped into Rose's lap and gave her a big hug. "You're the best friend, ever."

"I don't know about that," she chuckled.

"Yes, you are. But I've got some sad news for you."

"Shoot," she said and rummaged in her bag. "Want a Muggle soda?"

"No, I'm not eating or drinking anything muggle ever again. But back to the sad news," she said as she was still sitting in Rose's lap. "I've been  _very_  lonely this summer. So if that Longbottom boy doesn't show up, I'm sitting on your lap for the remainder of the trip." Dru giggled and put an arm around Rose. She was so happy to have her friend back.

"Hey, as long as you don't want to have sex with me, it's fine."

"Rose, you are disgusting."

"Oh, and I'm not kissing you either," she remarked as she sipped her soda. "But as long as you're comfortable... fine by me."

"One kiss? That way you can compare mine to Draco's." She said teasingly, pretending to give Rose a kiss.

"You're gross!" Rose laughed and moved her head away. "You know... I might still be infectious... I don't think it's healthy to sit so close to me!"

Dru threw her hands in the air, giving up. "Well, at least I tried." She got up and laid down on the seats opposite Rose. She closed her eyes. If Neville wasn't gonna show up, she might as well get some sleep. She knew Rose would soon try to sleep as well. It didn't take more than two minutes for Dru to fall asleep.

Rose had been sleeping for an hour, when she was gently woken up. When she opened her eyes, she was looking at Draco's face. He was kneeled down on the ground next to her.

Rose growled as she saw Draco, expecting another useless come on from him. She glanced over to the other side of the cabin. Neville was sitting in his usual seat by the window. He must have joined the girls after they had fallen asleep. Dru's head was on his legs as they were both sleeping

"How has your summer been?" Draco asked trying to start a conversation with her.

"What do you want?" She asked tiredly, he was either going to ask about Neville and Dru, or ask for something that would annoy her even more.

Draco turned his head towards his sister. He didn't look pleased.

Rose signed. "Look, I'm not gonna help split them up. So before you-"

"I wasn't going to ask you that. I've already realised that if I leave the both of them alone, they'll break up eventually. They're from two completely different worlds and they'll soon realise that it's not going to work."

"Yeah, speaking of which," Rose said, finally sitting up and trying to pull back her hair in a ponytail. "You and me, not going to work," she shook her head. "Look, before you say anything, your family is all about keeping the blood line pure. You're supposed to hate people like me."

"Yes, but you..."

"I'm still a mudblood, Draco," she said with a slight smile. "Regardless of who my father is, my mother was a powerless Muggle. It's in your best interest to find someone who's pure blooded like yourself and just forget about me, okay?"

"Fine," Draco spat after a moment of silence. Rose could tell that he wasn't too happy about it but he also knew that Rose was right. In the long run, they couldn't work. "I just wanted to ask you to keep an eye on her for a few days and here you're lecturing me about bloodlines."

"You started it," she pointed out and took a sip of her soda before the warmth would ruin it even further. Draco seemed worried, truly worried about Dru and that sparked a curiosity inside of her. "Why?"

"She was shaken by something that happened a few days ago. She won't tell me what it is, but it has gotten to her. I think this is the first time she slept in days. Just keep an eye on her and if something is wrong, let me know?" Draco got up on his feet again.

"She'll be alright." Rose said, hoping to give a little bit of comfort. "Dru's easily spooked. And please don't give me that little package you have in your pocket? I know you brought me something from Bulgaria, and I think it's adorable, but I just told you that we would not work, or well, we would, but it wouldn't be beneficial for you. Give it to someone else. Thanks though," she smiled at him and got up to hug him. "You're going to make a great boyfriend to someone one day."

"You scare me sometimes," Draco said, stepping away and opened the compartment door. "But okay, I trust your insights. Thanks for being honest." He then quickly hurried away.

Dru suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. She opened her eyes and looked at Rose. "What did you say to him?"

"Hey, good afternoon," Rose said as she sat back down. "I told him the truth... I'm a mudblood, he shouldn't be seen with me... You're already tainted because you like Neville so we can hang around still if you like."

"I know you're right. You two aren't meant for eachother, but..."

"But what? You want me to string him along until your father finds out?" She responded and shook her head. "No no, this is the best for him, he's probably a little bit hurt right now but he'll get over it."

"Rose, I know you're right. Really, I do. I'm just feeling what he's feels right now. I just hate it when he's sad like this."

"You feel this? Or have you peeked into his head and saw dark clouds?" Rose said, tossing her soda bottle in the bin and reached for more food in her bag. An apple would do. "Because if you feel someone else's emotions, that's something entirely different."

Dru sat up straight. "No. I woke up, because I felt him being sad. Rose, something is happening to me. Everything is screwed up."

"Maybe you're evolving? How am I supposed to know? I'm only 14. You need to talk to a teacher... I'm sorry."

"You're right. I'll talk to Snape, maybe he can help me." Dru looked at Neville, who was still sleeping. "Don't tell Neville about it will you. He'll just be worried. I'll tell him as soon as I know what's going on."

Rose shrugged as she bit into her apple. "You know me. So hey, what was the World Cup like? Grandfather told me it was a success?"

Dru looked at Rose with a surprised look. "Didn't your grandfather tell you? Rose, it was anything but a succes!" She vacated her seat and sat down next to her friend. "Somebody casted a dark mark."

"The game itself, it was a success, right?" Rose shrugged. "I didn't ask him what happened  _after_  the game."

"Rose, aren't you listening to me? Somebody casted the dark mark!" Dru raised her voice. She didn't get why Rose seemed to be so disconnected. It was frustrating.

"I am not surprised, Dru." Rose said calmly. "I told you about the upcoming war, it has to happen and I'm not surprised that it's been set into motion."

"Are you two talking about the world cup?" Neville asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"No," Rose replied and finished eating her apple. "Hi Neville, glad you could join us today."

"Yeah, I got hold up by Seamus and Dean. They... they wanted to talk to me about something."

"About what?" Dru asked.

"Nothing important." Neville said as he looked out if the window. Dru looked at Rose. He was clearly lying.

"I think that they're a little bit jealous about the fact that Neville spends more time with  _girls_  rather than them." Rose grinned and got a mars bar out of her bag and started to eat that as well.

"Merlin, you're worse than that Ron Weasley." Dru said to Rose smiling.

"What?" She blinked at her friend. "I haven't been fully aware of the world for two months because I was ill, I didn't eat a lot either and I just like stuffing my face right now."

"Really? What's your excuses for the rest of the year?" Dru smiled. She looked over at Neville, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She hadn't seen him since the last time she went to visit him at his home.

"You know what?" Rose said, getting up with a smile. "How about you two catch up, without the third wheel," she opened the door of the compartment and reached for her bag. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she winked and made her way out.

"Well, that doesn't leave us with much to do." Dru smiled and looked at the floor. She always felt a bit nervous around Neville, feeling like he turn on her at any point. That he didn't want her anymore. That she wasn't good enough anymore.

Neville was still looking out if the window. He wasn't sure what to say.

Suddenly she felt a nagging sensation in the back of her head. Dru sighed and realised that Rose was feeding her imagines of Dru kissing Neville, trying to help them along. "Stop it, Rose." she muttered.

"It's not easy, you know." Neville spoke up with a sigh. "You pretty much scared me when you got into my head... why do you do that without an invitation? It's rude. I felt completely naked."

Dru got up from her seat and sat down next to Neville. "I'm sorry," She took Neville's hand in hers. "But you have to understand something. I didn't go into your head on purpose. I do, with Rose or Draco and, honestly, I've really tried to get into your head in the past. But what happened a few days ago was different. My mind made a connection with yours on its own. I didn't...-" Dru took a deep sigh. She looked at her and Neville's hand. He was still holding hers. Maybe it was better to tell him the truth.

"Do you remember last year, Neville? You'd told me that if I'd told you about my monsters, you'd keep me safe? Do you still mean that?"

Neville didn't say anything. He hated it if Dru or Rose were having problems. Somehow he usually was the one ending up as collateral damage.

"Something is wrong with my … thing," she hated the word 'gift' as it was currently feeling more like a curse. "But monday I'm going to Snape. I'm going to tell him everything and ask for help. Maybe we could ask him if he could teach you how to block your mind to me. He taught Draco how to do it."

"Snape scares me," Neville answered and then looked at her, he was obviously worried. "Are you okay though?"

"I'll think so. My head just hurts. Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" Dru put her chin on his shoulder as she looked at him.

"I was never mad... you just frighten me, that's all." Neville smiled and softly caressed her hair.

"You seem to forget I'm the one who got to see what you wanted to do to me. I think I got the scary part." She teased him. Neville smiled and gently kissed her. Dru put her arms around his neck as she kissed him back.

Suddenly the nagging sensation was back. Rose was still feeding her imagines. Dru put her hand infront of her eyes, trying to block out the pain it was causing her. "Stop it." She muttered. she tried to sent Rose a message to stop, because Rose was hurting her. But getting into Rose's head increased her headache. "I don't understand. It never hurt before."

"Can I do something to help?" Neville asked concerned as Dru was clearly feeling more pain by the second.

Dru put her head on Neville's lap. "Please find Rose and tell her to stop."

"Stop what?"

"Just tell her."

Neville was just about to get up when Rose came back into the compartment. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. One minute she was fine, the next she was in pain." Neville was still caressing her hair, trying to comfort her. "You know she told me to find you and tell you to stop. What the hell were you doing to her?" Neville shot at Rose, thinking that Dru's agony was Rose's fault.

"This is not my fault. I didn't do anything I haven't done a million times before." Rose snapped back at him. She kneeled down next to Dru and put her hand on Dru's head. How dare Neville blame her for this. "You know this never happened until a few days ago."

Neville looked angry at Rose. "Are you blaming me for this? You two are the ones with special gifts. I can't see the future or read minds."

"Maybe not, but Dru never had any problems until she got into  _your_  dirty thoughts."

Neville's face turned red. But this time his anger seem to overpower his embarrassment. "Yeah, but she didn't tell  _me_ to stop though, did she? She told  _you_  stop."

Rose got on her feet and looked down at Neville. "Look, I was just trying to help you two make up."

Neville gently lifted Dru, got up and laid her down on the seat. Then he turned to Rose. "We're doing fine on our own. Thank you very much."

Rose put her hands to her side as she looked up at Neville. The fact that he was a lot taller than she was, didn't intimidate her. "Really? Because it seems like everytime I turn around there's another Neville and Dru crisis  **I**  seem to have to solve."

"If I have a fight with my girlfriend, I'm capable of solving it myself."

Rose could feel her blood boiling. After everything she had done for him. If it hadn't been for her, Neville would have never been brave enough to make things right again with Dru after their fight last year. Let alone, kiss her. "You ungrateful git!" she spat, "You can barely hold your wand! You really want to tell me you can take care Dru now?"

Neville thought about the promise he made about keeping Dru save. "Yeah, I can. I don't need your help. We're fine if you're not with us."

"You're joking, right! You two wouldn't last two days without my help."

"You're just jealous of us. Because you can't get anyone."

Rose chuckled. "I can get anyone I want, but I don't want to have a boyfriend."

"Nobody wants you, Rose! Just Draco, but he only wants you because he knows who you are!"

Rose pulled out her wand and pointed it at Neville. "Who am I then, you bungling idiot!" her voice sounded menacing.

Neville now had his own wand out aswell. "You're a basket case. Just like your -"

"Will you guys please stop it." Dru suddenly had gotten up and was now standing between her friends. Neville and Rose looked at her. They both seem to have forgotten for a moment that Dru was still in the compartment.

When she saw that her friends had both lowered their wands, Dru nearly collapsed as she sat back down in her seat.

"Are you okay?" Neville asked. He kneeled down in front of her.

Dru nodded. "You are both not to blame for this. This is my fault, not Rose's fault." She said as she looked at Neville. "or Neville's." She looked at Rose.

"You told me to ask Rose to stop." Neville put his hand on Dru's cheek as he looked at her with a worried look on his face. He was still not convinced she was okay, nor that this wasn't Rose's fault, for some reason he never trusted her.

"Because it hurt, but Rose did not know that. It never hurt before. How was she supposed to know it hurts now!" Dru took Rose's hand. "It's not your fault, but could you maybe close your mind to me. At least for the time being, until I figure out what's going on?"

"Of course I will," Her friend nodded and then muttered to herself that she had been doing that ever since she stepped on the platform and had only fed her a few images without letting  _her_  in. Rose sat down by the window across from Neville, who had taken his seat again as well. As Neville pulled a still fragile looking Dru in his arms, he looked at Rose and she looked back at him. They were definitely not friends anymore.

* * *

By the time the train had reached Hogwarts, Dru was feeling a bit better, but she clearly wasn't herself yet. Rose and Neville had both insisted that she would go to the hospital wing, but Dru wouldn't hear of it. She didn't want to miss the opening feast.

Neville finally gave in. Dru was still a bit unsteady on her feet, so Neville put one arm around her trying to give her some support without other people noticing that Dru wasn't well.

Even though Rose wasn't speaking to Neville, she didn't want to let Dru out of her sight and accompanied them to the carriages. While they were waiting for the carriage to arrive, she noticed something strange.

A few meters to her left, the rest of the Gryffindor fourth-years were standing talking to each others while sneakily looking at the trio. They were clearly talking about them and certainly not sneaky.

Rose suddenly was reminded that Neville had acted a bit strange when he mentioned being held up by Seamus and Dean. She'd wanted to ask Neville about it, but then she realised they're weren't on speaking terms anymore. As their carriage arrived, Rose decided to let it go.

They arrived at the great hall before their classmates and took their seats at the Gryffindor table. A few minutes later, they were joined by the other fourth-years and Ginny, Fred and George. They sat down around next to them. "Are you feeling better Rose? We heard you have been sick all summer?" Hermione asked.

"Who told you that?" Rose asked surprised, she was surprised on two accounts, one, Hermione wasn't supposed to know, and two, Hermione had barely spoken two words to her in four years.

"We heard Lucius Malfoy tell Draco. Apparently he heard it from your grandfather." Ron responded. "But you're feeling better now?"

Rose nodded as she looked around her. Neville had always been on good terms with their other classmates, but Rose and Dru were never really accepted. But now Ron and Hermione were talking to her as if they were.

The others started talking about their summers and they continued to asked Rose a few things too. It took Rose a while to realise that the only one not being asked questions or talking was Dru, who had noticed it too. She just sat there all quiet looking at the others.

Rose reached out her hand over the table and put it on Dru's arm. Dru looked up at Rose and gave a weak smile. "Are you okay?" Rose asked quietly.

Dru nodded. "I'm fine. Stop fussing over me."

Rose tilted her head a little. "Are you sure?"

Neville put his arm around Dru and pulled her closer to him, while giving Rose an angry look. "She said she was fine, Now drop it!"

Rose let Dru's arm go and turned her head around. She could see Draco looking over at them. He too clearly noticed something wasn't right with his sister.

Rose was just about to get up and go over to him to tell him what happened on the train when Dumbledore told everyone to be quiet. Rose looked over to the table at the end where all the teachers were sitting and gasped. Between them was a very familiar face; her grandfather!

He hadn't told her that he was coming to Hogwarts! The introduction and explanation of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the arrivals of the Beauxbaton students and those from Durmstrang got her mind off things for a moment. She had to admit, she wanted to hurt the pretty faces of the French school and was impressed by the guys from Durmstrang. She was not surprised to see Krum there, but hated the way that he was almost worshipped by everyone in the hall.

The food was great, as always, and Rose decided to leave Dru and Neville alone, and ignored everything and everyone around her. She had been wrong into saying so much in the last few hours, not to mention she'd spoken to Hermione and she was wondering why they were suddenly talking to her. Was it because she had been sick for two months? Did that make her special or something?

She grunted when she dug into her second helping of chicken when the table changed into desserts and Professor Dumbledore started to explain more about the Tournament, and only looked up from her ice cream when her grandfather started to speak. Of course, it was quite entertaining when a soaking wet Professor Moody (yes, THE professor Moody, famed Auror and whatnot) entered the hall and changed the entire hall's atmosphere by accident. She deemed it quite fitting that thunder and lightening interrupted her grandfather's speech.

For someone who worked for the Ministry, her grandfather wasn't one for holding public speeches very well. He was obviously very nervous. "Oh this is embarrassing," Rose muttered and tried to make herself shrink so she could hide behind Dean.

She was glad when the evening was over and she could retreat to the Dormitory. She decided to leave Dru alone and nurse her headache while Rose continued to ignore everyone around her by burying her nose deep inside a book.

* * *

It was the first DADA given to the fourth-years this year. The entire school had been buzzing with stories about Allistor "Mad-eye" Moody. It was no surprise that the students were all early in the class to get good seats. Well, all except for Neville and Dru. The class had been in session for five minutes, when Neville and Dru came into the class. They were both out of breath. "Sorry, professor. we...we'd left our books back in the common room." Dru's voice said.

"Take your seats." The Professor replied, not caring that they were late.

Dru took the seat next to Rose and Neville made his way up to the front to sit next down Dean.

Rose took a long look at Dru, who bit her lip not to smile and looked at the table. "Where were you really?"

"Common room. We lost track of time." Dru smirked.

Rose shook her head laughing.

Rose and Dru listened to Moody and where both in shock as he started talking about the unforgivable curses.

"You don't did he would.." But Before Dru could answer her own question, Moody had called Neville to his desk and showed the Cruciatus Curse on a spider.

Dru's face turned as white as a ghost when she saw the torment in Neville's eyes. The tears were rolling down her face and suddenly her head started racing. She grabbed Rose's arm. "Let me in." She whispered in agony.

It took Rose no more than two seconds to let Dru in before she got a taste of what her friend was seeing; Neville's parents being tortured by Dru's own mother, and Rose spotted her father in the background.

Dru suddenly felt somebody tugging on her arm. She snapped out of whatever it had been and and stared into a pair of grey eyes belonging to her brother. "Come on." She followed the whisper and let the person take her hand and lead her out of the classroom.

As Dru was lead down the staircase towards the dungeons, she could hear somebody running behind them, trying to catch up.

"Where are you taking her? She should go to the infirmary!" Rose said after she had caught up with the two Malfoys.

"Later, i'm taking her to Professor Snape first." Draco replied.

"Snape?"

Draco didn't reply to Rose and just burst into Snape's classroom, where he was teaching the sixth years. "What's the meaning of this, Malfoy?" Snape asked.

"Here, Hold her." Draco asked Rose as he walked to the front of the class.

Rose reluctantly put her arm around her friend, wondering why she was even accepting all the hugging and other touches over the last few days.

"My head."she moaned.

"I know," Rose softly said.

The eyes of the entire class were trained on Dru and it made Rose feel uncomfortable. She knew that she was Dru's friend and all (or supposed to be) but she should have told someone about her advancing ability a lot sooner!

Professor Snape waved them into his office and when the two Malfoy's and Rose were inside, Snape closed the door behind them. He pulled out a stair with his wand and Rose helped Dru into it.

Snape kneeled down in front of Dru and examined her. "What happened?"

"Well, she started screaming for no reason." Draco said.

Rose looked at him. "I didn't hear her scream."

"Well, you were in pain too. I could see you clutching your head." Draco said

At hearing this Snape turned around to Rose. "Miss Shepherd?"

"She asked me to let her in and I did. But she was losing control again. I could feel it."

"Again? You mean this happened before? Why didn't you tell me?" Draco snapped as he grabbed Rose by her wrist.

"She told me not to. She said she was gonna talk to Snape on Monday. She promised!" She hissed at Draco and tugged on her arm, she wanted her wrist back!

"You may not be in my class, but you still address me with sir of Professor." Snape's cold voice spoke.

"Sorry, Sir."

"Miss Shepherd, tell me what happened earlier to Druella."

Dru gave a little grunt. She hated it being called by her full name.

Snape now turned back to Dru. "Can you tell me what happened?" his voice sounded concerned, almost gentle.

"I lost control of it during the summer. Just one time and then again on the train." her voice sounded weak.

Rose could feel Draco's grip on her wrist tighten and when she looked at him, she could see he was really, really angry with her.

"Mr Malfoy, I think you'd better release miss Shepherd's wrist, if you don't want to her to lose her hand," Snape spoke without looking at the two. He had put his hands on Dru's head, she was still in pain as Snape was trying to get into her head.

Snape let go of Dru's head eventually. He looked worried. "Miss Shepherd, could you please tell me what Miss Malfoy told you about her promise?"

"Well, just that she lost control and couldn't break the connection over the summer. And on the train she was in pain, when I tried to show her something in her head. Look, professor, I did that a million times before. She's never been in pain before."

"Nothing else?"

"Well, she did mention she was feeling Draco's pa- how Draco was feeling. She never felt anything before."

Snape nodded. "What about in class?"

"She told me to let her in, so I did and then I saw..." Rose looked at the ground as a terrifyingly thought crept up on her. She kneeled down in front of Dru and took her hands in her hands and made Dru look at her. Dru's dark eyes looked straight into Rose's. "Did you feel..."

Dru nodded and Rose gasped. "I could feel it. It was horrible."

"Rose, what did you guys see?" Draco asked. Rose didn't dare to look at him.

"Miss Shepherd, what did you see?" Snape's toon was now demanding.

Rose swallowed. "The crime her mother was sent to Azkaban for," Rose closed her eyes. She didn't want to see, hear or feel their reactions.

"Miss Shepherd, maybe you should take Miss Malfoy to Madame Pomfrey," Snape voice sounded calm, but Rose could hear his shock coming through it. Without speaking a word she pulled Dru out of her seat and started to walk towards the infirmary. Half way down the hall, they ran into Professor Moody.

"Ah, I was looking for you two. I need you in my office, miss Shepherd."

"I can't, sir, I have to take Dru to the infirmary."

Dru was coming back to herself and suddenly realised why she wanted to get into Rose's head in the first place. "Neville." she softly muttered. She let go of Rose's arm and just walked away, leaving Rose alone with Moody.

"Dru!"

"I'm fine!" Dru replied, her clear head was unexplainable but she needed to go and see Neville.

"That's the wrong way to the-"

"I KNOW!"

"Professor, she really needs to see madame Pomfrey," Rose said as she ran her hand through her hair. "Professor Snape said so too, and I'm worried that something might happen..."

"Don't worry about her, child. I am sure that Mr. Longbottom will take her to see Madame Pomfrey, now please, join me in my office." Alastor Moody said kindly as he put a hand around her shoulders.

She didn't like his office. To her, it looked like it was all clutter, just like her home. It was just stuff. "You have a lot of  _stuff_ , Sir." she remarked as she sat down.

"It's not just stuff, Rose, it's keeping me safe. You never know who can be trusted!"

"This is Hogwarts, Sir. I am sure you're perfectly safe."

"Ha!" Professor Moody took a swig of his flask (she was beginning to think that Harry had been right, that there wasn't any pumpkin juice in there, but up close she couldn't smell alcohol either).

"Why am I here, professor? I'm sorry I ran out of your class the other moment but Dru... if you want me to I'll write an essay on the Unforgivable Curses."

"You don't have to," Moody replied and used his wand to close the door. "I happen to know that you're pretty well versed with curses yourself, Miss Shepherd."

"Sorry, sir?"

"Wasn't there an incident at your house this summer where you used Stupefy against your friend?"

Rose blinked at the Professor and tried to think hard. "I'm not sure what you are talking about, sir. I have been sick all summer after eating a cake our house elf had made. Dru was with me for less than a few hours but she fell ill as well." She thought she could see a glimmer of regret wash over the Professor's face as he handed her some Pumpkin Juice. "To be honest, I don't know why it hit me harder than it had hit her."

"How do you feel about your grandfather being present here at Hogwarts?"

Rose didn't quite know how to answer that. She knew that Professor Dumbledore had informed all teachers about her family, but it was still weird. It had been weird too when Professor Lupin spoke of her family. And it wasn't as if he was the most bravest man that she knew. "I don't know, sir."

"Alright, well, drink your Pumpkin Juice," he smiled with a nod. "I just wanted you to know that if you feel the need to talk about something, anything, you can always come to me."

"Thank you sir," she replied as she sipped on the juice. It didn't quite taste like pumpkin. "Did you make this yourself?"

"Hmm?" Moody gave her a small, all knowing smile. "It's not that hard, but I do have to warn you that you might feel a little weird the next few days."

"Sorry?" Rose said alarmed as she dropped the glass out of her hands when she got up.

"Not to worry," he tapped his fake eye. "I could see that a lot of magic has been performed  _on_  you in the last two months, I am merely attempting to free you from it."

"You're mad."

"I'm usually right, now, I know that it's still early in the day, but I want you to go to your Dormitory and sleep this off."

"Okay." Rose shrugged and made her way out of Moody's office before heading straight to bed without questioning as to why.

* * *

Neville was sitting in a crowded common room. he just spent the last hour having to listen to his classmates telling him to end things with Dru. Apparently they heard the rumor that Neville was just a bet between the Malfoy's. Neville wanted nothing more than to tell them to stop, that he knew that it was lie, but somehow he couldn't. He just didn't feel like himself after DADA class today.

Dru walked into the room and looked around the room. when she saw Neville sitting on the sofa, she quickly ran towards him and threw her arms around her neck. "I'm sorry."

Neville wanted to put his arms around hers and tell her it was okay, but instead he gently took her arms and pried them off of him. "Don't do that." he could hear himself say it, even though he didn't want to.

Dru looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Neville, you know I didn't mean to. I told you I can't -"

"You still did it." Neville's voice was cold and harsh.

Dru looked at him in shock. "Neville, please." her voice was shaky.

"I'm done with you," Neville wanted to kick himself in the head. Why was he saying that?

"What do you mean?" The entire common room was now quiet and watched them.

"I've decided that I don't want you anymore. You're too … high maintenance." No, you're not. Dru, I don't mean this.

Dru got up from the sofa. "Too high maintenance? What the hell does that mean!" she was no longer in tears, but she was getting angry.

"I mean you're be more trouble to me then you're worth." No, you're not. please don't listen to me.

"Don't be so mean." Ginny shot as Neville as she had just came into the room and heard what he said.

Dru took a deep breath as she tried to remain calm. "You know what? I'll go upstairs and we'll talk tomorrow when you... calm down or something." Dru turned around and wanted to walk away.

Neville had been wanting to stop her through their entire fight, but his body wouldn't cooperate. but seeing Dru walk away suddenly made Neville able to grab her wrist. "Why don't you go off and run to your little Blaise, then." Too bad he couldn't control what he was saying though.

"Stop this, Neville. Or I'll swear you'll regret this." Dru's voice was sounding low and threatening, matching the creep factor of her brother.

"It's a good thing we're done, because everyday you're starting to look more and more like your mother." NO! Neville was screaming on the inside, but he just couldn't seem to stop himself.

Dru took a step closer to Neville. They're where now so close that anybody that had not just hear them fight would have thought they were about to kiss. "Go To Hell!" Her tone was calm and steady, but that made Neville realise even more that he couldn't never make this right again.

Dru turned on her heels and went up to the girls bedroom. Ginny stood there for a second and watched as Neville looked horrified at the spot where Dru had been standing. Seamus gave Neville a pat on the back and Ginny could hear Ron mutter to Neville. "You did the right thing, mate."

Rose woke up because she heard someone cry. No, she was not going to look who it was! She opened her eyes and saw that it was Dru. Sighing, she reluctantly got off her own bed and sat down next to Dru, patting her back. "Welcome back to Hoggiewarts," she muttered to herself.


	4. Nightmares and Curses, oh my!

The next morning was Friday. Dru was up at the crack of dawn and went out for a long walk on the ground. She didn't return to the castle until it was time for breakfast. Sure, it was forbidden to leave the castle when it was still dark out, but she felt like she had to, just to clear her mind.

As she walked to the table, she could see her fellow Gryffindor students look at her, but Dru decided not to let it get to her. She sat down opposite of Rose, who was eating her breakfast already, but looking a little pink around the nose.

"Where were you?" Rose asked with her mouth full as she took a sip of her milk.

She pulled up her nose at her friend disgusting behavior. "I went for a walk. I wanted some fresh air to think."

"Okay," she replied and shoved her plate to the side as she nursed her cup of tea. Whatever Moody had given her the day before, it did make her feel weird and she was thinking about things that she didn't even realised that had been gone. Something about Dru getting upstairs somewhere.

Dru took some toast, but only had two bites before putting it down on her plate again. She looked up when Ginny sat down next to her, which caused Harry and Ron, who were sitting next to Rose, to give the tiny redhead a very angry look.

Ginny looked back at  _her_  boys, before turning back to Dru. "Have you talked to Neville, yet?" she inquired and then shot an angry look at Ron for kicking her under the table. "That hurt, Ron."

"No and I'm not going to either." Dru replied.

"But he's been desperately looking for you everywhere. He's so sorry about last night."

She shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't mad at him anymore, but she still didn't want to talk to him ever again.

"Dru, I know he was really mean, but there were also others involved..." Ginny had gotten another kick from Ron and was now receiving more angry looks for people sitting at the table.

"Ow!" Ron cried out and looked at his sister with fury in his eyes, but she looked as surprised as he was.

"Ron, if you kick your sister one more time, I'll kick higher." Dru deadpanned. "Ginny, you're being sweet trying to help. But I don't want to talk to him."

"I think she deserves the entire story," Rose suddenly spoke up, looking at Seamus and Dean, before looking at Ron and Harry. "Excuse me," she said as she got to her feet and ran towards the nearest bathroom. Her stomach felt funny.

Dru quickly got up, grabbed both her and Rose's bag and ran after her friend. "Rose, are you okay?"

"Leave me alone," she replied from her cubicle. "Go back to breakfast, I suppose I'm not better yet. Stupid cake. Did too much in too short of a time. I'll be fine. Now leave me and stop running away when you're just about to get answers. Or you know, go to the infirmary, that's where you were supposed to go yesterday to get your head examined! Leave!"

"Come on, Rose. Don't turn things around on me. I'm fine now, funny enough. I'm more worried about you."

"Just leave me alone,"

"Rosalie Shepherd, if you don't tell me right now what the hell is wrong with you, I'm getting Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore in here."

"No you're not. Because you didn't listen to Professor Snape yesterday either, he wanted you in the... Just leave, okay? I'll be fine. Let me shit in peace."

"Rose, you might be full of shit, but you're not getting it out now, at least not out of the right end. Just talk to me, I'm your friend remember?"

She didn't reply and just sat on the toilet seat until her friend would leave. She was like a pitbull, not wanting to let go or let people suffer in silence. At least Rose's grandfather had left Hogwarts again and was back to work, he'd raise even more hell, although Dru only threatened to.

"Fine, I'll go." Dru walked out of the bathroom, only to be back with professor McGonagall within two minutes. Apparently Ginny had already warned her something was up with Rose.

"Miss Shepherd, are you alright in there?"

"I am fine, professor. It's funny how..." she took a deep breath as her stomach hurt. "It's funny how when we go into a lot of trouble in getting Dru's head checked out by Madame Pomfrey that she's not going and when I feel a little ill that you're here. I just had something wrong to eat, I'll be fine."

"Yes." McGonagall glanced at Dru. "I'll get to Miss Malfoy later, but are you sure you're alright?"

"I just have a bad case of the cramps, that's all, and with you guys in here, it makes it really hard to you know... relieve the cramp?" Rose sighed. "Yes, I have no shred of dignity left. I'm sorry professor but Dru's worried for nothing, and I've told her that. She did not believe me." She bit her lip, she had been holding onto her stomach for the entire conversation and just wanted to be left alone. Rose was going to find Professor Moody as soon as she was feeling better and demand an explanation.

"Ah yes, Come along, Miss Malfoy. We'll leave Miss Shepherd to... herself and I'll get you into the hospital wing."

Dru was protesting all the way when the professor lead her and the others out of the bathroom so that Rose could be left in peace.

In all fairness, Rose didn't have cramps. She had the need to vomit and she knew exactly why and she couldn't tell anyone why. She didn't want to get professor Moody fired because he'd poisoned a student. She was a big girl, she could do this on her own.

* * *

It was nearly time for supper by the time madame Pomfrey was satisfied that Dru was well enough to be let out of the Hospital Wing. She was furious with Rose for setting her up like that. She was now mad at both her friends and she was planning on not talking to Rose for the rest of the evening, which was easy as she already wasn't talking to Neville anymore. She was on her way to the great hall for dinner, when she decided she rather go to the common room and do her homework.

In the common room she put a big pillow in the windowseat, took a blanket and made herself comfortable. After about an hour or so the common room started filling up with other classmates. They were all pretty much ignoring her and she didn't mind that at all. Dru was concentrating on her herbology homework, her least favorite subject. She was pretty sure she was going to do absolutely miserable at the subject this year. The last few years she only passed, because Neville had always been there for her, pulling her through as herbology was his best subject.

Dru was getting tired, so she put her book down and closed her eyes. She wanted to forget the last week had happened. That when she opened her eyes, she was still Neville's girlfriend and he and Rose were still friends. Dru felt how a tears rolled down her cheek.

"Dru, are you ok?"

She opened her eyes and saw Ginny standing next to her. Dru pulled her legs closer to her to make room for Ginny to sit, which she did.

"Is your head hurting again?"

"No."

"Are you homesick?"

"No."

"Do you miss Neville?"

"Yes?"

"Then talk to him!"

"No."

"But you miss him?"

"Yes."

"Then go find him, talk to him, kiss him or something!"

"No."

Ginny sighed. "By Merlin, you're stubborn."

Dru chuckled.

She then put a hand on Dru's arm. "Would you then talk to Dean and Seamus?"

Dru closed her eyes again. "Why?"

"So they can explain what they said to Neville."

"Ginny, what Neville said had nothing to do with Seamus, Dean or the others telling him about a stupid bet."

"You know about that?"

"I'm not stupid. The rumor is going around the whole school. It doesn't matter. Neville doesn't believe the rumor anyway."

"How do you know that?"

Dru opened her eyes and looked at Ginny. "Because I wrote Neville a letter at the beginning of the summer telling him that Draco had made up the story of the bet."

"I don't understand."

"Draco made up the story to get me out of trouble. My father saw me kiss Neville at the platform."

Ginny smiled. "I remember that."

Dru smiled too and closed her eyes again. She could feel Ginny getting up and someone else sitting down. Dru only knew too well that this person could only be either Rose or Neville. And since she didn't feel like talking to either one of them, she kept her eyes closed.

"Dru?"

Yes, she knew exactly who that was.

"Come on, Dru!"

Dru opened her eyes and looked at Rose. "What do you want?" Dru growled.

"You didn't come down for dinner."

Dru closed her eyes again. "It was already over by the time I got out of the hospital wing."

"No, it wasn't. I came to get you and Madame Pomfrey said you had already left before supper started.

"Are you checking up on me?"

"You didn't touch your breakfast, you didn't come down for supper, and I know you didn't eat anything for lunch either!"

"Well, I don't have to."

"Yes, you do. you'll need your strength, especially with your...thing acting up. I know you do, trust me."

"But I've got you Rose. I don't need to eat, because you're eating enough for the both of us." Dru knew it wasn't a nice thing to say. But Rose was thin just like Dru was so she couldn't take it that bad.

Her friend sighed. "Dru, you need to take of yourself for once. I'm not your bloody baby sitter."

Dru opened her eyes and looked at Rose. "I never said you were. I just can't eat when ...I just can't."

Rose gave Dru an angry look. She was so sick and tired of always having to take care of Dru. "You know what. Do what ever you want! What the hell do I care."

"Fine." Dru spat at her and stood up. "Who the hell told you to care anyway?" as she stormed out of the common room.

* * *

"You poisoned me, professor," Rose said as she entered Moody's office. She was finally feeling better and the cramps and nausea was gone. It had been a couple of days, and she had hated every second of it.

"Oh no, I didn't." Professor Moody's gruff voice sounded as he turned to look at her. "How are you feeling?"

"As if I'm going to tell you! You should be grateful that I haven't told Professor Dumbledore!"

Rose remembered  _everything_  that had happened over the summer. How she hurt Dru after she panicked because of her father, how her grandfather had put her under the imperius curse for a while to keep her quiet as he 'fixed' things, and how her father had escaped and used her to get to Harry Potter this year. How he had taken her to Voldemort to explain the plan and all that. It made her sick and she should go to Dumbledore to inform him for Harry's sake but she couldn't. A part of her wouldn't allow her to.

"I released you from the magic prison that was holding you, maybe I should do the same to your friend Dru, what would she say if she realised that thanks to you, her summer was hellish?" The Professor licked his lips in such a way that alarm bells went off in her head. The only person to have ever licked his lips like that was...

"Unbelievable," she said, letting out a breath as she sank into one of the chairs in Moody's office. "I can't believe you're actually doing it..."

"I told you, we're going to join the Dark Lord, you and I together."

"You're mad! There's a reason why I didn't want to tell you about... well all the things you've been setting up. Because he's not ready. He's weak."

"All the better for the Dark Lord to..."

"I wasn't talking about Harry," she shot at 'Moody'. "Someone in my position has to be careful not to break the balance and you, because you're so insanely infatuated with him, have forced me to tell you how to break the balance so he can gain the upper hand. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go!"

'Moody' smirked. It was hard to refer to him as her father, because that polyjuice potion obviously worked very well, and the man standing in front of her wasn't him. "Maybe not, but at least it will give him the opportunity to rise out of his current state, become whole again and then kill that filthy half blood."

"I'm a half blood, you haven't killed me yet. Neither has he!"

"You're my daughter, I couldn't kill you, or hurt you..."

"You put me under an imperius curse, and you played with my memories. How's that for not hurting me?" she breezed and rose from her chair. "I should tell Dumbledore, but I'm not going to, because it would only upset the balance once more. Honestly, do you have any idea what you're doing to me? I'm 14 years old,  _father_ , I shouldn't be doing this!"

"You're not going to-"

"Oh, your secret is safe with me, I mean, you're insane, but you're my father... unless I see something change so much that I'll have to tell someone so that the end result of the war won't be compromised," she glared at him. "But you're staying away from me. And from Dru."

"Hard to do that, I'm your teacher."

"You're leaving us alone." With that, Rose stepped out of Moody's office, trying to make sense of all the thoughts she had in her head and how on Earth she was going to tell Dru that she was the one that gave her a crappy summer because she freaked out over something? Or maybe it was best not to tell her as she wasn't talking to her anyway.

In fact, it was best if they wouldn't speak for the rest of the school year. That way, Dru would be safe, and all would be well in the end.

* * *

It had been two months since Dru last spoke to either Neville or Rose. While Neville tried to make up with her, she would listen to him. So after about a week or two he gave up trying and was now spending most of his time with Harry, who had fallen out with Ron after he was chosen to take part in the Tri-Wizard Championship.

Rose wasn't spending much time with anybody, although Fred and George did sit her in the great hall and sometimes in the common room.

Dru was sat with Draco throughout most of her classes and she hung out with Ginny in the common room. But in truth, she was really missing Neville and Rose.

On a saturday morning she was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall next to the fireplace. Dru hadn''t been sleeping well for months. She kept having terrible nightmares about her real mother torturing her like Dru had seen her do the Longbottoms, and so she tried to sleep as little as she could.

But not sleeping at night had made her so tired, that the warmth of the roaring fire next to her had made her fall asleep. In no time she was having her nightmare again, but this time it was a lot worse. She could see and feel the pain, but it wasn't just her that was being tortured. She could feel someone shaking her to get awake.

"Dru, wake up" Harry said, but everything was foggy around her.

"What's wrong with that girl now?" Ron's voice came from the background.

"Ron, stop it. She's been having nightmares for weeks now." Hermione's voice sounded genuinely concerned, more often than not, Dru had woken the rest of the girls in the Dormitory by her screams.

Dru could hear people muttering in the background.

"Dru, wake up." Harry spoke again and he now was shaking her a bit more violently.

"Move!" a voice spoke and Dru could feel herself being lifted off the ground and into someone's arms.

"Where are you taking her?" Dru could hear Rose's voice. Her voice sounded distant as she had done the last few months.

Dru couldn't tell where she was taken to, but she guessed that one of the other girls had picked her up and was bringing her to her Dormitory. Dru was put down on a bed. "I've got to find Neville." Dru muttered as she was clutched her hand infront of her eyes. her head was killing her.

"Found him."

Dru opened her eyes and Neville was sitting beside her. She looked around and realised that she was in the boys Dormitory. It was prohibited for the boys to enter the girl's Dormitory, but for some reason it was okay for girls entering the boys one. Dru tried to get up, but Neville gently pushed her down on her back. "Just lie down a bit." He said calmly and was trying his best not let Dru know how worried he was.

Dru did as she was she was told, but she was looking worried at him to. "Are you alright?" Her voice was still shaking.

"Me? You were the one screaming in the common room just now."

Dru swallowed. Had she really been screaming again? "But you're okay?"

"Dru, I'm fine! Why shouldn't I be okay?" Neville was getting confused, but then he remembered what Hermione said. "Was your nightmare about me?"

She nodded as she sat up straight. "She was tor- hurting you." She said as she took a deep breath and looked at the bed sheets, not daring to look at him.

Neville took Dru's face in his hands and made her look at him. "Dru, it was just a nightmare. I'm fine, nobody hurt me, okay."

Dru nodded. She put one hand on his wrist, closed her eyes and leaned against him.

Neville decided to take his chance to try and talk to Dru. "Dru, I never meant the things I said. Never, not even when I was saying them."

Dru moved away from Neville. "Then why did you say them?" She wanted to get up and leave, but Neville was too quick for once.

He put his arms around her and pulled her so close that she was trapped in his arms without any hope of escaping, even though she did try to. "Dru, I didn't have a choice. My mouth wasn't listening to me. I wasn't in control of myself. It was almost like I was possessed or something.

Dru stopped trying to wrestle herself out of his arms and looked at him. "Neville, please tell me you're just making this up."

"No, I'm not, I think..." Neville had thought long and hard about this, but it seemed the only logical explanation. "...somebody put the imperius curse on me."

Dru closed her eyes and bit her lip. The imperius curse had been popping up in her head too. It wasn't like Neville to say the things he had said to her. "You really didn't mean the things you said?"

"Dru, you know I don't!" He put his hands around her face again. "Dru, look at me, will you."

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I don't know anything anymore."

Neville aspected Dru to start crying, but for once her eyes were staying dry. "I never wanted to hurt you." Neville whispered. "You know that, don't you?"

Dru nodded. She was completely confused at the moment. She wanted to stay in Neville's arms more then anything, but she knew all too well it was wrong of her do so.

"Please forgive me, Dru. I'm begging you." Neville gently gave her a kiss. She kissed him back for a few minutes, before she pushed him away.

"I can't. I just can't." Dru got up from the bed and walked out of the room, leaving Neville upset, but more determined than ever to win Dru back. She had kissed him back, which meant he hadn't lost her completely yet.

* * *

The next morning Dru was sitting up in her bed at the crack of dawn yet again. She looked over at Rose. Dru was feeling missable, but she wasn't sure what to do. Although she missed Neville so much, not talking to Rose was different.

Dru had spent almost the entire third year not speaking to Neville, but fight with Rose never lasted more than a few days tops. And to top it all Dru was really worried about Rose.

Something had changed within Rose. Although she had never been really social with anyone besides Dru and a little bit with Draco and Neville, Rose seem to be shutting down around everyone.

Dru was glad Fred and George were still talking to her, but she rather wanted to talk to Rose herself. She decided that enough was enough, she wanted her friend back, today.

Dru got out of bed and gently woke Rose up.

"Rose, wake up. I'm going for a walk. Would you like to come?"

"Do I have to?" Rose muttered as she pulled her pillow over her head. "It's early!"

"Come On, Rose. We haven't had a walk together in a long while. We could go see the hippogriffs." Nothing like a group of wild beast to start the day off!

"Fine..." her friend sighed and slowly sat up, discarding her pillow. "But only if we'll return in time for breakfast, I really want a cup of tea."

Dru smiled. "Of course!" At this point, she'd do anything to get Rose to come along.

"Alright, let me get dressed," Rose yawned and swung her legs over the side of her bed before reaching for her clothes that were neatly folded on the chest at the end of the bed.

Dru was putting on her boots and put her wand into one of them. She looked out of the window. "Winter is setting in. Hey, I was thinking, you want to come to my house for Christmas?" She didn't want to stay at school this year, with the yule ball coming. Not when she couldn't go with Neville.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Rose replied as she pulled on her shoes and reached for her coat.

"Why not? Draco isn't going home for Christmas. It'll just be the two of us."

"No offense, but your parents sort of creep me out..." she said hesitantly as they walked out of the Dormitory. "I'm not sure what I'll do with Christmas."

"Oh, okay." Dru sighed. She knew it would have been a long shot, but she just hated the idea of having to see Neville take someone else to the ball.

"I've heard that there are dragons involved in the first task of the tournament today," Rose noted with a smile. "You'll love it!"

Dru gave a weak smile.

"Don't worry, nobody is getting hurt... well... nothing Madame Pomfrey can't fix," She jumped off the last step of the stairs.

"Dragon don't hurt people, unless provoked." Dru muttered.

"Uhuh... mommy dragons taken away from their eggs do hurt people," she opened the door to let Dru out. "Anyway, you okay?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" Dru kicked away a few little rocks that she came across.

"I dunno, you're a little off."

Dru shrugged her shoulders. The kiss she shared with Neville the day before kept popping up in her mind. Why couldn't she just forget about him?

"You and Neville back on?"

Dru shook her head. "We're not going to be. Not ever."

"You should, you two are perfect together," Rose smiled. "Seriously."

"Really? The squib and the high maintenance princess? I don't think so. Besides, why do you care? You don't even like Neville."

"Neville has proven more than enough already that he's not just any squib, hasn't he? And no, I don't necessarily like him, but for the greater good..." Rose bit her lip, it was actually to save Dru, "it's best if you two were together. Forever. Or at least until graduation."

"For the greater good? You're a nutter sometimes Rose. But I can't be together with him anymore. Not ever."

"I haven't been wrong so far, have I?" She smiled and poked Dru in the side with her elbow before looping her arm around hers. "Trust me, besides, I  _know_  that you're still madly in love with him, and he's completely infatuated by you... although because you're keeping him on arms length, he'll take someone else to the Yule ball... I'm just saying."

Dru took a deep breath. "Maybe that's for the best." She was going to kill whoever he took with him. "But you're wrong this time. We can't be together anymore. There are things playing you don't know about."

"You  _need_  to be together. Being with Neville keeps you on the right path."

Dru stopped dead in her tracks. "Are you not listening to me, or just plain stupid? We CAN'T be together. They told me."

"Who told you?"

"Snape and Moody. You were right on the train. Neville is the cause of my problems with my ...thing."

"I wouldn't trust Moody, to be honest. And Snape? Well.. professor Snape gives me the creeps. I can't believe you've listened to them. I think your problems with your... thing are coming from something completely different and it hasn't got anything to do with Neville." Rose quickly said, realising that she had been right about things. "The way I  _see_  it, is that without Neville's stability and his love for you, you're going to end up on the wrong side of things."

"Well, maybe that's the way it should be. To be on the same side of my family."

"Seriously? You're going to give up just like that?" she let go of Dru and threw her hands up in the air. "You know what? I'm not even going to try anymore. If you lost the spirit, then so have I."

Dru shook her head. "Rose, I didn't mean that. I'm just... I feel lost. You haven't spoken to me in months, I've lost Neville. I don't have anybody anymore besides Draco."

"You haven't lost Neville. And just because we're not talking doesn't mean that I don't have your back," Rose said and shook her head, remembering how many times over the last few months she had been verbally sparring with her insane father.

"Maybe you do, but I'm lonely without you."

She took a deep breath and since they were far from the castle right now, she decided to bite through the apple and come somewhat clean to Dru. "Okay... I have a confession to make and I don't want you to say anything until I'm done talking, am I clear? I don't want you to blast my face off without hearing everything."

"You're not going to tell me you're in love with me, are you?" Dru smiled

"Oh yes, madly," Rose grinned, and then took another deep breath. "I'm sorry that I made your summer suck. A lot," she said slowly. "You can't remember because my grandfather... my... he used a memory charm on you. You were never sick. The cake was good. I... there was someone in the house that you weren't supposed to know about and he … well... he scared me and I panicked and had to get you away as soon as possible. So... I uhm... I … stupefied you, blamed Winky so I wouldn't get into trouble and grandfather cleaned up the mess... I spent most of the two months blissfully unaware of anything as he put me … he... well it doesn't matter."

"Rose, I know your uncle was there."

"I just told you that I hurt you and that my grandfather... and all you can say is that my uncle was there? I don't have- when did you see him?"

"The 17th of July, the day after my birthday. I wanted to tell you I had snuck off to Neville the night before and then when I got to your house, I ran into your uncle. I knew something funny was up. And when I saw your uncle I understood what. But Rose, you know I don't care that your mother was a muggle. You don't have to be embarrassed. I'm fine with it, besides your uncle is quite the charmeur."

Rose was confused. She now knew that she had been imperioused during that time, but hadn't known that Dru had shown up. And she hadn't been talking to her uncle at all. If only she knew. "I'm not embarrassed, I just don't like to talk about my mother because Death Eaters killed her for being a muggle and hadn't it been for my father they would have killed me too. They didn't like it that Barty Jr. had a weak spot for my mother... but why are we talking about my mother?"

Dru looked at the ground. "Because I have a confession to make too. when I went to visit my mom on my birthday I had to block Neville out of my mind so I focussed on you. Seeing as our parents... well as they were friends if you want to call it that, she wouldn't be too freaked out by seeing me be friends with you."

"Still doesn't explain why you're talking about my mother."

Dru swallowed and looked at Rose. "My mom killed her."

"And? I sort of expected that, knowing that Bellatrix' allegiance to  _him_  rivalled my father's."

Dru breathed a sigh of relief. She threw her arms around Rose. "I was worried that you were going to freak out on me."

"I'm just surprised you're not kicking my ass for hurting you."

"You would have never hurt me, if you had another choice. I know that." Dru let Rose go. "Maybe we should go back and have a spot of breakfast. I'm a bit hungry."

"Yes! Tea!" Rose turned around and started to skip back towards the castle. "Oh.. wait!" She stopped and turned around to face Dru. "I wasn't sick all summer. Grandfather had... done something to render me... pliable."

Dru frowned. "And you're creeped out by my family?"

"It's the hair."

"Bitch!" Dru smiled and walked back to castle.

* * *

Dru and Rose sat down at the great hall, with Fred and George to have breakfast. After a few minutes Fred and George looked at each other and then looked at Dru.

"Dru, are you doing alright?"

Dru looked at Fred. "Yeah, I'm okay." She was taken by surprise. Besides Rose, Neville and Ginny nobody had spoken to her since the start of term. "You do know you're not supposed to be talking to me, right?"

George and Fred smiled. "We've been mad at you for treating Neville the way you did, but that doesn't mean we haven't seen that you're messed up." George spoke.

Dru took a deep breathe. "Alright, time to put things straight; Neville was never a bet. Draco had made the story up to get me out of trouble with our father."

"What trouble?" the twins chorused with the same excited smiles on their faces. They loved trouble.

"Father had seen me giving Neville that kiss on the platform."

"Now that was a brilliant move." Fred spoke. "That look on Neville's face." George chuckled.

"See! I'm not the only one who wants to see you with Neville." Rose said as she gently poked her friend in her hand with a fork.

Dru shrugged and looked at her plate. Talking about Neville had made her lose her appetite.

"Dru, just talk to him. Let him explain." Ginny said as she sat down next to Dru as she pushed Dru's teacup towards Dru. Ginny glanced at her brothers with a smile.

"I did listen to him explain things. I did yesterday. But it doesn't change anything. Now please just drop it." Dru pushed her plate away, drank her tea in one go and went up to the common room. Much to her relief, it was empty.

Dru sat down on the sofa, brought her knees up to her chest and put her head on her knees. She had already been struggling so hard to keep Neville away. But that kiss the day before had made things 10 times harder.

She could hear someone coming down the stairs of the dormitories, but Dru didn't pay attention. The only persons in gryffindor that she was talking to were downstairs. Whoever did was, he or she was sure to leave her alone, but unlike Dru had thought, the person sat down next to her and caressed her hair.

Dru sighed. She didn't have to look up to know Neville was sitting next to her. "What is it?"

"Were you able to get sleep last night?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "A bit." it was a lie. Dru had been lying awake all night.

Neville chuckled as he caressed Dru's hair. "Why don't I believe you?"

Dru lifted her head and looked at Neville. "Because you don't trust me." She spoke so calmly, so sure of the truth in what she was saying, that it frightened Neville a bit.

"What? Are you mad?" He said surprised and shook his head. "I do trust you, it's you who doesn't trust  _me_!"

"Neville, you mean everything to me, but you-you're right. I'm scared to trust you. I just feel like you're going to wake up any day and think to yourself; you know what! I can do so much better then Dru."

"Who's better than you?" Neville said confused. "Honestly, the knowledge that your parents are responsible for my parents' fate doesn't even put me off, I'm crazy about you!"

"You can do so much better; Hermione, Ginny or Rose. They're not screwed up or wrong for you." She thought about her words for a second and then shrugged. "Well, Rose is wrong too."

"Hermione... is just as screwed up as you are, she's just screwed up differently, and can't you tell? She's head over heals for either Ron or Harry! Ginny... yes, she's great, but all she has eyes for is Harry. It's all she talks about! And Rose... well... you're right about that, who would want to date someone like her? I mean, you're clearly the hottest of the two, your parents are SANE despite what they've done to my parents and you're wonderful. Great humor too! I'm just a little tired of you moping around all the time."

Dru was staring at Neville with her mouth open. She never heard him talk like that. "You really think I'm wonderful?" was all she could say.

"Don't you think you're wonderful?" He countered with a smile. "Why do you think that I'm trying so hard to give you your space when you need it or try to win you over, again and again, when you let me?"

"I don't think I'm wonderful. Mother told me that I look more like Bella every day." Dru clasped her hands over her mouth. Why did she say that, she was never going to let anyone know that.

"You're wonderful because you see the wonders in everything. You're beautiful because you care and your mother is probably thinking that you're cut out from the same kind of cloth they are and would like to dabble in the Dark Arts or something, I don't know. You don't look anything like  _her_  and believe me, I know. When I was little I stared at your mother's photo as long as I could, trying to burn holes in it or something. She's ugly."

Dru smiled. "I've missed you so much, but they told me that I shouldn't be with you anymore. But I want to be with you." Dru bit her lip. She wasn't supposed to tell him that. What the hell was the matter with her?

"Gran believes firmly in listening to your heart, living life the way you want and not how others tell you to. Sure, the teachers are around to give us guidance and make us learn something, but that's it." He replied with a smile. "And you know what? I think she's right, if you live life by following your heart, what better way is there to have lived?"

She sighed. "I think someone put something in my drink. I keep telling you stuff I swore I'd never, you know. I can't keep my mouth shut." Dru took a deep breath. "I want you to hold me."

Neville smiled and put his arms around her and pulled her close. Once she was settled comfortably, he kissed the top of her head. "How about you make me a promise? Don't listen to your head, but listen to your heart?"

Dru wanted to say something, but she couldn't. She took a deep breath. "I'm scared of my heart," She said eventually. "I'm scared of you."

"Why are you scared of me?"

"I'm scared you'll change your mind about me. That you don't want me anymore." Dru sat up straight and looked at Neville. "You'll break my heart and I don't know if I can take that another time."

"You're the heart breaker, Dru. I'm not," Neville replied and caressed her hair out of her face. "And it's not like I'm asking you to have sex with me or anything. I just want to be your boyfriend and snog your face off whenever we want to, and fight your monsters."

"You don't get it do you? You call me the heartbreaker. Neville, you broke up with me. You broke my heart."

"Yeah well, I didn't mean it! Something... I don't know what happened, but I told you that I didn't mean all those things I said!" He blurted out. "It's like the universe is trying to keep us apart and that's not right. We should stick together and fight the universe."

"I know, but it still broke my heart. You said everything I've been afraid you were gonna say to me." She sighed. "But I do want to stick together with you." Dru got a devilish smile on her face. "But you did just lie to me. Did you realise that?"

"I did?"

"You just said you only wanted to snog me, but I know better."

"Well, yes, I know you know better and I know I know better and I know that you know better, but please... I do have a sense of self control you know, we're too young!"

Dru laughed. Neville's face had gone red a bit. She always love teasing him. "I know we're too young and we're not gonna do anything of that sort for a few years, but you still lied."

"I didn't lie... technically I didn't. I just didn't mention that part of my feelings for you," he grinned.

Dru sat on her knees and looked at Neville. She had so missed having a laugh with him. "I missed this."

"So did I! And I'm glad to have you back!" He then grinned. "Shall we go outside already and find a good place to watch the tournament? Harry's up against a Mother dragon."

"Poor dragon. It's mean that they took her eggs away. See, that's how dragon get violent."

"No, they actually brought the eggs with them! I heard Fred and George discuss it, their brother Charlie was one of the people who brought the dragons here."

"it's still mean." Dru said and Neville laughed. Dru always had weird ideas when it came to dragons. "Neville, I'm a bit confused."

"Confused? Why?"

Ginny barged into the common room with a big smile on her face. "It worked, didn't it? It worked!" she said, upon seeing Dru and Neville together. "Oh how a little bit of truth always works in great ways!" She put her thumbs up. "Great going, you guys. Now, come! They're about to do their tasks!"


	5. Yule Ball and Lies Exposed

It had been two weeks now since the first task. Dru and Neville were still trying to work out if they were couple again or just friends. But at least they were having fun again. Harry and Ron were even talking to each other again. But Neville and Rose were still not speaking to each other and the the rest of the fourth years were still ignoring Dru.

But now their upcoming Christmas was going to be turned upside down. Besides Rose and Dru, nobody knew there was a ball coming up. McGonagall explained during her lesson, the the yule ball was also accompanied by a Waltz. And that they needed to find partners.

Dru looked at Rose with a smile. "Who are you taking then? I know my brother still likes you."

"No. I'm not going."

"Oh yes you are. You're not leaving me alone with this. What happened to having my back?" Dru was tugging on Rose's arm. "Come on. I was only joking about Draco. We'll find someone nice for you to go with."

"Then you and I will go. Together. I'll wear a pretty suit and you'll wear a pretty dress."

"That'll work." Dru grinned. "Honestly Rose, we'll find good dates for the both of us."

"I'm not going," she said with a smile. "I mean, I don't want to go with your brother and I don't see anyone else interested, so even  _if_  I'd go, I'd go by myself. At least then I wouldn't have to dance!"

"You could ask Neville to go."

"No, because... don't get me wrong, but because he's unsure about your status with him... he... well he is already taking someone because someone else is too slow and so not busy with girls right now."

Dru's smile disappeared. "He already asked someone else? He didn't even try to ask me?"

"You two need to seriously talk when this ball is over. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that things seem to be going well for the both of you now that you're listening to the right people, but I kinda suspected him to ask you."

"So did I." It never crossed Dru's mind that Neville would ever asked someone else. "Who's he going with?" Please let it be Hermione, not Ginny. Dru thought to herself.

"I don't know," Rose shrugged and laid down on her back as she stared up to the ceiling. "Remember you've met my uncle? What was he like? I don't remember him being around this summer, and I'm pretty sure that I've got every bit of memory back."

Dru smiled and laid on her back as well. "Your uncle is so handsome. Great, great hair. He'd ask me who I was so I told him my name. Then he said he didn't know my dad had such beautiful offspring." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Maybe your uncle can take me to the ball."

"Yeah, I bet," Rose muttered. "Ask professor Moody! That's a brilliant idea!"

"Gross! I'm not asking Moody! Have you lost your mind?"

The door opened and Hermione came into the domority. She sat down on her bed and looked at the two friends. Dru looked at Rose. "What the hell?" she mouthed to her friend.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," Rose replied and sat up. "What's wrong?"

Dru kept lying on her back and kept staring at the ceiling.

Hermione took a deep breathe. She was pretty nervous. "It's about Neville." she looked at Dru. "He's asked me to the ball yesterday."

Dru closed her eyes. better her than Ginny she thought to herself. "He did, did he? I thought you wanted to go with Ron?"

"I do! But he's so thick!" Hermione replied and sat down on the bed in an over exaggerated fashion. "Boys are so thick! Neville is the only one who has had the idea to ask a girl."

"Yeah, he just asks the wrong one." Dru replied

"I said no." Hermione said

Dru sat up straight and looked at Hermione with big eyes. "How could you? That's so mean. it must have taken him a lot of nerve to ask you." She might wanted Neville to with herself, but she didn't want anybody to turn him down either.

"I- Somebody else already asked me." Hermione voice sounded small.

Dru looked at Rose with a smile. If Hermione had turned him down, Neville would surely ask Dru now.

"Who?" Rose said, faking her excitement. She really hated dancing or whatever. "It's not Ron."

"No," the girl sighed. "Victor Krum."

"Oh, wow."

Dru's mouth dropped to floor. "Oh, but that's so great! You'll be the envy at the ball." Dru got up and looked at Rose. "I think I'm gonna find Neville. Since Hermione said no..."

Hermione looked shocked at Rose. "He's taking Ginny." she mouthed.

"I know," Rose answered with a sigh. "Dru... he's not taking you, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, but..." Dru looked at the floor. "He's already asked somebody else who did say yes, didn't he."

"He did," she nodded. "So now all you have to do is find a great catch and stab his eyes out with your fishing rod."

Hermione grinned. "Why do you think I said 'yes' to Krum? I'm teaching Ron a lesson!"

Dru sat down next to Rose. "But who? The only one Neville has ever gotten jealous of is Blaise Zambini and I am not taken any slytherin to the ball." She put her head in Rose's lap. She wanted to cry.

Hermione got up from her bed and sat down next to the girls, which was something she had never done in all the time they knew each other. She started to caress Dru's hair. "Come on, Dru. You'll find someone," Hermione felt bad for the girl and a little bit responsible for Neville not asking her.

"Perfect revenge would be to take a Weasley." Rose muttered.

Hermione's face turned as white as a sheet. She shook her head at Rose.

"All Weasley's except for Ron, of course," she said simply.

Hermione gave a faint smile. "But Fred's taking Angelina and I heard George already knows who he wants to take. I know, Harry doesn't have anybody yet."

Dru sat up straight and looked at Hermione. "If I go with Harry, I'm dead."

"I totally agree with that. If she goes with Harry, she'll be dead." she nodded and thought for a second. "Dean, or Seamus! Oh little wee Seamus with his cute accent!"

"He's going with Lavender. She asked him. But Dean's a good idea." Hermione said

"Dean doesn't even talk to me." Dru stated. "And I am not asking him. I wanna be asked." She added sulking.

Hermione glanced at Rose. "Maybe we should talk to Dean?" She mouthed behind Dru's back.

"Don't worry," Rose sighed and patted her friend's head. "If going to the ball is so important to you, I'm going to make sure that you're going and that you're going with an awesome non-Slytherin date."

Dru put her head on Rose's shoulder. "Thank you both."

Hermione smiled, but then looked at the bedlinen. There was something she had not said yet.

"You're my friend, of course I'm going to do anything in my power to get you something you want. If it's free, of course. I'm not as wealthy as you, so I can't get you all the latest book on dragons if you asked me!"

"Dru, there is something else. I've asked Neville why he wouldn't ask you." Hermione confessed, still looking at the bed.

"Do I want to know?" She asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think you want to but I think you have to."

Dru looked at Rose. "What is it?" Rose asked.

"Neville overheard Draco saying to his friends, that they had to hurry up and ask you because you had said to Draco that you didn't want to go with Neville, but you were afraid he would ask you before anyone else and then you had to say yes, because you're friends. And it would be rude not to. I told Neville not to believe it and that he should go and ask you. but he did believe it and he told Ginny why he couldn't ask you when he asked her and because she knew Harry would never ask her and she was afraid she could otherwise not go, she said yes."

Dru and Rose looked at Hermione with their mouths wide open. Hermione had talked so fast, she didn't take one breath until after she was finished.

"Don't be mad at Ginny. She believed Neville."

Dru shook her head. "I'm not mad at Ginny. I'm a bit pissed at Neville for believing Draco, but I will deal with him later."

Rose and Hermione looked at each other. It wasn't clear if Dru was going to deal with Neville or with Draco or with both.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast Rose was keeping an eye on Dru. Although Rose was still not talking to Neville, she didn't want Dru to have a go at him for not taking her to the ball but her worries seemed to be for nothing. Dru didn't seem mad as she talked to Neville.

But when they got to class it didn't take long for Rose and Hermione to understand that Dru was mad at Draco. Dru had been making nasty comments about and to her brother all morning. And she didn't do it quietly either. After getting detentions in Charms and herbology, she was now having a go at him in Transfiguration.

"Miss Malfoy, if I hear one more word out of your mouth, you're going to spend the rest of this month in detention." Professor McGonagall belted at her after she made another nasty remark to Draco.

Dru crossed her arms and stared at her desk.

"What is with you today?" Neville whispered.

"I don't like him."

"Neither do I, but you're getting yourself into way too much trouble."

"I don't care. I want him to hurt."

Neville frowned. "You want him to hurt?"

Dru nodded. "He hurt me, now I'm hurting him."

Neville forgot he was in class for a moment as he turned in his chair towards Dru. "Dru, how did he hurt you?"

"Mister Longbottom, unless you wanna join Miss Malfoy in detention, I suggest you turn back and face the front of the class." McGonagall said with a stern voice.

Neville's face turned red as he quickly did what he told.

Draco smiled and chuckled with Zambini how was sitting next to him,

Rose was sitting at the other side of the class and clenched her wand. She too now was getting furious with Draco. He seem to be enjoying the fact that Dru was getting into trouble.

"Don't you know any good spells to make him suffer?" Hermione whispered. Rose was surprised that Hermione even suggested such a thing, what happened to the proper little miss know it all?

Rose looked next to her. At the beginning of the class Draco had made an attempt to sit next to Rose, but Hermione stopped him, by sitting down next to Rose herself. Hermione was really making an effort to be nicer to Dru and Rose, and Rose had to admit she was kind of liking the new Hermione.

"I do, but I don't want Dru to get into trouble." She whispered.

Hermione thought for a few seconds before handing Rose a small piece of parchment. "Write a note to Neville to knock Dru's wand out of her hands." she then leaned forward and whispered something in Harry and Ron's ears.

They looked surprised and at her, but then Ron knocked something of his table, which made Patil and Lavender look up, while Harry took Lavender's wand out of her bag. He handed it to Hermione, who gave it to Rose.

Rose had just sent the note to Neville, who looked surprised at her. Rose and Hermione both nodded Neville to do it. He shrugged his shoulders and then knocked Dru's wand out of her hands. It rolled down the classroom.

Dru gave Neville a dirt look, stood up and walked over to get it.

Rose muttered her spell, gave the wand back to Hermione, who gave it back to Harry, who put it back in Lavender's bag. Nobody noticed what they were doing, because they were distracted by the screams of the Slytherin boys. Al their hair was retracted back into the skulls making them bald. The rest of the class was laughing.

As Rose expected, professor McGonagall walked towards Dru. "What have you done?" she demanded.

"I didn't do anything. I don't even have my wand," Dru pointed at her wand, which was lying by McGonagall feet. The professor picked up her wand and walked over to Neville. "Your wand, mister Longbottom."

Neville handed his wand to McGonagall. He looked at Dru, who had taken her seat next to him again. She looked confused, but Neville gave a little smile when McGonagall wasn't looking.

Just like Hermione expected, McGonagall collected the wands from Harry, Ron, Rose and hers as well.

While the Slytherin Boys were sent off to the hospital wing and the rest of the class dismissed, the six who had to hand surrendered their wands were told to stay in their seats. McGonagall used  _Prior Incantato_  on the wands, one by one, to see which one of them had cursed the Slytherin Boys.

But, just as Hermione had planned, none of the six wands in McGonagall' possession had been used to conjure the spell. McGonagall had no choice but to let them all go. The six of them walked out of the classroom and didn't speak at all, until they were back in the common room.

Lavender and Patil were sitting on the sofa and Seamus on the armchair and Dean was sitting on the floor doing his homework. Neville sat down on the sofa, Rose sat down on the arm-rest next to him and Dru on the floor in front of him. She leaned against his legs before asking. "Will one of you please tell me who I have to thank for that show just now?"

Hermione giggled. "It was Rose's spell."

"Yeah, but your idea." Rose replied.

"And Lavender's wand." Harry added with a big smile.

Everybody laughed and Rose explained what they done and how they got away with it. "Oh, Lavender, you better do a lot of charm spells tonight. that way nobody can't track the spell back to your wand." She grinned.

"I will." Lavender laughed, she looked at Rose and Dru. "Did you two got dates for the ball yet?"

"No." Rose said relieved. She still didn't want to go.

"No, I think every Slytherin boy asked me out, but I'm not going with any of them."

"Wait, aren't you going with Neville?" Seamus asked surprised.

"No, he's taking Ginny." Dru looked up at Neville and gave him a sweet smile, while gently patting his leg. She had decided she wasn't mad at him.

Neville on the other hand wasn't looking pleased. He started to realise that he shouldn't have listened to Draco.

"Wait, so you don't have anybody yet?" Patil asked.

Dru nodded. "I'm still waiting for someone decent to ask me."

This triggered Dean, Harry and Ron to ask her to the ball and the exact same time.

Dru smiled. "Yeah, I'll go to the ball with you, Dean."

While Dean looked pleased, Ron, Harry and Neville scowled. Then Ron just thought of the solution to his date problem. "Hey, Rose! do you want to -" But by the time Ron looked up, Rose, who knew what was coming, had already left the common room.

* * *

Rose was walking along the corridors. She didn't have anywhere to be, but she wanted to avoid boys that were capable of asking her to the ball.

As soon as she heard the thumping sound of Moody's wooden leg behind her, she wanted to flee, but it was too late. He had already caught up with her.

"Rose, will you come with me please?"

"No."

"Rose, You'll do as you are told."

"Make me."

"If you want." He reached in his pocket for his wand, but Rose had already turned around and was now standing beside him with her arms crossed and a very sulky face. "Fine," She muttered.

Moody walked to his office and Rose reluctantly followed. He sat down behind his desk and pointed a big box that was in front of him.

"This is for you. I'll hope you like it,"

Rose was stunned, apparently her Father felt confident (and probably at the same time, stupid) enough to speak to her in his own voice, but it was weird was coming out of the facade that he was trying to keep up. She wasn't sure what to think. Her Father was still her Father and all that he had done to her over the summer had been because of his own delusions, of his own crazy convictions and he hadn't actually hurt her.

She never really understood her Father. He was quite set in the idea of pure bloods ruling the Magical Community and that half bloods or even Muggles didn't matter. However, he himself had fathered a child (Rose) with a Muggle. Her mother must have been some woman for Father to drop his ideals like that. But according to his ideals, he was supposed to hate Rose, or even kill her, and he didn't.

The man was confusing and she shifted her eyes to the box that he was pointing at. "Open it, Rose."

Rose opened the box and found a beautiful blue gown. "Father, you shouldn't have," she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. As much as she had avoided going to the ball, he had gone out of his way and bought a dress for her.

"I want my daughter to be as beautiful as I know she can be at her first ball."

Rose felt the tears running down her cheeks. She loved that her father had gotten her a dress, even though dresses weren't really her thing. Dresses came with heels, most of the time, and she wasn't that coordinated. "But I'm not going. I don't have a date."

"You will. I know Draco Malfoy will ask you. He's a good match. He's pure blood and comes from a wealthy family. The dark lord would be pleased."

Rose closed her eyes. her happy feeling of hearing her own father had now disappeared again. She was glad that she didn't like betting against odds. The little happy bubble that he seemed to have created was shattering in an instant.

"I'm not going with him."

"Rosalie Crouch. You will go to the ball and you will wear that dress. Do you understand me?" His demanding voice sounded mad and very angry.

"Fine, I'll go." She said, giving up. She knew the future for her Father (thankfully he didn't know she knew, and she was still at odds with the feeling that she didn't even care about his future even if it meant that her life would be even weirder at some point) and whose parent didn't want to see their child in formal get up at least once in their lives? "Fine, I'll go to the ball," she said again, as she was trying to convince the both of them.  _But not with Draco,_  she added in thought.  _No way!_

After Rose had left the office, she walked around the corridors carrying around that big box, thinking about what to do. She didn't really wanted to go with Ron or Harry, but they would be crazy enough to actually ask her if she waited long enough (and they were desperate enough). She silently cursed herself for thinking about a boy having to ask her out to go to the ball, she could easily show up as a single girl, dateless, couldn't she? It's not as if she was going to dance!

She saw Draco walk towards her when she turned the corner. Hiding wasn't an option because it was clear that Dru's idiot brother had already seen her. She quickly turned around and wanted to flee the scene, but bumped into George Weasley instead.

"Sorry, George," she muttered, trying to get passed him, but he kept blocking her way out.

"Sorry? For what? You're exactly the one I was looking for!"

"Me? Why?"

George smiled as he noticed Draco standing a few feet away, looking at the two. "Well I don't really have that much time. Fred's waiting for me. we have to do some stuff for our joke shop. But anyway if I'd asked you a question, would you say yes?" George talked fast, hoping to confuse Rose just long enough to not hear the last question right.

He was about to be in luck. "Uhm... Yes I suppose." Rose said confused and cocked her head.

"Great that settles it then."

"Settle what?"

"You just said you'd say yes to the question I was gonna ask you."

Rose put her hands in on her hips. "What was the question, George?"

George had a big grin on his face. "If you wanted to be my date to the ball." He quickly gave Rose a kiss on her cheek and walked away before she could protest.

Rose turned around and watched him leave with her mouth right open. He looked around and smiled at her, before walking into the great couldn't believe she'd walked right into that. She then shrugged her shoulders at Draco, who was standing there with a shocked face as he himself had planned on asking Rose, and gave him a weak smile before walking away. Well, George was a better date than Ron, Harry or Draco. she thought to herself and grinned. She might enjoy the ball after all.

* * *

It was the afternoon before the ball, everybody was getting ready. Dru hadn't changed yet. She had first done Rose's hair and was now doing Hermione's. Dru's own hair wasn't straight as it normally was, but she had big curls that were elegantly hanging on one side.

Rose had just put on her dress. It wasn't like her to wear a dress, and she felt incredibly self conscious in it, but she had to admit, her father knew how to pick them. It suited her perfectly.

"You look beautiful," Dru told her as she finished up Hermione's hair and threw a pair of shoes towards Rose.

Rose blushed. "Shouldn't you be putting on yours. you're going to be late."

Dru smiled and reached under her bed. She got out the box with her dress in it. Her mother had gotten her an emerald green dress. Dru didn't even struggle to get into the thing and looked in the mirror to check her hair and makeup.

"Neville is going to die when he sees you in that dress," Hermione giggled.

"Serves him right, asking the wrong girl." Rose agreed.

"I'm not going to worry about him. I want us both to have a good time tonight. Besides Dean is not so bad."

"Wait, are you thinking about really going out with Dean?" Hermione asked shocked.

"No, of course not. I love Neville, but I've gotten to know Dean better over the last few weeks and he's a nice guy. Besides he only asked me out to get back at Neville."

"What do you mean? Get back at Neville?" Hermione asked.

Rose, however, was smiling. "Really? Dean and Ginny? They'd make a cute couple."

"Yeah, they would, wouldn't they?" Dru sat down next to Hermione on her bed. "Hermione, didn't you tell us you're going with Krum to prove a point to Ron."

"Yes." Hermione started to blush.

"So, why haven't you told him who you're going with? Dru asked as she was putting on her shoes. It was the first time she wasn't wearing her boots, apart from when she was wearing her school uniform. Other than that, she was always wearing boots.

Hermione's face turned scarlet and she mumbled something about being made fun of.

"You're starting to fall for Krum, aren't you?" Rose grinned and Dru chuckled.

Hermione smiled too, but then decided to retaliate. "Where are you meeting George tonight?"

Now Rose was starting to blush a bit, which threw Dru in a fit of laughter. "In the common room. I'd better go anyway," She quickly went downstairs. nearly all the boys were already sitting there waiting for their dates to come down. It was a sea of black formal wear, with the exception of one very depressed looking Ron. Rose wanted to say something funny, but decided not to. Ron was looking depressed enough in his ugly robes. Although the ugliness had its charm.

"Wow, you scrub up well," Neville said as he looked at Rose. It was the first thing he had said to her in months.

Rose smiled back. "Just wait. You haven't seen Dru yet." She had already said before she realised it sounded a lot meaner than she had intended. Neville gave a weak smile, but he wasn't happy. Rose felt bad and wanted to say something to him to cheer him up, but she still remembered what he had said on the train. She decided it was best to leave it.

"Well, miss Shepherd, you look amazing!" George said and presented his arm for her to take.

Rose smiled and locked her arm in his. "Thank you, mr. Weasley." She had decided that if she had to do this, she might as well try and enjoy herself.

George did his best to entertain her all night, making her laugh and was actually spending time with her and away from his brother. For twins, they often came across of conjoined twins. When there was Fred, there was George. And the other way around, but it was really nice. He didn't even care that she was stepping on his feet when they danced.

Rose caught her Father's eye at some point and he wasn't looking too pleased with her and her date to the ball. Weasley's were everything the Death Eaters were against and Rose wondered if her Father realised that it was  _just_  a ball, with _just_  a boy and not actually a  _real date_  or a contract to spend the rest of her life with George. Oh she didn't even want to think about the fact that if the ball had been something like that, a formal thing you couldn't get out of and you'd be stuck forever with the person that took you.

* * *

At the end of the evening, Ginny and Neville went back to the common room and said goodnight to each other. As he watched her take the stairs to the girl's dormitory, he suddenly felt how his mood dropped; he would have done anything to go up there and find Dru.

She had left a hour earlier and Neville hadn't had the chance to talk to her, which he had every intention of doing that night. She had looked beautiful and he had been amazed by how gracious she had made Dean look. He sighed deep and was about to go up the stairs to his own dormitory when he suddenly heard a voice behind him. "Goodnight, Neville."

He turned around and saw Dru sitting on the floor in a dark corner of the room. He walked over to her and sat down next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"My christmas tradition."

"What do you mean?"

Dru took Neville's arms, wrapped them around her and leaned in against him. "Every Christmas my parents always throw a big party. And while Draco would go play with the other kids, I use to sit at the top of the stairs watching everybody come and go. I would sit there for hours daydreaming about all the pretty dresses the women were wearing, hoping one day I'll get to wear one of those pretty dresses and look beautiful."

Neville laughed. "Well, you're wearing one now and you look prettier than ever."

Dru smiled and crawled deeper in his arms.

"Dru, I'm really sorry for not asking you to the ball. I wanted to, but..."

"It's ok. I'm sorry too. I should have made it more clear to you that I wanted to be your girlfriend again."

"You do." Neville asked surprised.

Dru looked at Neville. "You know I do!"

Neville kissed her and pulled her closer to him. Dru kissed him back.

"Neville, remember that you wanted me to promise to listen more to my heart than my head?"

"Yeah."

"If I do, would you make me a promise too?"

"Anything you want."

"No matter what I say or do, no matter what happens, I want you to never ever stop fighting for me, for us."

Neville smiled. "I promise."

Dru gave him a kiss and whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too." They kissed for few minutes until they were interrupted by people coming into the common room.

Rose and George were laughing when they walked into the common room. Rose stood still at the bottom of the stairs to the girls dormitory.

"Well, miss Shepherd. I'll leave you here. Can I thank you for being such a funny, sweet, nice and above all, beautiful date tonight." George bowed in a gracious and extravagant way.

"The pleasure was all mine." She giggled while she curtsied. "Seriously George, thank you. I had a lot fun tonight."

"Me too," George beamed as he took her hand and wanted to kiss it, but he changed his mind at the last second. He suddenly put his arms around her waist and kissed her.

Rose was taken completely by surprise, and her head was screaming 'stop!' but she couldn't stop herself from kissing George back. She put her arms around his neck and he pulled her so close to him that he lifted her off her feet.

Suddenly the portret opened and Ron and Hermione entered the common room fighting. George quickly let Rose go and the both of them took one more look at each other before disappearing to their own dormitories.

After Ron and Hermione were done fighting they and Harry, who had come in behind them, left to their dormitories. Neville looked at Dru, who smiled at him. "Did we seriously just saw that?"

"Yeah." Dru laughed.

"Well, at least Rose and George had a nice night." Neville said, which made Dru laugh even more.

* * *

It was the morning after the ball and the common room was full, but very quiet. Rose was still the dormitory. She didn't know what to do about that kiss she shared with George.

Meanwhile Dru was sitting on the armrest of the sofa, with her legs across Neville, who was sitting besides her. Dru had been playing with the miniature horntail that Harry had given her. she was trying to learn it do tricks, which the dragon refused to do.

Neville was reading an old, worn out book. Dru looked at it and put the dragon on the table. "Where did you get that book?"

"Professor Moody gave it to me that day we had tea, after his first lesson."

"Let me see." Dru took the book and looked at it. "I've seen this book before, but I don't know where."

"well, i've had it for a few months now."

"No, neville. i've had this book in my hand, thinking I wanted to see if I could buy it somewhere. As a christmas present for you."

"Well, that's sweet, but I've got one now."

"You don't understand, babe." Dru rubbed her head. She could feel a headache coming on. "I held this book. Not one like this, but  _this_  one."

Neville looked confused at Dru. "Well, you couldn't have. This one belonged to Moody, unless you've been to his house."

"of course I haven't, but I know it was the same book." she closed her eyes for a second. Her headache was increasing rapidly. "Look, here. BCJ." she pointed at writing on the corner of the book. "It was on the book I had in my hands. I know it was." Dru put the book down and clashed her head with both hands. It felt like her head was going to explode.

"Don't worry about it," Neville said, rubbing her back with his hand. "It's just a book."

"I know that, but there's just something about ..." she didn't finish her sentence and leaned against Neville. "My head!" She moaned softly.

"Alright, let's get you to Madame Pomfrey," he said, getting up and lifting her up in his arms. "Let's go."

"Rose, get Rose." Dru asked.

"Go, I'll warn Rose." Ginny said to Neville and ran up the stairs. "Rose, you need to come now." She said, running into the dormitory.

"Why?" she asked as she put away her book on potions.

"Something's wrong with her. She was talking about a book and then she just turned pale and said to go get you. Neville's taken her to Madame Pomfrey but she asked for you."

"Alright, I'm coming," she nodded and pulled on her shoes before making her way down to the common room, noticing that Neville and Dru had already gone, and people were looking at her for an explanation. "Oh you know how she gets..." she said, waving her hand around and ran out of the common room towards the infirmary.

Ginny caught up with Rose near the infirmary. She was holding something in her hand.

"What's that?" Rose asked, pointing at the object in Ginny's hands.

Ginny had Neville's book in her hands. "This is what she was reading when she got ill. I just thought...well, it wouldn't be the first time a book caused something," Hinting at her own past.

"It's not the book," she chuckled and took it from Ginny, recognising the book from her own home. "But great thinking! It's Neville's book, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Dru said something about seeing it before. Something about wanting to buy it for Neville."

"Yeah, this is a great book," she smiled and looked at the first page in the book, seeing her father's initials. As she walked into the infirmary, she neatly ripped the corner of the page and stuck it inside her pocket. "Alright, Miss high-maintenance! What have you done this time? Rose asked jokingly as she approached her friend, Neville and Madame Pomfrey. "Did Neville hit you too hard with the book?"

"No, my head started to hurt," Dru put her arms over her head. She knew something was very wrong.

"You know, we have this same book at my place," Rose said, sitting down next to Dru. "Remember what I told you about how you ended up at your own house? You were looking at a book just like this one before that all happened."

Dru looked at Rose. "What's Neville doing with your book?"

"This is not my book," she said and handed the book back to Neville. "Unless Professor Moody has been to my house when I was..." she looked at Madame Pomfrey and shrugged. "You know... and maybe he borrowed it? But honestly, I don't think it's my book. Mine may look old and ragged, but it doesn't have torn pages."

Dru looked at Her. Rose was a good liar, but not this time. Dru knew what she had seen and something wasn't right about this. Rose was lying to her face.

"Look, as soon as you'll feel better, I'll..." she nodded towards the book. "For now it has to suffice, okay?" she then nodded to Madame Pomfrey, before looking straight at the woman. "Dru had a run in with my house elf when she was at my place over the summer and we had to bring her home, as I said, she was holding a book just like that one when it happened and I suppose it triggered something, maybe a reminder of some spell that was cast. I wasn't really present when it happened."

Dru looked at Rose. "You weren't?"

Rose glared at Dru.  _I'll explain later, okay?_  she slid in and out of Dru's head, hoping not to have hurt her even further.  _Everything..._

"Ugh, why can't people train their house elves so that they don't cast spells!" Madame Pomfrey sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "Alright, thank you dear, I know what kind of potion I need to ask Professor Snape for now."

Rose winced and wished that Dru wouldn't have to find out the way she was about to, although Rose had already confessed she had stupefied her because she'd panicked, but if she was right and Madame Pomfrey was going to give Dru the same potion Rose's father had given her, then well, she would be in some discomfort for a few days and the memories wouldn't come back straight away, but as far as Rose could think, Dru wouldn't be too surprised to find that Rose had told her the truth about most things. She had just omitted a few things, like her Father, because she had always done that.

"Stay with Dru," Neville said to Ginny. He then grabbed Rose by her arm and pulled her out of the infirmary. "What the hell happened this summer?"

"Neville!" Rose squeaked and looked at him, for some reason she was terrified of him.

"I'm not asking you again, Rose. What the hell happened this summer?" He was more angry than Rose had ever seen him. "You know more about this and you're going to tell me."

"No, I'm not going to tell you before I've told her, and she already knows most of it!" she said, wincing as Neville pushed her against a wall and held her there. She had never realised how tall he exactly was, and he was really showing the person he could become given the right nudges. Confidence was good. Being angry at someone for the greater good (well, not in this case really) was good. It gave him power. "It's nothing! Now let me go!" she yelled as she pounded her fists against his chest. "Neville!"

"The hell I will. I'm not letting you go until you tell me" he grabbed her wrists and held them tightly against the wall, so that she couldn't reach for her wand to get him off of her. He knew in the back of his head that he was hurting her, but he had to. Something Dru told him on the way to the infirmary had shaken him."

"Let me go!" She found how easy it was to turn her fear into hatred and started to kick against his shins.

"Rose, what are you hiding from us?" Neville didn't seem to care that she was kicking him.

"I will tell  _her_  when she's better again, and she'll decide if she'll tell you," she said, kicking harder. "Now let me go!"

"Fine, I'll let you go, but if I find out that all of this. Her headache, the curse on me. If you had something to do with this. You're going to regret not telling me now. So one more chance, what the hell happened this summer?" his voice was unusually low and even treating.

"Whatever I'm going to say won't make you feel any better," she growled before finally being able to knee him in the groin, making him double over. She quickly grabbed her wand and started to back away from him.

Neville leaned against the wall with his head. "It's not about me, it's about Dru. Something is killing her inside." He wasn't angry anymore, but he sounded broken. "I told her I'll keep her safe, Rose. I can't do that if you keep lying to us."

"Remember what I said on the train? I'm  _tired_  of taking care of the both of you. Whatever you and Dru have, leave me out of it. This, yes, well, what she's going through now is probably... no it's not my fault but I've already explained it to her. And I will explain it some more once Madame Pomfrey releases her," she said, still pointing her wand at him as she kept backing up.

Neville shook his head. "You're such a liar. You are the cause of this. I know it Rose.'Neville turned around and leaned against the wall. his had a calm expression on his face. 'Do you know how I know you're lying to us?"

"You think you have it all figured out, don't you?" Rose spat and took a few steps forward, she was pissed off and frankly fed up with everything. "I'm a liar? No, I'm not. I'm keeping things from you, but I've always said the truth. It's a whole different thing. It's  _so hard_  for someone like me with the whole...  _thing_  to keep things in balance and..." she growled and then stopped. "It's not about that, at all. What's between me and Dru, is between me and Dru and she will probably be pissed once I tell her, but she'll understand. But I'm  _tired_  of being the voice of reason for the both of you. Or help you out. Or be the responsible one. I am  _tired_ , Neville, and you need to stop blaming me for everything, some things just happen."

Neville smiled and shook his head. "You think you are so much better than the rest of us don't you? Explain this to me then. Why did my girlfriend tell me that you are keeping something from us, from me, that will... that will hurt me more then knowing who your parents where. Why does my girlfriend blame you for all of this if you are really that innocent. She never blamed you, so why does she now?"

"Didn't say I was innocent, Neville."

"You keep saying you're not to blame. It's the same thing".

"It's not the same thing, Neville. But you know what? If you're  _smart_ , you're letting this go until I can explain myself to you. I can't right now, not without upsetting the balance."

"Oh Merlin. Enough with the stupid balance. It's your excuse for everything isn't it? As soon as there is a hard question. You start rambling about the balance. I don't think you even care that Dru is hurt because of you. You and your uncle!" the last word came out with a sense of sarcasm that proved Rose's fear. Neville knew more then she thought. Dru had been blabbing, proving once more that Rose should have just asked her grandfather to hide her away until she was old enough to practise magic on her own. "Just so you know she didn't say one word to me about it. I figured it out another way."

"Neville, there is a balance that must be kept, if..." Rose bit her lip and shook her head. "You know what? I'm done." She turned around and walked off, straight to Dumbledore's office.


	6. Mirages and Waves

She was sitting in professor Dumbledore's office, waiting patiently for him being done with whatever he was doing, chewing on one of the sweets he had in his office. The man looked tired, no wonder, hosting the tri-wizard tournament wasn't an easy feat. She felt that she was going to dump more stuff on his shoulders, but he was Headmaster, he should be used to dealing with multiple things at once, shouldn't he?

He put the book away and walked over to where Rose was sitting, leaning against the little cupboard that barely seemed to hold his weight. "What is on your mind, miss Shepherd?"

"Is there  _any_  way for me to just quit school, professor? I'm... I'm done."

He chuckled. "You know the law, miss Shepherd. You have to go school or you can't be allowed to practice magic anymore."

She thought for a second and nodded. "Then so be it. I'm tired of keeping things from my friends. They're calling me a liar now and I haven't lied! I'm purposely keeping things from everyone else, including you, so that the balance won't be broken. Things have happened over the summer and... it's just hard!"

Dumbledore looked at Rose. "Rose, why are you so scared of your friends? I understand that your gift complicates things, but you seem to let it get to you too much."

"As I said, professor... things have happened during the summer. It involves my grandfather and... other relatives. Did you know my grandfather kept me under a curse for most of the summer? I'm not even supposed to tell you because he works for the ministry and all and I don't want you to do something about it but he did! Other things have happened that I... at one point I couldn't refuse to do or tell and the balance was upset! And..." Rose rambled and got up from her chair, only to start pacing around. "Dru got hurt. I hurt her, and I told her that I hurt her and now... I promised to tell her everything but I'm... I'm pretty sure that it'll complicate things even further!"

"Rose, I know that you have been going to a horrible time. Believe me I know. But you seem to forget you're not the only one. There are still other students that are going to a world of problems. People not even that far away from you. i've been keeping an eye on all three of you, but you seem to struggle more with it than the others. Why do you think that is?"

"I'm not letting anyone come close to me, and I know, it's not right, but it's the best for everyone," Rose sighed. "And I really understand why they don't trust me enough to talk to me, or whatever, but all I seem to do between Dru and Neville is to keep them together while Professor Snape and someone else is trying to keep them apart and..."

"Clearly it's not! And perhaps it's not your friends not trusting you, but they don't trust your behavior."

"No, but when Dru's hurting with her head again, I'm suddenly good enough to come with," she was still pacing around. "I came so close today to attack Neville, and I think that even though my need to use my wand on him was right as he has physically hurt me, I think it was better to come here and ask you if you would please expel me."

'Why do you think I would expel you? If he hurt you, maybe I'd better expel him."

"You don't want him expelled, professor, he's going to be a fine wizard," she smiled at him. "He's capable of so much more than he lets on."

"So will you. And I know that you, my dear girl, have a part to play in this aswell. You're not the only one with the ability to know the future. I understand that you feel alone, but maybe it's a good idea to put your trust in someone. Mister Potter had Miss Granger and Mister Weasley. Miss Malfoy has Mister Longbottom. Don't you think it's better to find someone to share the burden with?"

She thought for a moment and shook her head. "No, because there's always the danger that they will tell someone what I've told them and things could go wrong...  _he_  could win."

"Maybe he'd lose if someone understood what you're going through. Maybe he'll lose if you were being kept safe. I understand Lupin told you that some people need others, that they're not strong enough. Do you remember that?"

"Yes professor..." she sighed and managed to sit down again, only to start fiddling with her hands. She knew what Dumbledore was going to say, and she didn't even have to be a seer to know it.

"You and Miss Malfoy are at risk. You know that. She knows that. But if other people don't know that, they can't help you. Did you know Harry's been dreaming about Voldemort being after him?"

"No... but it's not a surprise to me... professor there's... oh you're going to be so..." Rose flinched. "I really... at this point, even though I wasn't able to stop it, I'm..." she took a deep breath. "There are obviously people at play that wanted Harry to compete in the tournament. I hope you know why."

"Miss Shepherd, wasn't it you that told mister longbottom that children are not responsible for the actions of their parents? Doesn't that count for the past as well as the present mistakes?"

"My Father is dead, sir."

'If you say so." he looked friendly at her. "I think you need to find it in your heart to tell Mister Longbottom the truth, before it gets any worse, don't you?"

She blinked at him and saw that Dumbledore had this all knowing smile on his face. "You know?" Rose then shook her head as if trying to shake the confused feeling she had. "I... I  _could_  tell him, but there is no way of knowing what it will do to... he made me do something horrible! And..."

"I'll think you find Mister Longbottom to be more understanding than you think he might be. Did you know he came to see me a few times already this year? What do you think he wanted to talk to me about?"

"I don't know... professor Moody's drinking problem?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Try again."

She fumbled the crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket with her father's initials on it and handed it to Dumbledore. "This?"

"No. he's been coming to see me about you."

"Oh."

"Why do you think that is?"

Rose shrugged. "Probably because Dru asked him to or something."

"Well, he came to see me about both of you. He knows Dru's been having nightmares since the start of term and since they weren't speaking until recently he didn't know how to help her. But he wanted to talk to me about you too. He's worried that you're keeping secrets that are ...how did he say it again...ah right...killing you on the inside. But he didn't know how to help you either. He wants to, but he can't help unless you confide in him."

"Oh no, he has Dru. He's Dru's rock," she chuckled and shook her head. "And I'm fine, I'm just fed up by all of this. But you know, that's not even the biggest issue! You know! About my father!"

"Yes, but that's not any of your concern. You need to be 14 like you are. Now i suggest you go find Mister Longbottom. He'll be pretty lonely sitting by Miss Malfoy's bed. I'm afraid it will take her a long while to wake up and then... well we'll see. Your grandfather isn't that great with spells, although I doubt that that spell could- off you go now.'

She left Dumbledore's office feeling more confused than ever and with more questions than she cared to think about at the moment. The most important one being those about her Father and why he had let Harry be allowed to compete anyway despite the Goblet being all binding and all that.

She didn't really want to go to the infirmary and join Neville and Dru, waiting to find out what was going on with her, and instead went outside where she found Fred and George sitting underneath a tree, giggling to themselves like mad while scribbling away on pieces of parchment. Sighing, Rose made her way over to the twins and quietly sat down next to George.

He looked up at her and frowned. "Are you okay, Rose?"

"Don't mind me," she said with a small smile. "If you don't want me here, I'll just go somewhere else..."

"Come on, don't be such a silly goose." George threw a bit of grass at her and smiled. "You're always welcome."

Fred looked at his brother and the girl he knew his brother had been looking at from afar for years now. He then grinned and collected his stuff. He and his brother might be legends amongst students for their jokes and pranks, and always getting into trouble, but it had taken him four years to actually let Rose know he liked her (and invite her to the ball at the same time). "I'll just leave you two alone," he grinned, knowing that three was a crowd. "Talk amongst yourselves!" Fred said, bowing deeply and hurrying off.

"Subtle," George deadpanned and moved so that he could look at Rose better. "You look like you're carrying the world on your shoulders."

"Maybe I am," she retorted with a smile. "But I just didn't want to be alone right now."

George, who was leaning against the tree behind him, pulled Rose towards him and put an arm around him. "Better?"

Sighing, she scooted closer and put her arms around his waist as she laid her head against the side of his chest. Weird enough, she felt extremely comfortable and safe. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, and just enjoy the feeling of safety for a bit.

It was funny how the twins together were loud as firecrackers, but George had already shown during the ball that he was capable of being 'normal' too, and just an all round nice guy. She loved how the silence was comfortable, she could hear the sounds of other students outside and the birds chirping as she listened to George's breathing and his heartbeat.

"If I had known this, I would have asked you out a lot sooner.'

"Ah, so the ball  _was_  a date?" she said smiling, not opening her eyes, just enjoying their little bubble right now. "I'm just surprised you asked me, I mean, I'm  _younger_."

"Yeah, but you and your friend are the hottest girls in school. I'm just glad nobody else had the idea to ask you before I did.

"Hot?" Rose chuckled and looked up to him. "You're bonkers!"

George kissed her. "Definitely."

"Oh look who I'm calling bonkers, it's your middle name isn't it?" she shook her head laughing and put her head against his chest again, liking being held like this very much.

"Well, it is, but I was talking about you being hot." George put his other arm around the girl too. "I'm just glad you were gone, before Ron had the chance to asked you."

"Well, like I said at the ball... I didn't want to go to begin with but then I got this beautiful dress..." she sighed and shook her head. "That'll be the only time you have seen me in a dress, George Weasley."

"Ah, that dress," George closed his eyes for a second. "Good memories. That's okay, I can see it in my mind every time." he opened his eyes again. "Rose, what is the deal with you and Malfoy?"

"Which one? Dru or the peroxide brother?"

"the git.'

She took a deep breath. "Apparently, despite me being a half blood, I'm good stock," she said slowly. "My father was a Death Eater. Malfoys like good stock."

"Really? If they like to keep it within their group, what on earth is Dru doing with Neville then?"

"Neville is... special," Rose replied with a nod. "Dru's against everything... well most of the things that her family believes in. Neville will surprise us all one day."

'He already did in my book. He's going out with one on the hottest girls in school. I used to be a bit jealous. But not anymore though. But were you and the git ever together?"

"Ew, no." She chuckled. "I just like to shock people, so I kissed him once, in front of everybody so he could brag. Chaos and Mayhem, sometimes it just has to happen."

George looked across the lawn. Draco had been staring at him and Rose for a long time now. She didn't notice because she had her eyes closed, it was hilarious. Draco looked furious, but George didn't care. "But does he know you're not couple?"

"I made it clear to him that it's in his best interest to date purebloods, not someone like me, despite my heritage on my Father's side."

'I think he needs to be told again. Would you allow me to do so?" George didn't wait for her to answer. He gently pushed Rose on her back and kissed her.

"George!" she responded surprised and looked at him in shock when she felt one of his hands go somewhere she didn't want them to go. She gently pushed him off of her. "Don't do that! I... I... don't surprise me like that!" Rose said, nearly bursting into tears. Granted, his hand was nowhere near somewhere private, but she had  _never_  been held or touched like George had and she was freaking out.

George gave her a gentle kiss. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'll warn you next time in advance. okay?" He chuckled softly in her ear. He pulled her in his arms and gave her another kiss. "Are you okay."

"No, I'm not, I shouldn't have sat down next to you for company," she said, scrambling to her feet and stomping off. This whole 'reaching out to someone' or 'bonding with someone' had been a bad idea. Rose ran inside and took the stairs to the portrait, she wanted to see Dru and if she had to pull Neville off of her then so be it, but she wanted to see Dru.

She then realised that Dru was in the infirmary and kicked against the portrait (resulting in the Fat Lady giving her the stink eye) before running to the hospital wing. Her friend was asleep when she entered, and Neville was sitting next to Dru. Of course he was, and all of a sudden, Rose did not want to be there anymore. She had lost Dru to Neville and it had been her own fault.

Neville looked up at Rose. He looked angry at first, but was shocked to see Rose almost in tears. He got up and walked to her. "Is everything okay, Rose?"

She quickly backed away from Neville and clasped her hand over her wrist, they still hurt. "Howisshe?" she muttered.

Neville looked at Dru. "Not good, they don't know if...when she's going to wake up. They were discussing to take her to St. Mungo."

"Madame Pomfrey contacted her parents, yes? Or asked Professor Dumbledore to?" she said and shook her head before backing away more. "This is my fault... this is... I'm going to kill him!"

Neville pulled Rose in his arms. "It's not your fault. I was scared, I needed to take it out on someone. I'm sorry I took it out on you. But seeing her like that, knowing that they were talking of spell damage... I didn't want to lose..." He couldn't finish his sentence. He dried his eyes and looked at Rose. "But what happened to you?"

"You hurt me Neville!" she said and hit him in the chest before backing away again. "You men are all the same! If it's not using us for venting, it's for a  _very_  public display of … you're so devious! You lull girls into this false sense of security and wham! Bad news! Leave me alone, blame Dru's illness on me, because you'd do it anyway!"

Neville was holding Rose firmly, it was almost as if he was wrangling a wild animal and it made it harder not to hurt her again. "Rose, did Draco do something to you?"

"Draco... oh god he doesn't even know that she's here." She was still trying to pull away from Neville and eventually, she felt too tired and drained to fight and gave up. "No... not Draco," she sobbed. "Dru... it's my fault... and..."

"Rose, who tried to hurt you? Tell me!" Neville put his arm around her.

"It doesn't matter," Rose shook her head and pointed at Dru. "Go and sit with Dru."

"No, you sit with her." Neville placed Rose in the chair he had been sitting in. "But tell me who were you with? Rose?" He kneeled down next to her in a brotherly kind of way.

"It's so crowded in my head you know, all those thoughts, and all those possibilities and things that... I went to professor Dumbledore and he  _knew_  things that I've been trying so hard to keep from you and Dru and my head felt like it was going to explode so I went to sit next to George, just because I wanted some company that wasn't you or Dru because you hate me and Dru's here and then George kept kissing me and he pushed me to the grass and... he scared me!" she said in one breath, trying not to cry but she wasn't able to stop the tears from falling and wondered if she sounded sane at all. She had never had broken down like this before and it scared her shitless. She was always in perfect control even when it seemed like she wasn't. She was just so tired. "I'm tired Neville..."

Neville scooped her up and put her on an empty bed. "You stay here and rest. I'll deal with… I'll deal with him." He gave her a gentle pat on her head and walked out of the infirmary.

She looked at him, dazed, and shook her head as she got off the bed. She gently caressed Dru's hair and tucked her in the way she liked (not the way Madame Pomfrey had done). "I'm sorry..." she said sobbing. "I'm so sorry... I'll make this right, I promise..." she continued. "I just can't be with you right now, you understand right? This is all my fault!" She then made her way to the Gryffindor common room. Or actually the dormitory, she'd rather sleep in her own bed and cry under the blankets than be at the infirmary where everyone could see that she had broken down.

When Rose opened the portrait she could hear yelling and screaming and she knew instantly that something was wrong. She walked inside and saw Neville being held back by Dean, Seamus and Harry. and on the other side Fred and Ron standing in front of a very shocked George. "What the bloody hell is the matter with you? You can't just attack George for no reason.'' Ron shot at Neville, who was still trying to wrestle his way towards George.

"Oh boy," Rose breathed and shook her head, before quietly making her way over to the group, standing right between everyone. "It's my fault, I'm sorry, I'm... sorry." She looked at George. "I'm sorry, George," she then looked at Neville and shook her head. "I'm sorry Neville... I wasn't... my words... didn't... well..." she wanted to kick herself for not being able to form words properly. "Don't fight, just don't. I'm really... sorry." she said, taking a deep breath and then running off to the dormitory. She nearly tripped over her own feet as she took the stairs and a slew of curse words escaped her mouth that left the rest of the common room below speechless before she crawled in Dru's bed.

She pulled the blankets over herself and put the pillow over her head and tried to relax, purge her thoughts and hopefully start over. Or maybe... get expelled, because Dru's situation was most definitely her fault in some way and to injure another student was wrong. At this point, she didn't even care anymore.

Rose woke up in the middle of the night and found that she couldn't sleep anymore. She had slept through dinner and in a way, she was feeling somewhat better and slightly more stable than she had felt ever since the day had started. She was surprised that the fire was still on in the fireplace and she loved how the dancing flames lit up the common room like they did. It was beautiful. She then noticed a lump on the sofa and when she came closer, she saw that it was George, and he was sleeping peacefully (as peaceful as you can get as a tall person on a two seater sofa). "Idiot," she whispered with a smile.

"I know." George opened his eyes and looked at her. He sat up straight for once in his life there was not a smile on his face.

"I screwed up, George. I'm sorry."

George took Rose's hand and gently pulled her next to him on the sofa. "No, Rose. I'm sorry. I forgot you're a 14 year old girl who never had a boyfriend before. I went way too fast. I never meant to scare you so much."

"It's not that, George," she said, looking at her knees while taking a deep breath. "I mean..."

"Rose, what would you say if we started over?" He put his arm around her.

She thought for a moment. She had grown up with her grandfather and her crazy father who had mostly been under a curse. Rose rarely had received hugs or sat down on the sofa reading a book safely in her father's arms and the way George had treated her at the ball, and today, she really had liked it, but it scared her. "I can't, George. I've hurt my friend, I've kept things from her and... I've done terrible things..."

'Rose, I've seen the way you care about Dru. And if you really are that horrible to Dru, I don't think Neville had tried to take a swing at me today. He was trying to protect you. Now why would he do that if he really thinks you're responsible for Dru's fate?" George gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "I'll make you a deal; if I ever do anything that you don't want me to, just tell me and I'll stop. But please give me another chance." He pulled her a little bit closer to him. "I'll be the best boyfriend you'll ever have." He whispered in her ear and placed a gentle kiss on her neck.

"He only tried to take a swing at you because I wasn't clear about what happened and because he felt guilty for hurting me," Rose sighed and shook her head. "I'll be the most horrible girlfriend you'll ever have, but I suppose I should start by telling you everything that's been on my mind and you need to keep it to yourself, but once I've done my story, then you can reconsider about wanting to be with me, how's that?"

'Wait, when did he hurt you?" George asked concerned.

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is that I'm going to tell you everything, stuff that even Dru doesn't know - yet. And then you can decide whether or not you still want me as your girlfriend."

George nodded. He leaned back on the sofa and pulled Rose into his arms. "Spill."

She told him everything. About her father, what happened over the summer and how she was cursed left and right and how her father had taken her to  _him_  and help them construct Harry's tournament involvement. She told George about the impending war without going in too much detail because it was still fuzzy for her too, but she knew a few things and they never seemed to change. The outcome had always been the same. She then told him about Professor Moody, who wasn't really professor Moody. When she was done, she was surprised to find two glasses of pumpkin juice in front of them on the table. "So, now you know," she said relieved, it did feel good to get it all off her chest. "Regardless what you think of me now, you need to keep all of this between you and me."

George was quiet for ten long minutes. "Did you tell Dumbledore about the stuff with Harry?"

She nodded. "He already knew, and I think that he lets it continue because it's a part of this whole chain of events, he's doing his best to keep him safe though, so that's good."

George caressed Rose's hair out of her face. "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You're supposed to hate me now."

George smiled. 'I'm sorry that you have to go through all of this. But I can't hate you. I can't ever hate you. I like you too much to ever hate you." He wanted to kiss her, but seeing her bad reaction this afternoon, he didn't dare to. He didn't want to upset her again. "I can't imagine what it must be like to see things before they happen and then feel like you're the one who needs to sort things out, or having such huge secrets..." he handed her her pumpkin juice. "Well, from now on, you're going to be stuck with me. You can tell me everything and I won't tell a soul. I'll be your rock."

"George Weasley, you're weird."

"And I completely understand your weirdness so there," he smiled and took a sip of the juice. I can conjure things, do you like this juice?"

"I've had better," she shrugged with a smile. "Thanks, George. For listening... and for everything you'll do in the future."

"I told you. I like you." George gave her another kiss on her cheek. He was trying hard to resist the urge of kissing her on her lips and instead rested his head on her shoulder. "So, will you give me another chance?"

"Well I'll have to now, won't I?" she chuckled. "You haven't run away!"

George looked in her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere." he caressed her cheek. "Can I please kiss you now?" he groaned. "I've been a good boy."

Rose chuckled again and softly kissed his lips. "How about I kiss you then?"

George kissed her back. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "Yes, please. You can kiss me anytime.'

* * *

The next morning everybody was having the breakfast in the great hall. George sat next to Rose. He was talking to Fred who was sitting across from him. George was gently caressing Rose's lower back.

But Rose barely noticed it. She kept looking from a pale white Neville, who was sitting across from her, facing the Slytherin table. She wanted to see if Draco had any more news.

George noticed what Rose was doing, put an arm around her and pulled her towards him. "Why don't we go check in on Dru together?"

"You're can't go see her, Rose." Neville's voice sounded weird. It sounded cold and distant.

The four weasleys and the rest of the gryffindor fourth years all had a go at Neville at once. the fact that Neville had tried to take a swing at George for, as far as they knew, no reason, was still very much in the back at their heads. they were pretty fed up with Neville's behavior over the last two days.

Neville did what he always did if someone, like his gran, had a go at him. he just sat there and waited for them to stop. He put his arms on the table and rested his head in it.

It only took a few minutes for McGonagall to storm towards the table. "Will you stop this at once." She shot at them.

They all stopped talking, apart from George. "He's telling Rose she's not allowed to go see Dru."

"That's not up to him." Fred added

"I tried to explain, but..." Neville couldn't finish his sentence. He was crying.

Everybody was looking shocked at Neville. Despite them not being strangers to Neville crying, this was a very different thing than him crying because he got bullied or something. This was full of despair.

McGonagall put her hands on his shoulders. "Miss Malfoy was taking to St. mungo during the night. She's being admitted to the ward for spell damage for the time being."

Neville put his arms over his head. he didn't want to hear it. He couldn't face lose another person that way.

George pulled Rose as close to him as he could. "She'll be okay, I'm sure of it. this is not your fault." He whispered in her ear.

Professor Sprout joined her colleague at the gryffindor table. "Mister Longbottom, you need to go up to the Professor Dumbledore's office. Your grandmother is waiting to take you home."

But Neville didn't seem to respond. Fred got to his feet and hoisted Neville up. "I'll get him there."

"Rose." Neville's voice could barely be heard.

"Miss Shepherd. Mrs Longbottom is taking Neville home to go and visit the hospital. Neville insisted you come too. He know you'd want to see Miss Malfoy too." McGonagall explained.

George looked at Rose. "I'll get her to his office. Give me ten minutes."

Fred nodded to his brother and took Neville with him out of the great hall.

George lifted Rose out of her seat and walked her out of the great hall too. But instead of taking her directly to the office, he pulled her into the first empty classroom he came across.

He said down on a desk and pulled her into his arms. "Rose, I really need you to listen me right now. This is not your fault and I don't care what you say. You are a kid and you're not responsible for whatever it is your father did to her. Do you understand me? It's not your fault.

"But it is! If I hadn't listened to my grandfather in that my grandmother's dying wish was for her son to be free and kept it a secret, this wouldn't have happened. What will happen to Harry wouldn't have happened and..." she sobbed. "I should know better!"

George let her cry for a while, knowing that whatever he'd say that she wouldn't listen anyway. In a way she was like Harry, he also liked to beat himself up over things he wasn't responsible for but felt responsible for.

She wiped her face with her sleeve and took a deep breath. "I think I should politely decline Neville's kind offer to come with him and his grandmother," she said bravely. "I'd only make things worse and I'll feel worse than I already do, and it's not like Dru would …"

"Would you stop? Dru needs you right now and Neville needs you too. Despite the fact that you've been trying to distance yourself from them, they need you. They are your friends."

"But that's the point! I never meant to make friends in school! I never had - It's wrong because I'm cursed!"

"No you're not, you're just the end result of being raised by a workaholic who didn't even care about his own son, and it's not hard to imagine why your father went psycho," he said simply. He had heard stories from his father, and while his father respected Mr. Crouch, he had often pitied his grand daughter, and kept saying that no child should live the way she lived. "But you're not your father, nor will you ever be, because you're a good person, Rose. You're strong and kind of weird but that's okay, that's a fun part of you that keeps people on their toes. But whether you like it or not, you  _have_  made friends, you even have me for a boyfriend! You are extremely loyal, and I know that it'd tear you apart if you'd stay here and couldn't visit Dru."

"But my grandfather..."

George wasn't listening. "Let's make you a deal. You're going to be a good girl and go with Neville. Be his friend as he surely needs one right now. And then I'll keep an eye on you father."

She gave a slow nod and sighed. "I can't see her future, George, and that scares me."

"Welcome to the real world," he caressed her hair. "Now you know what us simpletons are going through each day."

She looked at him and shook her head. "It's scary."

"You'll be okay," he softly kissed her and took her hand. "Come on, let's get you to Dumbledore's office. Oh, I know what you can do that will cheer you up a bit." He grinned and put an arm around her.

"What's that?"

"Well, if you take five minutes out of every hour thinking about me, you'll never be unhappy for too long."

"Do those cheesy lines really work on girls?" Rose frowned as they walked out of the classroom and into the corridor.

"Well, I got you, didn't I!" George grinned and gave Rose a kiss on her head.

She rolled her eyes at him and stopped dead in her tracks when Moody, well, her Father, really, stepped out of another classroom right in front of her and George, looking none too pleased. "Good luck with your friend, Miss Shepherd," Moody said, narrowing his eye on her.

"I'm taking her up to professor Dumbledore's office right now. Mind you professor, it'll be hard letting my new  _girlfriend_  go." George had levelled his gaze onto Moody, showing no sign of fear or whatever.

She eyed the both of them carefully and sighed. "And I expect to have my boyfriend back in one piece once I return too!"

"Say 'hi' to your grandfather for me, I've heard that he's been ill lately."

"What?"

"Oh, you haven't heard? Well, he's forgetful, poor old man. Be sure to take care of him when you get home, you don't have a house elf anymore, last thing I heard!"

Rose glared at her Father and pulled George along with her after a short moment. "Unbelievable," she muttered.

'I'll write Percy to ask him if he heard anything from your grandfather. Don't worry he's probably just trying to get under your skin."

"I hope so..." she sighed and looped her arm around George's as they continued towards Dumbledore's office. "And George... please, remember what I said..."

"Don't worry, I'm not telling anyone, anything about what you've said the other night. I promise. You can trust me, you know."

"Issues... working on them."

"I know," he chuckled and stopped right outside Dumbledore's office. "If Neville gives you any grief, just write to me. I'll make him understand a few things then." George hadn't forgotten about Rose mentioning that Neville had hurt her, he was a lot more observant than people gave him (or Fred for that matter) credit for. He gave her one more kiss before opening the door.

Mrs Longbottom was sitting on a chair talking to Professor Dumbledore. Neville was standing by the fireplace and was looking into the fireplace. His eyes were blood red. He clearly hadn't stopped crying that long ago.

"Ah, there you are dear. Your friend has packed some things for you take with us."

"That's alright," Rose spoke as she gave a small smile to Neville's grandmother. "Wait... aren't I going home myself?" She looked at Dumbledore and felt confused. "And meet up with Neville when we go and visit Dru?"

"Your Grandfather is very busy and doesn't have time to take of you right now. So Neville asked if you could stay with us, so you could still visit Dru." Mrs Longbottom stood up and walked over to the fireplace. "Are you coming, Rose? I don't have all day."

"No..." Rose said, trying not to sound alarmed or frightened. "Look... Dru's my friend and Neville is too but I don't think that it's proper for me to intrude on your life... I mean... It's my fau-."

"Go with them." George whispered in her ear and gave her a kiss on her hair.

Dumbledore rose from his seat and walked to Rose with a reassuring smile on his face. "I am afraid that I hadn't made myself clear to you the other day," he said, "but what happened to Miss Malfoy is not your fault, Miss Shepherd. Your one spell on her did not cause this, nor did anything you've told Madame Pomfrey about what had occurred at your home. Now, go with Neville and Mrs. Longbottom, it'll be okay."

Neville walked to Rose, took her hand and pulled her with him to the fireplace. "Just come," His voice sounded hoarse and small.

It was weird to go with someone who she was familiar with but only tolerated because of a mutual friend, it didn't feel right and it felt awkward. Surely Dean or Seamus were better friends to Neville than she was? Granted, they weren't Dru's friends, not really, but still, things would get crowded easily with the Malfoys probably at her side all day and Rose was the least important person to think about.

The Longbottom living room reminded her of home, maybe a slightly cleaner version of home, and less clutter. There was a steaming hot pot of tea and some scones on the table and Mrs. Longbottom pointed at the sofa. "Eat, drink. Rest. We'll go to visit Dru tomorrow."

Neville walked to the bookcase and after looking for a few seconds got two books out and walked back to the sofa. He sat down and put one book on the seat next to him. He gave her a faint smile as he poured tea in for everyone. He put Rose's teacup next to his and then Neville opened the other book and looked at her.

"Thanks, Neville..."

"You are allowed to sit down, dear." Mrs longbottom picked up her knitting.

Neville nodded to the seat next him.

She sat down and sighed. "I'm sorry... I'm just not really good with people..."

"Well, neither is my grandson."

Neville gave a weak smile and handed Rose the book he had put next to him.

"Oh but he is, mrs. Longbottom, Neville is fantastic with people, under the right circumstances," she said as she looked at the book, and frowned.

"Not really." Neville muttered.

"Yes, you are," Rose muttered back and shook her head as she put the book back down. "Are we in London? Would it be alright if I'd go out for a little while?"

"We're in Yorkshire, Rose. But we could go out for walk to the town."

"Alright, I suppose that'd be good," she smiled and slowly sipped her tea. She then grinned at Neville. "I have a boyfriend!"

Neville grinned back. "I know. I saw you."

"Me, a boyfriend!" she gushed. "Wait... we've been pretty discreet so far... when did you see us?"

"When you kissed him after the ball in the common room."

"Oh, but... that was just a whim! No, we talked about it last night! wait... how did you see that? We were alone."

Neville grinned. "We were sitting in the corner. So George Weasley. At least you finally developed some taste.'

"Oh come on, you honestly don't believe that I ever saw something in Draco, did you?"

Neville grinned. "I didn't, but Dr- she did." He didn't wanted to say her name. Even thinking about her hurt.

"Wishful thinking I suppose," she shrugged and took a bite out of her scone. "You know, I imagine that if Dru was … Dru... she'd laugh so hard and she'd take me to Madame Pomfrey to have my head checked out!"

"Yeah... Gran, I'm gonna show Rose where's she's sleeping.' Neville got up, picked up Rose's bag and the two books he had taken out of the book cabinet and walked up the stairs.

He showed Rose the guest room where she was staying. Gran always liked to change the guest room every time someone stayed over because nobody ever stayed over, and the room was all pink and purple and it made him want to vomit. "Right..."

Rose looked at the room, not sure whether to be mortified or amused. "Ah..."

"Bit bright, isn't it? Would you like to sit in my room?"

"Why did you bring those books?" She asked as she followed Neville to his room, it was a typical boys room, she just missed the toy muggle cars that she had seen in commercials on the TV.

Neville sat down on his bed and handed the books to Rose. "They're about Spell Damage. I read them when I was a kid, but it couldn't help me then. But maybe we could find something that we can help us figure out what happened to her."

"Maybe, but apart from her getting terrible headaches, I don't know what else there's been going on and I wouldn't know what to look for... I've been trying to leave the two of you alone for some bonding and what not and to try to keep you safe by keeping you out of things."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can't help. You're the smart one of us... is there a chance her thing isn't just reading minds, but something bigger?"

Rose thought for a second. "Well of course, especially with what Dru's been telling me about feeling feelings and stuff... her thing has been evolving, but I don't understand how that would be classified as Spell Damage or how that would make her end up the way she has."

"What if...What if somebody knows more about her thing than she does and… what if someone is causing her to have nightmares every night?"

"Yes, quite possible, but wouldn't Professor Dumbledore have thought about it? He seems to know everything that's going on inside Hogwarts! He even surprised me a couple of times a few days ago and... he wouldn't have known..." She then smacked herself on the cheek. "Oh I'm such an idiot!" She got off from the bed and started to pace around. "Oh! That's brilliant it is!"

"Rose, what's wrong?"

She smiled widely. "Oh Neville... it's brilliant!" Most of the pieces had fallen in place, finally. "Tell me, did Professor Dumbledore talk to you when Dru fell ill and not just to inform you that she'd be taken to St. Mungo's but to take me with you as well?"

"Well, yeah. But it was my idea for you stay here, when Dumbledore told me you couldn't stay with your grandfather. He did agree with it, but it was my idea."

"Don't you get it, Neville?" she smiled and started to jump around. "She may be  _ill_  but it's probably not that bad, he's just keeping her safe, and away from … away from... oh god..." she groaned. Connecting the dots, she was usually faster to with that.

"Rose, Dumbledore didn't want her to go. I heard him discuss the whole thing with her parents. They wanted her out of the school, away from... from me."

"Her parents are so..." she made the gesture of hands strangling something. "There's nothing wrong with you, Neville. He's sent you, us, here to make sure she stays safe?"

"I know that, but her mother had something that made me think. She was crying saying that it's the school's fault. They know who she is and they should have kept her far away from me. Rose, what if someone is messing with her mind, trying to get her away from me, from us." Neville took a deep breath. "You told her that she should stay with me, because else she would turn to the dark side, right? What is someone wants her on the dark side?"

"Well, I know they want her, they want me too, but... yeah... you're the one that's keeping her on the right track, that's keeping her fighting against her family's stupid beliefs," she sighed. "But that's also something Dumbledore could have thought of himself."

"Rose, how could he? He was away all day yesterday. He didn't know about her until it was nearly nightfall. I was there when he came to see her."

"Who have I been talking to yesterday then?" she asked confused. "Dumbledore was Dumbledore... he... knew things and said things that Dumbledore usually says to me..."

"Rose, I don't know anymore. All I know is that something has been wrong for months now. Those nightmares she's been having."

"How do you know?"

Neville took a deep breath. "The truth? I've been lying to you two for months."

"What?" she said confused. "What are you talking about? Neville? Spill!"

"she's been having nightmares since her birthday. I didn't realise it until that day she lost control of her thing during Moody's class. But I've been seeing her nightmares. But there's something weird about these nightmares. I just can't put my finger on it."

"You've been...  _seeing_  her nightmares? How?" She had never fancied him for having at least a smidgen of telempathic abilities.

"I think... I think someone putting the nightmares in her head. And in mine. She's been dreaming about her getting tortured. Like Bellatrix tortured my parents. I think it's to scare us. To make us think we're doing something wrong by being together." Neville laid down on his back and stared at the ceiling. "What if... What if someone is making her lose it, because we're back together."

"So basically it  _is_  my fault because I've been telling you guys to stick together, is that what you mean? And who would do such a thing anyway? Terrorizing kids with spells? Really?"

Neville sat up straight and looked at Rose. "Not everything is about you Rose. I never said this is your fault. And don't say I did yesterday. I already said I was sorry. I was just freaking out because I knew she was slipping away from me. Besides if you'd really think I would have just let her get away from me, I've been trying to win her back for months, without your help. And we got back together on our own, didn't we?" Neville seem to be a bit proud of the last fact.

"But Neville, who have I been talking to yesterday then, if Dumbledore had been away all day? And, if we go with the crazy theory that someone is giving you and Dru headaches, who is responsible for those?"

"I don't know. I was sort of hoping you'd know."

"I might have an idea... but... I didn't think that he was  _that_  powerful... no... it can't be him because all of his energy is going into pretending to be... no..." she sighed and started to pace again. "Neville, apart from us being friends with Dru... you being more than friends with her... why are we here?"

Neville sighed. "I heard... I just thought you'd want to see her too."

"You heard what?"

"Never mind. I just wanted to be nice to you."

She narrowed her eyes on him. "I'll go and see Dru with you tomorrow, and then I'm going back to Hogwarts... and if I'm not allowed to go back for some reason, I'll be at my house."

Neville closed his eyes. "Have it your way then. If you don't want to be- if you don't want to stay."

"Yes, I want to be there for Dru, but not if you're going to play games. I want us to figure this out, and if you're keeping things from me, then it's kind of hard to get all the details straight, isn't it?"

"I just don't want to tell you till I'm sure of it. I have to know it's true before I can tell you." He smirked. "Otherwise it might upset the balance."

"Funny," she said curtly.

He smiled. "Rose, it's… well it's more about me than you... no it's about me not you. You'll be safe."

"Still funny," she crossed her arms over her chest. "Go on, mock me some more."

"Rose, I think I've really lost her this time." Neville wasn't smiling anymore. "Or to be more precise she's lost me."

"What? You're going through all this trouble only to break up?"

"No, Rose. I'll never give up on her. Not even if she… if she doesn't want me anymore.  
I've promised her that. I'll never stop fighting for us, even if she's lost all her... lost me."  
he sat up straight opened one of the books and started flipping through the pages. He seemed to be looking for something.

"You two belong together, Neville. And I'm sure that she'll come back," Rose said, sounding as positive as she could. She had already admitted to George that she was scared because she couldn't see Dru's future anymore.

"I know we do. But I... Never mind. Let's just see how she is tomorrow."

"I'm going to sleep some, haven't had much sleep in the last few days. Wake me up if you decide you're up for sharing," she nodded and walked out of Neville's room to go to the very bright guest room.

After two hours Neville came into Rose's room and sat down on the bed. He wanted to talk to her, but he wasn't really able to find the words.

Rose had felt that someone had sat down on the bed, she wasn't in that much of a deep sleep, and opened her eyes. "What is it, Neville?"

He looked down at the ground. "What if she... f she … I'm scared Rose."

"She's Dru. She's strong, she'll find her way back."

"What if she can't? What if they messed up her brain too much?"

"Would people really do that to a 14 year old? I like to think that they clogged her head too much with stuff and feelings and that it just shut down to preserve itself and that she'll come back when she's ready."

"But what if you-know-who is behind this? You said it yourself, they want the two of you on their side."

"She's smart enough not to let that happen, don't worry Neville."

Neville closed his eyes. He could feel the tears coming up again. He knew he should tell Rose the truth, but he was too scared to say the words out loud.

"We'll see how she is tomorrow, okay?" she gently gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry so much." She was getting frustrated, what else could she say to make him stop thinking the way he did? Rose wasn't used to things like these, she wasn't really sure how to comfort people or whatever. She usually made Dru laugh instead of letting her cry it all out.

Neville took a very deep breath. "She asked me who I was."

"Dru the joker," she noted and finally sat up, giving up. If Neville wanted to talk, then they'd talk. "Neville, I don't like it when people give me small bits and pieces. If you need to say something, please say the entire thing at once?"

"When I took her up to infirmary, she look at me and asked me who I was. it startled me for a second, but then she seemed to remember me. But late after you, I could tell she didn't get why I was there, holding her hand. She didn't know me anymore."

"Ah... but that... well like I said, if her body shut down to preserve herself, the memory would be first to go, wouldn't it?" she said after a moment of thought. "Neville, I don't know."

"Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna say that." Neville tried to smile, but tears were running down his cheeks now. "That'll be the third person in my life I love that won't recognize me."

"I'm sorry," Rose said and shook her head. "I truly am, but I don't know what to say. All I know is that I'm scared that this might be..." she sighed. "Look, I've been trying to stay positive, because positive thinking is good, and usually works, but I'm scared too, Neville. I can't see her future anymore or pick up any stray thought when it comes to her. It's like she's being erased or something like that."

"I can't lose her." Neville put his head on Rose's shoulder. His life was crumbling around him and nothing he could do, would stop it.

"You won't," she replied and pat him on the back again. "She's smart, she can outsmart anyone, and she'll work through this."

Neville nodded and sat up straight again. "Can you think of anyone that would have said the things 'Dumbledore' said to you?"

"No, not really... apart from Dumbledore himself to be honest. He told me to find someone I can trust and confide in, because you and Dru are each other's support system and... well he was pushing me towards you, but... truthfully we've never been really... well we tolerate each other, don't we? For the sake of Dru..."

Neville signed. "Truthfully, You tolerate me, because you pity me. I want you to my friend, but I don't know if I can really trust you."

"I don't pity you," she scowled, "I see you for who you truly are, what you are capable of and you scare the hell out of me."

'Look I know I sort of lost it the other day, but you know I'll never really harm you. I just wouldn't. You and me..." Neville smiled. "You and me remind us a bit of her and Draco. We fight like hell and then the next thing we're laughing again."

"It's not about what happened the other day, it's about what I see you do in the... you know, you're going to be so amazing, you won't even believe it yourself."

"I don't believe you, but I believe you believe it. Rose, maybe we should just accept each other for who we are. I mean, I like having you as my friend."

She took a deep breath and got up to close the door. "I need to tell you something, about this summer, and I sort of have told Dru already, but I didn't want to flood her head with all the things that were going on, you know."

"I'm listening, tell me."

She told Neville the same thing that she had told Dru, only to tell him about a house guest that she wasn't supposed to know about and that Rose had panicked and had attacked her in the shed to protect her family's secret, and then how she spent most of those two months under her grandfather's imperius curse.

Neville looked at Rose and put an arm around her. "So that's why you've been blaming yourself." Neville smiled. "Rose, you're really bonkers. Dru's problems didn't start until her birthday. That was weeks after what happened at your house. This isn't your fault, Rose."

"I still feel responsible," she sighed. "And why didn't she tell us that her real birthday was much later? Because you know, I would have brought her another present!"

"I don't know. I didn't get her anything either. She just showed up her a little before midnight."

"I mean, especially since we both know the truth about her now," she nodded. "You'd think that things would be easier to say, wouldn't you?"

"Rose, I don't think things are ever gonna be easier for us." Neville smiled. He still had an arm around her. "But we're good now, aren't we? We're friends again? You're not gonna make me bald?"

"No," she chuckled. "Although I can't really take credit for what happened to those poor Slytherin boys now, can I?" she smirked and looked at Neville. "As long as you promise me not to hurt me anymore, like you did, we're friends again." she pulled up one of her sleeves and showed her the hand sized bruise around her wrists. "Or at least be gentle next time you shove me against a wall."

"I'm sorry, Rose. I just... I wasn't feeling like myself." Neville felt really guilty about hurting her.

"Next time punch a wall," she gave him a tap on the head. "You're forgiven."

"Come on, Gran probably has supper ready by now, her food is even better than what we get at Hogwarts and that's a challenge!"

* * *

Rose had never been to St Mungo before. It was a big place, but she didn't have a lot of time to look around. Neville and his grandmother knew their way to ward Dru was admitted like the back of their hand.

She was used to have her head filled with sense whenever she stepped into a new place she hadn't been before so that she could adjust, but everything was fractured by the time they entered the Spell Damage ward and she was trying to block the scattered futures of the patients that had filled their head.

She felt as if  _she_  was going to fall to pieces and had taken a hold on to Neville in an effort to have his energy stabilize her. "I didn't think..." she said softly. "It was this bad."

"You'll get used to it." Neville looked really depressed, but strong at the same time. He had been to this ward more times than anyone his age should ever have been.

"I'll go see your parents, dear. I think you two want to check up on Dru first." Mrs longbottom walked to the corner of the ward were two beds were shielded off by curtains.

Neville looked around and tried to see where Dru was lying.

"Hello, do you want my picture. I can sign my name on it now." a familiar voice spoke as Rose felt someone tugging on her arm.

"Professor Lockhart?" she said confused as she pulled her arm back. "No... thank you... I think I already have all of your books and they're all signed too!"

Lockhart smiled and walked to the nurse. "I've got books."

"Yes dear, you have," the nurse said kindly and took his hand. "Let's get you back to your bed."

Neville smiled weakly at Rose. "He's been here for a year and half now."

"Rose, Neville."

Rose blinked as she heard another familiar voice, the pleasant voice of Professor Remus Lupin. "Professor Lupin? What... what are you doing here?" she asked as she made her way over to him, he had been sitting next to Dru's bed. Dru looked horribly pale and she was looking as if she was just asleep, and like she could wake up any minute. However, since she was at St. Mungo's, she doubted that that would be the case.

"Professor Dumbledore told me what happened and that you were coming," He stood up and gave Neville a pat on his shoulder and hugged Rose. "He didn't want you two to be alone, despite your grandmother, Neville."

"How is she?"

"She hasn't woken up yet. Her family has been here all morning. They're not coming back until tonight."

Neville leaned over Dru and gave her a kiss on her forehead before sitting down next to her on the bed.

"Well that's a good thing I suppose, they don't particularly like Neville..."

Lupin looked behind him at the curtains that were keeping Frank and Alice Longbottom from view. He put on arm around Rose. "Are you okay, Rose?" He spoke softly.

"No, but that's alright..." she smiled bravely at him. "I have a lot of questions in my head right now, but that's okay, all we need is Dru back."

Lupin smiled. "Dumbledore told me you'll be staying with Neville until term starts again. I'll come by in a few days, maybe i can help you find some answers."

"Wait, until term starts again? Why didn't anyone tell me?" she said and shook her head. "It's not that I don't mind spending time with Dru, but it's not like she can talk anyway and I..."

Lupin chuckled. "Yes, Dumbledore could have communicated better with you, he said so himself and he's sorry," he gave her a gentle pat on the back. "Don't worry, he thought it would be best if you'd be away from school for a while too. Try to enjoy yourself when you're not visiting your friend."

"Why can't I stay at my own house?"

"Your grandfather is very busy with the tournament, and in all honesty, he looked very tired the last time we saw him. It's good to experience at least a little bit of normality in life for once, isn't it?"

"If you say so..."

Lupin looked at Neville. "Poor boy." he muttered to himself.

"I don't understand why anyone would hurt her you know... she's just a kid."

" _You're_  just a kid," he retorted with a smile. "And that's also one of the reasons why Dumbledore didn't want you at your own home, not after your grandfather confessed to Dumbledore that he thought you were a bundle of trouble and..."

"He did?"

"There might have been some firewhiskey involved," Lupin admitted. "And your grandfather should never have done what he did, but sadly, he's a very good asset in the ministry so we've decided not to officially launch a complaint against him."

"What?"

"Unless you want to, because it was an unforgivable curse and..."

"No..." Rose was confused. "I don't want to talk about it..."

"That's alright," he smiled at her. "I'll just leave you with your friends for now, please don't try to get into her mind, oh don't look at me like that, I would try to if I had an ability like yours, I don't want you to get lost yourself."

She was even more confused and shook her head before sitting down in the chair next to Dru's bed. She watched how Professor Lupin walked out of the ward and then looked at Neville. "Are you okay, Neville?"

Neville nodded, but didn't say one word or looked at Rose. His eyes were fixated on Dru as he hold her hand. Somehow this almost seemed worse than his parents. Officiously they lost their minds and didn't recognize Neville, but they were awake. Neville was able to make some sort of contact with them.

But Dru looked frail and very breakable. Her breathing was the only sign of life that came out of her.

"I didn't expect her to be like this. It was like she was sleeping last time I saw her. She was moving a bit, you know turning in her bed, but now..." Neville looked at Rose. "We're going to find out who did this to her, and we're going to make them pay." His voice sounded as treating as it did during his fight with Rose.

If it wasn't scary enough that Rose couldn't see Dru's future anymore or that it felt as if there was a huge wall erected around Dru that she couldn't get through, she was even more frightened now. She hadn't expect to see her friend like this and she didn't think it was this bad.

She could feel the anger radiate from Neville, and she felt the same way. Whoever was responsible for this, they were going to seriously pay, even if it meant for the both of them to brush up on their curses.

Rose took Dru's hand with one hand and caressed her hair with her other hand and was surprised to actually feel  _something_  stirring, something buried deep within Dru's consciousness. She gasped, and quickly pulled her hands off of Dru. She had not expected this result, but was quietly extremely pleased; Dru was not beyond all hope, if the hospital had expert mind readers or telepaths.

"I'll go see my parents for a bit. I'll be back." Neville said and walked over to his grandmother, leaving Rose alone with Dru.

Suddenly someone put a hand on Rose's shoulder. She turned around and saw Lockhart standing next to her. He was holding some papers in my hand.

He was looking very pleased as he handed them to Rose. She looked at them. they were full with unreadable scribbles, tiny drawings and the name Gilderoy Lockhart 20 times on every page.

'I've written another book for you."


	7. The road to recovery is paved with ... what was I saying?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superwitch Rose!

She passed on visiting Dru the next day, and opted to spend some time wandering around in London by herself to clear her head. Mrs. Longbottom wasn't too happy with that idea, but Neville had realised that she needed some time on her own and he said he'd take the blame if his grandmother would be mad.

For wizards and witches there was of course Diagon Alley, but Rose liked some of the muggle 'wicca' stuff too, because sometimes they'd have ancient spell books, or even new books that were pretty smart and insightful. Also, some of the ointments she could buy at Camden Market were just amazing.

She had been thinking about what she had felt the day before when she had touched Dru; she wasn't an empty shell, just hidden away from the rest of the world. Shut down, like a muggle robot, and she was going to do her best to find out if it was a good idea to try and slip inside her mind to make an attempt to 'restart' her.

Maybe she was going to mess with things she shouldn't mess with but she didn't want to wait for the hospital staff to get their act together. She was actually wondering why they hadn't gotten their act together in the day or so that Dru had been there. She just wanted some more information before she'd talk to Neville about it all.

She bought an amulet for luck at one of the stands at the market to give to Neville after she quietly spelled it with a spell to make him sleep at ease at night, at least for the next few days or so when the spell would wear off. Rose then made a stop at a hamburger restaurant before returning to St. Mungo's with at least five new books to read.

As she waited on a bench in front of the hospital, she was reading one of the books, sipping on a Cola, looking like any other muggle when she heard a familiar voice talk to someone, and it made her look up as they passed by. She scrambled to her feet and said; "Mr and Mrs Malfoy, I'm so sorry for what happened to Dru."

Lucius looked at her. "You're Rose, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," she replied with a small smile. "Dru's my best friend and I can't honestly begin to think what you must be going through."

"Thank you, Rose. That's very kind of you to think of us." Narcissa put a hand on Rose's arm. "Have you just been to visit her or do you want to to come with us?" her voice, however sad and tired, sounded friendly but still cold at the same time.

Draco didn't look at Rose. He stared at the floor. His face was ashen and his eyes filled with more worry than Rose had ever seen them.

"Oh, no, thank you. I've visited Dru yesterday, and I just couldn't today... I'm just waiting for my friend to come back so we can go home."

Draco looked shocked at Rose. She didn't had to mention Neville's name for him to know who she was waiting for. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't bring him to do it. He hated the fact that his beloved sister was dating Neville, the blundering idiot, but if there was only one little chance that he could trigger something inside of Dru, Draco wouldn't risk that chance being taken away.

"I do not wish to intrude or anything, but have you found a specialist that deals with Dru's particular gift?" Rose asked a little hesitant as she didn't want to overstep her boundaries. She then looked at Draco with a small smile, as he sort of knew about Rose's own gift. "I like to think that she's still in there."

"You think?" Draco asked.

"Yes," she nodded.

Draco gave Rose a weak smile.

"Well, we have people looking into it, but nobody seems to know the answer. we better go inside." Lucius squeezed Rose's shoulder and walked into the hospital with his wife. Draco gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you." he said and followed his parents.

She didn't have to wait long for Neville to come come out with his grandmother and smiled. "How is she?"

"Miss Shepherd, you're under my protection!" Mrs. Longbottom started, "Even if you know London like the back of your hand, you will not wander off without me in your presence. Neville should not have allowed you to go off on your own!"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Longbottom," she said with a sigh. "But I was out of books and wanted to buy some new ones at the market."

"Well, very well then. But next time you want something, you tell me and we can go with you."

"Even in Muggle territory?"

" _Especially_  in Muggle territory."

"Yes, Mrs. Longbottom," she said with a nod. "It won't happen again."

"Gran, can we go home now, Please? I want to..." Neville's voice was shaking.

"Alright, but …"

"Please, Gran. I want to get away from here." Neville's voice was on the verge of crying.

"Alright alright!" Gran responded and took the hands of Neville and Rose and while they walking, they apparated into the Longbottom sitting room. "There, home. Now, let me start cooking, how about some Shepherds Pie today?"

Neville didn't say anything, but he just went up to his room.

His grandmother shook her head. "It's terrible how it happened, but he should have know this was going to happen one day."

"What was what?" Rose said confused, as she kept her bag filled with books close to her.

"Don't get me wrong, dear. I like your friend and it is terrible what happened to her, but for Neville to be so upset about possibly losing her, he should have known they wouldn't last."

"Mrs. Longbottom..." she said with a small smile. "Your grandson and Dru are the two most wonderful people that I know, they're a real good fit, actually. Dru will get through this."

"Oh, I do hope so. Dru's a nice girl and I can see how Neville cares for her. But he should realise that they would never have stayed together for long."

"Why not?"

"Honestly, dear. Beautiful girls like Dru and yourself may be friends with someone like my grandson, but Dru is obviously out of his league. Now if you would please entertain yourself for a bit. I have to make supper." She patted Rose on the back as she went to the kitchen.

"Unbelievable," Rose muttered as she made her way up the stairs to Neville's room. "Neville? Can I come in?"

"Yeah." He was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, while playing with something in his hand.

Smiling, she entered his room and sat down on the bed next to him. "I brought you something," she fumbled a small package holding the necklace with the small token on it out of her pocket and handed it over. "It's an amulet, it's supposed to help you sleep better for about five days when given to someone as a gift."

Neville sat up, took the package, while placing the item he was holding in his hand beside him, and unwrapped it. "Thank you, Rose. I'll think this will come to good use." he put it around his neck and tried to pick up what he had put down without Rose noticing.

"Oh, what's that?"

Neville opened his hand. He was holding a small, sparkling hairpin in his hand. "I found it next to my nightstand yesterday. Dr- She was probably wearing it when she came here. She hit her head on the nightstand, when she fell out of the bed."

"Ouch," she laughed and pulled her bag onto the bed before opening it and laying out the books. "So, I have a confession to make," Rose sighed and looked at Neville. "I don't want to give you false hope, so it's not. It's hope. Something... when I touched Dru yesterday? She didn't feel empty!"

Neville narrowed his eyes at Rose. "I'm not sure I know what you mean by that."

"I felt something when I touched her yesterday! It wasn't... I mean, I know you're in there. You, your energy, it's right here," she knocked on Neville's head. "I don't need to touch you to know you're in there. I usually don't have to touch Dru to actually communicate with her in her head either..." she was trying to be clear, but realised that she wasn't really. "When I touched her yesterday, I felt an energy buried deep beneath her consciousness, Neville. She's not empty! She's just... lost."

Neville just sat there quiet. Anyone else would have thought he didn't hear a word of what had just been told to him. But Rose knew better. He was going over it all in head, letting it sink in, before responding. "So, how do we find her again?" Neville picked up one of the books lying in front of him and started flipping through the pages. "What do I need to look for?"

"These are muggle magic books, they're a bit... crazy. I don't know what to look for, just ways for me to get deeper inside her mind, safely. I've spoken to the Malfoys today and they had a specialist in everything concerning the mind look at her, but nothing has turned up," she then got the ointments out of her bag. "I think that she just needs a familiar presence to coax her out... maybe she got so scared out of her wits that she's gone into hiding, or maybe that whoever did this to her, buried her so deep that she needs someone to lead the way out of it all. I don't know, and I don't know if I should try or not, but that's where research is important, isn't it? I just want to know if  _I_  am capable of... well... finding her."

"Capable or not. You're gonna try tomorrow." Neville's voice was determined, even a bit demanding. He was grabbing every chance he could, even though he feared that the situation was not going to improve for her. But he wasn't going to let that stop him. He wanted Dru safe, whatever the cost.

"No." She said firmly. "Absolutely not.  _If_  I'm going to do this I want to be prepared. I want to find some stuff in these books and I want to read your books on Spell Damage..." she saw the look on Neville's face and sighed. "Listen, Neville, I want Dru back as bad as you, but I don't want to make things worse! I want to know how I can do it and  _if_  I can do it. Do you understand?"

Neville took his book about spell damage out of his night stand and started reading it again. He was contemplating how he could force Rose to get into Dru's head. He didn't care Rose was insecure about this. She needed to give it a try at least.

"The mind is a fragile thing, Neville," she pointed out.

"Yeah, you don't need to remind me of that. I know that better than anyone."

"Then please, give me... three days to at least figure things out? Professor Lupin is stopping by tomorrow and he and I need to have a talk too. I need a few days. Please."

"Fine, three days, but then you are going to try."

"No, then I'll tell you if I can try or not."

Neville growled, but looked at the book. He realised he wasn't going to win this.

She opened one of the books and started to read. She didn't like the subject matter much but it was teaching better relaxation techniques than any of the wizard books she had read.

That evening she was still reading in her room while Neville took an early night for once. At least her little spell seemed to be working. She fell asleep on top of her books when it was long dark outside.

* * *

Neville and Mrs. Longbottom had gone to London for the day, again, leaving Rose at the residence by herself, reading her book as she waited for Professor Lupin to arrive.

She nearly jumped ten feet in the air when he appeared through the fireplace with a big smile on his face, carrying treats in his arms. "Alright! Let's have a sweet fest, shall we? Does Mrs. Longbottom have any tea?"

"I guess?"

"Off to the kitchen we go!" He said with an even bigger smile and started the kettle. "Right, you have questions, Dumbledore instructed me to answer as much as I can, but I don't have much time."

"Are you alright?" she hadn't noticed before, but he looked even more awful than the last time she'd seen him.

"I'm fine, dear. Don't you worry about me," he replied with a smile.

Rose thought for a moment and if she hadn't been talking to the real Dumbledore when she did, there were many things that Lupin couldn't know. "Did my grandfather really tell Dumbledore that he put me under a curse for two months?"

"Yes, he did, believe me, Dumbledore was furious, it's an unforgivable curse, and to do one on a child..." he shook his head. "And I'm so sorry that it happened to you. I should have checked up on you earlier, because he's also one of the reasons that his son went off the rails..."

"You couldn't have known."

"But still, I'm your godfather, I promised your mother I'd look after you, that included looking in on your grandfather."

Rose shrugged. "It happened, and I know everything that happened now from the summer and it's not all good but... it happened... I was just worried that I was responsible for Dru's... thing."

"No, oh no, you're not responsible for that, nor is your grandfather."

Once the kettle was boiling, Lupin made the both of them a cup of tea and he handed her one of the sweet cookies. "Mrs. Weasley made them, they're actually quite good," he smiled. "She received an owl from George yesterday, he was telling her something very special."

She sighed as she sat down in the kitchen chair. She still had to receive an owl from George, she was wondering what was taking him so long. Not that she was waiting or anything. Or thinking about it when she wasn't thinking about how to deal with Neville or Dru. Not at all.

"I think it's a great idea that you've reached out to someone other than Neville and Dru. You need someone you can trust, confide in, especially someone of nearly your own age. I can imagine it's hard to trust adults."

"Yeah, I don't really have the best experience with adults..." she blushed as she nibbled on her cookie. "George... he surprised me."

"He's a Weasley, he's full of surprises and you couldn't have chosen a better boy. He'll keep your head out of the dark places it tends to wander in to."

"I told him everything that I didn't even tell Dumbledore and he didn't run off scared."

"As I said, he's a Weasley. And not to worry, you'll receive an owl from him soon, it's just that Neville's address isn't really known amongst you young people."

"I was never meant to make friends."

"Everyone needs friends, Rose. And your choices have been... surprising to say the least but they're good choices."

"It's weird."

"You'll be okay, your friends are patient," he smiled. "Some more than others... what happened to your wrists?" he said, noticing the fading bruises when her long sleeves had started to ride up from eating the cookies.

"It's nothing," she said with a sigh. "There's something else... I think that I may be responsible for something terrible that's going to happen to Harry at the tournament."

"Oh don't you worry, they're all keeping an eye out. The tournament is brutal, yes, but Harry gets all the help he needs."

"No... that's not what I meant... I..."

"Rose, don't worry." Lupin reassured her. "And as to the question of what you're doing here, why Dumbledore let you go with Neville and his grandmother... the real answer is that he felt that something, or someone, has been messing with you. Now, he can't really shelter Harry from Voldemort, but he could at least take you away for a week and give you some rest from whatever has been bothering you, and at the same time you could visit Dru at the hospital."

"I don't think she's getting the best care, to be honest."

"Did you know, Dumbledore didn't want her to leave Hogwarts but that her parents insisted? Apparently Madame Pomfrey and the knowledge of all the teachers wasn't sufficient enough."

"Yeah, Neville told me," she responded as she took a sip of her tea. "But you know that Dru has this special gift, right? Their specialist couldn't find anything!"

"Did you?" He said surprised.

She shrugged for an answer. "I'm 14 years old, what do I know?"

"Because you're a lot smarter and a lot more capable than other witches of your age."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are, but please Rose, whatever is going on inside your head..."

"I'm not going to do anything."

"Both Dumbledore and I know you better than that." Lupin spoke slowly, hoping that she'd get the hint.

"As I said, I'm 14 years old, I'm not capable of helping her."

Lupin gave an all knowing smile and shrugged. "Was there anything else I could help you with?"

"No, I think I got over the whole wanting to be expelled thing."

He laughed. "What? You wanted to be expelled? What for?"

"Didn't Professor Dumbledore tell you? I spoke to him the day they sent Dru to St. Mungo's." She wanted to try and see if Neville had been right, that Dumbledore had been gone that day.

"When was that?"

"The day they decided to send Dru away."

"Dear, he wasn't  _at_  Hogwarts that day."

"Oh."

"But you..." Lupin was confused now. "Oh dear, I need to go, now."

Rose sighed. "I figured as much. Good luck, professor, thank you for coming."

"Isn't it about time that you start calling me Remus? Or Lupin? I stopped being your professor when I resigned," he chuckled as he made his way back to the fireplace.

"I don't know if I could do that, sir."

"Take care of yourself, Rose," he smiled and hugged her. "Take care of Neville, and, should you try, Dumbledore and I believe in you to bring Dru back where she belongs."

"No pressure there then. Say hi to Tonks for me."

"Yes, about her, how did you know about her?"

Rose just smiled and waved as he stepped through the fireplace and disappeared. She grabbed her book and made her way back to the kitchen to drink the rest of the tea and probably polish off all the cookies Mrs. Weasley had made.

* * *

The next day upon their return from St. Mungo's, there was an owl waiting for her. She squealed like a little girl as she got the letter and bounced her way over to her temporary room, closing the door for privacy.

_My lovely Rose,_

_I'm sorry I haven't written you sooner, but I first had to turn Hogwarts upside down trying to find Neville's address. Ginny finally had the brilliant idea of looking through Dru's trunk and found a letter from Neville she'd saved._

_I hope Dru is doing okay. The teachers won't tell us much even though we do try to make them. Fred and I even thought about slipping something into their morning drink. We haven't decided if we going to, maybe we should keep that trick for another time._

_Neville better be nice to you or he's going to answer to me. Nobody touches my girl, apart from me then. I hope you're doing okay and think about me a few times a day. I know I've been thinking about you a lot._

_See you soon._

_Love, George_

Neville looked up to the ceiling from where he sat in the sitting room, hearing sounds of excitement coming from the room above him. "Gran, is she ill?"

"No dear," his grandmother chuckled. "That, is a young girl in love."

"You reckon that... she did it for me too?"

"I wouldn't know." Gran shrugged.

_Dear George,_

_Thank you so much for your letter! I was thinking you had forgotten about me, but then professor Lupin reminded me that nobody but Dru writes letters to Neville and yes, that his address wasn't public knowledge and all that._

_I'm keeping my promise of thinking about you every 5 minutes of every hour, except for when I'm asleep of course. I'm still wondering what you see in me but … alright! I won't go there._

_Dru is... well... according to her parents they don't know how to help her at St. Mungo's. Which is sad really, because I think that they should know better at that place, there were so many people in that ward with spell damage, George. It's so depressing and scary!_

_However, I'm not giving up hope. There is still hope, George. I know it._

_As for Neville... he's doing okay, well as okay as he can be. He's so afraid that he'll lose Dru, and it's heartbreaking. At least he's sleeping a little better these days. As for him being nice, he is. Don't worry. He's really sorry that he hurt me the other day, so we're okay._

_Looking forward to seeing you again,_

_Rose._

She walked down the stairs and went to look for the owl to send the letter back to George, as she giggled at the sight of a confused Neville. "George wrote to me!"

Neville smiled. "Took him long enough. Are you coming with us tomorrow too?"

"Of course," Rose nodded as she attached the letter to the owl's leg and let it fly out of the kitchen window again. "I'll be back upstairs, I have a few more books to read."

Neville nodded, while he was looking at the hairpin he was fiddling with. "Can you help D-her?"

"Not sure yet, Neville," she replied and ran back up the stairs. She had found a way the day before, but she wasn't sure if she could do it without doing some damage. As much as Rose wanted to help her friend, she didn't want to hurt her for the sake of bringing her back. And Lupin had seemed somewhat to be pushing her to bring Dru back, that he and Dumbledore were certain of her gift and basically that she was the one able to do it. But Rose wasn't so sure.

"What do you mean, you're not sure? You said three days!" Neville said, bounding up the stairs behind her.

"It's been two!"

"Rose..." Neville made himself appear taller than he was already and walked towards her in attempt to intimidate her. He was tired of waiting.

"I... I may have found a way but..."

"Well, we'll try that. We have to.' Neville said, when he saw Rose shaking her head.

"Can I try something on you?" She said after a long moment of silence.

Neville took Rose's hand, pulled her gently into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. "Where do you want me?"

She blinked at him. "You pervert," she retorted and pointed at the bed. "For the sake of recreation, please lay down on your bed."

Neville tried his best not to grin and laid down on the bed. "Exciting!"

"Neville!" she warned him as she sat down on the bed next to him. "I want to try and see how deep I can get inside your mind, so I want you to relax. If I'm hurting you, I want you to squeeze my leg." She placed his hand on her leg. "I need both of my hands and I want you to be quiet, so if you're in pain, even if it's not that much. You need to tell me this, I don't want to end up scrambling your consciousness, you understand?"

"You mean like this?" He squeezed her leg hard, but only for a second. He needed to laugh to be able to relax.

She rolled her eyes at him and replaced his hand as it had been at her inner leg. "Yeah... don't take advantage of the spot, my boyfriend likes to hurt people who hurt me. I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. Relax."

Neville did what she said, while still playing with the hairpin in his hand.

She sighed and tried to relax herself, using one of the relaxation techniques she had read about in the books she had bought. "I might find some things in your mind you don't necessarily want me to know about, but I promise I won't hold anything against you or talk to you about it, okay? You trust me, right?"

"Not completely, but let's do it anyway?" Neville grinned. He knew all too well Rose might see some private thing she was going to throw back at him at some point, but he would take it if it meant helping Dru.

"Fine," she said and sighed. "Close your eyes again and keep them closed." When he had done as she had asked him to, she carefully placed her hands on each side of his head, right at the temple and closed her eyes and it was easy to get into the first layer of Neville's mind, where she found thoughts of him being hungry and strangely turned on by the current situation despite his worry and his willingness to help Dru. Casting those thoughts aside (boys were boys after all), she found her way through to the second layer.

It was the place where he stored all his feelings for Dru, and a part of her felt relieved that she was so close to the surface in his mind, and that she was really important to him. It was good. Neville's dirty thoughts were just that and it was so weird to pry into someone's private thoughts like she did. Dru was much better at this, where Rose's gift mostly focused on seeing the future and planting images into Dru's head, Dru was the true mindreader of the both of them. Rose needed touch to get this far.

Neville stirred a little underneath her little investigation, but as long as he wasn't squeezing her leg, she was determined to dig deeper. She hit a wall when she went to another area of Neville's mind. There was a door, heavily fortified and she couldn't get in. Rose didn't want to get in there, but she knew that if she wanted to help Dru, she had to, because she didn't know how bad Dru's head was and this was a challenge she needed to do.

Thinking  _Alohomora_  obviously didn't work, and she tried several other things before realizing she was standing ontop of a doormat. It would be too easy if she'd find a key underneath it, but it was also a brilliant hiding spot just because it was too easy. She imagined moving the mat and found the key to the door. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and was overwhelmed by the emotions that had been locked away behind that door. Feelings of being inadequate were mixed between feelings for his parents, and his hatred towards mostly Bellatrix LeStrange for what she did.

She quickly made her way out of his head before removing her hands from his head, because it was too much for her, by the time she did remove her hands from his head, she was sobbing on the bed.

Neville sat up and put his arms around her. "It's ok. You did good, Rose. You did good." He patted her back. "It's ok." He felt bad for putting her through this, but he didn't have a choice. They had to do it for Dru.

"I'm sorry that I... I'm sorry that I peeked in there but I had to... to test myself... and... it's so dangerous, I was so afraid that I'd mess things up in there... and your emotions in there overwhelmed me so much..." She turned her body so that she could bury her face into his shirt as she fisted it and sobbed. "You know you're a great wizard, don't you? You're a great person, Neville, you have to believe that."

"I think right now you need to believe you're a great witch. You've done it perfect. Now why don't you go get some sleep. You're gonna need your rest for tomorrow."

She sighed and nodded. She was a little unsteady on her feet when she got off the bed and slowly made her way over to her room and crawled onto the bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.

* * *

She was nervous the next morning and kept eating little bits and pieces of cookies and fruit until it was time to leave for the hospital. Apparating had made her feel nauseous a bit, but it soon cleared as she breathed in the London air. As soon as they walked into the ward, professor Lockhart approached her again, this time with even more papers and a hand drawn picture of himself, or at least, she thought it was. It looked like a children's drawing. She smiled politely and since he was looking expectantly, she asked for him to autograph it, which he happily did and then bounced off again.

Neville gave Dru a kiss on her lips as he whispered "I love you." in her ear. He knew she couldn't hear or feel what he was doing, but something told him to do it. Somehow he needed to say goodbye to her.

Rose put the papers down on the nightstand next to Dru's bed and looked at Neville. "You have to keep Lockhart away from me," she told him. "And you have to keep an eye on her, and on me. If she looks in pain, pull my hair. If I look like I'm going to lose it, pull me off of her."

Neville nodded. He put his hands in his pockets and stood guard so Rose could do her thing.

She sat down on the bed and looked at her friend. "You're going to be the death of me, aren't you?" she smiled weakly at her and warmed up her hands. "Leave it to Rose to stomp over other people's castles." She then tried to tune out the sounds of the patients of the ward around her as she tried to relax at the same time. "I'm still not sure if I can do this, Dru," she whispered. "But people seem to think that I can. I'm just a teenager and this is heavy duty stuff..."

"Rose, this is not the time to doubt yourself," Neville told her as he looked at her. "You can do this."

"Shut up, Neville," Rose said as she placed her hands on Dru's head and tried to find her way in. She couldn't even get into the first layer of Dru's mind without thinking of a sledgehammer smashing walls, and she really didn't wish to do so just to get through, she wanted to be gentle, elegant, so that she wouldn't make things worse or hurt her friend even more. "Come on Dru... make me a crack!" she hissed.

Dru gave a weak moan.

"Yeah, useless as always," Rose bitched at her and looked for her way in. "Asleep for days and all she can do is moan." She finally found the crack she so desperately desired and smiled. "Oh there you are!" By making her way through the crack, she shattered the wall that was protecting the first layer of her mind.

Rose found that everything was still in place there, thoughts about Draco, thoughts about Hogwarts and classes, followed by thoughts about Narcissa. "Roomy," she smiled and hit another wall, this time a bit more sturdy than the first one. "Permission to think of a sledgehammer?"

"Rose." Dru's voice sounded distant.

"Yes, that's right! Does that mean I have permission to blow up your mind? Great!"

"Wait, what?" Neville's voice sounded. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up, Neville," Rose shot at him, sounding strangely empowered and confident. "Dru and I are having a talk." She hadn't lost her focus, and she was amazed by how well she seemed to be doing. Whatever Rose was doing, she was sure that any specialist of St. Mungo's could have done, but it felt almost as if it was too easy. She had the second wall down and felt how she was falling down a deep black hole, which gave her a slight feeling of panic, and was relieved when a safety net caught her. "Thanks, Dru."

Yes, things had been too easy. Something was obviously missing. If she had to compare the second layer of Dru's mind to Neville's, something was definitely missing and it already broke her heart. She nearly had a fright when she had climbed out of the hole and saw an image of someone she didn't recognise. "Who are you?"

"What are you doing?" the image asked her.

"Saving Dru, what does it look like?"

"But she doesn't need to be saved, she's safe  _now_."

"Why don't you show who you are?"

"No need to," the image shrugged and looked around with pride. "Roomy, isn't it? Less clutter now that Neville boy has been banished."

"Oh, so that was the whole reason of knocking Dru unconscious? To erase Neville? Why?"

The image shrugged. "All feelings she had for the boy were tainting her, she'll be better now."

"Leave."

'No, it's time for you to leave."

Rose was suddenly out of Dru's head and off her bed. Neville had pulled her of her. Rose looked at Dru.

Dru was moving a little.

"Ow... what happened?" Rose said confused. "I wasn't ready..."

"She said it hurts." Neville said. "You told to pull you off her when it hurt."

"She spoke?" Rose crawled her way to the bed and started to poke Dru. "It hurt? Did it? How's this?" she then started to tickle her friend in the sides, knowing that she was ticklish. "Wake up, you silly git!"

Dru slowly opened her eyes and the closed them again. "I feel like 10 giants are sitting on my head."

Rose squealed loud enough to alert the nurses and hugged Dru. "You're back!"

"Where did I go to? Did I got some good souvenirs?" Dru grinned a bit.

"Well, St. Mungo's has a little shop," she retorted. "You can buy a souvenir when you get out of here."

"Merlin's beard! The girl has awoken!" The nurse called out and soon Dru's bedside was buzzing with nurses and doctors and Neville and Rose were being dragged away from there.

Rose felt deflated, tired and relieved as she sat down on a bench outside the ward. "Neville... she's back!" she smiled goofily. "Oh, I can sleep for ages now."

"Thank you." Neville didn't sound as happy as Rose as he was standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"You're not happy?" she asked confused.

"You opened her mind again. She's like she was before. Just as wonderful, just as beautiful, with everything intact...Well... almost everything that is."

"What are you talking about?"

Neville smiled at her. "You didn't realise it, did you. Everything you said when you were in her head, you said aloud."

She thought about what she had said, but she was too tired to remember. "What did I say, Neville?"

"Whoever you were talking to, you said that the reason that Dru was unconscious was to erase me from her thoughts..."

Rose was quiet for a moment and then looked at him with a sad face. "I am so sorry... I didn't know... I'm sorry..."

Neville put an arm around her and gave Rose a kiss on her forehead. "She's safe. That's all what matters."

She gave a little smile and laid down on the bench. It was a hard surface but she was so tired and drained, she needed to sleep. She folded her arms underneath her head and closed her eyes. "I did it," she muttered before she drifted off in sleep.


	8. Awkward Re-adjusting

it had been three weeks since the term started again. Dru had still been in hospital. And although the Gryffindor students were still worried about her after Rose had told them what happened and that Neville had been erased, things were starting to get back to normal.

It was friday night. Rose was sitting in George's lap as he was working with Fred on ideas for their joke shop. George gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "Seeing as you are a girl, can you help us with coming up some good name for love potions?"

"Ha!" Rose let out. "You're funny."

"Oh come on, something with unicorns? Girls dig unicorns, don't they?" Fred asked.

"You could do a line of girl related things," she shrugged. "That would be great, it's not just boys who like to joke around, you know." She then waved her hands around as if picturing a billboard. "WonderWitch."

"That's a good idea." George said and pulled Rose a bit closer to him. "You're my Wonder Witch!"

Fred smiled. He liked seeing George with Rose like that. "Maybe you  _can_  help us with it, Rose."

"Hey Fred, what do you call a witch's garage?" she giggled.

"I have no idea."

"A broom closet!"

This had the entire common room, or actually just anyone who was present there, in stitches.

"What's so funny?" A voice asked that nobody had heard in weeks. McGonagall had brought Dru into the common room.

"Dru!" Rose climbed out of George's lap and ran towards her friend before hugging her tightly. "Hi!"

"Hi." Dru held Rose very tight. "Did you miss me?"

"Duh!" she smiled and giggled. "Are you back? Like, really back? Back to being with us, back?"

Dru nodded and let Rose go. "I'm all better now, except for...well you know." Dru had been told by Rose that Dru had a boyfriend that was now erased from her memory.

As soon as the girls had their moment, the rest of the common room got to their feet and gather round to welcome Dru back. "Great to have you back, Dru."

"Good to see you again, Dru!"

"You'd better be ready for more mayhem, Dru!"

Dru was looking around the common room. She had seen Neville a few times in the hospital. He had brought Rose to her every day until she had to go back to school. Dru knew that he had been her boyfriend and felt horrible for not remembering him. But Neville wasn't in the common room. "Where's Neville?" Dru whispered to Rose.

"I dunno," she replied and looked around. "To be honest, I've only seen him in class, maybe he's at the greenhouse, he's been spending a lot of time there."

"I think I saw him go upstairs." George said as he joined the girls.

Dru smiled and made her way up to the dormitory. She knocked on the door.

Neville sighed and opened the door. If it had been one of the guys, they would have just opened the door, so it must have been someone else. And he was afraid what he was going to find if he opened the door, but opened it anyway. He then looked into the pretty face of his former girlfriend. "Hey..."

"Hi. Can I come in?" Dru didn't wait for the answer and walked into the dormitory.

"Yeah... sure..." Neville said and waved his hand to let her in at the same moment she walked passed him. He caught a whiff of her smell, and even though she still smelled a bit like the infirmary, her own lovely scent was stuck on her as well. He made his way over to his bed and sat down. "How are you doing?"

Dru sat down on his bed. "I'm doing pretty good to be honest. How are you?"

He shrugged. "Still here."

Dru put her hands on his wrist. "I'm really sorry, you know."

"Don't be," he smiled and gently pat her hand. "It's... ah... weird, but you know, I like to think that if we're truly meant to be together, you'll fall in love with me again, one way or the other," Neville answered blushing. "I am just so relieved that you're back again, that you managed to find your way back to us."

Dru smiled. "Rose already told me that you were special. I really want to remember you, so I think I might have an idea how to do that."

"Well, you just have to get to know me again, I suppose," he smiled. "I can start easy, my birthday is July 30th."

Dru giggled. "You're very funny, I think I might have a better idea, but I'll need your help." She then smiled. "I'm very impatient and I'm curious too, you know."

"I know," Neville nodded. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, your mind."

Neville blinked at her. It figured that she'd want to use her gift to get to know him again, and he was actually surprised that she opted for it, that she was  _interested_  in getting to know him again. "Are you sure? You're up to that? I mean... Rose practised on me before she... and she was wiped out."

"Well, She has to work at getting into somebody's head. I don't. I've sort of being doing it ever since I've been little. It's sort of a special talent of me."

"Isn't it too soon after... you know."

Dru looked at the bed. Rose had been very adamant that Neville had been crazy about her, but now he was trying to back out of Dru trying to remember him. "Well, if you don't want to."

"Oh, I want to! Anything to speed things up, I miss you... and... but... are you sure, I mean, really sure? Because I want to... and..."

"And what?"

"I just want us to be back together, you know," he admitted. "It's more important to me that you're healthy and safe, and I'm afraid that if you remember what we had together, it will happen all over again."

Dru took a deep breath. "I know, but I've been given lessons to close my mind more and it feels different. I don't know everything anymore, but I do know I was feeling that I lost control a lot. But I don't anymore."

"Alright, if you're absolutely sure, then my mind is all yours," Neville replied with a reassuring nod. "Just stay away from the door."

"Close your eyes and think about your memories of me." Dru placed her fingertips on his temples.

Neville tried to remember everything about her at once.

"Stop," Dru said and clasped her head with her hands.

"Sorry... I'm flooding you, aren't I?" he apologised.

Dru smiled. "I think I know now why I'm losing control. Okay, just think of one moment at a time. Let it fill you up, before you go to the next." She sat up straight and placed her fingers on his temples again.

Neville did as Dru told him. Her took her through every memory he had of her, one by one. Suddenly he felt that Dru had gone out of his head again. When he opened his eyes, he saw Dru with her hand on her chest. She was breathing heavier than she normally did. "Are you alright? Dru?" he said worried and placed his hand on her back and gently started to rub it.

Dru nodded, but she didn't look at him.

"Do I need to get Rose?"

She shook her head. "I'm alright, really. I just..."

"Too much, still?"

"I never felt anything like that before."

"Felt? You're feeling things now too?"

"Yeah." Dru looked at Neville. "Didn't you know that?"

"No, you hadn't told me, I... I suspected it though, but... I'm sorry, I just really have a lot of feelings for you," he chuckled and then told her what happened in his room during the world cup, how she had seen his inner thoughts about what he really wanted to do with her, while he was blushing like crazy. "And... uhm... if you're feeling things now... I think you lost control then because you felt it..."

"I think you're right." Dru smiled. She looked down at the bed again before getting the urge to ask Neville something. "Neville, did we..."

"Oh no!" he laughed. "Oh... no, no... I don't think we're the right age to... you know... but that doesn't mean that I don't want to! I've always been a gentleman, always."

Dru looked at him. "You know I don't feel what you're feeling, do you?"

"Yeah... I know..." Neville said with a small smile. "It's a feeling that has to grow, you can't just copy that from someone else's mind, I know that, but I'm patient, Dru. I'm going to do everything in my power to... win you back."

She knew she shouldn't do what she was about to as she knew it was cruel, but Dru felt that she had to. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

Neville blinked at her and even though he wanted to answer the kiss badly, it was wrong. She had just confessed that she didn't feel anything for him (yet) and now she had planted a kiss on his lips. He gently pushed her away from him. "Don't pity me."

"I don't. I just wanted to kiss you."

"You're confusing me, Dru. You can't just say one thing and then kiss me to say another thing... not that I didn't like it... but you know..."

"I just though.. if I'd kiss you, maybe... forget it. It was a stupid idea." Dru felt so embarrassed.

"It was a good idea," Neville nodded and sighed. "But maybe... maybe you should give yourself a little bit more time to re-adjust. I can wait, believe me."

Dru nodded. "I'd better go. Draco made me promise to go to bed early. i'm sorry."

"Don't be," he smiled and gently caressed her hair out of her face. "I admire you, you know that? I'm sorry to be such a dampener on your willingness to learn more about me and about what we had, but I think that you and I should just spend quality time together, as friends, even though you know that I feel more now for you."

Dru nodded. She was so confused. She was sitting next to a boy she didn't remember, but that she desperately want to be close to. It was an urge she couldn't explain, but found it too strong to resist.

"But I do like it though, you and I sitting so close to each other, as if you've never left," he smiled and helped her to her feet. "But Dru, honestly, take your time, okay?" He walked with her to the door of the dormitory and opened it before walking down the stairs with her, holding her hand. "I'm not going anywhere, and according to Rose, neither will you."

Dru didn't say anything and just went up the stairs. She had felt he loved her, but still couldn't help feeling rejected. She crawled into his bed. Maybe she'd feel better if she had a bit of sleep.

That night Rose woke up because Hermione was tugging on her arm.

"Beguiling Bubbles..." Rose muttered as she rubbed her eyes. "Huh?"

"Rose, Dru's been tossing in her bed for an hour and it keeps getting worse."

Dru was turning and moaning.

She climbed out of her bed and crawled into Dru's. She put her arms around her and held her tightly as she made soothing noises. "It's okay Dru... in the absence of your beloved Neville, I'll keep your monsters away."

"Neville." Dru muttered as she woke up. She wrestled herself out of Rose's arms and stormed out of the girls room.

"Well, that settles that then," Rose yawned as she pulled Dru's blankets over herself. "Go back to bed, Hermione..."

Dru ran into the boys room and was tugging violently at his arm until he woke up.

"I'm awake!" Neville said quickly and sat up. "I'm awake and..." he checked himself over. "in one piece..." he then looked at Dru and was confused. "What's wrong?"

She let herself slide off the bed and sat down on the floor. She started crying.

"Hey..." Neville got out of bed and lifted her off the floor, into his arms and made his way to the common room with her, to make sure that the rest of the boys wouldn't wake up from their talking. He gently set her down on the sofa and pulled the blanket over the pair of them to keep them warm. "You're still having nightmares then?"

She looked at him and touched his face. "She.. she.. you can't ev...I can't handle that. I can't."

"I'm not going anywhere," he said with a smile on his face and caressed her hair. "Don't you worry."

"Neville, I... you can't... she ki...I want you to... just... " Dru couldn't find the words to say what she wanted. She put her arms around his neck and held him as close to her as she could. "She killed you." she muttered.

"Nah, I'm impervious to getting killed off in nightmares," Neville said, putting his arms around her and made sure that the blanket wouldn't fall off the both of them.

"She made me watch and I couldn't help. I wanted to help, I wanted to take your place. I couldn't watch you die."

"Don't ever take my place," he softly kissed the top of her head. "Would be weird if I let a girl take my place, I should be taking your place, defending you from your monsters."

She looked into his eyes. "I wanted to die, when she killed you. I don't want to live without you. I can't."

He smiled and softly kissed her. "That thing that you're feeling right now? That confusing feeling? That, my beautiful Dru, is that love feeling."

"I've been feeling that since I saw you in the hospital."

"Love is something you can't erase, I always thought that was just a cheesy saying, but you've proved me wrong then."

"Does that mean I can kiss you now?" Dru wasn't sure anymore. Neville was saying sweet things to her, but he had done that earlier in the evening as well. And he wouldn't let her kiss him then.

"Well I just kissed you, I think that you can kiss me now too," he chuckled.

Dru gently gave him a kiss on his lips. She still wasn't quite sure of herself. She knew she wanted to, but it felt a bit strange, kissing a boy she wanted more than she ever wanted anything in her life, but she didn't know him.

He then chuckled and caressed her hair. "Go back to sleep if you want, I'm not going anywhere, I'm actually quite comfortable right now."

Dru hit Neville's chest with her fist. "Do you really want me to spell it out for you. Merlin, you really thick, aren't you?"

"You want to spend the rest of the night snogging each other's faces off?"

Dru nodded. "But you don't?" She didn't get why he just wouldn't kiss her already.

"Hell yes!" Neville laughed and softly kissed her again, longer this time.

* * *

Rose was sitting between George and Dru at the breakfast table Saturday morning, but she was eager to go out and do something in the snow outside. She'd love to go to Hogsmeade and shop and if she wasn't eating, she was trying to stay still and sat on her hands.

"You alright, Rose? You look like your pants are on fire," Fred noted with a big smile on his face.

"Yeah, I just can't wait to get out of the castle today, play around in the snow, run around like an idiot, that sort of stuff." she shrugged.

Dru looked at her friend and smiled. "I don't know what you did with her, George, but I like it."

George put his arms around Rose and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Me too," He smirked.

Rose frowned at the both of them and shook her head laughing before getting a piece of toast to nibble on. "It's actually thanks to Neville, I spent a week at his house, drove me up the wall really."

"Oi, leave me out of it!"

Dru looked at him and gave him a little smile. She woke up that morning on the sofa in his arms. It freaked her out a little bit, because she had no idea who he was, but she felt safe at the same time. "Where do you live again?"

"Yorkshire," Neville answered patiently. "With my gran, Rose slept in this bright pink and purple guest bedroom for the entire week she was at my place so we could visit you together."

"Really, ugly pink and purple, really really serious girly stuff that made me vomit."

Fred and George looked at each other and grinned. "I suppose we have our color scheme for the WonderWitch line!" they chorused.

Dru frowned. "Why? Seriously. Not all the girls like purple and pink."

"Exactly," the twins chorused with a big smile on their faces. "But you know, bright colors sell." Fred nodded. "There's this whole muggle study about color schemes and what not."

Dru smiled and looked at Rose. "Well, they just lost two customers."

"Rose wasn't really a customer to begin with." George said. He still had his arms around Rose, but she was still moving around like crazy. She just couldn't seem to sit still anymore. "Alright that's it. We're going outside."

She grinned as she got to her feet and pulled Dru to her feet as well. "Neville, up you get, let's go." She softly kissed George and smiled. "Hope you don't mind, but I have the real need to throw snowballs at my friends today."

"No, I don't. Fred and I have some stuff to do anyway." He glanced at Fred, who started rummaging in his bag. George then give Rose another kiss. "Go and be a good girl and soak them. Throw some for me too."

"Aim high!" Fred raised his mug of tea at the three of them and winked.

They went to the common room to pick up their jackets and went outside. "Me versus you two?" Rose smirked as she bend over and picked up some snow to roll a ball of it.

Dru glanced at Neville and the both of them threw their snowball at Rose, while she was still picking up hers.

"Ah!" Rose laughed as she got hit and threw the one ball she had back at Dru, hitting her in the head and ran off to find some shelter. Maybe two versus one was a little too much, she wasn't that fast!

Dru got another snowball and shoved it into Neville's face, when he wasn't expecting it.

"Oh!" Neville said, swinging his leg against hers and made her fall into the snow before grabbing some snow and placed it on top of her head.

Dru got some snow and threw at him, while trying to get back on her feet. "Rose, help me."

Meanwhile, Rose had made a bunch of snowballs and was carrying them around in her arms as she made her way back to her friends. She then made them float in the air and grinned. "Hey, Neville!" When Neville looked up, she launched her snowballs at him, covering him in white dots everywhere. "Eat snow!"

Dru got out her wand and let a huge amount snow slide off the roof the Rose was standing under. The girl got covered in snow.

"No!" She laughed and started to dust herself off. "That's what I get for helping you?"

"Yep!"

Rose looked around and decided to just make another snowball and hit her right in Dru's face again.

Dru saw it coming and quickly hide behind Neville, which made him get the full blast of the snowball.

"All bets are off then?" Neville finally realised and gently pushed Dru back into the snow.

She swung her leg around his feet, making him lose his balance at the exact moment Rose cascaded another group of snowballs at him.

"Ha!" Rose laughed and started to make a few more snowballs and she was going to try to make them hit both Neville and Dru when she was done. "Come on, Neville, you can't let two girls get you all soaking wet!"

Dru pushed Neville back in the snow, sat on top of him and started rubbing snow in his face.

Rose smirked, her friend made things way too easy for her. She lifted her snowballs into the air, accompanied by some powdered snow and moved it over Dru and Neville before making it all fall down on the both of them. "I win!"

Dru laughed and dusted the snow of her. She smiled at Neville and bent over a gave him a quick kiss on his lips.

"Dru, get off of Neville." Draco shot at his sister as he just walked outside.

"Get off who?" Dru asked as she looked at Neville.

"Your brother doesn't like me much," Neville nodded.

Dru smiled at Neville. "Right, you're Neville. I forgot that."

"That's okay, I'll remind you every day if I have to, for as long as is necessary."

"Oi Draco, go mind your own business!" Rose threw a snowball at Dru's brother and hit him straight in the face. She then threw another one at him. "Leave them alone."

Draco pulled out his wand and covered Rose in snow. He then walked over to her and rubbed a snowball in her face.

Rose growled at him and let a wall of snow come at Draco at slow pace. "You'd better run," she said as she stepped aside and let the wall of snow continue to come at Draco.

Draco flicked his wand, and let the wall hit Rose instead. "Really, you think it's that easy." He smirked.

She matched the smirk he had on his face and enlarged the snowball that she was holding in her hand. She relieved him of his wand and launched the bigger snowball at him, and hit him straight in his face. "Yes."

Draco pushed Rose in the snow. He picked up his wand and launched a row of ten snowballs that hit her with a interfall of a few seconds between them.

"Dru! Save me!" Rose squealed and turned around so she lay on her stomach to shield herself from the cascading snowballs.

Dru cast a cascade of snowball at her brother while she scrambled to her feet.

Draco cast a spell, that made Dru tumble back over again. Then he got to his knees and rubbed Rose's face into the snow. "Had enough yet?" He was laughing.

She turned around and smirked at him as she pointed her wand at him. "Three guesses of what I want to do to you right now."

Draco quickly grabbed Rose's wrist and smiled. "I think I already know." He bent over over and kissed her while he was holding her down.

Rose froze out of shock, but suddenly Draco was pulled of Rose. "Have you lost your mind?" Dru pulled Draco away from Rose, while Neville helped her to her feet.

"My God, Draco!" Rose squeaked as she stood half behind Neville. "Are you mental?" she held on to Neville's jacket, trying to stop herself from shaking.

"You asked me what I thought you wanted to do to me." Draco deadpanned.

Dru hit Draco over his head. "Have you completely lost your mind?"

"I wanted to stupefy you, you tosser!"

Neville looked at Rose and raised his brow. "Yeah, you've been hanging around with me for too long."

She pointed at Draco with her finger and if looks could kill, Draco would have died many times over already. "He is a tosser. He doesn't get it! He's..." She was clutching her wand and it was really hard not to do something stupid to hurt Draco badly.

Dru looked at the boy Rose was hiding behind (and since when was Rose hiding behind boys anyway?). What was his name again? "You..hm.. could you take her inside. I wanna have a talk with my brother."

Neville pointed at himself. "Neville."

"Right, sorry." Dru bit her lip and smiled. She watched how Neville walked off with Rose and glared at her brother. "She has a boyfriend, idiot."

Draco shrugged his shoulders. He looked down. "Why should I care about that?"

Dru felt a bit sorry for him. "Draco, let her go. She's happy." She put her head on his shoulder. "You've got Pants now and she's got George."

"Pansy, and you two are acting so clueless. You belong on our side. You'll see." Draco said and walked back inside the castle. "You need to stop fighting us, sis."

Rose shivered as she walked into the common room with Neville. She was soaking wet and still shaken up of what Draco did. She didn't like to be taken off guard like that, and being restricted and vulnerable like that. George had done it by accident, Draco had exactly known what he was doing.

"Did you guys have fun?" George asked as he saw Neville and Rose walking into the common room.

"Yeah, until the wrong Malfoy showed up," Neville snarked and planted Rose in front of the fireplace. "You know, it's fine that my favorite Malfoy doesn't remember me, she will, eventually. I hope. But that other one is just downright annoying."

George got up and sat down next to Rose. "What happened?" He asked Neville as George gently caressed Rose's back.

"Well they had their usual banter, you know, until he had pushed her down in the snow and held her down and she just... froze up." Neville said hesitant. "Luckily Dru managed to pull Draco off of her but... you know..."

George looked at Neville in shock. "Did he try to force himself on her?" He got up and wanted to walked downstairs, but Fred held him back.

"Yeah, he held her down and he uhm... kissed her."

"He'll pay for it later..." Rose muttered as she hugged her knees to her chest. "It was nothing... just threw me off guard, really."

Ginny sat down next to Rose and put an arm around her. "Unbelievable that he's Dru's twin," she muttered.

Rose chuckled and shook her head before laying it on Ginny's shoulder. "Boys are so thick sometimes."

"Oi, I'm hurt!" George walked back to Rose and sat down on the sofa.

"Not you, George," she said and smiled up at him.

"Are you really okay?" he asked and put his hand on her knee.

"No, but I will be, and he will pay," she nodded.

"I'm going to see if Dru needs some help," Neville said, realising that Rose was in the best hands she could be right now and despite feeling cold, he wanted to know that Dru was alright.

"Snowballs are cold," Rose noted with a smile and rose to her feet. "I'm going to get into a pair of dry clothes."

* * *

Two weeks later, she and Dru were sitting alone in the common room, making their homework. Dru was getting better at retaining memories of Neville now, at least she wasn't forgetting his name anymore. Both Neville and Rose were very pleased about that. It was quite sad really, but Neville was right; Dru was back and safe, and that was all that mattered. That's what love was, wasn't it? Just to have the one you love healthy and safe.

Dru had just finished her charms homework and got out her dream book for divination. "You think I should write down my real dreams or try the Harry and Ron approach on this?"

"A little bit of both?" Rose shrugged. "Replace  _her_  with... I don't know... someone else?"

Dru smiled. "No, I think I'm going for the fantasy version. Somehow i don't think writing about people being tortured or killed is a good thing."

"What?"

"Well.."

"What?"

"I mean.."

"What?"

Dru took a deep breath. "I didn't tell you about what I've been dreaming of, have I?"

"Nope. Spill." Rose said, putting her book down and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I've been dreaming about my mother torturing me and… well, my boyfriend."

"Fred."

Dru laughed. "No, it's not Fred."

"What's his name then? You've been faking it, haven't you?"

"Yeah, don't tell him though. I don't wanna see that look on his face anymore, when he realizes that I don't know him anymore. Look, I know how much he means to me and I to him."

"No, I know, that's why I've been letting you muddle through it all by yourself," Rose smiled and nodded. "I'm really glad that feelings can't be erased, and it must be confusing as hell to see him, not remembering him but feeling so much for him, but I think you're doing great." She said and pointed at Dru's dream book. "Did you know that you can influence your own dreams? Whenever you dream, you can influence it."

"I've been trying to. I've just think about him as much as I can before falling asleep, so I can dream about him. Trying to keep hold of my memories of that i have of that day." Dru took a deep breath. It was time she told someone about what was bothering her for the last two weeks. "But every morning I see him and I think to myself. How come I've never seen him before?"

"Yeah, I thought that was going on..." Rose admitted. "I know what you can do!" she suddenly said and pulled a notebook out of her bag that she had bought in a muggle shop, it had a still image of a teddy bear on it. She handed it to Dru. "This, is your memory book. You're going to stick Neville's picture in there, and write down everything you want to remember. And every morning, you're going to read it all."

Dru took the notebook. "That's brilliant. That way I at least know something about the boy i wanna snog every time I see him."

Rose grinned and snatched the book back. She opened it to the first page and scribbled something in the book.  _This is Neville Longbottom, the boy is my boyfriend and he wants to snog me as much as I want to snog him!_  "There, all you need now is a picture."

Dru took her bag and rummaged through it. She found two pictures. One of Neville and one of the two of them. She put them both in the book and used the permanent sticking charm on them.

Rose had been closing her mind off from Dru ever since she returned to them and took a deep breath. "I want to share two memories of his love for you, two. They're... well, whenever I think of them, it makes me realise that his love for you is really... really something special and I think that they should be the first two to be written down in there."

"Do it."

She smiled and planted the memory of Neville talking about the hairpin that he had found in his room, the hairpin belonging to Dru, and how that, in a way, broke Rose's heart at first, but that it had also been one of the sources of strength and determination for Rose to at least try and help Dru. And how he'd been fumbling with it for the last weeks, never letting it go.

She then showed her Neville's way of pushing Rose into getting into Dru's head to dig her out of there, despite fearing the worst; that Dru wouldn't remember who Neville was.

"He knew what was going to happen, didn't he? He's known from the start." Dru was surprised. She had felt the love he had for her, but she never knew he risked losing her, just to keep her safe.

"Yeah, when he brought you to the infirmary, you already were starting to forget about him, and he didn't tell me until I brought you back, and he just... he's  _really_  strong, you know, he was willing to risk the love of his life, only to bring her back safely and healthy and alive."

Dru felt tears running down the cheek, while writing down every frame of the memories Rose just gave her.

"Love can't be erased, so whoever is responsible for wiping Neville from your mind every night, they can't win. They'll never win. You need to hang onto that feeling of loving someone and being loved." Rose then scrunched her nose. "Ugh, I'm sounding like one of those Muggle self-help books now."

Dru smiled and wiped the tears out of her eyes, but she couldn't stop more from coming.

"What are you doing now?" Neville's voice sounded, which was followed by the sound of books dropping to the floor and him making his way over to Dru. "Are you alright?"

Dru stood up and flung her arms around his neck. She was still crying.

"Rose! What did you do!" Neville put her arms around his girlfriend and softly caressed her back.

"Nothing!"

Dru kissed Neville on his lips and pulled him closer to her.

"Okay, I'm liking the kiss... still not sure about the crying," Neville said and gently wiped Dru's tears out of her eyes with his sleeve.

Dru took Neville's hand. "Come on. I'll explain it." She went up to his dormitory and sat down on his bed. "Rose's been showing me some memories of you."

"Oh no..." Neville sighed. "Look... I never meant to hurt... well... and it was just a joke the other time..."

Dru looked at him oddly. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, never mind, I thought she wanted a day of revenge, because you wouldn't remember tomorrow," he shrugged. "She can be like that, you know."

Dru smiled and put her hand in his pocket. He got out the hairpin he's been keeping with him. "She's shown me this."

"Oh, yeah... you left it in my bedroom..." Neville blushed. "Silly, isn't it? Me holding on to this, you want it back?"

Dru put it back in his pocket and smiled. "Keep it." She looked into Neville's eyes and caressed his cheek.

"So, why are you crying then? If she didn't hurt you?"

Dru smiled and laid down on the bed. "No, she didn't. I wasn't hurt."

He sat down on the bed next to her and caressed her hair. "Alright, good, I was just making sure. So are you happy then?"

Dru pulled Neville down on the bed so she could crawl against him. "She showed me you pushing her to get in my head."

Snuggling up against her, he chuckled. "I think that the visit of Professor Lupin gave her a little bit more confidence to actually try... I was just impatient and I wanted you back. We fought a little because she said she wanted to take some time to do some research first."

Dru looked into Neville's eyes and caressed his cheek. "Neville, she showed me that you knew what was going to happen. You knew I'd forgotten you, but you still pushed her to bring me back. You know you'd lose me, but you loved me enough to let me go."

"But I didn't lose you, you would have been lost to me if she didn't, I mean, she at least knew what she was talking about, those people at St. Mungo's were clueless." Neville replied with a sigh. "And yes, I did lose you in a way as you don't remember me when the day starts, but you're alive and you're safe, that's the important thing."

Dru smiled, she wanted to say something to him, but she couldn't find the words. She put her head against his chest. "I really love you. I might not have a clue who you are most of the time, but I always know I love you."

He sighed happily. "I love you too, Dru."

"I don't care what anybody does to me. They'll never get me away from you. I won't let them."

"Me neither," he chuckled.


	9. Oblivion

Fred and George were playing bookies and taking in bets on the tri-wizard champions. "Guys, seriously, Harry is your friend!" Rose said annoyed.

George shrugged his shoulders. "We're not hurting him. Besides we need the money." he gave Rose a kiss, hoping to shut her up for a while. She's been fussing about the bets for a few days now.

"Yeah, for our store!" Fred nodded.

"I can give you-"

"No, we don't want charity, now stop interrupting."

"It's not charity! You two have been dragging me into these discussions about products, don't you think that if you allow me to give you ideas about those that I could give you the actual money to help you make it?"

Fred took one look on George's face and scooted over a few seats and started talking to Angelina.

"I love your input, but I don't need my girlfriend to buy me things. I can do that by myself."

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes on him. "I have the money, I don't want it. You need the money and you're not taking it?"

"Exactly, we want to work for our money."

"Yes, by taking stupid bets. What if they all bet on the one guy that wins? That would bankrupt you."

"Well, you tell me the outcome. That way we won't." George grinned at her.

Rose smirked and decided to teach the twins a lesson. "Alright, if it helps you, sure." she shrugged. "If you don't want my money..."

"Well?"

"Victor is going to win."

"You're not serious."

"I am! I mean, Cedric won't even make it, Harry comes in last and Fleur... well she comes in second."

He grinned, pulled Rose on his lap and kissed her. "Are you really sure?"

"If you want to win a lot of money, I wouldn't take bets on Krum. Your money makers are sadly Cedric and Harry."

George kissed Rose gently and then whispered. "You're little liar."

"I am not!" she said, trying to sound as offended as she could.

"You forget I know you." He gently caressed Rose's back. "I don't believe one word you that comes out of your mouth. Never."

"Fine. I love you, George."

George chuckled. "Yeah, I set myself up for that one, didn't I." he softly kissed her neck.

"Have fun taking your bets, whether you believe me or not." She got off his lap and walked away, she was going to find her grandfather, it had been too long since she had seen him, and she actually missed him, and wanted to catch up with him. She wanted him to be proud of her to have made more friends, and even landed herself a great boyfriend, even though said boyfriend had crazy ideas about making money.

She found her grandfather wandering around on the grounds and decided to run up and hug him. "Grandfather!" she smiled widely. "I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Hello darling. How have you been?"

"Alright," she smiled. "Doing a lot better now, I've made more friends," she said proudly. "I wish I could have gone home during the Christmas break though."

"Yes, well. But you had the yule ball. I understand that you wanted to stay at the castle."

"Well, now I do, but at the time I didn't want to go to the ball."

"Well, good then." Mr. Crouch smiled. "Was there anything else?"

She sighed and knew that her grandfather was just being typical. "I have a boyfriend now."

"Ah yes. The Malfoy boy. Drake isn't it?"

"No, not Draco, oh good lord, no. Ew." Rose said and shook her head. "I have better taste than that! George Weasley is my boyfriend."

"Ah, Weasley. I have one of those as my assistant, there's a lot them walking around here, aren't there? Which one is yours?"

"One of the twins, grandfather."

"Really? Their brother tells me the twins are always getting into trouble."

"It's not all that bad, George is a great listener, they can be very quiet if they want to."

"Well, as long as you stay out of trouble. did you have a good time spending the holiday at the castle?"

"Yeah, you know..." Rose shrugged. "Spent a week at Neville Longbottom's place to visit my best friend Dru in St. Mungo's and then saved her with my... well you know. She's doing well now. It's no big deal." she said sarcastically. "I'm surprised that you weren't informed by professor Dumbledore, considering you're my grandfather and all that, and should know about my whereabouts if I'm not at the castle."

"Watch your tone with me, young lady," her grandfather said. "I've been busy."

"Yeah... seems to be your excuse for everything, like putting me under the imperius curse all summer."

"I did none of the sort!" He huffed.

"Nope, you didn't, a ministry official would not use an unforgivable curse on his own granddaughter."

"Are you accusing me of something?" Rose saw a vein throb on her father's forehead, he was getting angry.

"No, but at least I have a better understanding now about what happened to my father before he went mad and became a you-know-who admirer."

"Rosalie, you need to watch your mouth," Grandfather threatened, and just as he was just about to raise his hand, Moody walked passed and growled at Stepfather.

"Bartemius!" he said, "You are needed to start the second task."

"Right," grandfather put his hand in his pocket. "Good seeing you again, Rose, have fun today." He then walked off and Rose sighed, she wished she would have tried to end their conversation on a happier note but it was what it was.

"Thanks, father," she muttered and looked at Moody with a smile. "Gillyweed, nice touch."

"I'd like to think so myself," he smiled at her. "Now, rejoin your friends, you shouldn't wander around on your own like this."

"I know, but I wanted to talk to grandfather, I miss him."

"I find it somewhat intriguing that despite everything that he has or hasn't done to you, that you still love him."

"Well, I love you too, despite the things you've done to others and to me," she shrugged. "You're my family."

"Go join your friends, you silly girl." He pushed her back towards the rest of the students and she made her way back over to Fred and George, feeling a bit deflated and relieved at the same time. At least she had said her peace to her grandfather, even though he, of course, denied everything.

She was wondering where Dru and Neville were hanging out. she got into a boat with Ginny, Fred and George towards the platform that had been set up in the Black lake. She looked at the pier and saw Harry walking towards the boats while he was talking to Neville and Dru. Rose smiled as she could see that the notebook she gave Dru was working. Neville and Dru looked like a happy couple again.

When Dru got to the platform, she found Rose and leaned against the railing next to her as they looked at the champions entering the water. "Thank you for the notebook." Dru said as she nudged Rose.

"I'm glad it's helping, you both look less conflicted," she smiled at her friend.

"Yeah, it's helping." Dru smiled as she looked at Neville who now too was walking over to her girls. "I think it worked."

Neville smiled at her, and then found a spot behind her and so he could put his arms around her. "I thought I killed him for a second."

Dru gave him a kiss on his cheek and glanced over to her brother. Draco was looking at the small group of friends. He clearly didn't like his sister's public display of affection and Rose too was leaning against George. This wasn't going the way he wanted it to go.

"So, do we still live in the reverse world, George?" Rose asked him, poking him in the side.

George grinned. "Well, if that means you'll tell you love me again, then yes. Otherwise no."

She was confused as she looked at him and shook her head. "I think you just broke my brain, because that didn't make sense. At all."

But Dru, Neville, Fred and Angelina did understand George and started to laugh.

"What? It's not funny!"

"No, well, it is. But you're being so adorable," Fred grinned and shook his head. "You'll get used to it."

"Aren't you two worried that something has happened to Ron?" Rose asked, trying to change the subject.

"If Ron was in trouble, you would have told us, yes?" George whispered in her ear and put his arm around her.

"Oh I can't believe this..." she sighed. "You didn't want to believe me at first, and now you're banking on me warning you when something's wrong with your family? I'm feeling used."

"You're a good girl. I know you'll project the people around you. But at the same time, I know you're bad enough to let us lose at the bets just to prove you're right about your money." George gave her a kiss. "I know how that silly brain of yours works."

"I should never have told you everything!"

"Wait, you told George everything, but not me?" Dru asked, sounding a little hurt. "But... I'm your best friend!"

"Exactly," Rose pointed out.

Dru gave Rose a dirty, but at the same time hurt, look. She turned around, put her arms around Neville's waist and tried to hide in his arms. She suddenly felt like Rose was hiding too many things from her and that had always scared her.

"Well I understand," Neville piped up.

"Yeah, you tell Neville more than you tell Rose. And so you should. But I'm Rose's boyfriend, so she tells me." George said friendly, but still on a tone that made Dru understand to drop the subject.

Rose thought for a second and decided to slip quietly in Dru's head, so that nobody would hear what she was saying, just Dru. They already want us to switch sides, imagine what things would be like if you knew what I know... they'd fight even harder and we'd lose, and they are really not interested in a Weasley or in your case, Neville. It's safer this way, don't be mad.

Maybe, but why do I feel like you're in over your head and you're scared of them getting to us anyway.

I could say the same thing to you, it was so hard to get Neville to tell me stuff that I needed to know to help you at St. Mungo's.

I wanted to protect you. You've not been well.

That was... Rose sighed, knowing that she had to start trusting her friend if they were to form a united front against the dark side. She then showed Dru how Moody (not her father, but Moody) had given her a potion and how the spells that had been plaguing her had left her body in a quite violent way, and then sighed again. Grandfather had me under the imperius curse all summer.

Dru took a deep breath. Don't ever tell Neville this. She showed herself going to Bellatrix on her Birthday and that when Bellatrix asked her about her boyfriend, which she thought was Zambini, she couldn't help to smile as imagines of Neville kissing her and pushing her on her back on the seats in the train were running through her mind for a few seconds I'm scared she knows Dru held Neville even closer to her.

"Ha!" George said and pointed at the water. "There's Fleur. I knew that you were lying."

"Oh shut up," Rose rolled his eyes at him. "I'll get my revenge one day."

George grinned. "I'm gonna hold you to that."

"You won't know what hit you when I'm through with you."

"Promise?"

"You bet!" she laughed. "I'll go all... Twilight Moonbeam on you."

"That sounds too fluffy. Not scary at all." Fred was in stitches. "You won't ever be able to prank us."

"Oh just you wait boys. Us little girls will out prank you any day of the week." Dru was still holding on to Neville, but she stopped trying to hide herself. "Take Neville. He's know not to mess with us."

"But Neville is easily spooked, he never sees it coming."

"My Neville is a whole lot braver than you sorry lot." Dru defended.

"Oi, give him some credit!" Rose said and elbowed George in the ribs.

"Oh look, it's Cedric with Cho! He won!" Fred cheered. "Oh, brilliant this is, most people bet on Krum or Harry!"

Neville looked disappointed. "I wanted Harry to win."

"Yeah..." Rose sighed and nodded. "He deserves to win this, he needs something to make him feel more confident about himself, but alas. We have Cedric coming out of the water first."

Dru let Neville go and leaned against the railing. "I think I see a shark!"

No sooner had she said it or Victor Krum came up with Hermione.

"Is that Hermione?" Angelina asked.

"Come on, let's go get her warm." Dru said and pulled Rose with her. "Let's find out why she was in the water." she giggled to her friend.

As soon as they reached Hermione's side, they wrapped a blanket around her. People were only interested in Krum it seemed and Hermione still looked a bit out of it. "Are you alright, Hermione?" Rose asked.

She nodded. "Where's Harry?"

"Still down there," she replied with a sigh. "What's taking him so long?"

"Well, Ron just came up, with a little girl. but I see no sign of Harry."Dru was standing on the tips of her toes to see what was going on.

"Rose, is he alright?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, Ron's alright, he's smiling and he's coming over now."

"No, I mean Harry."

"How would I know?"

"Oh come on," Hermione rolled her eyes at Rose. "Smartest girl in school, remember?"

"No need to toot your own horn, Hermione," Rose countered and shook her head. "He's fine, don't worry."

"There he is!" Dru said.

Hermione scrambled to his feet and ran towards Harry.

"She knows, doesn't she?" Dru whispered to Rose.

"It sure looks like it," Rose nodded and put a blanket around Ron's shoulders as he sat down on the platform, shivering like crazy. "Welcome back, Ron."

Ï'Thanks." Ron smiled.

"Your brothers were very worried about you," she smiled and rubbed his shoulders.

"Ron!" Ginny ran to her brother and hugged him. "I can't believe they took you for this challenge!"

Fred, George and Neville also came down to the platform. It left Dru and Rose as the outsiders again, as they had been for most of the time they were at Hogwarts. Dru smiled at Rose and shrugged her shoulders.

Rose removed herself from Ron and put an arm around Dru as they walked off the platform. "So, what can we do to prank the twins?"

"I don't know, but it better be good. If i hear them mouthing off against my babe one more time..."

"Neville."

"He likes it when I call him babe." Dru chuckled.

"We could superglue their robes to their underwear."

"Superglue?"

"Sticking charm," she shrugged for an answer as they waited for Dumbledore to announce the results of the task, although Rose already knew.

"We could fill their beds with some juice from a Mimbulus Mimbletonia. It's very thick, green and stinking." Neville said. He had sneaked up on the girls, giving them a bit of a fright.

"Don't sneak up on me." Dru said laughing.

"Nah... that's too easy," Rose sighed. "We need something... bigger."

"Lets talk about it later. They're coming." Dru shushed them and got into a boat. Neville, Rose, Ginny and the twins joined her.

Rose saw her grandfather talking to Harry as they got into the next boat. When they got onto the shore, the others walked to the castle and Rose stayed behind. She wanted to talk to her Grandfather again, and apologize for her behaviour.

She hid behind a tree when her Father, Moody, interrupted her Grandfather talking to Harry and after watching the scene unfold, she followed her Grandfather when he walked off. "Grandfather! Wait!" she called out and ran towards him. He looked slightly flustered. "Are you alright?"

"Of course, I am," he said nervously. "I was just on my way to the castle to go and talk to Professor Dumbledore."

"Something has you rattled, grandfather, what is it?"

"Your father is impersonating Moody. I must tell Dumbledore this."

"How do you know? We haven't heard from Father since he escaped!"

"I know my own son, dear. Now let's hurry up to the castle. I need to tell Dumbledore and you're going home with me. Right this minute."

"But... but..."

"I'm not leaving you here with him. I know what he wants and he's not getting you. I'll never let that happen to you." Her grandfather placed his hand on her cheek. "I'm never going to let him hurt you. You mean the world to me, you know that don't you."

She sighed, he had a strange way of showing that he loved her. And if he did, he would have spent more time with her, wouldn't he? "But if we're going to Dumbledore, he'll surely get rid of him and then I can stay here, yes?"

"Not until I'm sure you're safe. You're my granddaughter. Now I know I've never been a great grandfather, but I had a lot of time to think this year. Everything is going to chance. I'm going to be here for you from this moment on. I'll promise you that." He gave Rose a kiss on her head. "I'm so sorry for everything."

"I know, grandfather," she smiled and hugged him. "Alright, let's go."

"Where do you think you're going?" Moody's voice sounded before it switched to her Father's voice. "Going to ruin it all, are you?"

Crouch sr. stood in front of Rose to shield her from his son. "This has gone on long enough. You're going back to Azkaban. I'll make sure of that."

"Rose, step aside."

"No..." she said frightened and held onto her grandfather, knowing that her Father wouldn't hurt her, but she realised what her Father was planning to do.

"Step aside, Rose," her father said again. "Don't let me make you."

Rose, where are you?

She shook her head in confusement, hearing Dru's voice in her head so unexpectedly. She held onto her grandfather as tightly as she could. I'll be back soon, she responded as she looked at her Father. "I mean, you don't have to do what you're planning to do... you could always make him forget... please..." she begged. "He's not the most fantastic parent or grandfather, but he's all I have when you're gone!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Rose. I've been telling you this all year, haven't I."

"You knew?" Crouch sr. let go of his granddaughter and took a few steps backwards.

"He's my Father..."

"Yes, I am. And I'll be all you're gonna need."

"Rose, he's a menace to the world, and you haven't informed Dumbledore?"

"Well she has," her father replied with a smile. "But not to the real one."

"That was YOU?" she said surprised. "How could you!"

"I told you. You and your friend belong to him and we're going to take you there. The both of you. Now say goodbye to your grandfather. " Avada kadavra!"

Rose saw her grandfather tumble to the ground, but she didn't have long to realise what just happened, because she heard someone screaming. She looked behind her father and saw that Dru had found her friend.

Dru looked at Rose in shock, turned around and ran away. Moody quickly followed her, shooting spells at her along the way. Dru managed to avoid them until she got to the bridge.

"Stupefy"

Rose saw Dru flying into the side of the bridge and fall on her back. She was unconscious. "NO!" she screamed. "Why did you do that?" Rose made her way over to Dru and made sure that she wasn't bleeding or anything and cradled her as she looked at her father. "You didn't have to do this!"

"That wretched girl is too nosy for her own good. It's time to get rid of her." Moody pointed his wand at Dru. "Step away from her."

"No!" She held on to Dru as tightly as she could. "She's a Malfoy, a LeStrange, you're not going to kill her!" Rose then thought for a second. "The Dark Lord wouldn't be too pleased with you, Father."

"If he finds out about the Longbottom boy and her, he's not going to care anymore." He grabbed Rose and hoisted her up to her feet. "Say goodbye."

"If you want to kill her just for that, then you have to kill me too," she said and looked up to him. "My boyfriend is a Weasley!" she kicked him in the shins. "I can't believe you're willing to kill a kid!"

"Alright. If you want your friend to live, you're going to erase her memory. You're going to take away every memory of today and everything she knows, remembers and feels about Longbottom."

"Me? No... I can't..." Rose started to cry. "I just saved her... I got her back when she fell ill... I can't... don't make me do it..."

"If you want. I'll just get rid of her then." he pointed his wand at the defenseless Dru.

"You can take away her memories, just please... please... don't kill her..." she pleaded. "She's my best friend... please..."

"Íf you want to save your friend, cast the spell. If you can't I'll use mine. And no tricks. If I find out you left a memory in there, I'll still kill her."

She sank to her knees and sobbed as she caressed Dru's hair. "I'm sorry... at least you'll be safe..." she said softly as she found her way into Dru's head, because a simple Obliviate wouldn't work and she didn't trust herself enough to do it right. First, she tried to find the figure she had seen the first time she had entered Dru's mind like this, the one responsible for having Dru forget about Neville for such a long time.

"Hello."

The figure looked weak, almost as if Dru had managed to fight it off on her own, and Rose sighed. "I need your help... orders from Barty Crouch Jr."

"Exciting!" the figure squealed and as if a fire being re-ignited, the image buzzed back to life. "Longbottom again?"

"You need to erase every single memory of Neville," she said softly. "And all memory of what happened from before Dru decided to come and find me and witnessed what she has seen."

"I can do that."

"But, one condition, you will not, absolutely not, make her pass out again so that she has to be admitted to St. Mungo's again. That was hardly fair."

"That wasn't me," the figure smirked. "But don't worry, I know what I'm doing, I'll keep her safe."

"Now, show me where she has stored her feelings?"

"Oh, that's very easy," the figure said, leading the way into a dark, dungeon like corridor of Dru's mind. "She has everything behind named doors!"

"Your mistake the first time was not to touch her feelings, just her memories," Rose grunted and looked for Neville's door. When she found it, she got her wand out and blew up the door. "Bombarda!" she then got overwhelmed by all the feelings her friend felt for Neville and started to cry again. How could she destroy something so good? So pure? So incredibly sweet?

"Oh, allow me!" the figure bounced into the room and started to set fire to the room and Rose watched how all the feelings about Neville burned.

She sobbed when she finally managed to get out of Dru's head and looked at her father. "Done... Are you happy now?" she shot at him.

"Not completely." He put his hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry, but one day you'll thank me for this... Stupefy!"

Rose fell to ground and her father bent over her. "I'm doing this for you. Obliviate!"

Rose woke up in the infirmary and she was confused, wondering what had happened to her to have her end up in there. She had a blinding headache though, and the lights were bright, and there was someone sitting next to her bed, but she couldn't quite focus on it yet. "Ow..."

"She's awake!" the figure exclaimed. "Madame Pomfrey!"

"Don't yell..." the voice belonged to a Weasley, she could hear as much. "Fred?"

"Very funny." George said and gave Rose a kiss on her forehead. "You scared me." He sat down next to her on her bed and smiled.

As the face came into focus, she chuckled. "You're Fred, I'm not stupid."

"Well, if you wish." George glanced over at Fred who was leaning against the bed next to Rose. They both smiled. If this was the best revenge Rose could come up with, then they really had to reconsider her ideas for the shop.

She followed his gaze and saw an identical copy stand at the bed, waving at her. "Fred."

"Hi!"

She then looked back at the other boy. "Then who are you?"

"Rose, I'm in for a laugh just as much as you. But not now, okay. There's something I have to tell you."

"Where's Dru?" She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes, seeing that someone was occupying the bed opposite of her. "Is that Dru? Why are we here?"

"They found the two of you unconscious at the bridge. She's alright, she's just sleeping." George put an arm around her and looked at Rose. How on earth was he going to tell her they had found her grandfather's dead body?

She shrugged off his arm and glared at him. "I don't like it when boys touch me, who are you. If you're not Fred, who are you? Am I still at Hogwarts?"

Fred sat down at the bottom of her feet. "Rose, you know me right. How many kids does my mom and dad have?"

"One girl, five boys. There's Ginny, Ron, Bill, Charlie and Percy, and well, you."

Fred looked at George. "Rose, please telling me you're pulling our leg."

"Please tell me you're pulling mine and that you've cloned yourself."

George got off and walked off to Dru's bed. He woke Neville, who had been sleeping in a chair next to Dru.

"Neville, I need you help with something."

"Alright," Neville said, shaking the sleep from his head. "What's going on? Has she woken up yet?"

"Yeah, but I think something is wrong with her. She doesn't seem to know me."

Neville just stared at George for a moment. "Don't mess around, George, it's bad enough that Dru doesn't seem to know me still."

"You really think I'd joke about this with you? After everything ýou've been through this year?"

"You need to tell Madame Pomfrey," Neville said with a nod, looking over to Rose, who was talking to Fred. "I mean, I didn't, because well... I am sort of used to Dru not knowing me now."

"George, what am I doing here?" Dru was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Ah, welcome back to the land of the living," George smiled at her. "You were found unconscious at the bridge, slumped against the rail."

"Hi Dru," Neville smiled at her.

"Hello." Dru looked confused at Neville.

George patted Neville on his back and walked to Madame Pomfrey.

"Dru! You're awake!" Rose made an attempt of leaving the bed, but Fred kept pushing her back in.

"You're not going anywhere until you've been examined," he said to her.

"Well, we've finally done it. We're in the infirmary together." Dru chuckled.

"Took us long enough," Rose nodded and glared at Fred. "I'm fine!"

"Yeah, you're fine and my brother doesn't exist?" He huffed. "You're fine, yes."

Dru tried to get of her bed. She wanted to go to Rose.

"No, you don't." Neville pushed her in the bed.

"Get your hands off me," she said to the boy and pulled herself away from Neville. "Don't you touch me."

"Dru?" he asked confused. "You okay? I mean... I get it that you don't remember me, I get it, but what's up with you?"

"What do you mean, what's up with me. I don't want you to touch me. I don't know you."

"Uhm... guys?" Neville called out. "Something's terribly wrong here... whoever killed... must have hurt the girls too!"

"Killed?" Rose and Dru chorused, and looked at each other. "Who died?" Rose asked, looking at Fred.

"Alright, that's enough. Neville, Fred, George, I want you out of here, now. Let the girls rest, and give us time to examine them to make sure they're fine." Madame Pomfrey said and started to usher out the boys. "Professor Dumbledore is on his way."

"What's going on?" Rose asked confused.

Dru got out of her bed and sat down next to Rose. "I don't know. But who was that boy that was with the twins?"

"Neville, your boyfriend ... wait, they're twins?"

"My boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend. And what do you mean; are they twins? You've been snogging George for two months now. Don't tell me you don't know Fred is his twin?"

"I..." Rose looked at her friend confused. "I have a boyfriend? Ha! Don't make me laugh, boys don't like me, and they scare the crap out of me." She then poked Dru in the sides. "You've been dating Neville for a couple of months now, you've been lusting after him ever since we arrived at Hogwarts."

"You were snogging George yesterday morning in the great hall! At breakfast! And just so you know; I've never lusted after anyone in my life."

She rolled her eyes at her friend. "You keep telling yourself that, but for the last few months, Neville and I have been reminding you about your relationship with him, it makes it easier because you're an empath but still..." she then thought for a second, letting Dru's words sink in. "It's not April Fools today is it?"

"It's February and why do I need reminders of me being in a relationship? If I can't remember him, I'm clearly not in a relationship am I."

"Okay, let's just drop the subject, it's giving me a headache," Rose groaned. "What happened anyway? How did we end up here?"

"I don't know?" Dru put her head against Rose. "Why do I feel like we're missing something here?"

"Yeah..." she said confused and sighed. She saw Madame Pomfrey walk towards them and she looked worried. "I think we're in trouble."

"Quick, let's pretend we're sleeping." Dru lied down and pretended to sleep.

"As if she'd believe we're asleep with you in my bed," Rose chuckled.

Dru pulled Rose down. "shut up!" she hissed.

"Get out of the bed, miss Malfoy"

Dru didn't answer.

Rose snickered and got up. "I'll go to her bed!"

"Oh absolutely not," Madame Pomfrey was stronger than she looked and pulled Dru off Rose's bed. "Come on, stop mucking about. Professor Dumbledore will come to talk to you soon, he's bringing Professor Snape with him."

Dru growled and crawled into her own bed. She closed her eyes and was going to pretend to sleep. She didn't want to talk to Snape.

She sighed and hugged her knees to her chest as she waited patiently for Dumbledore and Snape to arrive. Rose was wondering what was going on, and why she couldn't remember that Fred Weasley was one of a twin, she'd been at Hogwarts for four years now, twins were quite rare in school. She was also wondering why Dru was firmly denying the mere existence of Neville, not even showing that she had at least feelings from the boy who was a stranger to her friend.

"How good it is to see you both back in the land of the living," Dumbledore's voice sounded. "You two gave us quite the scare."

"Professor, what happened?"

"Well miss Shepherd, we were actually wondering if you two could tell us! We found you unconscious on the bridge, a stone throw away from... oh dear, I suppose Mr. Weasley hasn't told you yet?"

"Sorry sir, what should Fred have told me?"

"Oh, I thought you were seeing George?" Dumbledore glanced over to Snape for a moment before turning his attention back to Rose. "I am sorry to inform you that someone has attacked your grandfather on the grounds yesterday."

"Oh no! Is he alright?"

"He's dead, Miss Shepherd."

Rose stared at the professor for a long time and felt how her eyes had started to water. "He's... dead? But... but what's going to happen to me then?"

Dru got out of her bed and quickly sat down on Rose's bed. She put her arms around her. "You can come and stay with me. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind."

"Oh... no... I can't... it'd be too weird to stay in the same house as your brother," she shook her head.

"Let's not worry about that, Remus is away for a bit and until he returns, you'll be safe here," Dumbledore said. "We were wondering if you have seen anyone roaming around yesterday during the task or after the task that didn't belong at Hogwarts."

"I missed the second task?"

"No, you were there. With me and George and Fred.. You've were joking around with the boys. And cuddling with George." Dru said.

"George? Fred's twin, right? You're mad. Yesterday I spent the day reading up on my charms homework, I don't even know why you found me outside."

"Professor, tell her. You saw us on the platform, didn't you?" Dru looked at Snape.

"Yes..." Snape made his way over to the girls and looked at Rose. "Is it okay if I take a look around in your mind?"

"Absolutely not!" Rose spluttered.

"Go ahead, Severus," Dumbledore replied. "In the absence of Lupin, I make the important decisions about her."

"Oh that's so not fair."

"Rose, what if he goes in my head first, then you'll see he won't do any harm," Dru offered.

"No, it's my head. My thoughts, private."

"As Professor Dumbledore explained. He wants me to do this. If you resist, you'll only make it harder on yourself." Snape spoke calmly.

"Fine," she gave a small grunt and shuddered. She didn't like the idea of Snape peeking inside her head.

He placed his hand on Rose's head and after maybe 30 seconds, he removed it again. "She doesn't remember yesterday," he frowned. "I noticed some spell scars around her memory area, whoever performed the spell was impatient."

"Great," she muttered. "First, I spend two months locked up and cursed in a small bedroom and now this?"

Dru put her head on Rose's shoulder. "It'll be okay. We'll get through this."

"It's just a day," she shrugged. "I'm sure that Cedric still won and Harry came in second."

"Druella, I need to get into your head now."

Dru nodded, but just as Snape wanted to put his hands on her head. The doors of infirmary opened as Lucius Malfoy burst in.

'Father." Dru ran towards him and flung her arms around his neck.

"This is the second time, Dumbledore, that my little girl has ended up in the infirmary. I'm taking her to St. Mungo's right now to make sure that you don't cock it up!"

"Father, I'm alright. I don't need to go to St Mungo."

"Yes, you are."

"Mr. Malfoy, you are free to take your daughter to St. Mungo's if you wish, but may I remind you that the sole reason that your daughter is out of there in the first place is sitting right here?" Dumbledore said calmly.

"Father, they found Mr Crouch's body. I can't leave Rose." Dru whispered and gave her father the sad eyes she used if ever she really wanted anything.

"That's the exact reason why you're coming with me, Draco as well. It's not safe. People get killed now."

Dru looked to the ground. Alright it's time to take out the big guns, she thought and started sobbing.

"Druella..." Lucius sighed and caressed his daughter's hair. "It's not safe here."

"She's my friend. I can't just leave her here. She's the only reason I'm safe." Dru sobbed and put her head against her father's chest. "Please, don't make me go."

Malfoy looked at Dumbledore and Snape. "What happened to her?"

"We were just about to find out when you barged in here," Snape responded calmly. "With your permission, Mr. Malfoy, I'd like to examine her mind."

"Yes, Severus, please do."

"No." Dru clung to her father. "Only if you promise I can stay."

"Your mother will kill me," he replied with a nod. "But you can stay."

Dru let go. She dried her eyes and looked at Snape. "Go on then."

He did the same as he had done on Rose and was amazed. "Whoever is responsible for your inability to remember Mr. Longbottom and certain events from yesterday, had a delicate touch. I don't think that the same person who wiped Miss Shepherd's mind also wiped Miss Malfoy's mind."

"Mr Longbottom? Who's he?" Dru looked at her father.

"Neville," Rose coughed.

Lucius looked at his daughter in disgust, and at Snape in relief. His little girl was alright, and she had forgotten about the blood traitor in the process, it'd earn him more points with the Dark Lord too.

"Father, why should I remember everything, besides that one boy? It doesn't make sense."

"I don't know, dear," Lucius sat down on the bed next to her and caressed her hair. "I'm just glad that apart from that, you're alright."

"Father, Rose doesn't have anybody anymore. Can't she stay with us? We have enough room."

Rose had buried herself underneath her blankets and kept quiet, she was trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she was orphaned now, even though her grandfather hadn't been that good to her, he had been all that she had, especially now that her Father had escaped. Not that she'd want to be with her father, he was mental. He would never hurt her, but he was insane and he'd hurt everyone around her. She was well aware of that.

"Absolutely."

"You shall have to ask Remus Lupin if that's alright with him, considering that he is Miss Shepherd's godfather," Dumbledore spoke.

"She hardly knows Lupin. No, she's going to stay with us." Dru spoke to Dumbledore.

"Leave me alone," Rose muttered from her bed and pulled the pillow over her head. She was missing something, she didn't feel safe anymore, but she did remember having a feeling of safety from the days before she had woken up in the infirmary. Something was missing, and it was not her grandfather.


	10. It's in his kiss

Rose and Dru were released from hospital a couple of days later, and as it was Saturday, Rose decided to work on her homework in the common room. She had missed a couple of days of school and she didn't want to fall behind. She hated herself for having missed her grandfather's funeral, but she was relieved that she had finally stopped crying.

Dru was already done with most of her homework. She only had Herbology left, but she didn't want to even start with it. She wasn't going to pass Herbology anyway. "I really don't get how the hell I passed Herbology the last three years."

"Neville helped you with that, he's great with the plants," Rose replied as she kept her eyes trained on her divination book.

Dru signed "Well, I guess I'm going not going to pass this year then." She took out her book opened it.

"You could always just go to Neville and ask him to help you, you know. He likes to help other people, especially his girlfriend."

"I'm telling you one more time. I'm not his girlfriend."

"Not now, no. Or not anymore, but still, he'll be more than willing to help you out."

Dru closed her book."Fine, I'll go and ask him then."

Rose giggled and nodded. "Have fun!"

"You too." Dru giggled and walked past George as she walked out of the common room.

George sat down on Dru's empty chair. "Divination? I hated the subject."

She didn't look up from her book as she shrugged. "I'm getting most of my information from other books, to be honest, it's just entertaining to read the books Professor Trelawney hands out."

George smiled and patted Rose's arm. "I expected no less of you."

She looked at his hand on her arm and then looked up to him. "What are you doing?"

"Not giving up." George had been talking to Neville for days and they both decided the only thing they could do was try the very best to make the girls remember them. Neville's approach last time of staying out of Dru's way, didn't amount to something. So they decided they would try and trigger memories the best they could, and be a little more forward with the girls. George just hoped, that in the process, he wouldn't scare Rose off.

"Speaking of not giving up, Dru's on her way to see Neville now, to help her with herbology. Something's off, it's not like the last time that her memory was wiped you know... it's like someone dug deep inside of her and destroyed all of her feelings that she had for him," she said and closed the book. "It's sad, really. She's an empath, she's supposed to rely on her feelings." She had already figured out that this George knew everything about her for some reason, and she felt comfortable enough with him to tell her these kinds of things.

"Yeah, I sort of noticed that already. But I'm sure they'll make it one way or another. They belong together. You told me that."

Rose shrugged and pulled her book about transfiguration towards her. "I don't know why I bother, really. It's not like her family will allow her to get back with Neville," she sighed. "I think I should just... give up."

George got up, walked around the table and sat down in the chair next to her. He cupped her chin. "Rosalie Shepherd, you don't give up. You always keep on fighting."

"I don't see the point, really," she shrugged. "Whenever something good happens, like... getting Dru out of St. Mungo's or Harry fulfilling a task at the tournament, something bad happens, and it's all fun and games when other people get their heads swept out with a stick with splinters, but when it happens to me..." she shrugged again. "I'm done. Everything that I see, will stay in my head, even if it's really really bad."

"Rose, you need to talk about what you see. If you don't, it'll burn you up. Last time you told everything, you felt a lot better. You were so much happier. Mind you, I was making you smile too, but you were so relieved to talk about it." George caressed her hair. "What ever we are or we aren't, you can still tell me everything. I'm still your rock."

"You know, leave it." She smacked the book on the table and looked at George. "As of today, I've given up. I won't even keep trying to get Dru and Neville to bond again, it's a lost cause. Harry fighting Voldemort and someone dying? Who cares? I don't!" she got up and started to pace around. "I might just as well join  _him_  during summer break. It's not like I still have a home to return to, maybe he'll bring me as much joy as he had brought my father joy."

George got up and put his arms firmly around her. He was strong enough to hold her without her escaping, but at the same time gentle enough that he wouldn't hurt her. "I'm sorry, Rose. But I'm not going to let you do that."

"Let me go!" she said, freaked out and kicked against his shins. "Let me go! George!"

"Not until you've calmed down."

She started to hit his chest with her fists and really hoped that someone would come into the common room and see that the boy was assaulting her. "Let me GO!" she yelled.

"Fine, if you're gonna be like that. Just remember you've asked for this yourself." George let her go, but only to pin her against the wall by her wrists and leaned in with his body. "I'm not going to hurt you. But I'm not letting you go until you've calmed down." George knew he was playing dangerous, but at the same time he did make sure he wasn't hurting her.

Rose was freaking out. She didn't like it that he was so close to her. She could feel the warmth radiate off his body and he was just too close. She was afraid that he  _was_  going to hurt her and since he was a lot taller than she was, there was no way that she was going to be able to win it from him.

"I'm scared, Rose."

"Scared? What do you think of me then!" she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "If you don't let go of me, I'm going to scream."

"You've told me about You-know-who's plans to get you and Dru on their side. And I..." He took a very deep breath. "I don't want to lose you."

"I don't care," she said slowly. "It's obvious that whatever happened to me and Dru has been done by someone who works for Voldemort. They've won, we've lost."

"Can I please say goodbye to you then?" he whispered in her ear. He was now standing even closer. He could feel her heart beating fast. She could deny it all she want, but he could feel that him standing so close to her was doing something to her.

"No," she shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "Just go away, leave me alone, I can't do this... I can't..."

George let go of her wrist and put his hands on her waist. "Please... just one kiss. then I'll let you go...just one kiss!" His voice was shaking.

"That's all what you boys think about, isn't it? I bet you're just taking advantage of the fact that I can't remember you and you've told everyone that I was your girlfriend, just so you could take advantage of it, because you know, what do I know?" she glared at him. "Let me go, George."

George gave her a kiss on cheek and rested his head against the wall. He had been fighting his tears, but now he couldn't hold them back anymore. He loosened his hold on her somewhat so she could leave if she wanted to. "I love you, Rose."

She didn't quite understand why he was crying and just looked at him as she started to think about the past year. She had fought for Dru and Neville, because she didn't want Dru to be vulnerable to switch sides, and also because Rose knew that those two had been destined to be together, and had a bright future ahead of them, she could see that still.

She also realised that she had never been very confident about herself, about her own future, and the reason that she had been fighting so hard for Dru and Neville was also quite selfish in a way, as long as she'd stick with them, she'd turn out alright too.

Then there was George Weasley, who was absolutely adorable and cute and very handsome, and apparently he knew everything about her, and what she had seen and what she could do. He was standing in front of her, crying, and had declared his love for her. But how could he love her when she didn't remember him?

And then it hit her; Neville had been erased from Dru's mind because he was her tether to the good side, the anchor that kept her grounded and made her feel loved, safe and secure. She knew that Voldemort and the Death Eaters didn't keep him in high regard. George was a Weasley, and they didn't like Weasley's either. It would make sense, that whoever killed her grandfather was working for Voldemort and Dru and Rose had probably walked in on that person. Instead of just making them forget about the attack, they also took the opportunity to erase  _love_  from their minds.

"Oh... I'm Dru..." she frowned and looked at George again. "I'm so sorry."

George realised that even though she was able to leave now for a few minutes, she was still standing there. He took a deep breath to pull himself together and gently gave her another kiss on her cheek. "Rose, please... just one kiss."

It was the least she could do, wasn't it? She might not remember him at all, him being her boyfriend and whatnot, but it was the least she could do. "I can't promise you anything, George..."

George put one hand on her cheek. "I don't need a promise from you. I just need your permission."

She slowly nodded. "I've never been kissed by someone before..."

George grinned. "Well, technically, you have. I've kissed you right here on this spot at the end of the yule ball. But I'm not kissing you again until you've asked me to."

"You took me to the yule ball?" she chuckled. "You're mad."

"Well bonkers was the word you used then. But yeah, I took you to the ball. You were wearing this amazing blue dress. I picture you in that dress every night before I go to sleep. Helps me keep the nightmares away." He softly caressed her hair. "You looked so beautiful."

"Ew, a dress," she noted and then nodded. "Very well... George Weasley, I give you permission to kiss me."

George smiled and gently kissed her lips. He put one hand behind her head and with his other arm he lifted her of her feet.

Rose blinked as he kissed her on the lips, it felt... good, great, familiar somehow. She buried her hands in his hair and wrapped her legs around him as he lifted her up, answering his kiss all too eagerly, hoping to discover more of those feelings she had inside of her. Unlike Dru, she wasn't reliant on other people's feelings and it felt weird to have something awaken from deep inside of her.

George slowly walked to sofa and sat down, with Rose now on his lap. "I've really missed this," he said as he had broken off the kiss. He smiled at her before softly kissing her again, slipping his hand underneath her shirt, loving the soft feeling of her skin against his fingertips.

"Slow down..." she breathed as she broke off the kiss with a smile. "My feelings seem to remember you," Rose smiled as she played with his hair and put her forehead against his. "But this is just so weird..."

George smiled as he pulled his hand out from underneath her shirt. "Sorry, I'm just so happy you kissed me back. But we'll take it as slow as you want it. I promise." he slowly kissed her neck. "I'm glad you remembered something."

"I still think you're better off without me though..." she said softly. "Or not... I don't know... my head feels a bit scrambled."

George gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I just want you, no one else, just you."

She shifted in his lap so that she could put her head against his chest and put her arms around his neck. She liked sitting like this, she realised and sighed. "I still don't know you. This is very very weird."

"Well first things first. We are weird, Rose. That's why we're so damn perfect for eachother.  
Now ask me anything you wanna know."

"You have a twin brother, how come you're the hottest of the two?" She chuckled as she closed her eyes, liking the way he was holding her. "No wait... what flavor ice cream is your favorite?"

George laughed. "Strawberry."

She wrinkled her nose. "Ew, chocolate is much nicer."

"Chocolate covered strawberries then. See? That way we both win."

"As an ice cream? Now that I'd like to see!"

George kissed Rose on the top of her head. He loved the fact he had her back. He hoped Neville was having the same luck he had.

* * *

"Careful, touch it the wrong way and it'll hurt you," Neville warned Dru as she was about to attempt to relocate one of the sproutlings.

"I am." Dru moaned. "I'm just really bad at this."

"No, you're not," he smiled and gently placed his hands over hers, manipulating her fingers so that the sproutling was enjoying itself before being relocated into another pot, just like he had done so many times before. "You're just trying too hard, that's all."

Dru looked at Neville. "Thank you for helping me."

"Well, why wouldn't I?"

Dru looked back at the plants. "Well, I mean...I don't know."

"No, but I do," he smiled and put his hands in his pockets. "So it's okay."

Dru walked over to the table and wrote some stuff down for her homework. "I'm so behind on all of this."

"And that makes me feel strangely excited, because that means I get to spend more time with you," Neville was surprised at his own bravery, but then again, Dru had been like this (sort of) for two months already so he was getting used to being a bit forward these days.

Dru bit her lip. He was making her a bit nervous. "Okay, what about these plants?" She walked over to another section of the greenhouse and kneeled down.

"Pull really hard to get them out of the soil, and to have them in a new pot, you have to force them back into the new soil, so that the juices can connect better with the nutrients in there."

She wanted to grab one of the plants, but then the plants started moving. She pulled her hands back in a scare. Despite she knew the plants would do that, it always unnerved her a little bit.

"They're just plants, Dru." Neville said, as he leaned against one of the flower beds. "You can do it."

Dru took a deep breath and pulled the plant out. But the plant's leaves started tickling her. She squealed and dropped the plant.

Neville grinned. "Dru Malfoy, Dragons don't scare her, but oh, let her into a greenhouse and she thinks that plants will kill her."

"That's not funny." Dru picked up a hand of soil and threw it at Neville. "Stop laughing at me."

"But it is!" he chuckled and ducked so that the soil flew over him. "Oh come on, don't throw soil... it's not snow!"

Dru picked up the plant with between her thumb and index finger like it was a very disgusting thing and put in on the work surface. The plant desperately tried to tickle her again. Dru pulled her hands back again. "Okay, I'm so done with this. I'll just fail."

"But it's the easiest class!" He made his way over and shoved the plant into the new soil. "Bad Joey, you do not tickle the lady!" he scolded the sproutling and then looked at Dru who was looking at him with an incredulous look on her face. "What? I name them, makes them feel better."

Dru smiled and looked back at the plant. "I don't get it. You're so good at this. I don't get half the stuff I'm told when I'm in class here."

"Because you're overthinking things, and you shouldn't. Plants are... easy. Not as complicated as things as potions or divination or anything like that."

Dru put her hands on the table and hoisted herself up. She crossed her legs and looked at Neville. "Potions are simple. You just follow the instructions and you're done. Potions don't tickle you or release juices or any of that stuff." She played with the hem of her skirt.

"No, but they can kill you if done wrong," he pointed out.

"Plants can kill you too, Neville. Devils snare for one, the cry of a mandrake. Potions only kill you if you don't know what you're doing."

"You're not even trying," he sighed and wished she hadn't been wearing a skirt today, she looked absolutely, and incredibly, sexy. "Hey, what happened to the notebook Rose had given you a while back?"

Dru looked at him. "How do you know Rose had given me a notebook?"

"George told me."

"Well I don't have it anymore. It's gone."

"I actually like it that you remember that Rose had given you a notebook, do you remember why she gave it to you?"

Dru looked down. "I don't remember why she gave me a notebook. She and Ginny went through my trunk looking for it themselves after I told them I didn't remember it."

"It was a notebook to keep your precious memories about me on record, because you know... every day you forgot about me."

Dru shifted a bit on the table, and didn't realise her skirt was riding up even further. She was feeling guilty for not remembering him. Dru shrieked when 'Joey' suddenly grabbed her arm and started tickling her again.

"Hit him on the head," he offered as he walked towards her. If needed, he'd save her from the cute little sproutling, but she had nothing to be afraid of.

"Please just get off me." Dru tried to hit it, but 'Joey' seemed to be having too much fun to let go.

"Oi," he said to the plant, nearly tripping over his own feet as he approached the offending sproutling and squeezed one of its leaves. "Go mind your own business, can't you see she's afraid of you? I don't know why but... hey, she's a lady, you have to respect her wishes."

Dru couldn't help it but to laugh when she heard Neville talk to the plant. "You're really funny, you know that?" she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Me? Funny?" he smiled at her as he shoved the plant away from Dru as soon as it let go of her. "Right now I'm just a boy who talks to plants as if they're people," he shrugged and hopped onto the table himself to sit next to her. "I can be funny though. What do you call a witch's garage?"

Dru smiled at him. "I don't know?"

"A broom closet," he grinned.

Dru laughed.

"Oh! I have another one!" Neville chuckled. "What do you call a witch that has been rolled into poison ivy?"

"Tell me," she hiccupped.

"Itchy witchy!"

Dru roared with laughter. She hadn't laughed a much as she had done today as she did in a long time. "You're a strange boy. You talk to plants as if they're people. You're shy around normal people, but you talk to me, like I'm one of your plants."

"You're not one of my plants, you silly girl." he shook his head. "No, you're something much better."

"I know I'm not a plant, but what I mean is. You're comfortable when you're around plants. You talk and joke around them. You don't do that in class or in the common room. But now when we're alone together, you're like that with me too. I'm not used to that. I mean either people mostly ignore me or shut me out or they treat me like i'm a princess and kiss my ass. You're the only one who talks to me like i'm just a girl... or plant."

"But you are a princess! You're a Malfoy, all Malfoys are princesses, I mean, look at your brother," he shrugged. "A fairy he is..."

"You mean little sod." Dru gave Neville a little shove.

"Oh come on, you know what he did to Rose while we were having fun in the snow a couple of weeks ago. Scared her shitless he did," he nodded. "But you're a person, just like anyone else. People are afraid of you, and they should, but I'm not. I've become a better person thanks to you."

"I wish I could be that girl you remembered. I really do. She seems funny." Dru started playing with the hem of her skirt again.

"But you are, you just don't remember..." he placed his hand on top of hers. "I want you to read my mind."

"I can't." Dru got off the table and went back to her homework.

"Why not?" Neville followed her. "You've done it before, you've done it all the time."

"Snape closed my mind for the time being. I can't get into anyone's. He and my parents thought it was better for now."

"Of course they did," he spat and sighed, before making his way to a small part of the greenhouse where a beautiful plant grew. "Alright, change of plans."

Dru walked to the board on the side of the greenhouse. She was reading some of notes other people, mostly Neville, had written about the progression of the sproutlings.

"Dru, come here?" he called for her and smiled. "I want to show you something special, but I can't move this one because she will wilt."

Dru walked over to him and stood next to him. "What is it?"

"What do you think of this one?" he gently caressed the plant's leaves. It was in bloom, it had pretty red and pink flowers and a hint of yellow was found on the green leaves. "This is my special project."

"What do you mean, your special project?"

"Well, I created this plant by accident, I wasn't paying attention when I planted one of the sproutlings into a different section, and professor Sprout thought that I should be responsible for her." He told her. "I was distracted, because I had been thinking about you, and how beautiful you looked at the Yule Ball, even though you went with Dean... but still, you looked so beautiful and well, it was distracting me."

Dru blushed and smelled the flowers. She didn't want him to see her blush. "Well, she's beautiful, don't you dare say that i'm too. That just corny."

"I already did, but you haven't been listening," he chuckled. "You want to know what this plant's name is?"

Dru looked to the ground. "You called it Dru, didn't you?"

"Druella Lucretia, actually, professor Sprout told me to give it more than one name, and yours was the first I could think of," Neville blushed.

Dru sighed. She could feel her stomach turn. "You shouldn't have done that." she muttered and walked back to the board. She felt really guilty now. The boy was crazy about her but she had no idea who he was.

"Come on, ask me anything," he asked, still following her. "I'm from Yorkshire, and I live with my gran. You and Rose are my best friends, and I've been totally mad about you ever since our first year. I was afraid of you too, with you being a Malfoy, but you're different from your brother and you're such a great person. You're actually very cool." He said and hopped onto the table next to the board. "You came to see me on your birthday in the summer and you left something behind, and ever since then it's really special to me."

"Please stop it." Her voice was shaking a bit.

"It's your hairpin," Neville said, fumbling it out of his pocket and showed it to her. "I keep it on me at all times to remind me that the one person who can shield me from my monsters is you, just like I promised that I'd save you from your monsters."

"Please stop." Dru walked over to the table where her homework was lying. She leaned on the table and was standing with her back facing Neville. It was breaking her heart to hear how much he cared for her, when she couldn't reciprocate it.

"My birthday is July 30th, sadly you're older than I am but I hear that it's cool to date older girls," he said casually. "I have a frog called Trevor, although I haven't seen him in a while and I'm afraid that either Rose's cat or Hermione's cat ate him for lunch, but we'll see at the end of this school year."

"Don't do this me. Please stop it." Dru could feel the tears running down her cheeks.

"What? You said you don't remember me, or know me, so I'm just telling you about myself so that you at least know something," Neville said, hopping off the table and towards her to hand her a cloth. "But alright, I'll stop." He lifted up 'Joey' and set him back down in front of her. "Relocate this one again."

But Dru couldn't look up. she was shaking a bit. She felt like such a horrible person.

"Hey, it's not your fault," he smiled. "We're cool, don't worry. I realize that this time they really erased me from your mind and that things are harder now, and that I have to do things differently now to make you remember, because it's important you remember. But there's no pressure. I'm patient." He pulled 'Joey' from his pot and set it down in front of her. "Push him back in."

Her hands were shaking, but she did what Neville told her to do.

"I think Joey likes you."

Dru giggled. "Idiot"

"Oh, you hear that Joey? She's calling  _you_  an idiot! I think she's bonkers, she talks to plants."

"Don't worry Joey. I called him the idiot." Dru wiped the tears from her eyes.

"She's still bonkers, Joey, she's talking to you now," Neville nodded. "He likes it if you stroke his stem."

Dru took a deep breath. "Fine, but no tickling, Joey. I'm warning you." Dru stroke the stem with the tips on her fingers.

"See? if you talk to plants, they do what you ask them to... well if they like you that is. Talk to plants, and they basically show you what they want or need. You won't fail this year."

Almost as if right on cue (since stroking the stem woke up the plant again after Neville had pinched it to be dazed for a bit) Joey sprang back to life and his long leaves wrapped themselves around Dru's wrist, before releasing her wrist again and started to tickle her fingers.

Dru pulled her hand back and walked took a step backwards. She rested her hand on the other table, where another plant grasped her arm more tightly. "Neville!" She shrieked.

" _Stupefy!_ " he said, holding his wand against the plant. He tugged on the plant's tentacles to release Dru from its hold and checked her arm over for any cuts. "You're lucky that Zambini didn't bite you."

"What?" Dru was in tears. She walked over to an empty table and leaned her back against it. she was rubbing her wrist as it hurt.

"The plant, I named it Zambini, because the plant is the devil. Let me get you an ointment to relieve your pain a little," he said, making his way over to the cupboard. He looked around for something and brought a little salve bottle over. "Don't worry, he has that effect on people," he said, putting the bottle down before carefully lifting Dru up and set her down on the table. Neville then started to gently rub the numbing and healing ointment onto her arm and wrist.

"Thank you." Dru voice was still shaky. She was looking at her leg. Without realising it Neville had put his hand on it. He must have done that a million time before, Dru thought to herself, but for her it gave her a strange feeling.

He kept rubbing the ointment into her skin and moved a little closer towards her. "How does that feel? Better?" he asked softly.

Dru nodded. She could feel her breathing getting heavier. She had know idea what was coming over her. She only knew she didn't want him to remove his hands from her skin.

"You know..." he still spoke quietly and looked at her. "Before Rose felt confident enough to save you from St. Mungo's, she read a lot of muggle books to do research to get you back safely. I thought those books were a bit loopy, but I just remember something and it's really bonkers, probably, but I hope you're willing to try it with me." he stopped rubbing her wrist and placed his other hand on her other leg.

"What is it?"

"The book referenced to a Muggle bedtime story called Sleeping Beauty. About a princess that was placed under a curse and had fallen asleep and only her one true love could awaken her with one simple kiss on the lips," he said. "It's crazy enough to at least try, right?"

"I'm not a princess, Neville."

"No, but you are my one true love."

Dru didn't know how to respond to that. She was overtaken by a million emotions.

"Don't you have this nagging feeling that you're missing something? Something important? I know you don't know me anymore, but what if a kiss is all you need to find what you've lost?"

"I don't know."

"You want to try? Just to prove Rose wrong?" he grinned and softly caressed her hair. "Because you know... I think you're feeling something right now, your skin feels warmer."

She had to admit on one hand she wanted him to stop, but on the other hand she wanted him to kiss her. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea." her voice was so soft that Neville could barely hear her.

"One kiss, that's all I ask," he said softly and looked into her eyes. "Just one."

Dru shook her head. "I can't... I shouldn't." She could hardly breathe anymore. He was standing so close to her.

"One kiss, please?"

"I can't..." Her voice broke. The feeling that she wanted him to kiss her was getting stronger, but she didn't want to give in.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Professor Snape, haven't you? He had you allow him to close your mind, because that's how I got you back the last time.  _They_  don't want us together, because then you're an easy mark for  _them_  to get you on  _their_  side." Neville said and took a deep breath. "Love and magic have a great deal in common, you know. Especially for us. Without love, our spells may be weaker, without love, we have nothing to fight for."

"I belong with my family."

"I can understand that, but Dru... their loyalties aren't in the right place... and you're too good, too good of a witch to be lost to them. They want to stop you from loving someone not belonging to your family, so that your heart will shrivel up and die." He said, sounding a little desperate. "One kiss, that's all I ask. If it doesn't work... then it doesn't..."

"I told you. I can't."

"Why not? We live in a free world, still."

"Because...I don't know...I just can't.. don't ask me to yes to this...please."

"Fine," Neville said, placing his hands on her cheeks and gently pressed his lips onto hers, taking her off guard. It was unlike him, but if she was under some sort of spell (again), then desperate measures had to be done. He loved her, and he wasn't going to lose her again.

She kissed him back for a few seconds, before she pushed him away. She was gasping for air. "Neville... I can't..."

"You just did," he smiled at her. "You kissed me back."

Dru hopped off the table and walked back to the board. Her head was spinning. She had been told by so many people that this was wrong, but that kiss felt so good. Dru put on hand on her chest to stop her heart from beating out of her and leaned against the wall with her other hand.

He followed her and gently turned her around so that she was facing the wall with her back. "How can something that feels this good, be bad, Dru?" he asked her as he caressed her hair again. "They don't want you to know this kind of love, because it's the right kind of love, and not just based on loyalty or preserving the bloodline."

"You're confusing me. Please just stop talking." she took a step back and hit the wall.

He knew that he was getting through to her and didn't want to stop. "Why do you think that...-"

"Just stop talking, please."

He rolled his eyes at her and kissed her again, this time he buried one hand in her hair and with the other one he pulled her closer against him.

She couldn't stop herself from returning the kiss and it took her all of her strength to gently push him back after a minute or two. She leaned against the wall as she was gasping for air. "What are you doing to me?"

"Bringing you back to life," he answered. "Making sure that your heart won't shrivel up and die. I'm doing this because I love you, Dru. I love you like mad and it makes me so angry that  _they_  keep on trying to keep us apart. I may be a bumbling idiot, but I'm patient and I'm determined."

She still had her hands against his chest. "I'm not right for you." She muttered. She could feel that she couldn't resist him for much longer, even though she was told to stay away from him by the people that loved her. She kept her back against the wall and looked down.

"You're not right for me?" Neville laughed. "Oh man, and I thought I had an inferiority complex!"

"I'm just... I'm not..." Dru lost her voice. she couldn't talk anymore. She pulled her hands on her chest and backed up as close to the wall as she could. Her knees were getting weak. A voice inside of her was screaming for him to kiss her again.

He thought to himself, she hadn't hurt him yet. She had done her best to reject him with words, but words were just words and it sounded as if she had been talked some 'sense' into by her family and professor Snape. All the people that Neville (amongst others) didn't trust. He then decided to kiss her again, because he  _was_  getting through to her, he could see that in her eyes.

He leaned in and gently kissed her.

Dru didn't have the strength to fight herself anymore. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him against her, as she kissed him back.

Neville put his arms around her and hold her as close to him as he could.

"What on earth is the meaning of this." Professor Sprout's voice suddenly came up from behind them.

"Oh ehm... hi, Professor," Neville said and blushed. "I uhm... I helped Dru with her homework and uhm... we took care of some sproutlings and uhm..."

"And what part of the homework was this?"

Dru gave a slight giggle as she hid behind Neville's back.

"Well, I was telling her that plants need love, and she confessed that she had forgotten what that was, so I showed her, and I can promise you, she won't fail herbology this year either."

Dru's jaw had dropped to the floor. It was strange enough to hear Neville talk cheeky against the plant or Dru, but to a teacher?

"Alright Neville," Professor Sprout smiled warmly. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me, but please, I think the sproutlings might be a little traumatized by your public display of affection, how amazing it is," she winked and walked to the back of the greenhouse to check up on new sprouts.

Dru was still looking at Neville in awe. "Did you just ….say that?"

"I did," he smiled at her. "Because... well... professor Sprout and I talk a lot you know, I've spent so much time in here... she knows I respect her, it's all in jest." he planted a kiss on her head. "But let's go somewhere else, it's getting cold in here."

"Fine." Dru collected her stuff and put it in her bag. After the two walked out of the greenhouse, Dru locked arms with Neville. "Neville?"

"Yes?"

"You wanted to go somewhere else to make out, right?"

"Well... I would lie if I said that I wouldn't like to snog your face off, but I get it, I'm a complete stranger, we should pace ourselves," he said, nodding. "Besides, we really should go and check up on Rose and George, considering Rose's aversion to boys these days and George is getting impatient."

"Really?" Dru sounded a bit disappointed.

"After that, we could go to somewhere and make out?" he smiled.

"I'd like that so..."

"So what?"

"Well which classroom do you go to next?" Dru asked with a devious smile on her face.

"Snape's dungeon," he chuckled.

Dru stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Neville. "Really?"

"Of course not, no class rooms."

Dru shrugged her shoulders. "Too bad. I would let you to second base if you pick the dungeons." She walked passed him and smiled at him.

"You cheeky monkey," he laughed.

She stopped, turned around so quickly that Neville walked straight into her. "That wasn't cheeky, Neville. That was a promise."


	11. This has to be the last time

It had been a few weeks since Rose and George and Dru and Neville had gotten back together. This time however, they all decided not to take chances and kept their relationship hidden away from everyone, except for Fred and Ginny. George's siblings had proven themselves very helpful in finding nice quiet places to the couple to have a bit of alone time.

Rose still thought it was weird that she was head over heels for someone she hadn't known or recognized so far, but she admired George's patience and determination, and she had gotten to know him and wondered who would ever be so cruel to erase him from her memories. It just wasn't right. She needed her brain to focus and do homework, which, after the attack, had become slightly more difficult as she seemed to be about to fail Defense Against the Dark Arts, and it was frustrating.

Dru wasn't doing very well in her school work either. She was only just passing most of her classes as her memory was started to fail her more than once. She was spending a lot of time in the greenhouses with Neville, who was doing all he could to help her with her herbology home work, her worst subject.

Dru was sitting on one of the table, scribbling down what Neville was telling her about the differences between several plant species. "Neville, I don't know how I'm gonna remember all this on the test."

"Well, we'll just keep repeating it all until you retain it all," he smiled and hopped onto the table with a baby sproutling in his hand.

Dru caressed the stem of the sproutling. Spending a lot of time in the green houses had made her a little bit more less nervous around the plants, and she realised that some weren't that bad at all.

"This is a very important plant when it grows up, it's usually used to make very strong potions."

"You'll make it grow, I'll make the potion." Dru yawned and put her head on his shoulder. The greenhouses was one of the only places they could be couple.

"You have to pass or you won't be allowed to make the potion," he countered and planted a kiss on her head.

"Oh I'll pass, don't worry I'll have my own way of getting around things." She got off the table, took the sproutling and replanted in the pot next to her.

"You can't cheat!" He said as he too hopped off the table.

Dru smiled at Neville. "Í wouldn't. I'm just gonna seduce my tutor." She gave him a kiss on his lips.

"Still not considered studying," he said while he answered her kiss eagerly. "But a good way to spend time nonetheless..."

Dru giggled. "Well I only have time to either study or seduce. I can't do them both at once. Your choice." she put her arms around his neck, and started to kiss his neck along the thick vein, knowing full well that Neville really liked that and thus making it impossible for him to say no to her.

"You're not fair," he groaned as he lifted her up and set her down on the table to sit so they were somewhat of equal height and kissed her tenderly as his hand tried to find a way underneath her shirt.

"I could stop if you want me to." She swung her legs around his waist and locked Neville in, to pull herself closer to him. As they now were only able to kiss on the few times they were alone, their kisses had become a lot more intense than they had been before.

"Oh don't stop," he muttered as he finally decided to pull her shirt out of the rest of her clothing and sneaked his hand underneath it, loving feeling her soft and warm skin underneath his probably cold and dirty fingers. "Just tell  _me_  to stop if I do something you don't like."

"I don't think that's possible." Dru giggled and let her fingers slide through his hair. "I like everything you do."

"You know what I meant," he said and claimed her mouth for his own again, as he ran his fingers up and down her back before caressing it again.

Dru shivered, kissed him back for a few minutes, before suddenly breaking it off and looked out of the window with a pale white face.

"What? What's going on?" Neville asked her. "Are you okay? Is it something I've done?"

Dru shook her head, let Neville go and walked over to the window. She looked outside trying to see if she could spot what had startled her. "Someone was watching us."

"Really? Are you sure?" Neville asked and followed her, peeking out of the window as well. "Nobody really comes to the greenhouses..."

"I know. But I saw someone. I'm not crazy."

"Maybe you saw one of the ghosts, or the elves or... I don't know," he offered and turned around to clean up. "But maybe it's best if we'd find a new spot then."

"Yeah. I don't think this place is a good idea anymore. I'm gonna find Rose and George. " she gave him a kiss on his cheek and hurried to the castle.

* * *

George was sitting in the corner of an empty classroom. Seeing as it was Saturday it was the perfect place for him and Rose to have some alone time there.

Rose was lying on her back with her head on his lap. Trying to catch up on some homework, but got interrupted every time George was touching her leg, and running his finger up and down her inner thigh. She kept swatting his hand away and glared at him. "This way I'll never remember the spells that Moody's been teaching us!"

George smiled at her. "You know your spells, you just need your confidence back." He caressed the hair out of her face.

"No... it's not about confidence, I mean... I can't believe that I'm responsible for Dru's... well... you know. It just doesn't make sense," she shook her head and decided to read the book from the start again.

George pulled her up and on his lap. "We don't know for sure if you're responsible for her relapse. And if you are you would never had done it out of your own free will. Will you please stop beating yourself up over this."

"Is that what you're truly thinking, George? You do think that I'm responsible for her thing now? Sure, I obliviated myself, didn't I?" she snapped and got up. "And I meant that I can't believe that I was the one who got her awake in January!" Rose took her books and stormed towards the door.

George got up and caught up with her in the middle of the class. He grabbed her waist, turned her around and pulled her towards him. "I'm sorry. Look I forgot that you didn't… come here and let's talk." He pulled her back into the corner and back onto his lap. "I've been talking to Neville, Fred and Ginny about this and we sort of think that you might be responsible for erasing Neville the last time. Well, Neville figures because it was done with such care and precision, unlike the last time, that you did it."

She struggled to get out of his lap. "You lot are supposed to be my  _friends_! You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt her!"

"That's exactly what Neville said, when we had a go at him. That you  _are_  responsible because you would never hurt her."

"I wouldn't even know how to do it!" She was still trying to get away from him, but George wasn't letting her go. "And you know, if you guys are right, then I should go away."

"Look, Rose, if you promise to stop trying to run out of here and sit still for five minutes, I might get a shot at explaining what Neville meant."

She grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest.

"The previous time Dru lost her memories, it was done violently. She lost consciousness, she had a headache and she's been really ill from it. But the last time it was done with care. She didn't have a lot of pain and she's, apart from her loss of memory, healthy. That's why Neville thinks  _someone_  forced you to do it. Because you would try to keep her as safe as you could."

"I would never! I can't believe you think it was me!"

George took a deep breath. "Rose, there was a killer on the grounds, we all know he wasn't far from where my brother found you too. Maybe somebody threatened to do worse to her, i don't know. Look we all know, you care more for Dru than for anyone else in your life. Nobody's blaming you. In fact, Neville's grateful. You ended up worse than she did. Who ever hurt you, didn't care enough to do it neatly."

"If you're so convinced about it, then we should go to Dumbledore."

"We did. He believes us, but we don't know who did it." George gently gave her kiss. "Don't be mad at us. Neville and I...we've just been worried sick about you."

"Yeah and the first thing you do is to blame your girlfriend, great going, George." She got up again. "I need some time alone, so don't follow me," she said, grabbing her books and made her way out of the classroom. She was furious, there was no way that she could have done what George said she had done and if she did, she had to be as far away as possible from her friends, as she might hurt them again.

Suddenly Rose got pulled into a broom closet. "Rose, you're not making this easy on me." George said as he locked them in. He took her wand out of his pocket and put in on a shelf that Rose couldn't reach it. "I'm trying to come clean here and tell you what's on my mind and all you do is run away. That's not fair on me Rose. I've always stayed and listen. You owe me to do at last the same."

"Yeah, I'm walking away because if I truly am responsible for Dru's Neville-wipe, then I'm a danger to you as well, George. I should go."

"No you're not and you shouldn't. Why do you think none of the four of us is letting you out of our sight? Nobody's coming close to you again." George, Neville, Fred and Ginny had been keeping a close eye on them. Making sure that nobody could hurt the girls again. Even Harry, Ron and Hermione had been keeping an eye out when they could. They had the scare of their life when they found the girls on the bridge. "Look, I get it, you're spooked, and I know that it was wrong of us not to tell you, but Dumbledore agreed, you two have been through so much this year, you didn't have to know. He doesn't tell Harry everything either, you know."

"I don't think this amount of work should be done by you guys. With me... and Dru, here at Hogwarts, you aren't safe."

"We're a lot safer with you here with us, then out there by his side." George tone was dark. He hadn't forgotten what Rose said a few weeks earlier to him. He shook his head. "Why are we talking about this? We're supposed to have a little a us time. Snog time."

"I'm not in the mood for snogging," she sulked. "I should go to Moody and ask him for extra course work or something, something easier."

George frowned. "You're not going to Moody. Not until hell freezes over."

"George, he's a teacher," she rolled his eyes at him. "Give me back my wand."

George's face was in shock. "Rose?"

"What? If you're not willing to let me go away from Hogwarts, then at least I should make an effort in passing his class, shouldn't I?"

"Rose, you do know who Moody is, don't you?" Pieces were slowly falling into place inside his head.

"Greatest Auror ever, great teacher. Slightly mad," she shrugged and looked up at him. "My wand, please?"

George handed her her wand and pulled her out of the broom closet with a bit of force. "We need to go to Dumbledore! Now! I think I know who cursed you girls!'

"Moody is one of the good guys, George, don't be silly." She stopped dead in her tracks to collect her bag from the floor.

George turned around. He was just about to tell her that Moody was in fact her father with a fair amount of polyjuice potion, But before he could, he was nearly run over by a panicking Dru.

"Sorry George."

"It's ok. Where's Neville? We need to go to Dumbledore."

"He's at the greenhouses."

"Yeah, should have known that." George grinned.

"And you're not there to snog his face off?" Rose frowned.

"Well, I was, but we got interrupted. Someone was watching us through the window." Dru answered her friend.

"Who Dru?" George asked concerned and looked at Rose. This was not good.

"Neville thought it might have been one of the ghosts or elves or whatever, but I got spooked and came looking for you guys. What's going on, George? You look like the Hogwarts express is thundering through your head."

"Could it have been a teacher?" George asked.

Rose rolled her eyes at him. Not this again, she thought.

"I don't know... I didn't see his face."

George grabbed Dru's arm and shook her. "Think, Dru."

"George, would you stop?" Rose said and moved herself between Dru and her boyfriend. "Stop being so paranoid," she then turned to Dru and sighed. "Would you believe that he's not even allowing me to go to Professor Moody to ask for extra coursework?"

"Why not, George? She needs to pass her classes." Dru frowned at George.

"Will the two of you please SHUT UP!" George was getting frustrated, before he realized he was missing someone. "Dru, where's Neville now?"

"Still at the greenhouse I think."

"Bollocks." George said and ran out of the castle. Dru and Rose followed him.

"George, what on earth is the matter?" Rose asked.

"Later, what greenhouse?"

"Five." Dru responded.

George took an extra sprint and ran out of sight of the girls.

"You know, Your boyfriend is a bit weird." Dru said to Rose. The girls had stopped running. They had not idea while George was acting so weird. No one had ever hurt Neville, why would they now?

"Tell me about it," she sighed. "The last half an hour he didn't make sense, he was mental, really."

They were nearly at the greenhouse as they suddenly saw Ginny running out of it. She ran straight past them.

"What the hell?" Dru said as she now ran into the Greenhouse.

George and Fred (where did he come from anyway?) were kneeled down next to an unconscious Neville.

"No..." Dru said and quickly sat down next to him. "What happened?" she started to shake Neville as if trying to wake him. "Neville, wake up!"

Neville slowly opened his eyes and looked around. "Whatisgoingon?"

Dru breathed a sigh of relief. "You tell us." she softly caressed his cheek with a finger.

His eyes grew large as if he was panicking and scrambled away from the group. "Who are you? Fred? George? What's... what happened?"

"Not this again." Fred sighed.

Dru just stared at Neville. "Don't you know me?"

"No..." he stammered.

Dumbledore walked into the greenhouse in such a manner that it scared Rose. He seemed to be worried and extremely pissed off at the same time. "Mr. Longbottom, would you like to accompany me to the infirmary, please? The rest of you, go to my office."

"I'm going with Neville." Dru said and took his hand. She didn't care if he knew her or not, she wasn't leaving him.

Neville made a sound that was between a yelp for help and a giggle and pulled his hand away from the weird girl.

Rose just stood there in the door opening of the greenhouse, watching the scene play out in front of her and then realised that she had known that this was going to happen, and why hadn't she warned anyone about it? Now that everyone was focused on Neville, she quietly slipped away. Greenhouse five was near the Forbidden Forest, and if she would survive walking through there on her own, she could make her way to the whomping willow and to the Shrieking Shack. From there, she could probably get to Hogsmeade and get a ride back to some place that wasn't Hogwarts. It was better for everyone that she'd just disappear. They'd be safe without her.

* * *

It had been two months now, since Neville got cursed and Rose disappeared. Dru slowly felt like she was losing everyone. Neville got out of the hospital two days later. He was fine, besides from not knowing who Dru was.

Rose was gone, not knowing that George had gotten extremely ill, not more than a hour after she had had been sleeping for the last few weeks. Dru had no idea how to contact her friend and tell her her boyfriend was in serious trouble.

Fred and Ginny were now not speaking to Dru anymore. They were fed up with the drama that always seem to be hanging around her.

Dru was feeling lonely, but wasn't planning to give up. She decided to start with the one person she might have a chance of fixing this mess with.

She went to the greenhouse and it didn't take her long to find Neville. He was looking after his special project.

"Hi Neville. How's she coming along?"

"Dunno," he shrugged. "Colors are fading," he replied, not looking at Dru. He knew her name now, but she made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Dru gently touched the leaves. "I'm sorry about that. She always was very pretty."

"Something's just missing, that's all," he stammered and took a few steps away from the girl. "I just haven't figured out what."

"Do you want me to help you figure it out?" She had no idea how to do that, but she wanted to make Neville more comfortable around her, before she was going to tell him, she used to be his girlfriend.

"No, that's okay. I suppose the plant wasn't meant to live the entire year."

Dru looked down. "Please don't say that."

"It's just a plant, isn't it?" He wished that Dru would move away from the plant so that he could add some more fertilizer and water, but she was standing too close to it for him to actually dare to come over there. Girls were scary and she was probably just talking to him because she felt sorry for him. She was a Malfoy, she was supposed to make fun of him, which she'd probably do if he'd talk to her some more.

"No, she's a special plant." Dru gave a weak smile. "You've told me once. that you created her, do you remember that?"

"Yeah by accident. My stupidity made me pot her with the wrong kind."

"Do you know what name you gave to her?" Dru smiled as she walked a bit closer to him, pretending to be interested the plants next to him.

Neville walked around the table to create some distance between himself and Dru. It was embarrassing, because the plant was similarly named to the girl. "I do."

"I don't bite you know." Dru said and walked to the table behind her. She hoisted herself on it and crossed her legs.

"No, that comes later," Neville muttered to himself, walking over to the plant to fertilize it now that she had left it. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, whatever prank you want to do on me, I won't blame you."

Dru got off the table and started walking around the greenhouse. This wasn't going well. Suddenly she looked at a plant she had an encounter with before. She glanced at Neville. Maybe this will bring out her Neville. she thought. She reached out her hand and closed her eyes. It only took two seconds for the plant to twisted its tentacles around her arm and wrist. Dru shrieked.

"Are you mad?" Neville said panicked and looked for something heavy to hit the plant with so it would let the girl go. He found a spade and started to hit the plant, the tentacles were slowly retracting from Dru's wrist. "You don't play with that one! It's the devil!"

Dru walked over to the table and hoisted herself up. The plant had really hurt her this time. Dru clutched her wrist. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do."

"You should go to the infirmary." Neville said and carried the plant towards the water tab and started to drown it to tire it out.

"Don't you have some of that numbing cream?." Dru spoke softly. She could feel her eyes watering, she knew she had messed this up.

"For a Malfoy you're reall..." Neville swallowed his words and made his way over to the cupboard. He tossed her a bottle of the ointment before making his way back to his plant to give it a bigger pot to grow in, maybe that was the problem with it.

"I'm a real... what? Say it, I won't get mad. I promise." Dru asked, while she was struggling to get the bottle open. she could only use one hand now. "Could you help me, please."

He made his way over, frustrated now, opened the bottle for her and blinked when she held out her arm for him to rub the ointment on. "Are you sure? You might catch something."

"I'll sooner catch something from Crabbe or Goyle than from you." she held her arm a bit higher. "Please?"

He rubbed the ointment on her arm. "Done." He closed the bottle again and walked over to the tab to wash his hands. "Are you done?"

Dru got off the table and walked over to him. "You're really are not going to make this easy on me?"

"Things are never easy with people like you," he stammered.

Dru took a deep breath. She suddenly reached into his front pocket and got the hairpin out. "Neville, do you know why you've been carrying this around?"

"No, why did you do that?"

"Because..." Dru took a deep breath. "Because I love you. And I want you back."

"You're mad."

"I know you've been telling me that for nearly four years now. But that what you used to love about me."

"I don't even know you!"

Dru looked at the ground and then shook her head. "I didn't remember you, but you still knew I loved you." Dru took his hand.

"It's a bit convenient, isn't it? All those memory wipes this year? I mean, Rose's mind got so scrambled that she fled Hogwarts. She's doing fine though. Don't you make fun of not remembering things, Dru. It's not funny."

Dru suddenly flung her arms around his neck. "I just want you to remember me again." She softly sobbed on his shoulder.

Out of instinct, he put his arms around her. Neville was confused, she wasn't supposed to like him. He was the one who never got a spell right, always on the wrong end of the jokes of others and certainly not good looking enough for such a pretty girl to love him. But it felt familiar too, holding this girl in his arms.

Dru took a deep breath. The fact that he put his arms around her, made her realise that she was still in there somewhere. "Come here. I want to try something." She pulled him towards the table. She hoisted herself it and put her arms around his neck. "I'm going to kiss you now. Maybe that way you'll remember me."

"What?" he stammered and looked at her in fear. "You... what? No!"

Dru pressed her lips against his, hoping he would at least feel something.

Neville stumbled back and looked at her in shock. "What was that?"

"A kiss." Dru giggled, she knew she shouldn't, but the look on his face was just adorable.

"I know what a kiss is," he rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not that stupid. No... there was something..."

Dru reached out for him. "Come here, Neville."

He was confused. One part of him wanted to make his way over to her and kiss her again, but the other part... she was a  _Malfoy_ , it was very easy to take the mickey out of him and he wouldn't put it past her to actually do it. This could very well be an elaborate prank.

Dru got off the table, walked over to Neville and put her arms around his neck. "Don't you want to kiss me." She whispered in his ear as she stood on her toes.

"I do, but how do I know that you're not just playing with me?"

Dru bit her lip. "because... you have to trust me. Please kiss me."

"I can't trust you!" Neville said and shook his head. "But then again, Rose said..."

Dru smiled. "You know if you do what Rose tells you to do, it always works out."

She had said that if Dru was going on and on about love or kissing or whatever that he should just do it and not be afraid, that everything would be fine once he'd do it. He took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

"Please kiss me, Neville."

He moved his face closer to hers and closed his eyes as he kissed her. Almost immediately he put his arms around her again and deepened the kiss, it felt amazing and right.

"See, told you I don't bite." Dru whispered in his ear.

He laid his forehead onto her shoulder and took a deep breath. "What's happening? Dru..."

"Neville?" Dru thought she recognized her Neville in him for a second.

"Bloody hell! It happened to me, didn't it?" He exclaimed and looked at her in shock. "Are you okay?"

Dru nodded and kissed him fiercely again. "I am now."

He answered her kiss, every single memory he used to have of her was flooding back into his mind, hurting his head a little but it was all good. "I could never forget you!"

Dru closed her eyes and put her head against his chest. He once again proved that he was a lot stronger than them (or anyone else for that matter) realised. While Dru and Rose were struggling for months, It took one kiss and five minutes for him to get his memory back. "Neville, my hero." She giggled.

* * *

She had made her way down to London by sheer luck, because she had left without her belongings, she didn't have Muggle Money on her, nor a change of clothes. To shield herself from people who were certainly going to look for her, she used polyjuice potions (she actually had thought about running away so many times over the last few weeks that she had made the potions and it only needed a strand of hair to be ready). She had charmed the pockets of her trousers and had hid them in there, but she hadn't thought about carrying around anything other than that because it would get suspicious.

She just wished she had muggle money.

For obvious reasons, Rose couldn't return to her house, they would immediately find her and make her return. But she didn't want to go back to Hogwarts. Not until she was sure that her friends were better off without her, not until she had the feeling that her head was sitting straight on her shoulders.

She was looking like the woman of her favorite muggle library right now, she had even managed to steal her purse with some money in it. Okay, so she was going to be in big trouble when they'd discover that she had ran away from Hogwarts, used polyjuice potions and stole money, but at the moment, she didn't care.

She  _loved_  her friends, and even the idea of having hurt her friends made her realise that she was an easy target. She wasn't even sure what side she had to be on, and she knew she had to pick a side.

The good side was complicated, but her friends were there, and she was loved. The bad side was easy, she'd be loved for all the wrong reasons, all of her actions wouldn't have any repercussions and she would be in good company, anyone who followed  _him_  was mental. And she would fit right in.

The second week, Rose made her way to Diagon Alley and managed to send Neville an owl, telling him that she was okay and that should Dru ever ask him to kiss her that he should. Poor Neville.  _They_  were so focused on getting her and Dru on the bad side of things that they were going after people they loved now. It was wrong and basically, it once again made Rose think that it was just easier to give in. People she loved were getting hurt because of it.

She had to flee Diagon Alley (despite still looking like that woman from the library) because she saw Remus Lupin and Tonks walk the streets and Rose didn't want to be found. She needed a more permanent hiding spot, somewhere she could take a nap longer than an hour, or eat properly, and not run all the time. She could always leave the UK, it was easy to go to Harwich from London and take the ferry to The Netherlands, and if she played it right with the polyjuice potion she could be one of the stewards or something.

Rose could have done it, but she wanted to stay close too, just in case something happened. She spent a couple of days in Camden Town, having philosophical discussions with people about good and evil, what they thought about it, if they even thought it existed. She looked like a pretty blonde girl with long legs, so drinks or food was usually being paid for by the person she talked to.

There were days and nights where she felt lonely, but Rose  _was_  lonely. She was roaming the streets all by herself, pretending to be someone else, her grandfather was dead, her father was in the wind and all she had was herself, but even she didn't trust her own decisions right now. No, it was good to be away from Hogwarts. Safer for her friends.

There were days where she just cried and had to stop herself from going home, to her grandfather's house, just to feel safe and comfortable. Maybe running hadn't been the brightest idea she had had. All she had to do, was go home, use the floo network to go to Hogsmeade and return to Hogwarts. It was that simple. But she couldn't.

Half way through May she was running out of polyjuice potion and she felt that she was nowhere near ready to go back. In fact, she was ashamed of herself now, she had run away when things were hard. She was a coward, and a big one at that.

She was a hungry, smelly and confused coward and all she wanted was to cry, be held by someone who loved her, someone who'd tell her that everything was going to be alright. She wanted to crawl into a dark corner and be forgotten about. The glimpses of the future were depressing too, and she felt as if she was ready to explode or wilt away.

She could feel her disguise slide off of her as she made her way to the Crouch residence and by the time she got there, her heart sank. The garden was covered in weeds, the inside of the house was dusty and dirty and there were moldy dishes in the kitchen. The whole house stank of decayed food. Nobody had been in there for months.

In a way, the house looked like the way she was feeling. Not worthy to be loved anymore, too dirty, too messed up to even be allowed to exist.

When she made her way up to her room, she remembered how once the house had known good times, when her grandfather was still alive. Despite him being pretty much absent, there was always Winky the house elf, and her father. Her crazy, obsessed and under the influence of a curse, father. Despite everything, she had always felt cherished by him. Just about as she wanted to set foot in her bedroom, she could hear voices downstairs. Of course they had found her now.

"Rosalie Shepherd, where are you?" Lupin's voice bellowed.

"Remus, calm down," a woman's voice said gently. "You don't know what she has been doing or gone through in the last few months, don't scare her off."

Curious as to whom was accompanying the professor, Rose slowly walked down the stairs to take a peek. She quietly sat down on the bottom of the stairs and watched the two people talk. He had brought Tonks with him, and a small part of her made her feel so happy for him, she had always known that she and him were right for each other.

"She had all of us worried the last few months, Tonks. We didn't know what happened and now..."

"Relax, Remus."

"I'm not ready..." Rose said in a small voice, not moving from her spot. "I've been bad..."

"Oh my god," Tonks said softly, looking at the little girl in shock. She had never met her, but she didn't look too good. She could use a nice, long and hot bath and some extra pounds added to her tiny frame.

Lupin quickly made his way over to his goddaughter and gently scooped her up in his arms. "It's alright, Rose, you're going to be all right." He said soothingly.

"I don't want to go back..." she sobbed as she clung to Lupin's coat. "Please..."

"Not to worry," he said and walked over to the fireplace with her. "We're going to get you cleaned up and in a fresh pair of clothes first, and let you sleep as long as you want, before we'd take you back... we don't want you to scare the other students now, do we?" he said as lightly as possible.

"I don't want to go back to Hogwarts... it's not safe for them."

"Hush now, go to sleep, you'll feel better when you wake up."

* * *

Rose woke up in a nice, comfortable and warm bed and she didn't really want to leave it, but the smells of freshly made toast and sausages had woken her up and had made her stomach growl. She didn't recognize the place where she was and was confused for a second. She didn't remember finding a nice place to sleep at.

There was a robe draped over the chair next to the bed and when she got out of bed to pull it on (she was  _very_  hungry) she noticed that there was another bed in the room. Frowning, she took a good look around and wondered what ever had possessed her to sleep in a boys room. There were Quidditch team flags and posters everywhere!

As she made her way down the stairs, she could hear Lupin and Tonks talk to someone else, at least she was with Lupin, wasn't she? "I can't believe you brought her here, Remus," the woman's voice sounded. "She should be back at Hogwarts, if Dumbledore would find out..."

"She needs some time to get herself together, Molly. She's been on her own for months, we can't just throw her back in with the other students."

"Is she stable?"

"She's been through a lot, she blames herself for all the things that has happened to her friends, to your son."

"Has anyone told her about George yet?"

"What happened to George?" Rose asked softly as she made her way into the kitchen, the smells of food making her even more hungry than she already was.

Mrs Weasley made her way to the girl and gave her a big hug. "He's been ill, but he's woken up again now and he seems to be doing a bit better, sweetheart." She put Rose in a chair and started putting food on the table."He's been asking where you are."

A tall man came in. His long red hair was in a ponytail. He smiled as he sat across from Rose. She noticed he was wearing an earring made out of the tip of a dragon tooth. "So, you're the one who's been dating my brother? Bit skinny, aren't you?"

"Don't tease her, Bill," Molly said kindly. "Go on Rose, have a bite, you'll feel better."

She started to eat as if she hadn't eaten in a couple of days. Which she hadn't, and it tasted so good, her plate was polished off in a matter of minutes. "I'm sorry... for George..."

"It's not your fault. Dru told us he wanted to tell Dumbledore something, before you found Neville. Only George doesn't remember what he wanted to tell now." Lupin sat down next to her.

"It is my fault!" Rose felt tears well up in her eyes. "I should have gone to Diagon Alley and get ingredients for more polyjuice potion, I shouldn't have allowed you to find me..."

Molly set another plate down in front of Rose before giving Bill his breakfast. It broke her heart to see the girl broken like this. When Lupin had informed her about Rose, she, at first, admired her determination (albeit for the wrong reasons) and her strength (for the same wrong reasons) and now she just pitied her. Someone had really done a number on her. "It's alright, dear," she smiled at her. "Things have to get worse before they get better."

"But your  _son_  got hurt, thanks to me!"

"Did you make him ill?"

"No..."

"Then it's not your fault. Did you wipe Neville's memory?"

"No..."

"That's not your fault either," she smiled warmly at her and poured her a mug of steaming hot tea. "Did you wipe Dru's memory the first time?"

"No..."

"Not your fault. How about the second time?"

"George said I am..." she said hesitantly. "He, Fred, Neville and Ginny had this crazy theory he told me about and... I'm so sorry..."

"Alright, that's enough," Tonks said and looked at the people in the kitchen. "Give her some time to feel like a person again, why don't you?"

Rose felt full when she finished off her second plate of food and had drank her tea, and the adults had begun talking about other things, which was good, sort of. She realised that she was still sitting in pyjamas and a robe. "Mrs. Weasley? Where are my clothes?"

"I burnt them, sweetheart."

"What am I going to wear then?"

"You, are going back to bed," she smiled and pointed up the stairs. "No clothes for you until I say so, I don't want you to run off again."

Rose blinked and looked at Bill. "Believe me, you won't find any clothes. Mom is good at hiding things and you'd better listen to her."

She sighed and made her way up the stairs again, back to the room she had woken up in and then realized that she was sleeping in the room of Fred and George when she nearly tripped over a notebook with pranks in them. As soon as her head hit the pillow, and she smelled George's familiar scent, she was back to sleep.


	12. Trying to restore what was

Rose spent a couple of weeks at the Burrows, living with Mrs. and Mr. Weasley and occasionally Bill and Percy would come round to say 'hi'. Mrs. Weasley did everything in her power to help Rose feel better again, even had her checked out at St. Mungo's, where they tried to fix some of the damage done to her head, and she had felt like it worked.

Rose occasionally sent an owl to Neville, and even one to George, but she didn't really know what to write to him. She still felt as if she was responsible for everything.

Mrs. Weasley, much like George, was an excellent listener and she had great advice and she knew so many things about life in general. And she made Rose see reason, reason that Rose actually could believe. Despite realising that she wasn't and couldn't be responsible for everything that had happened to her friends, she still felt guilty and embarrassed.

The day before the third tri-wizard cup task, Mrs. Weasley handed Rose her clothes with a smile. "Here you go, you've earned them, sweetheart. Now get in them, we're about to leave."

"Where are we going?"

"To Hogwarts, of course, to cheer on Harry!"

Rose swallowed hard. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to return to Hogwarts. She felt too ashamed of what she had done.

"And, you'll be spending your time there until the end of the school year, then you'll return here. It's not such a long period of time, and you can do it, I'm sure of it." Mrs. Weasley hugged her and then left her alone to get changed.

* * *

It was weird to be back at Hogwarts after so long, and it was as if she hadn't had left. Professor Dumbledore seemed to know everything already, so she didn't have to say things again, but still, she felt like she was the outsider. She received weird looks from everyone when Mrs. Weasley walked her to the infirmary to see George and Rose wasn't sure if this was such a good idea.

But Mrs. Weasley insisted Rose went to see him. She had received letters from her four school going children. She knew that George really wanted to see her. "He's been asking for you, Rose."

"I don't think that I'm ready to face him, Mrs. Weasley... I mean... I've missed him, but..."

"Don't be silly, I think that you'll find that re-connecting with George is the easiest thing you'll do today." She smiled as she opened the doors and went in after pushing Rose in. "George, honey!"

George was still sleeping and hadn't woken up by the voice of his mother.

"Why don't you go and wake him. I'll talk to Madame Pomfrey." Mrs. Weasley disappeared into the little office next to the infirmary.

Rose sighed and made her way over to George. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, and she felt the feeling of guilt rise up in her chest again. She hadn't been there for him while he had been sick, she should have been. Had she known that he was sick, she would have probably returned to him. She sat down on the bed and softly caressed George's cheek. "I've been a bad girl..." she said softly.

George slowly opened his eyes and smiled. "I like bad girls."

She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry!" she blurted as she started to sob.

"Come here."George pulled the girl into his bed and put his arms around her. "Neville told me you've been on the run. I just wished I would have kept my mouth shut."

She nodded. "It would have kept you safe, and not sick... George... had I known you had fallen ill... you know that I would have returned, right?"

George caressed her hair. "Bill wrote me you'd tried to escape my house to come and see me. I just wished you had succeeded."

"It's really hard to escape your mother," she chuckled shyly. "I'm wearing clothes for the first time in a month! I've been walking around in pyjamas." She looked at him and softly kissed his lips. "But are you okay now?"

"Merlin, I can't believe I missed it. You... in my house... in pyjamas... in my bed...for a month." George put his arm over his eyes.

"George Weasley get your head out of the gutter!" she chuckled. "But, if it makes you feel any better, at the end of this school year, I'll be coming home with you. Professor Lupin is too busy with things I wasn't allowed to know about, your mother is already trying to make Ginny's room bigger so I can stay in her room with her."

"Maybe we can sneak Ginny in my room and I'll stay in hers." George said as he kissed Rose.

She kissed him back and caressed his hair. After a short while, she broke off the kiss. "George, are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I am now. I was allowed to leave an hour ago, but I wanted to stay till you came. Have you seen Dru or Neville yet?"

"Your mother took me straight here after Dumbledore's office," she replied with a small smile. "They probably want to kill me when they see me."

George smile disappeared. "I doubt Dru would want to kill the only friend she has left, apart from me and Neville."

"Why? What happened?" she said surprised.

"Well, everybody blames her for what happened to Neville, you and me. Neville's been trying to stick up for her, but well ...Neville can't take on everybody."

"What!" Rose hopped off the bed. "That's so unfair! She's as much of a victim of it all than we are! Maybe even worse because it happened to her twice! She's lost her boyfriend and then I ran away and... it's so unfair!"

"I know it is. I'm glad that Neville's back to normal. It was horrible to see her so lonely the first few weeks after you left."

"He is? Well, that's good, but it's still unfair!"

"Well maybe you should go and talk to her. I just don't know where she is, but Harry's got a map on which you can find her." George got out of the bed and put his clothes back on. "I'm gonna see my mother." He gave Rose a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm glad you're back."

She slowly nodded, she didn't want to walk down the corridors by herself, but she understood that George wanted to see his mother and she had to be able to deal with things on her own again. That was the whole reason why she was staying at the Burrows that long, wasn't it? To make her well adjusted again.

When Rose walked into the Common room. She was immediately buried in a sea of red hair. "I'm so glad you're back."

"Hey guys..." she smiled as confident as she could.

Hermione gave Rose a hug too. "We've been really worried about you. Did you see George yet?"

"Yeah, I've just returned from the infirmary," she nodded with a smile. "I know that I have a lot to catch up on, but I'm actually looking for Harry... I need something of his to help me find Dru."

"Why?" Harry asked without looking up from his book.

"Because... I hope that she's still my friend?" She saw the shocked look on everyone's face and was shocked herself; George hadn't been kidding. "Seriously? You all think that she's responsible for what happened? You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

"It all started with her. She's a complete nightmare." Lavender Brown was sitting on the sofa.

"If she is, what does that make me then?"

"A victim of her drama? Just like Neville?" Ginny said harshly.

"You are all unbelievable, you know that?  _She_  is as much of a victim as I am, maybe even more so, considering all of her friends have turned on her now!" Rose started and took a deep breath.

"I'm not friends with a girl like her." Ginny said.

"Unbelievable," Rose muttered and looked up to see Hermione walking down the stairs from the boys dormitory.

"She's with the hippogriffs." Hermione said to Rose.

"Thank you." Rose said politely and ran out of the common room. Things were messed up big time. There was chaos and they didn't like Dru anymore, it was wrong.

Dru was lying on her back in the grass. It was warm outside, but was nice to get out of the castle and enjoy the fresh air. She looked next to her and smiled goofily at the sight of her boyfriend.

"Are you looking forwards to the tournament tomorrow?" Dru didn't really care, but Neville was friends with Harry and she knew Neville wanted Harry to win.

"I don't know," Neville replied with a sigh. "It will be fun, but you know... at the same time, something could happen to Harry and he could get hurt." He then smiled and looked at her. "You're gorgeous, you know that?"

Dru smiled. "You're bonkers. I'm sweaty and my hair's a mess."

"Well I must be, because I love you now, don't I?" He rolled around and slid his way over to her to kiss her. "You smell nice too," he nodded and softly kissed her lips. "And taste nice."

She giggled. "You're terrible." She looked at Neville's eyes. She loved the way he looked at her, it made her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, safe and secure as well.

"I'm mad for you and you're calling me terrible?" Neville shrugged as his hand found a way underneath her shirt and started to caress her stomach.

"You are terrible." Dru giggle as she put her legs around his waist.

"Well, I think you're talking too much," he said, kissing her deeply as he moved his hand up towards her breasts.

"Oh that's just gross," Rose's voice sounded with a smile in her voice.

"Rose!" Dru called out as she pushed Neville of her, before scrambling to her feet and jumped into Rose's arms. "I missed you."

She chuckled as she hugged her friend. "I've missed you too! But look at you, I'm gone for a few months and you two are moving up to what? Second base, was it? I was just in the infirmary and George got dressed, I just  _had_  to turn my back to him!"

Dru looked behind to look at Neville, who was still lying on his back. "Well some boys know what they're doing and some are just a bit of a joke."

Rose grinned widely and hugged Dru again. "You look great, though!"

"So do you! Your mother-in-law is a good cook I heard." Dru sat down next to Neville again.

"Oh, storytime!" she said as she sat down in front of the pair. She still felt uncomfortable and they were dancing around the subject, but Rose knew that she had to start somewhere. "I'm sorry I left."

Dru looked at the grass. "Yeah, you really shouldn't have done that." She tried to be friendly, but couldn't help being a bit mad at her.

"I didn't feel like I had a choice," she sighed. "I truly am sorry."

"Dru, I told you. Rose was upset." Neville said. He was still lying on his back as he caressed Dru's back. He let his fingers run over the tiny part of skin of her lower back now not covered by her shirt.

"I thought that... if I'd be gone, everything would turn back to normal," she said, noticing how comfortable Neville looked with Dru. "That you would be safe."

She shook her head. "My boyfriend just lost every memory of me and you just bail? I needed you, Rose."

"I know, and I'm sorry, I really am sorry..." she sighed. "And I will do anything to make it up to you."

Dru looked at the grass. She had really missed her friend, but at the same time she was really hurt by Rose leaving her on her own. She started pulling the grass out of the ground, she didn't know what to say.

"Look, I didn't expect this to be easy, and it won't be ..." she took a deep breath to fight off that fight or flight instinct that she had accumulated over the months that she had been hiding. "But I'm here now, I'm not going to leave you again and even though that I'm still a little bit screwy, I'm still your friend."

Dru looked at Neville.

"I don't think it'll help much, but she did wrote to me in an owl saying that if you'd ever ask me to kiss you, when I still couldn't remember us, that I should let you and that everything would be okay..." he said softly, knowing full well that Dru was going to be mad at him for not telling her that he had received messages from Rose. "She never stopped looking out for you."

"Wait, You two have been writing to each other?"

"No... she wrote to me, she was never in one place for too long for me to actually write back."

Dru got up. "Well why don't the two of you just catch up then." She shot at them and started to walk back to the castle.

"Do you think it was easy?" Rose called after her as she rose to her feet. "Do you think that it was easy for me to be away from you? There wasn't a moment where I wasn't worried about you, wondering if you'd be okay, but I had to leave, because in my mind, it was safer for you. I figured it would be easier for  _them_  to take the both of us if we were in one place!"

"Well, I wasn't okay. I just should have taken my father's advice and left this rotten place."

"But you didn't! Because you know, that  _that_  side has the wrong kind of love, it's not a living, it's an existence based on loyalty and that's it."

"Yeah, but at least people don't lie to me there. There I don't get blamed for everything!" Dru yelled. Tears were running down her face. She turned around and stormed back to the castle.

"Yes! Exactly!" Rose piped up and ran after her. She managed to grab a hold of Dru before getting too close to the castle and stopped her. "That's exactly what I thought! It's easier to just give in, you know, it's basically a life without consequences. All you need to be is loyal to  _him_. That's it. But I realised, that if I'd give in, I'd lose everything that I truly love. You. George. Neville. I'd lose everything that's become my home. I'd lose the ability to love and get it returned, the right way, the good way. I've spent  _months_  running, drinking polyjuice potion, to make sure I wasn't detected. I've beaten myself up over everything, even my own capabilities and I'm still not sure what I'm capable of, but I do know that I've made the right choice when I ran out of potions; I allowed myself to be found by professor Lupin, and not by anyone else who would take advantage of me and what they believe I'm capable of." She was crying herself now. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to be actually back at Hogwarts?"

"Well, if it's so hard for you to be here, then maybe you should have just stayed away!" Dru yelled, she pulled her arm out of Rose's grip and stormed into the greenhouses.

"Well, I now know why how you've ended up alienating everyone who ever cared for you!" Rose said furiously and walked away. She had tried, Dru hadn't responded well, she had tried again, and Dru had blown her off. Rose realised that she was going to need help with fixing this, and she realised that she'd need a lot of time to have Dru trust her again. She wasn't up for this yet. She had thought that Dru at least would understand, that she would have been the easiest to reconnect with, but she had been wrong.

She made her way into the common room and found it still filled with people. She quickly dried her tears as they looked at her oddly. She looked at the people who weren't there when she first got in and slightly curtsied. "Yes, I'm back. Hi, missed you too. Thank you. Done."

George was sitting on the sofa talking to Ron and Fred. He turned his head towards Rose and at first grinned, but then he looked concerned when he saw that she had been crying. He held out his hand as an invitation for Rose to come and sit on his lap.

Rose made her way over to George and crawled into his lap, putting her arms around his neck. She had no idea that her having left would have had such a big impact on the dynamic of everyone around her, it was weird. She had never seen herself as an important player in the grand scheme of things, merely a portal or the messenger.

"What happened?" George asked as he caressed her back. He always hated to see Rose cry or if she had been crying.

"Oh, you know, the usual," she said softly. "Dru needs to get her ass kicked."

"Yeah, you got that right." Ron remarked.

"Not in that way, Ron," Rose glared at him. "She just completely blew me off! Which I can understand, because I was the one who went away, but you guys! You're supposed to be her friend and you could have been  _nicer_  to her as well, you know. What happened to her, Neville and your brother is  _not_ her fault, and with a little bit of clear headed thinking, you'd know that! It's not just Harry, you and Hermione who have issues with You-know-who!"

"Yeah right." Ginny remarked as she sat with the group. "What would You-know-who want with a little girl like Dru? You're just as deluded as Neville is about her."

She looked at George. "You didn't tell her?"

"I only tell what you give me permission for." George said and glanced at the portrait hole. He noticed that Neville had come in and was now watching the conversation while staying in the shadows.

"Fine," Rose sighed and got up. Harry's problem was pretty obvious to everyone around them, and Rose was just too pissed off to let it slide. She climbed onto the table and whistled. "Everyone listen up!" Once she was certain she had their attention, she started to speak calmly. "You know what you-know-who is after, right? Once he finds a way to return for good? He needs power so he can defeat Harry. He used to have some of the best spell casters in his own personal army, but a lot of them are now in Azkaban or dead. He needs new people. Guess who's first on his wishlist? Anyone?"

"Have you lost your mind? Shut up, Rose." Neville blurted at her. His voice now sounded the way it sounded when he attacked her.

"No, Neville, have YOU?" she shot at him. "You've been here the entire time, you've seen how they started to turn on her and you know how important it is that she felt safe."

"I've been telling everybody to shut up about her and that's not her fault. But what you want to say is only gonna make things worse."

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked. He, as the rest of the common room, was looking from Neville to Rose and back again

"You know what? Forget it." She hopped off the table and looked at Neville.

"You know, why are we still going on about that ridiculous girl." Harry sighed.

"Shut up, Harry. All of you. Just shut up." Neville shot at them. The entire common room was now staring at Neville. Besides the one time he tried to have a swing at George, Neville never showed his anger. "Dru is not to blame for any of this. By Merlin, she's hurt worse than the three of us put together."

"Oh come off it, Neville!" Ginny said, before looking at her brother. "Your girlfriend is just as crazy as Dru is, like Neville!"

"Ginny!"

"Maybe it's time you shut up too, Ginny. I've really had it with you right now." Neville shot at the tiny little red head.

"Stop it! The lot of you!" Rose called out. She had already told certain things once and they believed her, so why not try again? "Remember that time where I told you all to trust me? And that everything would be okay if you did? And it did? This is one of those times. Dru needs  _friends_ , she doesn't need you guys to keep dragging her through the mud. She needs to be loved, feel friendship, be included, be..." she took a deep breath. "Or I'm afraid that she'll be lost to us forever."

George pulled Rose on his lap. "Are you guys happy now." he shot at everyone as he tried to comfort his sobbing girlfriend. "Look, I know that none of what happened to me is Dru's fault. and neither what happened to Rose or Neville. If that's enough for us, then it should be enough for you." George's voice sounded a lot like his mother right now.

"Thank you, George." Dru's voice sounded. The entire common room was staring at her. Nobody had any idea how long she had been standing there.

Her eyes were blood red. She had been crying. "I'm sorry, Rose. I wasn't fair on you." Dru voice was soft, but loud enough for Rose to hear it.

"What about a sorry for us, for keeping us out of our sleep, for the entire year."Lavender muttered just a little bit too loud.

"You snore like your sawing down trees every night with a chainsaw and you don't hear us complain, do you?" Hermione shot at Lavender, and then looked at Dru. "I'm really sorry Dru."

Dru nodded and stood next to Neville. They hadn't been a couple in front of anyone since the second task, but she was feeling so sad, she just wanted to be close to him.

Neville wrapped his arms around her and softly kissed her. "Rose raised a little hell, I did the middle part and George finished them off," he whispered in her ear. "Everything's going to be alright, you just have to trust me."

She nodded and leaned against him. She was so tired of hiding her feelings.

"Wait, you two broke up. When did this happen?" Harry asked. He had an inkling that there more things going on they're were being told right now.

Rose looked at Dru when she answered Harry. "Dru and I will tell you," she said with a small smile. "But you'll have to win tomorrow before we do!" The mention of the tournament had the whole common room buzzing in a positive vibe again, which was good.

Harry grinned. "I'll give it my best shot."

Dru put her arms around Neville's waist. "Something is wrong." she whispered in his ear.

"What do you mean?" He whispered back and softly planted a kiss on her neck.

"I don't know, but something just isn't right. I can feel it." She said and looked at Rose, wondering if she was feeling what Dru was feeling.

Rose was making herself more comfortable in George's lap. All the excitement of today had wiped her out already and she knew that it was going to take some time to get used to it all again, but she also knew that in a couple of days school would be over anyway and she'd be with George all summer. Something inside of her was very happy about that.

She already knew that Harry would be victorious in more than one way at the Third task, but something felt off about it as well. She couldn't quite put her finger on it as she closed her eyes and just listened to George's breathing and the chatter in the common room.

* * *

It came as a shock to her that Cedric hadn't made it when Harry won the maze at the tournament. He was screaming that Voldemort had returned, that he had killed Cedric before professor Moody took him away.

It was weird that professor Moody moved him away from Dumbledore after mentioning Voldemort, and since everyone around her was distracted, she sneaked off to follow them. Realising that Moody was taking Harry to his office, she started to run towards Moody's office and found a place to hide out of sight, clutching her wand, just in case. Something was off.

She was shocked when she saw the entire scene between him and Harry unfold, he wasn't acting like Moody at all, but someone more familiar to her; her own father. When Dumbledore barged in with Professor Snape right on his heels, all pieces fell together. It was hard not to make a sound when the truth serum brought forth the familiar face of her father and the insanity that came with it.

She watched how Dumbledore took Harry away, followed by the real Moody wearing a robe, leaving professor Snape and McGonagall behind to guard her father until he would get picked up for interrogation and sent back to Azkaban.

"Come here, Rose." her father had seen her standing in the corner.

She slowly got out from the corner, surprising Snape and McGonagall. "I'm so sorry..." she apologized. "I know I shouldn't be here but... I was worried about Harry and..."

"That's alright miss Shepherd," McGonagall spoke and tapped Snape on his shoulder to give the two some privacy. "A fair warning though, the serum has not worn off yet."

"Why?" she looked at her father with tears in her eyes.

"Oh but don't you remember that this was all your idea, my sweet Rose? I put you under the curse and let you tell me and the Dark Lord all about what was going on inside your beautiful head."

"I'm your daughter! You're not supposed to hurt me!"

"I didn't set out to hurt you... well... not at first. Not until you ran into the arms of that Weasley boy! You never listen, do you?"

"Draco is a snake, unlike George."

"Yes, how is George? Or Neville? Or young Miss Lestrange for that matter? We worked really hard on her, you and I."

"What? I didn't do anything!"

Her father just laughed uncontrollably, and for the first time in her life, she really hated him. She had always pitied him, but despite that, she had always loved him, because he was her father. If she was right, then he had made her hurt Dru.

"Did you kill grandfather?"

"Of course!" he cackled. "Such pleasure it was too!"

"Enough of this nonsense!" Minister Fudge barged in and looked at the young girl. "What is she doing here?"

"I think it's time to say goodbye to your father, Rose," professor McGonagall's voice sounded.

She slowly approached her father and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Father, I'm going to be cruel to you now..." she said softly. "I forgive you, because I love you."

"Tell your little friend that her mommy will be waiting for her! I bet she had so much fun the first time around, being able to play with her daughter's head like that!"

Rose nearly jumped ten feet in the air when the minister opened the door to reveal a dementor. "No..."

The minister then started to ramble about all the crimes her father had committed and how he was sentenced to get kissed by the dementor, but that was all she heard, when professor Snape dragged her out of Moody's office. "No! He can't do that!"

"We need to get her to Albus." McGonagall said to Snape.

"Won't he be preoccupied with Potter, or at least Diggory's father?"

"Let's take her to the infirmary then for the time being. I know Remus is there."

"As you wish," he replied and started to drag the struggling teenager though the castle's corridors towards the infirmary.

As soon as they arrived at the infirmary, Rose spotted Lupin and ran into his arms, crying her eyes out. "What happened?" he asked confused, before he saw Alastor Moody walk into the infirmary wearing nothing but a robe.

"Remus," he greeted the werewolf as if nothing was wrong. "She just had the biggest shock of her life, that's what happened."

"I like your outfit."

"I know, I kind of like it myself," he deadpanned. "Kind of tired of it after a year though."

"Fatherwasmoodyallyearlong," Rose sobbed and hiccupped. "Ihurtdrutoohetoldmehemademe..."

"Let's just get you calmed down first, okay?" Lupin said as he caressed her back. "Take deep breaths..."

"Who is this, Remus?" Sirius asked.

"This is my goddaughter, Rose"

"Ah, see? You always were the jealous type," he replied with a smile. "Couldn't stay behind now, could you?"

Remus smiled. "Just so you know. I was a godfather before you were."

"That the daughter from that Muggle you were hanging out with back in the day during summers?"

"Sarah, her name was Sarah." He looked down to Rose, who he felt so sorry for. He really hoped that she had picked up something from the last few weeks at the Burrows and not completely fall apart again, but at least she'd be in good hands if she did.

Suddenly the doors opened and the twins stormed in. Fred walked over to Harry, but George hurried to Rose. "Hey sweetie, come here." He put his arms around her and held her close to him after Lupin let her go. "I'm so sorry, Sweetie. I'm so sorry."

She held onto him tightly and buried her face in his shirt as she was still sobbing. Someone had obviously clued him in, but that didn't matter, she was safe now. "You were right..."

"Rose, I'm always right, you know that!" George wanted to make her laugh, just a little bit.

"It's not funny, I hurt Dru."

"Rose, it's okay. It'll all be okay." He looked around and saw an empty bed. He walked Rose to it and helped her in it. "You need to get some rest." He put a blanket over her and sat down next to her.

She scooted over a little and put her head in George's lap as she put her arms around his waist, holding on for dear life.

"Rose, don't worry your pretty little head. i'm not going anywhere." He pried her arms off him and laid down next her. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

She nodded as she cuddled up close to him. He started to draw little circles on her back with his index finger, and it was strangely comforting and soothing. It was easy to tune out the noises of the infirmary like that too, and she drifted off in a light sleep, making sure that if George moved, she would be back on her feet as well.

"George, are you coming. You need some sleep." Mr Weasley said.

"I can't leave her, dad. I'm staying with her tonight." George replied.

"George, you are not gonna sleep in the same bed as a girl." Mrs Weasley said sternly as she put her hands on her hips.

"Mom, she needs me. Besides if I go, she's just gonna follow me and crawl in my bed in the dormitory. Here they can keep an eye on her."

"She's sound asleep. She won't go after you." Remus said.

George just looked at Rose. He knew that she was listening to every word that was being said. "Fine, I'll go." He said, but he didn't move yet.

Rose got up and waited for George to get off the bed. "Where we going?" she asked sleepily.

The three adults just looked at each other. "George, she's only 14 years old," Mrs. Weasley said.

"I'm well aware of that, mother. I'm also very aware of the fact that Rose doesn't have the best track record with men, and that it took her quite some time to trust me and get close to me. If I leave her now, what would go on in her little head?" He said as he got up and lead Rose back to the bed. "Ask Fred, I've been nothing but honorable."

"He's been nothing but honorable, mom," Fred's voice sounded. "Tell them, Ron."

"You wouldn't believe the effect one girl has on two brothers, mom." He winced when Fred hit him on the head. "I mean..."

"George knows how to behave himself, Mrs. Weasley." Hermione piped up. "She had been gushing about how wonderful George's self restraint is as compared to... 14 year old boys, before she left. He's solely responsible for the fact that she's opened up more."

"It's Neville Longbottom that the girls was to watch out for." Harry grinned at Ron.

"Yeah, mom! Be glad he's not Neville!"

George laid down on the bed and put his arms around her. "Now be a good girl and try to get some sleep."

"I was sleeping, then you said you'd go..." she said with a small voice and closed her eyes again. "I don't want to be alone, George."

"You're not alone. You're part of the Weasleys now, you're never gonna be alone again." George whispered in her ear and kissed her on the cheek. "Let's just get some sleep."

"Hands above the blankets, George." Mr. Weasley commented.

* * *

Neville was already sleeping in a half empty dormitory. Harry and Ron weren't back yet. It was just him, Seamus and Dean sleeping. Suddenly he felt someone next to him, weeping on his pyjama making wet spots on his chest. "Dru?" he asked sleepily.

She was sobbing and put her arms around his waist.

"What's wrong?" He softly asked and put his arms around her. "Are you hurt?"

" _She_  did it. My memory."

"Yeah... we were afraid of that..." Neville sighed and softly started to caress her back. "How did you find out?"

"McGonagall told me. She told me that she's been messing with me from the start. I knew it. I told Rose at the second task that I thought she did it."

"Oh, oh, wrong  _she_ ," Neville stammered. "I'm sorry..." he sighed.

"Who were you talking about?" Dru leaned on her elbows and looked at Neville.

"Well... the second time you lost your memory about me... George and I was wondering why yours was wiped elegantly, according to Snape, and Rose's wipe wasn't. We thought that the person responsible for Mr. Crouch's death knew about the abilities you both possess and forced her to wipe your memory or something. It was some crazy theory we were trying to forget about, as it would complicate things."

"It was her father." She took a deep breath and explained everything that McGonagall had told her about recent events. By the time she was done, Neville was all caught up.

"Blimey."

"Yeah..." Dru sighed and put her head back on his chest.

"But you know, I'm actually grateful that it was  _her_  who was messing with you..." He winced when Dru hit him in the chest with her fist. "Don't get me wrong, but should we ever have to, we can fight  _her_ , it would be very awkward if we had to fight Rose..."

Dru didn't say anything and just played with the button of his pyjamas. She knew that Rose hadn't hurt her on purpose and that none of what happened was her fault, but she was very angry at her for not telling the truth about her father still being alive and not in azkaban.

She lifted her head up and caressed Neville's cheek. "I've got all my memories back now. I remember everything about you know." she gently kissed him.

"Really? Everything? No gaps?" he smiled at her and caressed her hair. "That is great!"

Dru nodded. "I'm never ever gonna doubt how much you care for me again. I promise you that." She gently kissed him and crawled on top of him.

Neville let his hands slide under her shirt. "Neither am I." He kissed her neck which made Dru giggle a bit.

"You know you're not alone right." Seamus muttered.

Dru giggled and crawled off Neville. She put her head on his chest. "I think I just have to sneak over to your house during the summer."

* * *

Dru and Rose hadn't spoken since the last task. Dru had avoided Rose, because she was still very angry for lying about her father's death. She had spent almost every night sleeping in Neville's bed, so Rose couldn't start a conversation. On the last day of school Dru, went back to her dormitory to start packing her things. when she arrived Rose and the other girls had already started packing their trunks.

"Hey Dru," Rose smiled at her. Unlike Dru, she hadn't given up on trying to talk to her friend. Sure, she had spent some time talking to Professor McGonagall, and also to Professor Dumbledore as both teachers were concerned about Rose's state of mind after finding out what she had done, and what she had lost in the process, but she didn't stop trying to talk to Dru. She was still her friend and if she was angry with Rose, Dru should have said something. "Excited for the summer?"

Dru just looked at her. She hated to be home for summer, she had an inkling her parents were not going to make it easy on her to see Neville. Dru pulled her trunk on her bed and started emptying her nightstand.

"Dru, Rose is talking to you!" Lavender said.

"Lavender, it's okay. I've obviously done something that I still need to apologise for and until I've figured out what..." Rose shrugged.

"Oh honestly Rose, like you don't know what you did." Dru spat her.

She looked at her friend and shook her head. "No... I don't..." Rose replied and sat down on her bed. "Unless you hate me for keeping the family secret from you and everyone else..."

"Well I think that if you've just told someone that..."

"Shut up, Lavender!" Rose shot at the girl before looking at Dru. "Do you think it's fun to grow up with a grandfather who's hardly at home and a father who can hardly think for himself because his father put him under a curse? I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about my father, and even if I wanted to, I wouldn't. Father and grandfather was all the family I had, and up until a few days ago I honestly believed that my father would never hurt me, I believed that despite all the things that he'd done, that there was still something good inside of him. Well, I suppose I was wrong. I was going to tell you, Dru, but there was just too much going on." She got to her feet and kicked her trunk closed. "You have no idea how I've envied  _all of you_  all these years with you having a full set of parents, adoptive or not, or how dysfunctional they may be." She took a deep breath. "So yes, I'm sorry for not telling you and I wish that things could have gone differently. I hope your summer will be great, I have a house to clean out."

"Wait, you're adopted?" Hermione asked Dru.

Dru looked at Rose. "Well I hope you're happy now," She got on her knees and pulled out the stuff from under her bed. "There you are, Neville has been looking all over for you." She said as she put Trevor on her bed.

"Rose, honestly I don't get why you wanna be friends with someone like her anyway?" Lavender said as she closed her own trunk.

"Lavender!" Hermione said in shock.

"Because Lavender, unlike  _you_ , Dru's actually not crazy," Rose replied calmly and closed Moggy's crate, somewhat relieved that he didn't eat Trevor after all the time that Trevor had been missing. "I don't understand why you want to be friends with me, to be honest. I've been acting crazier and out of it than she has over the last few months." she shrugged.

"She's a complete nightmare. One minute she nice, the other she's all slytherin again. Besides she's lying, just look at her and Neville." Patty said.

"You guys are unbelievable," Rose shook her head. "We shouldn't have told you that I used your wand to make the boys bald and we should have allowed you to get into trouble."

"'No look, I'm gonna say this one last time. I love Neville. He's a better guy than any of the losers walking around the school. but don't worry one day you'll see." It was the first time that Dru had actually stood up for herself, instead of taking it all.

"Yeah right." Lavender said.

Dru got out her wand and pointed it at Lavender. "i'm so sick and tired of you."

"She's not worth it, Dru," Rose said, and stepped between her friend and Lavender, facing Dru. "She'll find out eventually that all this time, you've been right. She's just jealous and craves attention, she doesn't deserve your wrath."

Dru lowered her wand and just looked at Rose.

"Who would be jealous of dating someone like Neville." Lavender said to Patty with a giggle.  
Dru threw a spell and a now shrieking Lavender, who ducked just in time to miss it and ran with Patty out of the dormitory.

Hermione looked at Rose. She couldn't help it to laugh. Dru could take just about anything that was said to her, but if you'd touch Neville, that was a completely different matter.

"That was brilliant," Rose grinned at Dru.

"Oh shut up." Dru said, but she had to laugh too. "Do you still have those shoes I borrowed you?" She went back to packing her things.

"No, I think the Nargles got to them," Rose nodded and opened her trunk, to see if she could find them. "Oh... uhm..." she then realized what happened to Dru's shoes. "I wore them when I... you know... I'll get you a new pair for your birthday!"

"That's okay. I hardly ever wore them anyway." Dru put her books in her trunk and then threw two quills at Rose. "Here, these are yours, I think."

"Keep them, I might find more than I bargained for at home."

"I thought yoú were going home with Ron?" Hermione asked. She too had now finished packing and was helping Dru by folding her clothes.

"I am, but I still need to clear my house, you know... I mean... I don't want to live there and I'm sure other people want to." She closed her trunk again and kicked against the cat carrier for her cat to shut up and deal with the fact that he wasn't getting out until they were at the Burrows.

"Maybe you should wait a while, Rose. See how you feel in a few months." Dru was still finding it hard to talk to Rose, but she was too tired to keep fighting.

"You've seen my house. Last time I was there, there was mold all over the kitchen, growing like crazy," she shook her head. "But we'll see. If the summer gets too hot then I might not even attempt it."

Dru closed her trunk and picked up Trevor. "I wish I could go to the burrows." She voice was soft, barely to be heard.

Hermione looked at Rose. "Well... " She decided it might be better not say anything. "I'm going to the train." She took her carrier for Crookshanks and left the dormitory.

Dru took her bag from the ground and looked at Rose. She smiled, even though her eyes were full of tears. "Ready to go?"

Rose hugged her friend. "You're going to be okay this summer, I promise."

"I hope so, at least I know you're gonna be okay this time." Dru put one arm around Rose and with the other she tried not let Trevor get squashed between them.

"You know, I'm actually glad that neither Crookshanks or Moggy ate Trevor... I would have felt extremely guilty."

Dru looked at Trevor. "Come on then, let's take you back to Neville.

* * *

She didn't want to sit in a compartment on the way back on the train, mostly because she had a feeling that it'd get very crowded, very fast. She was glad that one of the train units with more benches and tables was still empty, and as far away from the Slytherin filled one as possible.

Besides, she still didn't like train travel and at least it was easier to breathe in the unit, more windows to open too. Rose took a deep breath and sat down on one of the benches and smiled at Dru. "We have a lot of space!" she grinned.

Dru let Neville take the seat by the window and sat down next to him. She leaned in against him. "It's a good thing we've got space, because I don't think we'll be alone this time." And no sooner had she said it, or Fred, George and Ginny came and joined them.

George got in next to Rose, laid down on the bench and put his head in her lap.

"You can't be tired already," she chuckled and playfully tugged on his hair.

"I never said I was tired." George grinned and Fred laughed too. Just like Dru and Rose, Fred and George had their own language.

"You think that our mother is really going to allow you and George to be alone for a long period of time?" Fred said as he sat down on top of the table with his back against the window. "She's hyper vigilant, she's going to want to protect your virtue."

"I can protect my own virtue!" Rose countered.

"I hope not." George said dryly.

Ginny and Fred burst out in laughter.

"And you'd better keep respecting that," she said and softly kissed him before giving one big tug on his hair. "You have a shop to plan out anyway."

"What shop?" Ginny asked.

George have Rose a dirty look. "That was our secret, remember." He poked in Rose side.

"I said  _plan_  I mean, everyone knows that you two want to set up your own shop, even Harry knows," she rolled her eyes at him. "You have to give your sister some more credit, she's not a tattle tale."

"Don't worry. I'll won't tell mom." Ginny sat down next to Fred and leaned against window. "You're right, I'm not." she nodded and smiled at Rose. "I'm liking you more and more! It'll be us against them!"

Rose chuckled. "I'm afraid not, I have to catch up with a lot of school work."

"What are you going to do this summer?" Dru asked Neville in a soft voice. She turned in her seat, so she was leaning with her back against his chest and put her head on his shoulder.

"Oh you know, the usual," Neville shrugged and smiled at her. "You?"

Dru closed her eyes and let her fingernails run up and down his arm. "I'm gonna sleep for two months." She tilted her head back so she could look at him. "I wanna spent a my time dreaming of you."

"Oh, you're being cheesy, I like it," he grinned and softly kissed her lips. "I'm going to miss you too."

Dru crawled on his lap and put her arms around his neck. "Maybe I'll just run away and come live with you."

"Great idea, I would say I would do the same, but... yeah..."

"You don't need to run away. You have your gran." Dru kissed him. "I'll try to sneak out every night. At least that way we can sleep together."

"Ohhhhhh." Fred and George chorused.

Dru put her forehead on Neville's shoulder. "I've walked right into that one, didn't I."

Neville smiled and put his arms closer around her. He looked at Rose. "Are you going to be okay, Rose?"

"Why shouldn't she be okay?" Fred asked. "She's already spent a month, alone, with our mother and she survived."

Neville blushed. "That's not what I meant. I meant... never mind."

She hit Fred on the leg and nodded at Neville. "Don't worry about me, Neville. Professor Lupin is probably going to come by every few days to make sure that I haven't run off, gone crazy, slipped into a depression or have gone fishing. Or all of the above."

Dru looked up from Neville's shoulder. "Rose, are you ever gonna stop calling him professor? He's your godfather. Call him Remus or Lupin, but not professor."

Rose chuckled. "Believe me, he already tried to get it through my head that he's not a professor anymore, it just doesn't want to stick." she shrugged.

"Well, fine but at least call him Professor Wolfy then." Dru smiled.

"Sorry, what?" Rose asked confused, and finally stopped playing with George's hair. "I think he'd bite my head off if I did."

Fred and George started to howl like wolves at the same time before high-fiving each other. "You know George, I don't even know why we're on the train. We could have been home already, you and I."

"Yeah, but I wanna be with my girl." George sat up straight and put his arms around Rose. "But feel free to go and take Ginny with you, will you? That way me and Neville can enjoy ourselves."

"Fat chance, mom would kill me." Fred said and hopped off the table before helping Ginny off the table as well. "But, we get the message, we're going to raid the trolley."

"Ginny, could you get me a bubble juice and bertie beans, Please?" Dru asked as she threw her money bag at the girl. It was the first time that Dru had tried to talk to Ginny after Ginny stopped talking to her.

"Sure, why not." she replied with a nod.

With Fred and Ginny leaving George pulled Rose on his lap. "So how are we going to get you and my brother to switch rooms?"

Rose chuckled. "I doubt we'd manage that, your mother seems to see everything. I don't want her to deny me my clothes again, walking around in pyjamas all day wasn't fun."

"She made you walk around in pyjamas?" Neville said surprised.

"My little Rose is quite the escape artist," George nodded. "Mom has told me everything from the moment Remus dropped her off. What did you actually do all those months?" he asked, nuzzling her neck and caressing her stomach over her clothing.

"Nothing," Rose replied. In all fairness, the only people who sort of knew what she had done and been through were Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley and Lupin and Tonks. She was fairly certain that Dumbledore knew too, but she didn't want to have her friends know. It had been bad enough that she had been a coward and had fled Hogwarts.

"Come on, you can tell us, you know that," George said sweetly.

"She spent every minute of every day thinking of you, George." Dru said.

George smiled. "I don't believe that."

"At least five minutes every hour," she softly said and looked at Dru. "Same with Dru and Neville."

"No, I only think of this guy once or twice a week." Dru looked at Neville. "What's your name again?"

"Very funny," he snickered and planted a kiss on Dru's forehead.

"Well as long as I only get kisses on my forehead, you only get once or twice a week." Dru smiled at Rose. Teasing Neville had always been Rose and Dru favourite pass time on the train.

"Oh come on, Neville. Are you going to let her talk to you like that?" George said.

"I'm not going to allow her to talk at all mate," Neville answered with a shrug. "At least not for the next few minutes," he added before he started to kiss Dru tenderly and dug his fingers into her hair.

George looked at Neville and Dru, before whispering in Rose's ear; "Can't believe Longbottom kissing his girlfriend in front of everyone to see."

"Little boy's grown up," she replied with a smile and leaned into him as she looked out of the window, seeing the farm lands pass by.

George gave Rose a kiss on her head. "Are you really okay, sweetie?" He whispered in her ear.

"I don't like train travel, George," she replied with a sigh. "Makes me all dizzy and stuff."

"I could apparate you to the platform, right now and we can wait there for the train come." He softly kissed her neck.

"Dru would kill me," she said with a smile and closed her eyes. "But thank you for the very tempting offer."

"If you want you can go." Dru broke off her kiss with Neville, making him growl a little bit. Dru looked at Rose with her dark eyes. "You don't have to stay on my account." Her voice sounded cool and distant.

George suddenly stopped kissing Rose's neck and looked angrily at Dru. "Are you going to start again?"

Dru looked at George with a harsh look, that reminded Rose of a picture she had seen of Bellatrix. "I didn't ask you for your opinion."

"Knock it off, Dru," Rose said and glared at her. "I meant that we've been going back and forth to Hogwarts together on the train for years now, and it wouldn't be nice of me to not suffer through the train ride now that I have a boyfriend of legal age who can apparate when he wants to."

"If you say so." Dru didn't believe her. She crossed her arms and looked at the table. She was still angry at Dru for lying to her and she didn't understand that nobody was.

"Fine, if you want to play it that way, Bella, let's announce your real mother to the entire train." Rose shot at her. "Not just to our friends, but to the Ravenclaws, the Hufflepuffs... everyone."

"I never asked you to tell everyone, but you should have told the ministry. He shouldn't have been out of that prison." Dru's face was turning red.

"His mother loved him, she loved him so much that as she knew that she was dying that she wanted to take his place. Do you think that I liked it, growing up with a big secret? No, but I loved my grandfather and I loved my father, they were all I had, Dru."

"My mother loves my  _aunt_  too, but if she ever broke out of prison and I would find out. I'd make sure she'd be back and I wouldn't hide her. You're forgetting I grew up with a secret too. And I..." Dru was trembling with anger and rage and sadness, before muttering; "loved her too once."

Neville looked at Dru and held her tightly. "I don't blame you or Rose for loving someone who has hurt people, it's weird, but I can understand, they're your parents after all." he softly kissed her. "I also understand why she didn't turn her father in."

"Well I don't!" She got up took her bag and left to find Ginny, who still hadn't returned with her money bag and her food.

George took a deep sigh. "You know, sometimes I get why everybody keeps getting mad at her."

"I'm worried about her," Rose said softly. "I mean, she's completely cut off from us for two months, anything could happen..." she then took a deep breath. "If able, I am going to visit her this summer." she said resolutely. "Although I might get kicked off their lawn."

"Don't let my mom hear that," George said and shook his head.

"Maybe Lupin could help you." Neville offered, remembering how worried Lupin was about Dru, when she was in the hospital.

"Oh yeah, he'd want me to, but he'd want someone to come with me as well, and well... since that's going to be impossible because they don't particularly like you or any of George's family..." Rose sighed. "We'll see, I'll think of something."

Fortunately, it didn't take too long for them to reach Kings Cross station and as much as Rose wanted to say bye to Dru, her friend was doing everything she could to avoid talking to her.

This was going to be a long summer.


	13. The Burrows

Per Lupin's request, Rose went home with the Weasley's and Ginny was excited because she finally didn't have to sleep alone in a room anymore. Because Mrs. Weasley had spelled the room so it would get bigger, everything was out of place and some posters had gotten stretched out, and for some reason it made Ginny even more happy, because it meant she could take them down and redecorate.

Rose was just happy that she had a bed to sleep on, and her boyfriend close by, although she felt that she was taking up far too much of his time that he usually spent with Fred and often just went outside with her school books to study in the warm, summer sun. Despite having being given a respite for the 4th year's OWL's (like Harry, but that was because he was competing in the tournament), she felt the need to catch up with everything so that she wouldn't fail the next year.

She'd actually rather go home and start cleaning out the house, but Mrs. Weasley insisted that she'd have at least a week of rest and relaxation. Then again, Rose had only been back at Hogwarts for the last few days of the school year, and she felt that she didn't deserve to be handled with kid gloves. She had to soldier on and be normal again.

"There you are," Fred's voice sounded and she looked up from her spot. "Again with your nose in the school books, careful, you might turn into Hermione."

"I don't see what's wrong with that," Rose replied with a smile. "I'm so behind on everything, I just want to-"

"Yeah, not going to happen." He pulled her up and, since he and George were finally without the trace, had them apparate back at the house, straight into Fred and George's bedroom. "Georgie! I found our token girl!"

Rose had to duck because a lot of things were flying around with sparkles and bouncing around like little balls, but not quite and once she was sure that nothing would hit her, she looked at the twins. "Token girl? Last time I checked I am one, and so is your sister!"

"Ah yes, Ginny is a girl, for sure, but you are funnier." George got off his bed and kissed her. "You're our WonderWitch, remember?"

"You're honestly still working on that?" she shook her head. "It was a joke."

"And a very good one from a business point of view." the twins chorused as George set her down on the bed before shoving a mountain of papers in her hands. "You focus on that, we focus on other things!"

"But it's so nice and sunny outside!"

George then took a good look at her and nodded in agreement. "I can see that!" Rose was wearing a top with spaghetti straps that was a little too big on her (she still hadn't really gained all of her weight back) and a pair of shorts with flip flops on her feet. "We're doing this all wrong, Fred. We should be outside and watch pretty girls read books!"

"You've got water outside, you could go for a swim," Rose pointed out.

"No, you're going to read through all of that."

"We've got all summer!"

"I don't like it when she's stubborn, George," Fred sighed with a devious smile on his face.

"Yeah, me neither," George nodded and relieved Rose from the papers before grabbing her and disapparated into the pond near the Weasley house.

"AH!" she screamed and laughed at the same time. "That's not fair!"

"Oh yes it is," he grinned and started to splash water in her face. "Time to cool off!"

Soon, Ron, Ginny and Fred joined them in the water and they played around until Mrs. Weasley called them in for supper. She wouldn't have them enter the house all dripping wet, so they ate outside in the grass and Rose actually felt at ease for the first time ever. She didn't have to worry about certain family members who could backstab her. She didn't feel invisible despite being in a house with so many people.

* * *

Dru wasn't having a good summer. Her parents were too busy with the Dark Lord's return than with their children. Draco was loving all the death eaters coming around and even tried to catch a glimpse of The dark lord himself.

Dru was spending most of the time in her room. She had tried on the first night to sneak out to Neville, but the fireplace wouldn't floo her to his house anymore. she realized her father had put some security around the house and one of them was that the fireplace was now restricted only to death eaters and their family.

But her father had also made sure that Dru couldn't receive or send letters. She was now even more alone then she was the year before. It was a very hot summer and Dru hated being stuck in her room, but she didn't want to go downstairs either.

There was a knock on her door. Draco came inside her room and sat down on her bed. "Dru, are you ever going to come out of this room?"

She shook her head and sat down her bed as well. "I don't like this." She muttered.

"Dru, you need to stop fighting this. You're one of us."

Dru got up from her bed. "I'm not. I'll never be like her."

Her brother sighed. "You're not like her. You're Dru, my little sister. I don't want you to switch sides."

She looked at him with a scowl. "We're kids, Draco, and we're stuck in a house with people who might murder our friends if they could."

"Not all of our friends, just the wrong ones." Draco put an arms around Dru. "I'm your friend too, remember."

"You don't get it. You didn't feel it." Dru's voice was soft.

* * *

Rose was happy about the fact that nobody knew when her birthday was, so when July 11th came round, she was glad that it was just like any other day, except for the fact that she was 15 now. Mrs. Weasley had offered to take her to her home and see what needed to be done before they'd actually do things the day before, so Rose was strangely excited and nervous about that.

Fred and George put the stack of papers of their ideas for their WonderWitch line on top of her breakfast plate and she sighed. "Yummy!"

"Come on, Rose, you promised you'd help!" Fred and George chorused and she looked at them.

"I didn't promise you anything, your minds are hyperactive enough as it is. This is your idea. Your project." She softly kissed George as she handed the papers to Fred. "I'm sure that whatever you decide to do with this, it'll be perfect."

"Ugh, I so didn't want to see that on an empty stomach," Ron remarked as he sat down at the table.

"Hands above the table, you two," Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded and rolled her eyes at Fred. "Bring those papers to your room and come back down for breakfast!" She then put toast and tea on the table before the eggs and beans. "A hearty breakfast, we might have to work a little hard today."

"But I thought you said-"

"I said that to make things easier for you, dear, but even Remus agreed that the sooner that house is empty, the better you'll feel. The boys are coming along to help out too."

"But we wanted to play Quidditch in the paddock!" Fred and George chorused before being at the other end of Molly Weasley's glare. "Which we can also do another day."

"Good, eat up, the sooner we can get started, the quicker we're finished." she smacked George on the head. "Hands above the table!"

"Hands above the table, George!" Fred echoed with a grin on his face.

* * *

When Dru woke up, looked at her night stand. Rose's birthday present was lying on it. Dru wasn't allowed to send it to her friend and today was her birthday

"Happy birthday, Rose."She muttered to herself.

Dru closed her eyes as tears were now appearing. She had acted like an idiot on the train. her behavior had made, had made it impossible to say any of her friends goodbye on the platform. And now she couldn't even write to them to say sorry. Dru put the pillow over her head. She was going to stay in her bed all day.

* * *

It was weird being at home again, this time accompanied by an army of red heads. "Wow, you lived here?" Fred asked as he looked out of the window. "I can barely see the street!"

"There hasn't been anyone here for months, and grandfather sacked the house elf last summer," Rose said quietly and made her way upstairs to her bedroom. There were just a few things that she didn't want to lose, but she didn't really care about the rest of the stuff. Everyone knew about the Crouch family now, and whatever would be found in all the  _stuff_  was no longer a secret. She charmed a bag to become bigger on the inside and started putting some stuff in there from her bedroom. Clothes that she liked, but never had packed to take with her to Hogwarts, some extra shoes (so that she didn't have to borrow from Dru anymore) and her stack of notebooks in which she had scribbled some jinxes and charms that she had thought of that actually worked, and some notebooks had worked like a diary to her and she didn't want people to know what was in them.

"Oh, cozy!" George's voice sounded before he made his way past her and sat down on her bed. "Nice bouncy bed too! Expensive! Must be very nice to sleep on." He decided to keep things light, well, his mother had decided to keep things light, as it must be hard on Rose to even be there.

"You can have it, if you want," she replied as she picked up her teddy bear. Sure, she was fifteen now, but her teddy bear had been her all when growing up. No matter what kind of  _stuff_  her grandfather bought her, she usually only played with Mr. Nosey. She gently put it in the bag and decided to take her pillow too.

"Done."

"Done?" George blinked at her. "Are you sure? There's a lot of stuff in here."

"It's just stuff, George," she answered and walked down the stairs again. There were a few books she wanted to have because they were either spell books that could help her with school or they were Muggle books that she liked to read. Fairy tales, mostly. She often found that fairy tales had a strong moral code, or a lesson to learn from, and as a young girl, she preferred those above the Tales of Beedle the Bard.

It suddenly dawned on her that she hated this house with a passion. Ever since her father's betrayal, she thought of this house as poisonous, cold and empty. She opened a few photo books and tore out a few photo's she wanted to keep, but didn't really look at them. It hurt too much still to look at them. "I'm done," she said again and looked at Mrs. Weasley who was using spells to clean the kitchen. "This can all go."

"Oh hey, look what I found!" Fred said, holding up a piece of parchment. "It's your birth certificate, you can't be without one!" He rose to his feet and started to read it. "Oh! It says that your birthday..."

Rose looked at him and quickly snatched the piece of parchment out of his hands before pushing it into the bag.

"is today!" Fred didn't get the message at all, or didn't want to get the message, and winked at her.

"Oh is it?" Mrs. Weasley appeared from the kitchen with a big smile on her face. "Why didn't you say so? Happy Birthday!"

Before Rose knew it, she was being bear hugged by Molly, followed by a kiss from George and another hug from Fred, but she didn't return them. Her whole body had tensed up. "Birthdays aren't important," Rose said and stood near the door. "So, what now? Do I call the ministry of magic to ask them to come and empty this house? Or what?"

"Sweetheart, are you sure you don't want anything from your home?" Molly asked her with a concerned look on her face. "Maybe we should come back in a few days and see if you still want something before we make any rash decisions."

"This used to be my home. It's not anymore. I don't know where it is, but this is not it. This is just stuff that..." Rose shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want this stuff."

"Are you sure?"

"Please, Mrs. Weasley," she begged with tears in her eyes. "Please stop asking me that."

"Alright, we'll come back in a few more days," Molly said, before they apparated back to the Burrows.

"Are you okay?" George asked her as she tossed the bag onto her temporary bed in Ginny's room.

"George please..." she shook her head. "Go and play Quidditch with your siblings, have fun."

"Aren't you playing?"

"Flying is not my thing... and right now I'd probably... you know... take off." She sat down on the bed and pulled off her shoes. "I'm not going anywhere, go have fun."

"But it's your birthday!"

"It's like any other day, really. Although I  _should_  write Dru a letter so that it arrives in time for hers, unlike me, she sort of needs fun things on her birthday."

"But..."

"George!" Rose shot him a look. "Please? Go have fun?" She got startled when she saw Mrs. Weasley appear in the doorway. "I was just telling George to go outside, Mrs. Weasley."

She sighed as she saw George stomp off. Birthdays were complicated, and she got the idea that the Weasleys liked birthdays for some reason. When Mrs. Weasley walked away too, Rose started to write Dru a letter.

_To Dru,_

_First off, Happy Birthday! Or, if this arrived a few days too soon... Happy Early Birthday! Or when it arrived too late... well, you know what I mean._

_I'm just writing you to see how you're getting on. It's been two weeks since we saw each other last on the train and I'm a little worried about you. I'm not even sure if you'll get this letter... or if you still want to talk to me... anyway..._

_I was thinking about dropping by one of these days but I haven't figured out a way to actually leave without Mrs Weasley or anyone else noticing. I might ask Tonks, next time I see her!_

_Went to my former home today, picked up some things that I didn't want to leave behind. If you or your family want anything, we didn't seal off the fireplace just yet. It's just stuff, so... I just didn't like it that Fred found my birth certificate. I'm afraid that they're going to do something now._

_Hopefully I'll talk to you soon! (Or not, that all depends I suppose)_

_~ Rose_

Rose got up and went downstairs, to find Mrs. Weasley busy in the kitchen, the kitchen smelling suspiciously a lot like cake. "Can I send this off to Dru, mrs. Weasley?"

Ginny ran into the kitchen holding a quaffle. "Rose! Are you coming?" she said out of breath. "The boys are …"

"I don't fly, Ginny," she smiled. "But good luck!"

"I don't know if the rumors are true, Rose, but according to Arthur, Lucius Malfoy has closed his fire place and is not receiving mail properly at this time," Mrs. Weasley said as she stuck her head into the oven. "Has something to do with a mail filter he set in place."

"Would be weird, wouldn't it?" Rose replied with a shrug. "I want to try anyway, can I?"

"Sweetheart, I know that Dru is important to you, but... I'm not sure you should send her a letter at this time," Mrs. Weasley looked at her. "I'm worried about you."

"It's Dru's birthday in a couple of days, she expects me to write her."

"Well it's your birthday and I don't see a letter from her," Ginny shot at Rose, her brothers had informed her that it was Rose's birthday and that she didn't want to celebrate it. "See? She's not worth all the trouble you go through to keep her on our side!"

"That's different."

"Girls, please," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Yes, go on, send it off, we'll see what happens."

"Neville says he's worried about her." Ginny continued. "He hasn't heard from her either and she usually finds a way to..."

"Ginny, that's enough. I don't want to hear anymore about this, please. It's complicated and it's a very delicate situation that you girls shouldn't be burdened with. Now, send off that letter and go play in the paddock."

After supper, Rose was relieved that the cake smell she had smelled earlier had been just tiny muffins for desert. It was still quite hot outside and she decided to dip her feet into the pond and just stare at the sky for a while. She loved the way how it changed when it started to get dark. When she was hiding for all those months, the sky usually gave her a sense of peace, which only lasted for a little while, but still.

"You and I need to talk," George's voice sounded. He didn't sound as he was joking, he was genuinely concerned. "You never really told me what happened all those months and how bad your father messed up your head. I think I deserve to know, since I know about your gift and I'm your boyfriend."

"George..." she sighed and looked at him. "It's not-"

"The hell it is. Something's wrong and you need to tell me." He sat down next to her and dipped his toes into the pond as well. "It's bad enough that mum is keeping secrets from us, and don't think that I haven't noticed. You've changed."

She slowly nodded. "Well, according to Professor Snape and Madame Pomfrey, some parts of my mind are never going to be back to normal. I notice it by how I seem to be struggling with retaining certain things when I study... I mean, I usually could just read a book and practice spells and do them correctly, but now... it takes me a long time to get it right. It's not who I am," she said softly. "Father was impatient and angry when he wiped my mind, he wasn't careful."

"It's that bad?"

"I've not turned into an idiot or anything," she chuckled. "Things are just a lot harder now. Even with my gift... it's all messed up. I noticed that when I hid, I thought I could rely on it keeping me out of trouble, but..."

"Did you get hurt? Did someone hurt you?"

"No, not really, I don't think it's that bad, but it made me realise that I should be more careful when doing things, not roam the streets at night, that sort of thing," she flashed him a small, reassuring smile. "I'm not your wonder witch anymore, that's for sure."

"I don't believe that, and I think you don't believe that either."

She scooted over so that she was sitting against him. "This last year sucked."

"That's an understatement," he put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "But you're one of the strongest people that I know, you can't just give up. You're amazing, and you're an amazing witch. It'll just take some time for you to find that confidence in yourself again."

"I'm not amazing, if I was, I would have stayed at Hogwarts and made sure that Dru was okay and that the rest of Gryffindor at least, didn't alienate her. If I stayed, I might have prevented you getting sick."

"Well, that was just me and my big mouth. With your and Dru's mind wiped at the time, I should have known better than to say things out loud. So, is your lack of self esteem also the reason why you don't want to help me and Fred anymore?"

"You and Fred have wanted that shop ever since you were little, you told me. You seem to be doing fine without my help, and as I remember, you didn't even want to take my money so I could help you out."

"That's two separate things! We want you to be involved with the shop, Fred thinks you're brilliant and I think that you're just as bonkers as we are if you just let loose. But to take your money to get that shop... it's a sense of pride I suppose."

"Yet, you didn't hesitate to take Harry's winnings from the tournament."

"He's a fellow bloke."

"Ah... you didn't want to take money from a  _girl_!" She laughed. "Wow George, that is so..."

"What?"

"You're a pig."

* * *

Narcissa walked to gate of their mansion. There were two people standing in front of it. As Narcissa came close enough to that she could their faces, she suddenly stop dead in her tracks.

"Narcissa! Open the gate!" Tonks knocked on the big iron gate. "Don't make me say 'auntie'!"

Narcissa was shocked to see her niece there. She hadn't seen her since she was a child. Her sister married a muggle born and she hadn't really spoken to her sister since. She narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Tonks shrugged her shoulder. "I switch sides. This little girl made me see reason." Tonks pointed at Rose standing behind her.

"Rose." Narcissa recognized her daughter's best friend. She felt a great compassion for the girl, ever since Rose saved Dru's mind.

"Can I go and see Dru now?" Rose asked, she sounded bored. "Please? I've missed her."

"Narcissa, she really wants to see her friend."

Narcissa looked behind her. Lucius was going to be furious, but Dru hadn't been eating or sleeping since she came back from school. And according to Draco, this Rose did always cheer her up. She looked back at Tonks and narrowed her eyes. Tonk would never switch sides. Narcissa took a deep breath and opened the gate. "Make sure no one sees you, Rose. Go home, Nymphadora."

"But.."

"I said, go home, Tonks. Thank you for bringing Rose here, but please, don't let my husband see you. Go home and don't try to fool me again."

Rose had made a run for it and ran up the stairs to find Dru's bedroom. It was easy, since her door was covered with Dru's name in all shapes and sizes. They had to work fast. She opened the door and saw Draco in Dru's room, talking to Dru. "Hi!" she greeted the both of them and nearly tackle hugged Dru. "I'm sorry I've missed your birthday!"

Dru instantly sat up when she heard Rose voice. "Rosie!" She said happily. She climbed off her bed and hugged her friend, who didn't seem to notice the dramatic weight loss Dru had undergone.

Rose looked at Draco, still holding on to Dru. "Do you mind?" she shot at him. "I'd like to be alone with my bestie."

"Good to see you too, Rose," Draco replied. "Glad to see that you're making sense, hope you've dumped that Weasley boy too."

"I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out," Rose nodded and flashed a bright smile. "There's still hope, Draco, I hope you and Pansy aren't too serious."

"Draco, just leave." Dru didn't want to look at Rose, or whoever was standing next to her. she didn't want Draco to get the idea something was up.

Draco smiled widely. "I'm so happy to hear that," he quickly took Rose's hand and kissed it, before leaving the two of them alone.

"Ew," Rose said as the door closed. "I have to go and disinfect my hand now."

Dru glanced at Rose. "And you are?"

"Apparently not very convincing," George's voice came out of Rose's mouth. "Go pack your bag."

Dru pointed at the corner of the room. Her bag was lying on her trunk. "I've packed on my second day back." She walked to the night stand, grabbed her wand and miniature Horntail. She put the horntail in her bag and her wand in her boot. "Ready."

"Rose made me ask you this; are you sure? Because once you come with, you can't go home anymore. There'll be no way back." George minimized her stuff for easy travel.

Dru looked around the room and took a deep breath. "One minute?" she asked and walked to her desk. She removed the picture of herself and behind it were photos of her friends. She collected them all. "Could you hand me the picture frame by the fireplace?" Dru asked.

George didn't pay attention to the photo as he handed it to her. "We would have come sooner, you know, but it took some crazy planning and scheming first. Hurry up, I'm getting anxious and as much as I'd love to be my girlfriend so I can finally touch her boobs..."

Dru grinned. "How are we leaving?" she put the pictures in her back pocket.

"Your father's newly placed defences have one flaw..." George said as he put her miniature trunk in Rose's pocket. "Apparating in is impossible, but not out." He held out his hand and smiled. "And don't worry, mom's cooking will soon have you back to normal."

Dru took one last look behind her, before taking George's or Rose's hand. "Let's go. And please stop touching your breasts or I'll tell Rose."

"But they're so nice and …"

If it was possible, she was now shooting daggers out of her eyes.

"Let's go." He said quickly, and in a flash, they disappeared from the manor.

"Dru!" Rose exclaimed as she saw her friend and hugged her tightly. "George! Stop that!" She kept hugging Dru and sighed happily. "So glad to see you!"

Dru put her arms around Rose and started to sob. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry... it's okay..." Rose said and gently caressed her friend's back. "I always have your back, you didn't think it was that easy to get rid of me, did you?" she smiled and looked at George. "Seriously, when is that going to wear off?"

Dru dried her eyes and looked at George. "Honestly, George, if you want to touch her boobs, just do it. Trust me she won't say no." Dru smiled and looked around to the house. "Is this your home?"

"Yep, welcome to the Burrows," Fred's voice sounded from the doorway. He too was still under the influence of the polyjuice potion and was looking like Tonks.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

"Your cousin, Tonks."

"My cousin?" Dru looked at Rose. "You guys know Nymphadora?"

She grinned and nodded. "She's awesome, I'm sure you're going to meet her soon, but uhm... we weren't really supposed to uhm..."

"Since you're so important to Rose, and since she knew you were going to be miserable and all that, we deviously plotted this scheme behind the backs of the responsible adults." Rose was happy to see that George had changed back, although seeing him in a skirt was just hilarious. "They also know how important you are but were too scared to actually do something about it. It was Sirius Black actually who asked them to get you, but they thought it was too dangerous. We just proved everyone wrong." He high-fived his brother and pulled off the skirt before getting into his pants.

"So now, you guys are scared of your mother biting your heads off." Dru grinned. She still remembered the howler Ron got in his second year.

"Yeah, but she won't be mad for long. Why don't you take her downstairs, Rose? We'll come and save you once Fred's himself again."

Rose smiled and looped her arm around Dru's before leaving the bedroom. "You look like crap. You remind me of me."

Dru smiled. "Merlin, I do look awful then!" she followed Rose downstairs. The first person to see Dru was Ginny, who was helping her mother set the table.

"You did it! You guys did it!" Ginny squealed and ran to Dru to hug her, but hesitated for a second before actually doing it. "Welcome, Dru!"

"Dru?" Mrs. Weasley said surprised. "Oh dear, you... how... did... how?" When she saw the look on Rose's face, her expression changed. "FRED! GEORGE!"

Fred and George ran down the stairs and saw that their mother was just about to blow steam out of her ears. "It was important mum! You know that, we overheard your conversation with Sirius, Remus and Tonks."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it was to get her here? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble we're in now that we have her?"

"Mum... would you rather have her wilt away?" Ginny asked softly.

Dru didn't hesitate for a moment. She walked to Mrs. Weasley, threw her arms around her neck and started sobbing. "Thank you so much for letting me stay... It was so awful... I couldn't do anything... I barely got anything to eat... I was so scared." Dru had a second gift. She could cry on command if she had to.

Fred and George exchanged looks, trying their best not to laugh.

"Oh dear child..." Mrs. Weasley sighed and caressed the girl's hair. "Of course you're more than welcome to stay here, but my idiot children shouldn't have done what they did, it's good that they dared to get you but it was-"

"But I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't come. Nobody else came for me, no adults cared enough to come get me." Dru's big brown eyes stared at Mrs. Weasley, trying her best to make her feel a bit guilty.

"Alright alright..." she sighed. "I suppose you'll be sleeping on a camp bed in the girls room then, Hermione should arrive sometime tomorrow." Mrs. Weasley then smiled at her. "Let's get some supper into your body, shall we? You're so skinny."

"Sleepover!" Ginny grinned at Rose and nudged her in her side.

"Could I write a letter first?" Dru asked and looked around for some parchment.

"You can write that letter after supper," Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Arthur should be home any minute and I'm sure that Neville can wait a little bit longer to hear from you. Erroll is still a bit confused since he returned from trying to deliver Rose's letter to you."

"But he's probably so worried right now. And maybe I could use Pig, if Ron would let me."

"Sweetheart... relax. You can do anything you want here, within reason, but just relax. Sit down and enjoy your food. One thing at a time."

"You'd better listen," Fred and George chorused as they sat down. "Mum knows best."

"And I wrote Neville a few days ago to tell him, what we were up to." Ginny then said.

Dru smiled and sat down at the table. "Thank you guys."

Mr Weasley walked in with Bill right behind him.

"Mum, how many strays are you going to take in?" Bill said smiling at his mother as he saw another strange girl sitting at the table. "Is this one yours, Fred?"

"No, mine," Rose smiled and kissed Dru on the cheek.

"Well, that means she's mine too." George grinned. "Wow, I must be the luckiest guy in the world!"

"Dad, Bill, meet Dru, Dru, meet our father and our brother." Fred laughed. "Oi, Ron! Dinner!"

"Hello Bill. Hello Mr Weasley, it's nice to see you again." Dru smiled as she shook their hands. the last time she saw mr. Weasley he was rolling around on the floor of Blogs and Flowers, fighting with her father.

"Ginny, get Ron. Supper's ready." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I'm here mum... Blimey! Dru! How did you get here?"

"Your brothers came and saved me." Dru smiled. "Rose, when are you guys gonna take me to Neville?"

It went quiet at the table, even Mrs. Weasley didn't continue putting food on the table. "Uhm... we can't do that..." Rose said softly. "It'll be the first place they'd look, you know..."

"But that doesn't mean that Neville can't come and visit you, maybe in a week or two." George said encouragingly, knowing how much Neville meant to Dru. "But it's not safe for you to go and visit him."

Dru looked down at the table. She didn't want to cry, because that would make her seem ungrateful, but she missed Neville and she just wanted see him. She pushed her plate away from her.

"It's not just you, Rose has been wanting to go shopping in London by herself but it's not safe. Dumbledore doesn't want it." Mrs. Weasley said. "You need to eat something honey."

"I'm not hungry." Dru whispered.

"I'll have hers, if she doesn't want it." Ron offered.

"Don't worry," Mrs. Weasley smiled as she put some more food on Ron's plate. "It's alright, you've been through a lot."

Rose chewed on her chicken leg and sighed. She knew that if Dru wanted to be, she could be a lot more stubborn than Rose had been the first few days she was at the Burrows the first time. "At least have five bites?" she suggested. "Then at least you have something in your stomach."

"Dru, you need to eat something. You're skin and bones." Ginny said and pushed Dru's plate back towards her.

Dru picked up her fork and took a bite. "Happy now?" she said as she looked at Rose and Ginny.

"I love you," Rose smiled at her.

"You two are mad. One of you kept touching his own breast and the other is in love with me. And you guys have the nerve to call me and Neville a weird couple."

"You haven't seen anything yet," Ron said with his mouth full. "Wait until the three of them are high on sugar, without Hogwarts they're like Cornish Pixies."

Dru smiled and took few more bites.

George put his arm around Rose. "See, she'll be alright." He whispered in her ear and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She smiled at him and nodded before reaching for her bubble juice. She took a sip of it and looked at Dru. "You must be tired, you can sleep in my bed tonight, I'll take the camp bed."

"I don't care where I sleep." Dru looked around the house. "I think can sleep anywhere in this house." she leaned towards Rose. "It feels safe." She whispered.

She caressed Dru's back and smiled. "The safest place in the world," she whispered back. "A little bit... crowded and noisy, but safe."

Dru put her head on Rose's shoulder. "Thank you for getting me."

"You would have done the same for me." she picked up a piece of cucumber from Dru's plate and nibbled on it. "We're going to make you all better, and have a lot of fun this summer."

Dru smiled. "It's about time."

* * *

Despite Ginny's room had been made a bit bigger over the summer. It was now very crowded Hermione and Dru were sleeping on camp beds between the beds where Rose and Ginny slept on. The time that the boys were the noisiest in the house was gone, the girls were equally, if not even more so, as loud as the boys were, and Mrs. Weasley often came upstairs to shush them.

'Alright, Hermione, tell us. Have you written Vicky yet?" Dru asked as she was playing with her horntail.

"I received one from him, actually," she said, looking up from her book. "He's not interested in me anymore, because he realised I..."

"Are completely in love with my brother," Ginny grinned as she was playing with Rose's hair. Rose was laying on her stomach and Ginny sat right on top of her, making tiny little braids from her hair.

Hermione blushed like crazy. "Please don't tell Ronald."

"Ron and Hermione are sitting in a tree..." Rose started to giggle.

"It's not that simple!" Hermione laughed. "I mean, Ronald has so much growing up to do first!"

"Calling him Ronald won't make him grow up faster." Dru said

"I like calling him Ronald," she frowned. "What's wrong with calling him Ronald?"

"He doesn't like it," Ginny snorted.

"I just realized. When Hermione finally starts snogging Ron. You're all gonna be sisters in law. You're all gonna be family." Dru smiled.

"I never had siblings." Hermione said.

"I never had sisters!" Ginny squealed and hopped off Rose's back, moving over to Hermione with a hairbrush.

"And all I'm getting is a grumpy grand mother and a toad." Dru smiled at Rose.

"And a cousin," Ginny pointed out. "Tonks is going to love you."

"I've never met her in my life." Dru said while playing with Ginny's hair as Ginny was brushing Hermione's hair now.

"Someone said my name?" The door opened and revealed Tonks with a big smile on her face. "Oh cozy! Can I join? I brought snacks!" she then looked at Dru and made her way over to hug her cousin. "Hi! I'm Tonks, I'm your cousin! So good to finally meet you."

"Hi." Dru said shy.

Rose looked at Dru, who normally never got shy, only some times around Neville.

"Oh, loving the hair, Rose." Tonks said and sat down on the bed, throwing around some snacks with a smile. "What were you talking about? Boys?"

"Yeah, Rose has her Weasley, so now Hermione has to get hers and Ginny still has to get Harry." Dru smiled.

"Oh, and you need to get your Longbottom, don't you?" Tonks smiled. "Rose has told me everything about you and Neville. I think you two are adorable."

"Well I don't need to get him, he's already mine." Dru closed her eyes and laid down on her back. "Every inch of him is mine." She said with very satisfied look on her face.

"Inch?" Tonks' eyes sparkled with mischief.

Dru opened her eyes and looked at Tonks. "You've never seen him. He's very...long."

Hermione almost choked on her chocolate. "Oh god!"

"Well, it's not about how tall he is. It's what he does that counts." Ginny said sheepishly.

"Don't worry. I think Neville knows more about how to make a girl happy than the other four Fifth years put together. Hmmmmm... those hands." Dru licked her lips as she closed her eyes again.

"Seriously!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh, speaking of Sirius..." Tonks turned to Rose. "Remus is downstairs, he has a surprise for you," she said with a big smile on her face.

"Alright, I'll go... but... keep in mind that Ginny's only 13..."

"Yet I feel that I'm more... interested in more than just holding hands with Harry than you are with George," Ginny countered and stuck out her tongue.

Hermione and Dru burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Gee, thanks," Rose sighed and got up from the bed. "And just as I was comfortable on the bed..." she opened the door and headed downstairs, not bothering untangling all the braids that Ginny had made in her hair.

She passed George on the stairs, who kissed her before grinning madly. "I see Ginny has laid her hands on you, again."

"What? Don't you like it?" she twirled a braid around and smiled back at him.

"Are you girls having fun?" George gently placed his hands on Rose's hips and kissed her a bit longer this time, until his mother yelled something from downstairs. "What! You have eyes everywhere, don't you mum?" he groaned.

Rose grinned and quickly kissed his lips before continuing her way down the stairs. When she got to the sitting room, Remus Lupin was there, as was Sirius Black, happily drinking an alcoholic drink with Mr. Weasley. Whereas Sirius greeted her with a big smile on his face, Lupin looked slightly more worried.

"What were you thinking? Sending the boys off like that to fetch Dru?"

"Good to see you too, professor," Rose said. "And we just talked about it after overhearing you and the boys... well..." she shrugged. "You're just mad because you didn't think of it yourself."

"You can't just …!"

"I think it was brilliant." Sirius said with a big smile. "Dangerous, but brilliant. At least the girl is now safe too, Remus. Relax."

"You need to grow up, Sirius," Remus sighed and got up to hug Rose. "Let's take a little walk, shall we?" He put his arm around her and lead her into the garden. "You're looking great, Rose. It was wise of me to send you here," he started. "How are you doing? Really?"

"I wished people stopped asking me that," she said with a scowl. "I'm fine. I'm not running away, I'm turning into a real girl..." she tugged on one of her braids. "And I'm trying to catch up on school work, but even with Hermione's help my brain rejects it all."

"Have you done any spells lately?"

"No."

"Used your gift?"

"No!" she said shocked. "Absolutely not! I can't! I don't want to rely on it and it's not reliable anymore either. It got me and my friends into a lot of trouble and it's not going to happen again. No, life has to stay linear. No sneak peeks. Not anymore. It's not healthy."

"You do realise that everything that has happened, that it is not your fault?"

"Everyone keeps saying that! Okay, so I am not responsible for the first time Dru got Neville erased from her mind, and I'm not responsible for Neville... but the second time? And George getting sick? I'm to blame. I don't remember doing it, but I had to physically put my hands on Dru's head and wipe Neville out. I've told George  _everything_  that I know and he pieced things together, so my father, who should not have been walking around freely, made him sick. Hadn't I been so focused on trying to have a normal family when I was younger, I probably would have gone to the ministry and tell them all about it. But that would have ruined grandfather, it's..." Rose had started to walk away from Lupin and was waving her hands around while trying to stop herself from crying. "The best way to keep everyone safe, is to shut up and not take peeks."

"Rose..."

"No!" she turned around to face him, she was angry now. "You're telling Sirius to grow up, you've asked Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley to take care of me because you want to give me a somewhat normal life and now that I'm having that, and much to my surprise, I'm actually enjoying being in a house filled with people instead of just stuff, but now that I have that, you want me to help the adults like yourself. You're asking me to cheat life!"

"Rose, you're being selfish."

"Am I?" she chuckled. "Wow."

"Your gift is to see the future, and now that  _he_  is back, we need it more than ever to make sure that he'll be defeated."

"It's cheating," she pointed out. "And don't you think that I would tell you if something would change? You basically want me to cheat for you, get over my irrational, childish fear, grow up and help you out with saving the Magical community while at the same time you want me to act my age! What is it that you want?"

"Ah, so you have been peeking!" Remus followed Rose as she kept walking away from him, apparently getting her angry was the way to get her to talk. "I know that you're scared, Rose. But I promise you, we're doing our best to make sure that what happened during the last few months... well the entire school year, won't happen again. Trust me."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Harry."

"If you're so worried about Harry, send him an owl or drop by his house and scare his aunt and uncle."

"It's too dangerous to..."

"He's going to need Dumbledore's help pretty soon, he needs to be taken away from Surrey."

"Alright, when?"

"It's not that precise! And now we're on the subject, the Order needs to stop coming by in the middle of the night at the Burrows to talk. You need to find another place, that's more safe, especially if you're going to get Harry."

"How do you know about the Order?"

"It's really obvious..." she said softly and shrugged as she looked up to him with tears in her eyes. "Are we done?"

"Not yet," he said, grateful that she had stopped moving. He hugged her and caressed her back. "We have something more personal to discuss, Molly told me that you barely took anything from your home?"

"It's just stuff," she said, getting frustrated. Why was it so important to people that she'd take stuff with her that she didn't care about and didn't have room for? "I got what I wanted, the rest can go."

"I understand, which is why I've had Tonks oversee the removal of your and your grandfather's belongings and had them close the fireplace. I've heard that muggles are going to move into that house any day now."

"Good."

"Your grandfather had a lot of money, and as your godfather, I made my way over to Gringotts to make sure that you'd be able to access that money." He handed her a key. "There's some muggle money in the muggle bank as well," he handed her an envelope with a debit card and her pass code. "because I know you like to nose around in certain shops there."

"I don't want money..."

"It's all you have left now, Rose, and until you're old enough to get a job, after you graduate from Hogwarts, it's what you're going to need to pay for your things. But don't worry, I've given a portion of the money to the Weasleys, since they're taking care of you."

"I don't..."

"It's yours."

"Are we done, now?" she said with a small voice. She wanted to go to George and just sit on his lap for a little while with his arms around her.

"Well, there's one small thing that still needs to be discussed..." Rose started to walk back towards the house, and Lupin followed her with his hands in his pockets. "You and George," he said with a smile.

"Don't worry," she replied with a sulk. "It took me a long time to get used to the kissing and the inappropriate touching, I'm not like any other girl my age."

"It's not you I'm concerned about, it's George."

"He's been a true gentleman, he's patient."

"He's George."

"Just because the twins are always loud and joking around and act like they don't have any sense of control or inhibitions, they do." She rolled her eyes, but doubted that Lupin saw that. "George is very sweet and patient with me, I think that with all the hormones flying around at Hogwarts, or even here at the Burrows, me and George is the last thing you should worry about. Wait until Neville comes over, Dru will be all over him and the other way around."

"Really? Quiet Neville?"

"He's not that quiet, and certainly not incapable of doing things, he just lacks the confidence sometimes."

"Bit like you then."

"That's not fair." As soon as she saw the house again, she started to run towards it and ran to Fred and George's bedroom. He and Fred were trying out new charms and he smiled at her when she walked in. Rose sat down on the bed next to him and just quietly watched the boys. George seemed to know that she just needed some friendly, easy going company and not her boyfriend all over her.

* * *

it had been nearly a week since Dru had arrived at the Burrows and it seemed to do her a world of good. Much to the relief of others, especially Rose and Ginny, she had started to eat better and was looking a lot less tired and worn out.

Dru had been raised in a huge house of luxury and room, but with only three other people in that house, it was easy to get lonely. It was a whole different world at the Burrows. It was crowded and noisy, and everybody had to do chores, but Dru was loving it. She loved spending the morning with Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, either helping her do her cooking or just washing dishes.

Today it had been Ron's turn to do the dishes, Dru had offered to do it, so he could play some two on two quidditch with his siblings as Hermione and Rose were doing homework in the paddock nearby.

"Good morning." Tonks said with a happy voice as she entered the house.

"Morning Tonks. we've just finished breakfast, but i could make you something if you're hungry." Mrs. Weasley offered.

"I already ate. I'm here to borrow my cousin for a bit, if that's ok." Tonks said, whilst almost knocking over a pile of plates.

"Of course, go ahead, sweetheart, I'll have Ron finish this up later."

Dru followed Tonks out onto the yard, where they found a nice spot in the shadows. Tonks pulled some papers out of her pocket. "I need you to sign these." and handed Dru a quill out of her other pocket.

"What are these?" Dru asked as she glanced over the papers.

"To give me custody of you. That way you're safe here and the Malfoys can't come and claim you back." She then smiled. "I know that I might be a little too young to actually do this, but I doubt you'd want my mother to offer this, considering she's your real and fake mom's sister. She is happy however, that you're finally away from them."

Dru felt her her heart stop for a second. she knew she couldn't go back, George had warned her about this, but now it seemed so final.

"You're not safe there, Dru." Tonks replied and put her hand on Dru's arm. "They'll stop at nothing to get you to join them. This way, as least legally, you're safe. We don't really need Narcissa's or Lucius' signature as you have the age to be able to choose now, and I just want to make sure that they can't hurt you anymore."

Dru nodded, took a deep breath and signed the papers. she could feel a tear escape her eyes. Despite Dru knowing it was the only right thing to do, it hurt. She loved the Malfoys.

Tonks put an arm her cousin. "Did you know, that when Bellatrix went to prison, my mother went to court to try and get custody of you. We did all we could to keep you safe. Sorry it took us 14 years to get it right."

Dru smiled and leaned against Tonks. "I don't have to change my name again, do I? I already have two last names, it's too confusing."

Tonks laughed. "No, just one more time." she smiled when she saw the look on Dru's face. "Well, you have to change it when you marry that Longbottom boy!"

Dru laughed. " I miss him." she said with a smile on her face. She really did miss him, but being safe with the Weasleys made it a different kind of missing. It didn't hurt anymore.

"Well, in that case, He's coming here the day after tomorrow."

"Really?" Dru shrieked and when she saw Tonks nodding, Dru scrambled to her feet, ran to the paddock and jumped on top of an unsuspecting Rose.

"What are doing, you crazy fool? Get off me." Rose said laughing.

"He's coming! He's coming! He's coming!" Dru then jumped on Hermione to give her a hug.

"Gee, I wonder who's she talking about." Rose deadpanned and looked at Hermione, who was still being squeezed by a very happy and hyper Dru.

* * *

Dru was out of her bed even before the crack of dawn. Well, she was kicked out of her bed before the crack at dawn. Her hyper-ness and overall happy mood was killing the other girls' chances to sleep, so together they decided to kick Dru out. She didn't mind though, she had already gotten dressed, her clothes included a short grey skirt she knew Neville loved seeing her in, and was walking around the kitchen, waiting for Lupin to arrive with Neville.

Mrs. Weasley came downstairs at 6.30 to start cooking breakfast. "Dru, you should still be in bed." She shook her head. The girl had been bouncier than Fred and George put together the last two days.

"I can't sleep now. Mrs. Weasley, I'll get some sleep tomorrow. Now I just want to see Neville and hold him." Dru bounced through the kitchen, helping Mrs. Weasley by putting the kettle on.

"Well, as long as you just hold him. I don't want no funny business. It's hard enough getting George and Rose to behave themselves." Mrs. Weasley had not forgotten the comments Ron and Harry had made about Neville being the one to watch out for.

Dru smiled. she and Neville usually were a lot worse than George and Rose. " I'll behave, I promise."  _Yeah right, not a chance!_  She thought to herself.

Suddenly there was a cracking sound coming out of the garden. Dru ran out of the house and saw Neville walking towards the house with Lupin holding a big box.

Dru ran towards Neville and jumped in his arms. He pulled her off her feet and kissed her.

Lupin smiled in awe.  _is this really the boy i had to give Liquid Luck only one year ago to get him to talk to her?_  he thought to himself. He decided to give them a bit of time together, before Molly would intervene.

"I've missed you." Dru said smiling as Neville gently put her down again.

"Really, didn't notice that?" He chuckled, as Dru hit him on his chest with her fist. He put his arms around her waist. "Are you okay?"

Dru nodded. "Yeah, I'm really okay. I'm loving it here."

"Dru, Neville, come and get breakfast." Molly said as she stood in the doorway.

Dru growled a bit. She knew making out with Neville was never going to happen under the watchful eyes of Molly Weasley. Neville was greeted by everyone as they sat down at the table. It was quite crowded inside the little kitchen, but it was too cold outside still to have breakfast in the garden.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Fred and George chorused. "And Neville... we are proud to announce that there will be a Quidditch match after breakfast between Fred and Ginny and George and Ron, seeing as the rest of you lot don't fly." Fred added. "After that, it'll be scorching hot out and we'll chase the frogs out of the pond and have a swim!"

"Don't worry, Neville, I'm sure Ron has a pair of swimming trunks you can borrow!" George said and sat down next to Rose. He gently kissed her cheek. "Don't you look cute and sleep deprived!"

"It's Dru's fault!" The girls chorused.

Dru put her hand on Neville's leg and softly squeezed it. She was so happy just to have him with her.

"Hands above the table, Dru, and you too George." Mr Weasley said.

"Neville, aren't you forgetting something?" Lupin said, while keeping a watchful eye on George who was now caressing Rose's back. Despite what Rose had told him, he wasn't sure if he could believe her when it came to something that personal. Then again, Dru looked like a hormonal teenager with her boyfriend around and Rose looked slightly uncomfortable. Maybe she had been speaking the truth about her and George.

"Oh! Ehm... yes!" Neville stammered and handed the box to Dru before kissing her sweetly on the cheek. "Happy Belated Birthday!"

Dru looked at the box. There were holes in the lid and the box was moving a bit. "What is it? Joey's offspring?" She asked smiling, but a bit hesitant to open it. She still didn't like plants.

"Joey still has a lot of growing up to do," he chuckled. "Although I might get you a sproutling of his, if you want?" he said, teasing her. "No, it's not a plant, I know you're afraid of plants. Or at least... some plants. I can tell you that it's not a dragon."

"Who's Joey?" Ron asked with a mouth full with food.

"A plant that's in love with Dru," Neville replied. "Or actually with everyone, but he helped me get her back the second time... well you know." he added blushing.

Dru smiled and gave Neville a kiss on his cheek. "You're sweet. Thank you."

"Well, open it." Hermione said, slightly impatient.

"Oh right." Dru said a bit blushing. Neville was an easy distraction for her. She untied the ribbon and took the lid off the box. "Oh Neville! You are...you shouldn't...I love this. Thank you." She shrieked and planted another kiss on his cheek, before she reached in the box and pulled a little black kitten out of it.

"Ah, he's so cute!" Ginny said

Dru hold the little kitten close to her chest. "This is the best present I've ever had in my life." she put her head on his shoulder and watched as the kitten playfully tried to bite her fingers.

"Wow, Neville! Hey George, what did you give Rose for her birthday?" Fred said grinning, ducking just in time to avoid Rose's hand smacking the back of his head as she was sitting between him and George.

George, feeling bold, decided to open his mouth. "See? She likes getting presents on her birthday, or actually liking it that someone wishes her a happy birthday."

"Let it go," she shook her head and smiled at Dru and Neville. "That is one adorable little kitty!"

"I never had a pet before. My parents never let me have one. I can't believe you bought me one." Dru gave Neville another kiss on his cheek.

Hermione looked at Ginny and both the girls giggled. Seeing Dru being so over the moon with her new kitten, was cute and funny to watch.

"Is it a girl or boy?" Lupin asked.

"Gran said it's a little girl."

"Oh, we need to keep Crookshanks and Moggy away from her then," Hermione giggled. "Otherwise we'll have baby cats once she grows up!"

"Moggy's fixed." Rose answered and took a bite of her toast. "Didn't want him to spray on my stuff."

"That is so sad!" Hermione said.

"Painful point of conversation," George and Fred said in unison, with Ron wincing as well.

"Well, if you want Hermione, I'm sure we can ask George or Fred to spray on your bed." Dru said as she held the kitten before her face. "You're so sweet, now all we have to do is find a name for you. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"It's your cat, you should find her a name," Rose smiled as she took another bite from her toast. "I mean, I went with Moggy. Highly unoriginal."

"You could just her call your cat, like in  _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ " Hermione suggested.

"Breakfast at tiffany's?" Molly asked.

"It's a movie, all time classic." Hermione shrugged. When everybody looked at her with a confused face. Hermione grinned at Rose.

"Muggle movie, moving pictures on the screen with sound, music and dialogue, very old..." she nodded. "If you're a romantic you'll love it."

"How very interesting!" Arthur smiled widely. "Tell me, is it possible for me to get my hands on that?"

with everybody at the table now talking about movies, names and neutered cats Dru quickly gave Neville a kiss on his lips. "You're the best boyfriend ever, did you know that?"

Neville smiled. "Just make sure she doesn't eat Trevor."

After an entire day of playing quidditch, swimming and just hanging out. The group was now sitting just outside the house, where Fred and George had made a fire and everybody enjoyed watching the sunset.

With his parents out of sight, George finally got the chance to pull Rose into his lap and hold her. "Maybe we should ask Neville over more often. That way I can actually hold you in my arms." He whispered and kissed Rose's neck, just under her ear.

She giggled and softly kissed George on his lips. "Thank you for my birthday present," she whispered back and smiled at seeing Dru and Neville coo over the little kitten. "She looks so happy."

George smiled. "I'm glad you liked it. I have to admit I had fun getting it for you." He closed his eyes and licked his lips. "They felt really nice and soft."

She let out a loud and warm laugh and elbowed him in the ribs. "Be honest with me, George... does it bother you that I'm not like... I don't know... Dru? Or other girls?"

"Rose, I love you for you. And just because you're not ready for certain things, doesn't mean you'll never be." He kissed her shoulder. "And I'm willing to wait. Besides, Dru is a lot of talk, but she's not more ready than you are."

She nodded and leaned into him, trying to relax. She liked hearing the laughter of everyone around her and the crackling of the fire, she liked being held by George and just sit there. "This is great," Rose said. "The noise... it's great."

"Well, you better get used to it, sweetie. You're one of us now. Now all we have to do is dye your hair red."

"Oh I don't think so," she laughed.

George let himself fall backwards on his back and pulled Rose with him, just gently rolling her off of him and pulling her close. "You know, you're the best thing that ever happened to me, well besides Fred, but his boobs are a lot smaller."

"Mine aren't that big!"

"I felt them, they're nice and big enough for me." George smirked and gently leaned over her as he kissed her.

"George Weasley!" Molly's voice bellowed before he got stung by one of her spells, scaring him enough to immediately let go of Rose.

"They weren't that bad, mum." Ron piped up and pointed in the general direction of where Dru and Neville were sat, apart from the fact that they had vanished. "Uhm... where are they?"

Rose had a burst of laughter when she saw the look on George's face. She actually knew where her friends were hanging out, and really didn't want to say it. Dru deserved a couple of minutes of alone time with her boyfriend.

Dru and Neville snuck into Arthur's shed. It was filled with muggle stuff. As soon as Neville closed the door behind him, Dru put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Neville pushed Dru against the door and deepened the kiss, for some reason sneaking off felt good.

Dru let her hands slide through his hair. she could feel a strong longing wake up inside of her. She wanted to feel Neville's body as close to hers as possible. She gently ended the kiss, pulled Neville along by his hand and sat down in the corner of the shed.

"I've missed this." She kissed his neck and let her hands slide under his shirt.

Neville let his hand slide over her thigh under her skirt while he kissed her schoulder.

"Oh good lord, that's hot." Tonks' voice sounded before emerging from between a pair of metal rods. She was good at blending in, especially in the darkess.

Dru's face turned red as she hid her face against Neville's shoulder.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Neville asked confused.

"Nymphadora is my cousin, and now my guardian."

"Do not call me Nymphadora!" Tonks' hair lit up like a muggle christmas tree. "Come on, out you come," Tonks said and pulled the two teens to their feet before opening the door. "I won't tell Mrs. Weasley for obvious reasons, but since you're  _mine_  now, sweet Druella dear, (Dru growled at the mention of that name) I don't want to see this happening until you're at least... oh... sixteen? seventeen?"

"How old were you?" Dru suddenly asked, hoping to throw Tonks off balance.

"Twenty two," Tonks she pushed them out of the shed. "And I know, I know, I should be the cool guardian and such, but believe me, you do not want to go things further than just a kiss right now, even though it feels really really... ohhh... really good!"

Dru gave Neville a smile that assured him, that this wasn't over yet.

"Anyway, Remus is ready to take you back home, Neville."

"No!" Dru was in shock, she hadn't realized that day had went that fast and that Neville now had to go home. "Can't he stay a bit longer?" Dru put her arms around Neville waist and put her head on his shoulder. "I don't want you to go."

"Hey, if it were up to me, sure," Tonks nodded. "But it's not possible, sorry Neville." she separated the two teenagers and put her arms around their shoulders, so that she was walking between them. "But, maybe in a couple of days, you can see each other again. I know it's not fair. It's not, but it's not my rules. It's Dumbledore, really."

Dru ducked out from underneath Tonks' arm and walked next to Neville, holding his hand and resting her head against him. "I'm glad you came and thank you again for my kitten I really love her."

"I'm just glad that I was allowed to come, I mean... when Ginny wrote me about what Fred and George did, it was a big relief. At least I know you're truly safe now." He said with a big smile and kissed her cheek.

Dru looked at Tonks with her the sweetest look she could give her. "Dora, Please, can I have just two minutes on my own with Neville to say goodbye. Please? I just want to give him a kiss and tell him stuff not everybody needs to hear."

Tonks shrugged and started to walk backwards towards the house, her eyes not leaving the two of them. "Keep it kid friendly."

Dru stood on the top of her toes and gently kissed him. "Damm, Neville, you need to stop growing. I can barely reach you as it is." She muttered between kisses.

"Maybe you should start growing a little," he countered with a smile.

"I love you, you silly idiot." Dru said as put her arms tightly around his neck and stretched her toes trying to get as close to him as she could.

"I love you too," he smiled and lifted her off her feet before starting to walk back to the house. He softly kissed her lips. "I doubt that we'll ever be able to sneak off again while you're here."

"I know." she said as she wrapped her legs around him. She knew she would get in trouble for it, but she didn't care. "So maybe it's back to hiding in empty classrooms again then. You still owe me a trip to the Snape's dungeon, remember?"

He grinned and kissed her again. "You're wicked."

"Dru, I said Kid friendly. and that's not it." Tonks shot a spell a Neville, making him let her go.

"I'm a kid and I think it's friendly."Dru grinned at Neville, before taking his hand and walking to Lupin.


	14. Baby Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lupin and Tonks need to learn things too

They were packing up their things. According to Professor Dumbledore the Burrows wasn’t safe anymore. Too many wizards coming in and out, and the house had actually started to sound like it was going to explode. 

Fred had overheard the Order one night and he told them that they were going to London. Nothing made Rose feel happier than going to London! She could keep up her promise to Dru to show her around, and Rose had to admit that she had loved the air in London. Granted, after not having been in the city for a while, she knew she was going to get the sniffles, but after a week, she’d be fine and happy to take Dru shopping. 

Of course, Molly Weasley was already talking about implementing new rules and omitting others, but Rose didn’t care. They were going to London!

 

Dru had been to Grimmauld Place 12 when she was a very little girl, so she did remember much of the place. While everybody was busy unpacking their stuff in their rooms (after Molly covered the painting of Walburga Black as she kept screaming whenever Hermione or Rose walked passed), Dru went looking for the one room she remembered very well. 

It didn't take her long to find it; it was on the first floor, in a dust covered drawing room. It was also not hard to miss it as the tapestry covered the entire wall. She looked at it with mixed feelings, trying to find her own name in the midst of all the names and faces that were pictured on the Black Family Tree and nearly forgot to breathe when she saw it;

_Druella Lucretia Lestrange_

She took a deep breath, and reminded herself to keep on breathing, she doubted that the floor was safe enough to fall on to if she’d pass out. So much dust! She was listed on the three as the daughter of Bellatrix en Rudolphus Lestrange. It was odd, it wasn't like she was unaware of who she was, but she always was a little bit shocked whenever she would be confronted with it.

"It's just a name you know." Sirius Black was standing in the room, he had come in without Dru even realising it.

"I know that, it just... I don't like it." her voice was soft.

"I know how you feel, being a Black isn't something you talk about to others, either." 

Dru looked at the man and smiled. She had forgotten that he was her mother's cousin. "Yeah, neither is Lestrange." She looked at Bellatrix's pictures and sighed. "Everybody always says I look so much like her, well... Apart from Neville."

Sirius gently touched her face with his finger tips, pulling her hair out of her face and eventually cupped her chin, as if he was inspecting her. "You look very much like her. Your hair, your eyes, your posture. You look every bit the 15 year old Bellatrix I knew, just as beautiful as she was then, but that doesn't mean you are like her."

Dru closed her eyes. she didn't want to cry, but she could feel the tension in her chest. "I don't wanna be her." 

“Just because you’re a Black, or a LeStrange or even associated with the Malfoys, doesn’t mean you have to be like them, or that you turn into them. You are a very special lady, it takes courage to keep thinking differently,” Sirius smiled. “Andromeda Black, the sister of your mother, has been blasted off for marrying a muggle.” He then chuckled. “Crazy family members.” Sirius then smiled and pointed to a scorch mark on the carpet. "This was me. My mother did this when I ran away from home. I was 16."

"Did you find it hard to do, running away?" 

"No, but I didn't got along with my parents or my brother. I understand _you_ did." 

Dru shrugged. She didn't want admit that she secretly was longing for her mother’s hugs or that she missed bickering with Draco about petty things. "I'll live. Rose doesn't have a family anymore either. At least we still have each other,” that thought had comforted Dru for the last weeks, knowing that at least she'd always had Rose.

"Rose has Lupin and the entire Weasley clan. I think she has more family now than she’d ever bargained for!" He looked at her and started to laugh. Even Dru’s face had a little smile now. “And you've got Tonks and her parents." 

Dru gave a weak smile. True she now did have Tonks and her parents, but she hardly knew them. And Tonks wasn't around that much as she had a lot of work to do for the order. She was in a house filled with people, but she felt lonely sometimes, like she didn't really fit in. 

Rose was George's girlfriend and everybody, besides Ron himself, knew that Ron and Hermione were meant to for each other. And even though everybody was very friendly, kind and warm to her, she missed feeling like part of the family. 

"I'd better go and unpack." Dru walked to the room she shared with Rose, on the third floor. Their room wasn’t as big as the other rooms, but it had been the only spare room left. Fred and George shared a room on the same floor, as did Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Ron (and Harry, in a couple of days) slept on the second floor and Ginny and Hermione slept in the room beside their bedroom. 

It was fun to see how none of the girls had bothered yet with unpacking and were now gathered in the tiny bedroom where Hermione was playing with Dru’s still nameless kitten. 

"Are you okay?" Rose asked as she gave Dru a pumpkin juice. 

Dru nodded. "I will be." She decided to let her sad mood go and tried to happy. "So how are we going to do Ginny's hair today?" she said with a devious smile on her face.

"Rose knows that balding spell." Hermione joked. 

Ginny's eyes turned big as saucers and she quickly tried to scramble to her feet. Rose, Hermione and dru all threw their pillows at her, as the tiny redhead screamed. Ginny snatched a stray pillow from the floor and hit Rose, before she hit Hermione. 

Dru quickly ducked out of the way, knocking over the three empty cat carriages.

"What on earth is going on there?" Molly yelled, before the sound of footsteps could be heard on the stairs.

"Nothing!" The four girls chorused and burst out in a fit of giggles, before they went on with their pillow fight.

“Oh good lord,” Mrs. Weasley said as she saw the dust clouds coming out of the girl’s bedroom. “Couldn’t you have waited to have a pillow fight at least until we’ve cleaned it all?” she said, coughing. “Open that window, sweetheart,” she said to Ginny. 

Dru hit Hermione on more time on her head, before she picked up her kitten, who looked rather scared, and sat down on her bed again.

“Now, Ginny and Hermione, go to your own room and unpack. Give us a yell if you find something suspicious,” Mrs. Weasley said, getting out of the doorway so that the girls could pass. When Hermione and Ginny were gone, Mrs. Weasley sat down on one of the beds. “We need to have a little talk,” she said warmly to Dru and Rose and motioned for Rose to sit down as well. 

Dru gave Rose a look _Here we go, everything we’re not going to be allowed to do_.

_I’m excited! I never had real rules before!_

Dru giggled. _I just want one rule. To be allowed to sneak to Neville every night._

“Now, as you girls have heard, Harry was attacked by Dementors last night,” Mrs. Weasley said with a hint of worry in her voice. “So he’ll be coming here, soon. We’re here because this house can be better protected, and it’s bigger. I know how tempting it is to walk out of that front door and into London,” she said, looking at Rose. “But it’s not going to happen, you do not want to endanger Harry, nor risk exposing ourselves to muggles.”

“But...”

“Ah, I don’t want to hear that word,” she said with a devious smile on her face. Rose knew, that if Molly was smiling like _that_ , she was going to be in a heap of trouble. “I could easily put all of your clothes, and those of the girls, under lock and key and have you walk around in your jim jams for the rest of the summer, while the other girls can get dressed if they pick up their clothes from me.”

_Well I don’t think Neville will mind me in pyjamas._

“Also, for the sake of safety, we can’t allow any more people inside this house, that means, that sadly, we can’t invite Neville over, and you can’t go and visit Neville either, Dru.”

“Why not? You can trust him.” Dru’s smile had completely disappeared.

“The ministry of Magic is... changing. We’re afraid that they’re going to keep an eye on everything magical and... well, it’s just not safe. Dumbledore, and Alastor, will not allow it.” Mrs. Weasley sighed. “I’m the last person who wants to keep friends away from each other, but it’s their rule.”

 _Sorry Dru,_ Rose apologized. _Welcome to the good side..._

_I’m not planning on being a good girl_

“You can, however, send him an owl. They redirect to Hogwarts first, and Dumbledore brings us mail once a week.” Molly said with a warm smile. “And remember, I can take away your clothes just as easily.”

Rose groaned. She hadn’t liked it, walking around in pyjamas for a month when she was at the Burrows, but at least there weren’t a lot of people there. Now that she was in a house filled with people, she really didn’t fancy walking around in her pyjamas.

“Alright, the other thing I wanted to talk to you about is... you and George, Rose.” (Dru was suddenly smiling again) she put an arm around Rose and smiled. “I know you like him, and I know that he really likes you too, and I know that his bedroom is right down the hall, but I don’t want any funny business, do you understand?”

“Mrs. Weasley... George wouldn’t do anything that I wouldn’t want... (Dru’s smile got even bigger) I mean...”

“Ah, that’s what you’re saying now, but you’re a teenager, your hormones must be raging through your body.” 

Dru nodded behind Molly’s back.

“No, they’re not.” she pulled her knees to her chest and sighed. “We’re not like Dru and Neville. George’s hands don’t wander off.”

“Oi! Leave Neville's hands out of it.” Dru laid down on her back _i like those hands_

 _Shut up_. 

_Those cold fingers on my warm skin. hmmmmm_

“I know my own son,” Molly laughed. “Trust me, if he gets the chance...”

“He’s honorabele.”

“Sweetheart, all boys are honorable until things get heated, believe me.”

“Really?” Dru was now sitting up again and looking at Mrs. Weasley with a big smile on her face.

Rose then decided to get revenge on Dru. “Mrs. Weasley... I... I grew up with my grandfather, and... I never had the talk, you know... would you mind giving me and Dru the talk one day?” she said as innocent as she could. If Mrs. Weasley wanted to protect her virtue or something, then she could have it.

_I hate you_

“Oh honey, of course I will! Molly almost squealed as she pulled Rose in for a big hug. “But, not now, we need to continue to unpack, and I’m just about ready with cleaning the kitchen so we can have something to eat tonight,” she planted a big kiss on top of Rose’s head and got off the bed.

“Thank you, Mrs. Weasley,” she smiled at her and watched her leave the room before looking at Dru with an even bigger smile. “Ha!”

Dru looked at her. “Are we still going to London?” Trying to shut out the jealous feeling she got when Rose got hug and a kiss, and she didn’t.

“We’re sure as hell going to try!” Rose lunged herself at Dru and grinned when she hugged her. “I promised you last summer, didn’t I?”

Fred came into the room with George. “Dru, did you know that Buckbeak is upstairs here?” Fred said, trying to help his brother get some alone time with Rose.

Dru looked at Fred and smiled deviously. “If you want me to leave, use your wand and unpack my trunk. Then I’ll go and see the gorgeous hippogriff.” 

He did as she asked and within one minute Dru was unpacked and she left the room together with Fred.

“Abuse of power,” Rose nodded.

George sat down next to Rose. “Yes, I think Fred’s getting a bit turned on by it.” He softly started to kiss her neck.

She giggled and put her head against his shoulder as she leaned into him. “You’ve heard your mother.”

“Yeah, I liked how you asked her to give her the girl talk,” he snorted. “I remember she gave it to Ginny a year or two back.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Mostly because she was gushing about Harry all the time.” George slowly caressed her hair away from her neck, he didn’t like eating hair, before he continued to kiss her there. He had found out that, so far, it was the best place to have her respond to him in a good way. “How old were you?”

“I...” she shut her mouth again and shook her head. “Books.”

“You know, that explains a lot.” he chuckled and put an arm around her, before caressing her stomach with his other hand. “You need some practice.”

“You _are_ impatient!” she laughed, before George silenced her with a kiss. She liked kissing George and they hadn’t been able to really kiss for a long time now, she eagerly answered his kiss and hoped that nobody was going to come and interrupt them for a while. She had been jealous at Dru when she had snuck off with Neville when he came to the Burrows. 

George gently pushed Rose on her back and leaned over her, trying to leave her enough room so she could get away if it was getting too much for her. He scared her once and he was very careful not to do it again. 

Rose put her arms around his neck and pulled George closer to her. She didn’t know where her bravery came from, but she knew she was safe with George. He proved over the last few months that he wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want him to do. 

George let his hands wander from her hip up to her breast over her clothing, but stop half way. He broke off the kiss and rested his head on her shoulder for a second. “Sorry Rose. I’m really trying to be a good boy here.” He planted a kiss beneath her earlobe. “the problem is I wanna be bad, right now.” George whispered before he lowered hand towards her hip again, maybe a little bit further down to show her what he really wanted to do with her, but respected that she wasn’t ready. He tugged on her shirt to get the point across.

Rose thought about what Dru had said to George about the fact that Rose would like it if he’d put his hands on her. _Maybe she’s right,_ Rose thought to herself. She took a deep breath and whispered; “You can be a little bit bad.” He had shown that he could be trusted, that he’d stop if she wanted him to and most of all, she was still feeling safe, so why not?

George was surprised and looked her in the eye to see if there was any sign of hesitation. “Are you sure?” 

She nodded. “I am, just... if...”

“Yes, if you tell me to stop, I will,” George kissed her lips, before deepening the kiss.

She could feel George’s hand not slip underneath her shirt, but stayed on the fabric, as he caressed her stomach and upwards towards her breasts. To be honest, she felt amazing, something inside of her had ignited and she was loving the feeling of being kissed and touched, and wondered what it would feel like if he’d actually touch her skin. _No,_ she told herself. _Baby steps_. 

George gently cupped her breast, wanting to softly squeeze it but waited to see if Rose would stop him, but he was surprised to find that his hand touching her like that made her kiss him more eagerly.

Rose had closed her eyes, she was loving this new, strange but amazing feeling, but suddenly George’s touch, his energy had disappeared. Rose opened her eyes and saw a very angry Lupin in he doorway and a very, very scared George in the corner.

“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND! GET OUT OF HERE!”

George disapperated and Lupin looked at Rose, who was leaning on her elbows. “Are you okay, Rose?” his voice sounded worried.

“I was a minute ago,” she said as she pulled a pillow over her head, she was blushing like mad. “He wasn’t doing anything I didn’t allow him to... why can’t you and Mrs. Weasley understand that George is sweet and gentle? The last thing _he_ wants is to scare me again!”

“Are you mad? He was grabbing you all over.” 

“I know.” Rose said with a smile. “Over my clothes, not underneath it.” she pointed out and tossed the pillow aside before sitting up and facing Lupin. “Don’t you think that I know that I’m barely 15? I wouldn’t let things get out of hand, and neither would George! But if I want to have a chance of any kind of _normal_ relationship with him, now or in the future, I should at least allow him, and myself, to become familiar with my body by having him touch me OVER MY CLOTHES. We’ve been together for the better part of last school year, gone through a lot and this was the first time I have allowed him to do that, don’t you think that he’s waited long enough? I mean...”

“You’re still too young. I don’t want you doing this stuff for another few years”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Tonks told Dru that she was allowed to have sex with Neville when she turned 16, what George and I did, was nothing compared to what Neville is doing with Dru, he goes UNDERNEATH all of her CLOTHES.”

“Tonks said what?” Lupin needed to speak to Tonks about her parenting skills.

“Just because you’re afraid of being close to someone because of what you are, doesn’t necessarily mean that I can’t try to be close to someone, without the _inappropriate_ under the clothes touching. George and I are taking baby steps, I like baby steps.” she got up and looked at Lupin. “It’s sad, really. He didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did I.” she walked out of the bedroom and made her way downstairs, while Lupin walked after her, still furious. 

“He was touching your breasts.”

“I’m a girl! I have breasts!” Rose retorted as she walked into the kitchen. “It’s not like I allow Fred or Ron to touch my breasts now, do I?”

Ron looked gobsmacked. “What?” he stammered.

“You let George touch your breast? Nice!” Dru responded.

“Finally!” Fred piped up. “It took them almost a year! Oh Georgie, no wonder you look so spooked,” he said and slapped his brother on the back. “Good on ya, mate.”

“Fred, keep your mouth shut. What were you thinking, George?” Mr Weasley sounded angry.

“He’s just touching her! Big Deal!” Dru chuckled.

Lupin looked at Dru and then at Tonks. “By the way, thank you very much for telling Dru she’s allowed to have sex when she’s 16!”

“Oh I didn’t say that!” Tonks countered, her hair changing colours, not wanting to settle on one.

“Yes, you did.” Dru said. “You told us to wait till we’re 16.”

“With fooling around! By Merlin, I lost my virginity when I was 16 and I do not want you to go through that.”

“Oh, so didn’t want to hear that,” Ron muttered.

“Well if you did it, you can’t tell me not to do it.” Dru was determined. All of her sneaking around with Neville she did over the last few months had brought out a brand new bundle of feelings. Feelings she really wanted to explore.

“She and Neville are R rated, compared to George and Rose,” Hermione finally said, before getting blank stares from the adults in the room. “Advanced? As in, further along with their feelings and boundaries?”

“Thanks Hermione.” Dru said sarcastic. When did this conversation turned around on her and Neville?

“As I’ve told Mrs. Weasley, you shouldn’t be afraid that George or me, will go too far.” Rose said, fuming. “Now I know that I am quite lacking in having to live with rules, and that I have a huge problem with trusting boys and men, but George has been the one to actually show me that not every boy or man has to be distrusted. Thanks to him, I’ve learned to trust Ron, Fred, Harry and even Neville. But George has shown me that he knows his boundaries, and he respects mine.” she said slowly. “And I know from books that there are a lot of 17 year olds who don’t respect a girls’ boundaries. George is not one of them.”

“Hold on. You lied to me!” Dru suddenly said to Tonks.

“I did?”

“You told me you didn’t lose your virginity till you were 22.”

“Ah... no... uhm...” Tonks stammered and shook her head. 

“If you were 16, you were just one year older then I am now. But if you count what I’ve been though I’m already more mature then you were when you lost your virginity.”

“You’re not going to have sex with Longbottom.” Sirius said, he was amused by all of this. “But I do think that Rose and George should be given the benefit of the doubt, considering the last year. We don’t have to worry about Neville and Dru just yet, as he can’t come over anyway.”

“Since when does everyone get a say in this?” Lupin asked confused.

“Since she took the conversation to the kitchen,” Sirius smirked. “She’s a smart one, she is.”

Dru crossed her arms and looked at Sirius. “Is that the reason he can’t come over anymore?”

“No, the reason why he can’t come over anymore is that Dumbledore and Moody don’t want this position compromised, and... uh...”

“Well, maybe Harry should stay home too than”

“He can’t, he’s not safe there. Neville is safe where he is now,” Lupin said and sat down. “The ministry of magic is …”

“No, we will not have that talk while the children are here!” Mrs. Weasley spoke up. “It’s not safe, end of.”

“She deserves to know, Molly.”

“It’s not safe for Neville to come over, and that’s that.” she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at George and Rose. “And you two, hands above the table!”

Dru stood up, walked out of the kitchen and stormed up the stairs. The entire house was shaking as Dru slammed her bedroom door.

“I don’t think she’s liking this.” Ginny deadpanned, she had been quiet during the entire exchange, because she knew what was healthy for her.

“I’ll talk to her, after all...” Rose sighed as she got up. “It’s my fault.”

“Oh sweetheart, it’s not your fault.” Mrs. Weasley said. “You can’t help it that...”

“My special thing said that if Neville would come that we’d all get investigated by the ministry? It’s my fault.”

“No, it’s not, I’ll go and talk to her,” Tonks said and rose from her seat. She looked Rose right in the eye. “You are not your gift. Your gift is something separate from you. This is not your fault, your gift is keeping us safe.” She then smiled and patted her on the head. “I think you and George scored good points today, here’s hoping for more freedom for you.” she whispered in her ear before walking after her charge.

Rose sat down again and put her elbows on the table before resting her head on top of them. “So, is getting George an apology or what?”

“I don’t need a apology.” George said, it was the first time he had said anything after he got out of Rose’s bedroom. He was sitting across the table from Rose and reached his hand over the table to caress her hair. “I think I have to apologise to you, Rose.” His voice was soft and very unlike George

“What for? I liked it!” she grinned up to him.

“For ruining what should have been a nice moment.” He couldn’t help but grin when he saw the grin on her face. She looked so adorable! 

“I don’t think you should apologise,” she shrugged and pointed at Lupin. “He ruined it.”

Lupin took a deep breath. “Rose, I think we need to have another chat about… the talk.”

Suddenly Fred, George, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all stood up trying to get out of the kitchen as fast as possible.

“All of you sit down.” Mrs. Weasley said. “Some of you might need a refresher course.”

Dru was lying on her side on her bed as she was looking at her kitten who was playing with a tiny ball in the corner of the room.

Tonks knocked on the door and opened it. “Hey, can I come in?”

Dru turned around so she was now with her back towards the door.

“Look, I’m sorry I lied to you, but I have a good reason?” she offered with a little smile. “Can I explain?”

“Whatever.”

Tonks grinned as she got in and sat down next to Dru on the bed. “The reason I said it... is because... well... you remind me of someone other than your mother.”

“Who? Your mother?” Dru’s sarcasm dripped on every word.

“No, silly,” she chuckled. “Me! I thought that if I’d tell you that I lost my virginity relatively late, that you would stop and think about what you were doing, and that you’d slow down with Neville, that you’d think that it’s okay to wait.”

“I don’t want to wait.”

“I know, and I understand, really. All these crazy hormones making you feel so many things at once that short-circuits your brain like that... being empathic like yourself, you must feel it all amplified.”

Dru shook her head. “You don’t understand. it’s not just my hormones. It’s... deeper than that.” 

“Oh, I know it’s deeper than that.” she smiled. “But believe me, it’s worth waiting for, at least until you’re a little bit older. I know you’ve been through a lot in the last year and that you’ve grown up a little, but you’re still a kid. Enjoy being a kid for as long as you can, before racing head over heels into adulthood.”

Dru sat up straight and leaned against the headboard. “What If I wait too long?”

“You’re afraid that Neville will leave you?” Tonks laid down on the bed next to Dru and stared at the kitty with her. “I don’t think he will.”

“I know Neville loves me, it’s just...” Dru pulled her knees to her chest. She had been thinking about this for the last few weeks, but saying it out loud made it sound even worse.

“You think you’re not good enough? And that he’ll start thinking that too and find someone else?”

“Well... that too but also...Rose has told me things that...You know what never mind! I know what I want and I want him. That’s all that counts.”

“Ah, Rose,” Tonks nodded with an all knowing smile. “Well, whatever she’s said, I think you should ignore that. You should listen to your own heart. You _are_ good enough, you are _safe_ now, and if you’re afraid that your bro-- cousin, whatever, will hurt him or scare him away from you, then you’re wrong. You’re a strong girl, you can beat the shit out of Draco any day of the week.”

“Rose says there’s a war coming. People are going to die. What if he..” Dru’s voice sounded small

“Yes, and that war can come in a year, two years, ten years... you can’t just stop wanting to love someone and be with someone because of an impending war. We’re all going to die one way or the other, some sooner than later. It’s the present that counts.”

“Exactly, that’s why I don’t want to wait.”

“Oh you’re making it really hard for me, don’t you?” She chuckled. “Alright, let’s make us a deal.” Tonks sat up straight and smiled at her. “You, me and Neville are going to have a talk. Can’t be in the coming month, but some time you’re at Hogwarts. I want to get to know him better. I still don't want you to sleep with him, because you really are to young."

“You’re going to scare him into not wanting to being with me,aren’t you?”

“Me? Never! I know how hard it is to have all these crazy feelings inside of you. I just want to get to know him better.”

“Right, Wolfy, I forgot about that!”

“How do you know?” 

Dru smiled. “I’m an empath remember. You can’t keep your head closed.”

“I should work on that then,” she laughed. “But yes, I have feelings for Remus, but yeah, he’s Remus. Don’t worry, I’m patient.” she said nodding. “And he doesn’t really like to be called ‘Wolfy’.”

“I like it.” 

“But is that okay with you? that you’ll take things slowly with him? I want to make sure that he truly is all that what you and Rose have been talking about, and I want to make sure that he won’t hurt you, not that I’m saying that he would, but you know... the whole parental/guardian thing is kinda... weird, so please?”

Dru sighed. "When?"

“Depending on how busy I’ll get... probably around Halloween? Is that okay with you?”

“I’ll try.” 

“Oh come on,” Tonks smiled. “I’m trying to be the cool one here, I could turn into Remus and forbid you to even think of him!” she rolled her eyes.

“I want to promise you, but I don’t know if i can keep my word. Dora, you don’t understand... those hands...” She ran her hand through her hair. “He makes my head spin.” 

“Hands are fine, just not below the waist line.”

Dru looked at her with her eyes wide open. “Are you serious?” She couldn’t believe Tonks was giving her permission to fool around.

“Yeah, of course, hands are fine, I mean, what else do you want them to do during kissing?” Tonks shrugged. “I mean, I’m putting my trust in you, for allowing you to do that, just not below the waist, so you have to stop him if he goes there... or I could just write him an owl...”

“Please don’t If he gets a letter from you, he’ll be too scared to even breathe near me. But can I make one compromise?” She wanted to see how far she could go.

“Depending on what you want...”

Dru bit her lip. “About his hands going under my waist. Is that with of without clothes on?”

“Dru!”

* * *

“I can’t believe we’re doing this!” Dru said quietly as she and Rose were tiptoeing out of their room.

“Yeah, come on,”

“Where are you going?” The voices of Fred and George sounded from behind them. “Sneaking out, are we?”

“Shush!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, safety and all...” George said and looked at the two girls. 

“That from the guys that snuck me out of a house filled with death eaters.”

“We did that to help you.” Fred said, he did quietly approve of the girls behavior.

“Go back to bed or we’ll tell your mom about your shop,” Dru said mischievously and took Rose’s wrist to continue their way down the stairs. 

Before they got to the bottom of the stairs, they made sure that the adults were still too busy talking to each other about how to rescue Harry from Privet Drive. Both Sirius and Remus were yelling at each other, and Moody’s voice sort of tried to break them up. For Rose, it was still weird to hear Moody’s voice without associating it with her father. 

Rose quickly checked herself over, there were shoes in one hand, and there was her muggle money in her pocket, her wand for emergencies, and grinned as she pulled Dru towards the door. “Remember, we have to run for a few streets to make sure they can’t follow us,” she said as she opened the door. “Come on!”

They ran out of the house, across the little park in front of it and out of the front gate of the housing block. Grimmauld Place was a fancy little area, and Rose wondered how it was possible for the neighbors not to miss the number 12 in their line up of wonderful houses. 

After they had run out of the gated area on bare feet, she stopped running to get into her shoes. Dru did the same, and then they ran again. Rose had recognized the area, and easily found her way to the tube station at Chancery Lane. Even though Dru was looking around as if she was an alien on a different planet (well, which was basically the case), Rose bought them two tickets and made way to the platform to hop on the train and exit at Oxford Street to do some serious shopping.

“Maybe we should get Ginny and Hermione something?” Dru said as she was looking at the shop windows. “That way they will be less angry for not taking them along.”

“I’m more afraid of Mrs. Weasley to be honest,” Rose said as she pulled Dru into the shop. “But you and I need new clothes for sure.”

“You need to help figure out the prices. And keep track of how much money I owe you. It’s a good thing i raided the vault at the start of the summer.”

“Nope, sorry. I lost my ability to add up numbers,” Rose grinned as she picked out a beautiful flowery dress. It was hot, and all she had for hot days were faded shorts, and she never really liked dresses much, and had sworn not to wear one after the ball, but this one was just so pretty. “What do you think?”

“Hmmm... I think George will like it.” Dru said smiling. She was looking through the racks, but most of the clothes were all light and colourful, nothing like the clothes Dru was used to wearing.

“I’ll take you to your kind of clothing shop,” Rose said, finding the right size of dress, before moving to the shirts area. “If, you humor me and allow me to find some pretty clothes for you to wear from this store, and before you object, you’ll love it. The time of living in the dark is gone.”

“If you make me look like Lavender, I will kill you.

“Oh god, no! Have a little faith in me, I might not be a girly girl, but I do know my color schemes.” she said with a nod. 

“I’ll try, only if you’ll let pick your clothes.”

“Oh no,” she chuckled. “You’re going to make me wear tight and short things that would drive George crazy and getting us in more trouble.”

“I’m not turning you into me. Just a bit more... George friendly.” Dru smiled and picked another summer dress. “This one a bit slimmer fitting and less flowers.”

“Oh fine, but after this, we’re going to a hamburger restaurant!” Rose gave in and started to look around for clothes for Dru to wear. Instead of her beloved skirts, she went for a pair of tight fitting jeans accompanied by a somewhat loose white shirt with some pastel colors on the sides. It wasn’t too colorful, but also not too dull. “Try this on.”

Dru on the other hand, found three summer dresses and some nice tops that would show Rose’s slim figure. “Can we go shoes shopping too? I need some lighter colour boots to go with these shirts you’re picking.” She walked a rack and got a nice tight fitting leather jacket. “This is perfect for you.” She handed her findings to Rose and took her to the dressing room. “We need to get a skirt or two.”

Rose groaned. “I should not have taken you shopping,” she muttered as she handed the stuff she had picked out for Dru to her friend and took the stuff she had picked out into a dressing room. 

“New life, new clothes.” Dru said as she put on the jeans. she put her long boots over them to see if the would fit. “What do you think?” Dru walked into Rose’s dressing room.

“Nice!” Rose said, still struggling with her summer dress. “I think this is too small.”

Dru smiled. “Come here. You’re wearing it backwards, idiot. The low stuff is at the front.” Dru helped Rose get in the dress. Oh, George is gonna love me.” 

“Don’t you mean he’s gonna love me?”

“No, I mean Georgie is gonna love me for putting you in this dress.” Dru smiled and went back to her dressing room and put on the rest of the clothes Rose picked out. “You do know me well, don’t you? It all fits.” 

“I rock!” Rose looked at herself in the mirror and didn’t feel comfortable in the dress at all, but it was hot outside and she deserved some new clothes. She got out of it and tried on another, and the next, before quickly getting back into her own clothes. “Same goes for you, it all fits.”

“I know and you look beautiful in everything.”

“No I don’t, but I’ll take the dresses anyway.”

“I can see what you look like and you’re super hot in the dresses.”

Rose turned around to see if there was any opening at all. Dru was standing in a boot from which she couldn’t possible see Rose. “You sneaky bitch! You’ve had a lot of lessons, haven’t you?” she laughed.

“Snape thought it would be wise. I’m getting better at distances too. I’ve just got one hiccup.” Dru put her own clothes back on. “How much is gallons is this gonna cost? And if you lie and tell me you don’t know I’m putting everything back.” 

Rose had already collected all of the clothes and was on her way to the counter. _Nothing, see it as a birthday present that I didn’t give you._

Dru sighed. “Fine, But I’m paying for nice pair of long boots for you. I left your present at my old house.”

“Maybe,” she smiled and paid for the clothes. She loved it how the person behind the counter put everything in a bag for them. “Next up; hamburgers!”

“Fine, but then boots, or I won’t wear any of this. I’ve got enough money of my own to splash a bit on you too.’

“Fine fine,” she nodded and took her to the nearest McDonalds. She ordered a lot, probably too much for them to actually eat, but it had been too long since she had it. Not even in her months hiding out in London, she just couldn’t afford it. “Yum.” she said, her mouth watering at the sight of the mountain of glorious food on the tray.

Dru smiled. “You and your food! Not even George gets that much love from you.”

“Oh, come on, have a taste, you’ll leave this place drooling.” she then shrugged. “I’m still growing.”

Dru smiled and took a burger and ate it. “Hmm, this is good.” she took a sip of the drink Rose had got her. “Can we go to one of your Muggle second hand book stores?” 

“We don’t say the M word around them,” Rose reminded her and finished one of her burgers before pushing some fries in her mouth. “But yes, after getting boots, I could take you to one, why?”

“I wanted to see if i can get a old mu...book on plants. I don’t know what else to get Neville for his birthday. I know it’s already come and gone and I gave him a present, but I wanna get him something, something extra.”

“Sure,” she nodded with a smile, dipping her fries into ketchup before opening another box, revealing yet again a hamburger. 

“Rosalie Shepherd, I don’t get how you and Ron can stuff you faces like that and not look like Crabbe.” Dru took a few fries. She was still not her old shape, but at least she was looking better. “Have you thought about what to get Ginny. Her birthday’s coming up soon.”

“I dunno, I didn’t even get George something for his birthday...” she then hit herself in the head. “I know I have a good excuse, that I wasn’t around, but I didn’t even get him something after that!”

“Well, put on that red dress tonight and you’ll make his next three birthdays in one go”

Rose blushed and quickly changed the subject. “I think we should get Ginny a barbie doll, the m... well... have some weird ideas about witches, they sell dolls with broomsticks and big noses and...” she then thought what she had said. “We should just give her a book about the mug---lore of witchcraft.”

“No, I was thinking more of something pretty. Ginny is not a bookworm like you and Hermione. Maybe we can get a nice necklace or bracelet.”

She shrugged. “Yep, that works.”

“Come on, Rose! Smile a bit. We’re better have a bit of fun. We’re going to be in so much trouble when we get back.” Dru smiled and got up to through the trace with the trash in the bin. “Come on, we have boots to buy.”

They went to shop for shoes next, and then Rose took Dru to one of her favorite book stores. She didn’t want to go too far away from Grimmauld Place, just in case, but this book store was just amazing. There were stacks and stacks of books on various subjects. “Enjoy,” Rose laughed as she directed Dru into the biology and plant section.

Dru went to the section and started to look for something special for Neville. She always wanted to spoil him, but he was a hard bloke to buy gift for. He didn’t play Quidditch and he didn’t really have a lot of hobbies besides Herbology and making out with Dru. Which suddenly reminded her that she hadn’t told Rose about her talk with Tonks. Dru wiggled a old nice book full of rare plants out of the stack and walked over to Rose. “Rosie, do you remember that day when you decided to be a big girl with George?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t get me wrong, what George and I did was very very nice, but I think that Mrs. Weasley would rather have cursed us so that we’d stay apart for the rest of summer.”

“Do you remember Dora came to talk to me?”

“Uhm... yes,” Rose said and sighed. “Mrs. Weasley was giving us _the talk_ at the same time, you must be glad you’ve missed that.”

Dru leaned against one of the shelves and looked at rose with a very satisfied look on her face. “I've made my decision."

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Dru laughed. “You know, Rose, don’t get me wrong. But for someone as smart as you sometimes you can be so clueless. I'm gonna sleep with him”

“What?!” Rose blurted and looked at her in surprise. “You're nuts!”

Dru laughed at the sight of Rose’s shock. “Rose, relax. Neville and I are not like you. We... we want this.”

“Have you asked permission from his nan yet?” Rose thought out loud, remembering the conversation that she had with Neville’s grandmother when she was staying at their place. 

“I’ll leave that one up to him. I mean that between him and his gran, but I doubt Neville will ask her for it.”

“I still think it’s wise to ask her permission, you know. She has a mean streak she does.”

Dru sighed. “Look, I know you’re not ready for sex, but can’t you please be a bit supportive of us?”

“Why?” Rose smiled. “You two have a long life ahead of you, why rush?”

Dru’s smile disappeared. “I should have never told you.” She muttered and walked to counter. She waited till rose was done looking at books, so she could buy Neville’s book.

Rose grinned and snuck up to Dru. “I think you should go for it anyway,” she giggled. “You two are adorable.”

Dru handed Rose the book she picked out for Neville. “Shouldn’t we get back? Maybe it’s not smart to stay out after dark.”

She paid for the book and had it gift wrapped too, not many second hand shops did this, but this one was special. “Are we sure we’re ready for the wrath of... ohh... at least four adults?”

“Four?” Dru could only think of Lupin, Tonks and Mrs. Weasley.

“Yeah... Moody’s around... and some other people I don’t know... but you might be happy to know that Sirius admires our determination and courage.”

Dru had a big smile on her face as she looked at her shopping bags. She hoped Rose hadn’t noticed her secretly put some extra stuff on the counter in the clothing shop. “He should only know how determined I am.”

“Oh no, you’re not going to take the blame for this by yourself,” Rose said as they made their way to the tube station. “But I’m afraid that Mrs. Weasley will hide our clothes for the rest of the summer.”

“Well, as long as she lets us give Ginny her present.”

“True,” she giggled. 

“Well, and our boys’ presents. I think Neville will like his presents.” she gushed without thinking what she just said.

“What? Already?” she snorted. “You’re not even going to make it _hard_ for him?”

“I’m gonna make it hard for him to resist me.” Dru giggled as she opened her little bag, so Rose could see her extra gift.

“Minx,” she laughed as they walked through the little gates in the tube. “He’ll love that!”

“He’d better.” Dru smiled. “Let’s hope he’s good at unpacking.”

The second they approached Sirius’ home, they were greeted by a handful of angry adults in the street. Rather than fight it out outside, they were immediately ushered into the house. “What were you thinking?”

“You had us all worried!”

“Where have you been!”

“Are you mad?!”

“Do you want to get yourselves killed?’

“Would you relax? I’m sure that they were a little tired of being cooped up all the time, and I’m sure they did everything they could to ---”

“Shut up Sirius!” Remus said angrily and glared at Rose. “What were you thinking? You have George and Fred risk their lives to get her out of that house and you go _shopping_? You’ve been going on about safety, Rose, you should know better!”

“Sorry...” she muttered. “But it was safe, I promise!”

“It’s not just her fault. I wanted to go too.” Dru defended Rose.

Tonks took a deep breath. “As much as I’d like to be the coolest person in the world, I have to agree with everyone else on this one. What were you two thinking? You could have exposed us all or worse; gotten yourself killed,” she said calmly, although her hair said otherwise.

“Oh relax!” Dru shrugged, like they were all overreacting. “Rose sees the future so she can avoid dangerous situation and I can read minds, so we wouldn’t be near people that want to hurt us. You guys are being ridiculous.”

“I like that sense of logic,” Snape slowly said. “But as much as I applaud your reasoning, Miss Malfoy, the people we’re dealing with are very well at hiding their true thoughts. You should know that better than anyone.”

Dru turned around and glared at her teacher. “There’s only one death eater's mind I can’t read as as she in prison, I’m safe.” It was a harsh tone that shocked Rose. Snape had always been Dru’s favourite teacher and she was the Gryffindor student that he liked. But know she talked to him like he was a enemy.

“I do not believe you,” he said in his usual voice. “And I do not wish to test out that theory either.”

“Right, you girls, go to your room.” Mrs. Weasley said angrily. “We’ll figure out later what we’re going to do with you, there are more important matters that need to be handled now.”

Dru and Rose went up to their room. They were surprised that their new stuff wasn’t taken away and they got off lightly, for now. “I can’t believe we got off that easy.” Dru said as they climbed the stairs.

“We didn’t, believe me, we didn’t.” Rose said. “Mrs. Weasley will come up with something.”

Dru opened the door to their room and saw Hermione and Ginny sitting on their beds.

“Have you two lost your minds?”

“Don’t worry Hermione, we bought you a present.” Dru smiled and put her bags on the side of her bed. “Here,” Dru handed Hermione her present. “Rose has yours,” She said smiling to Ginny and sat down next to her.

Rose slowly fished out the things they bought for Ginny out of her bag and handed them over. “This is also for your birthday, already.”

“I’ve got Neville a late birthday present. You want to see?” Dru grinned devilishly as she nudged Ginny in her ribs.

“Oh I don’t think I want to,” she chuckled as she opened her present. “Oh this is lovely! Thank you so much!”

“What are you getting Neville?” Hermione was getting curious. 

Dru grinned at Rose and tossed Hermione the little bag.

Hermione blushed as she peeked inside. “Dru, are you kidding me? You can’t do this. You’re barely 15.” 

Dru grinned and took the bag and put it at the bottom of her school trunk.

“Yeah...” Rose nodded. “Tried that, let it go, I think it’s adorable.”

“What did she get Neville?” Now Ginny wanted to know it too.

“Nothing,” Rose shook her head and put her clothes in her trunk without even opening the bags.

“I got him a book on plants.” Dru laughed as she followed Rose’s example and put all her new stuff away.

“Oh yes, that too.” Rose nodded. “Fascinating book on Muggle plants.”

“I think I’m gonna give it to him tomorrow. Rose, you can cover for me, can’t you.”

“Are you mad?” Rose shot at her. “We’re already in a boat load of trouble as it is!”

“Rose, come on. What’s the worst they can do?” 

“And on top of that, it’s not safe! What if they come looking for you? I can’t keep an eye on you when you’re all the way in Yorkshire!”

“Neville can keep an eye on me. Besides I doubt he can keep his eyes of me after I give him my present.”

“What is she giving him?”

“I’m not listening to this,” Rose said as she got up from her bed. “I’m going to steal a hug from George while I still can.”

“Yeah, that’s easy for you to do.” Dru’s voice sounded bitter.

“Come on Ginny, let’s help your mother make dinner.” Hermione said and lead Ginny out of the room.

“But what is she gonna give him?” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rose asked and cocked her head.

“That it’s easy to judge me for wanting to spend a few hours with my boyfriend, when you got him near you all summer long.” Dru spat. “I can’t help it that you’re not using him.” 

“No, I understand, I completely understand, but you’ve heard them, it’s not safe for you to go to Neville, and he can’t come here!” Rose said and shook her head, not wanting to let Dru’s words hit her. “You’ll just have to wait a couple more weeks until school starts.”

“Just go to your boyfriend, Rose. I’ll be ok.” Dru smiled.’I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty, I just wanted to make you understand that’s it hard sometimes. Now go to George. Send Fred over to my room, will you. I can use a laugh right now.”

Rose grumbled and went next door to the boys’ bedroom. She nearly got hit in the head with a firecracker. “Oi, watch it!”

George was lying on his bed. “That’s my little bad girl,” He said smiling as he opened his arms for Rose to come lie with him.

“I’m in so much trouble right now,” she chuckled as she crawled onto the bed before lying down in his arms. “Fred? Dru has the Neville-blues, could you please take care of that?”

“As the lady wishes,” Fred exaggeratedly bowed before disappearing from the room. George and Rose heard a little shriek, followed by “Idiot.” When Fred apperated in the room next door.

George kissed Rose on the top of her head. “Did you girls have fun? Or did Dru have the Neville-blues all day?” 

“Yeah, we had fun,” she smiled and snuggled up against him. “We bought a lot of clothes. She allowed me to buy her a few new outfits... and well... she bought me a few...” she then shrugged. “At least she has some color in her wardrobe now.” 

“What did she get you?’

“Better fitting t-shirts to start with,” she sighed. “And a handful of dresses...” Rose looked up to him and smiled before kissing him softly. “She didn’t have the Neville-blues until I said I was going to steal a cuddle from you now I still can... I’m afraid of what your mother will think up as a punishment.”

George gave Rose a kiss on her lips and sighed. He had to miss Rose for months last year, despite being ill most of the time. He understood how frustrated Dru was getting for not being able to go to Neville. He had thought about taking her himself, but after what happened to Harry, he didn’t dare anymore. “It’s not your fault.” he kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Let Fred cheer her up, she’ll feel a bit better, you’ll see.” 

“I know that going into town was risky, but I had promised her last year... and I didn’t see any problems...” she said as she put her head on his chest. “We had fun, I’m still bloated by all the junk food I ate though,” she chuckled. “I wanted to buy you a present, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to buy you, so I got you this tiny book on muggle magic.” she fiddled the mini-book out of her pocket and handed it to him. “Muggles have a weird sense of magic, but it’s amusing.”

George took his present. “I love muggle magic stuff, you know that, thank you.” He put it on his nightstand and kissed her on lips while he leaned in over her. “Has Lupin gone to get Harry?”

“No, he’s downstairs with Sirius, your mom and Snape,” she said, shaking her head. “He didn’t look too good.”

“He’s an adult. Don’t worry about him. Why don’t you worry about this boy here?”

“What? You?” she scoffed with a teasing smile on her lips. “Why should I be worried about you?” she softly kissed him. “You have me!” she then was quiet for a moment. “Yeah... I _should_ be worried about you.”

“Yeah, I had to do without my girl all day long.” George smiled and softly kissed her lips. 

She answered his kiss with a smile and moved a little so it was easier for them to kiss. She realized that it was probably one of the last times until Hogwarts that she’d be able to be with him, until Mrs. Weasley would have figured out a proper punishment for her and Dru leaving the house like that.

George slowly put his fingertips under her shirt, gently pressing them into her skin. He deepened his kiss.

She giggled and playfully swatted his hand away from her shirt and skin, despite liking the feeling of his touch. “Don’t want to get more into trouble,” she smiled after gently breaking off the kiss to get a little bit of air. 

“Sweetie, you’re not capable of getting in more trouble than you already are. Dru can, but you can’t.” he caressed her hair. 

“How’s that? Because I know that I’m in trouble and Dru doesn’t realise how bad we’re in trouble?”

“No... Because I heard her sneaking down the stairs 10 minutes ago.” George said.

“I told her not to do it...” she groaned and buried her face in his shirt. “I’m not going to save her this time!”

“Don’t worry. My Dad locked the fireplace to the Longbottoms. My parents didn’t trust her to stay.”

“You know...” she said softly with a breath of relief. “She’s my friend and all... and it feels wrong to say this, but she doesn’t seem to realize how many new chances she has had in the last few weeks... she seems to burn every stick that gets handed to her... I’m so worried that she’s going to get into so much trouble that I can’t help her out of...”

“I know. She seems to starts spinning a bit out of control, but I don’t know if we’re the one to help her. Actually, _I know_ we are not the one to help her. She needs more parental control. Tonks is making it way too easy on her.” George put one hand behind his head and pulled Rose closer to his chest, before putting his spare hand on her back to caress it.

“They’re busy with other things, mostly. I mean, I don’t know half the time who to listen to. Professor Lupin or your mother... well they’re both on the same side but... you know...” she shrugged. 

“Rose, you came from a family where you were always on your own. Dru had parents, she had supervision. She didn’t get the chance to sneak off for a few days and stay anywhere. She needs to be looked after or she’ll spin out of control.” George and Fred had thought about it a lot. They felt compassion for the girl, like Ron, was usually overshadowed by their friends, that the teachers were more interested in.

“I think she’ll start listening to your mum once she’s through with us,” she slightly chuckled and put an arm around him and closed her eyes. “There’s a Boggart in the drawing room that she might ask us to clean up.”

“I don’t think Dru likes Boggarts.”

“Exactly,” she nodded. “Neither do I, as mine has probably changed now.”

“You’re not scared of yourself anymore?”

“Nah, I’m not super witch anymore, at least I don’t feel like it...” she admitted with a shrug. “I’m scared of losing you, that at one point, I go nuts anyway, like my father and lose you.”

“Don’t be. I’m not going anywhere, Besides... You’re already nuts.”

“Oh gee, thanks,” she smiled. “Hey, George?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you know that your mother has been standing in the doorway all this time and hasn’t said anything about us being this close together?” 

George looked at his mother and stretched out his other arm. “Wanna join us, mum? I give good cuddles!”

Rose felt how Mrs. Weasley sat down on the bed. “I think I should apologise to the both of you,” she started, her voice sounded warm, but slightly angry and hesitant at the same time. “But I’m not going to, because I’m still very angry, and disappointed, in you going into the city today, Rose.”

Rose wanted to speak up but Mrs. Weasley spoke again.

“What you two said about Dru is true, but to be honest with you, even we don’t exactly know what makes her tick yet, it was easy with you, Rose, but she has been raised different from how Arthur and I have raised our children. What I saw just now, how you two are just lying in bed together without any... funny business makes me so proud! But that’s not the issue. I promise that once things have settled down, we shall try and teach her some responsibility and boundaries.” Mrs. Weasley gently caressed Rose’s hair as she looked at George proudly. “It doesn’t take away, however, that you and Dru have crossed a line today, and yes, your punishment shall be to take care of that Boggart. If you can’t take care of it, I will, but you two are at least going to try. Remus told me that Harry butted in when you two were in his class with the Boggart.”

“You’re not going to take away my clothes then?”

“No, because you _are_ more responsible than I imagined, despite running off today. Just do not do that again.”

“Mum, about Dru... she is very responsible, but she’s lonely. She just misses Neville like crazy, and she knows she can’t see him. But you adults pay too little attention to her. She needs to feel safe here. And now only Rose and Tonks, if she’s here, do that.”

“I know, sweetheart,” Mrs. Weasley interrupted her son. “I’ve heard you the first time,” she smiled. “Now about you and Rose...”

He put both his arms around Rose and pulled her close to him. “Don’t take her away mum. Please you can take away my clothes, please do, in fact, as long as I keep her.” George spoke like his crazy self again.

“I _might_ give you two a little bit more freedom now that I know that not all you do is fool around with each other,” she smiled warmly. “Just not during the night.” she pointed out. “Come on, let’s have a late supper.”


	15. Karma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't make Rose angry

The days leading up to Harry's hearing, they spent the days with cleaning 12 Grimmauld Place, and even though Sirius didn't care about it, Mrs. Weasley was not going to let children sleep in a moldy and dusty old house without cleaning it first. Rose, George and Fred were a group, Ron, Hermione and Harry too, and Mrs. Weasley had Dru and Ginny, mostly to spend some quality time with Dru as well (even though cleaning was not fun, at all, and Rose didn't understand George and Fred's fascination with Doxy's, despite them wanting to experiment with their venom. Rose was just glad that they tested their stuff on themselves, when Rose wasn't with them).

Everyone was relieved when Harry got cleared at his hearing for using his patronus to protect his nephew, a muggle. It was ridiculous to start with, how else was he going to protect himself?

On top of that, Ron and Hermione had been made prefects and all their book lists were going to be expensive. Dru even complained that this year's books had almost made her a poor girl and she and Rose then got into a fight because Rose had been more than willing (and able) to buy Dru her books, but that Dru's pride had gotten in the way. She hadn't even accepted money from Tonks, who was her legal guardian.

Rose hated taking care of the Boggart. Even though Professor Lupin had taught them about making the Boggart easier to dispose of with making it look absolutely ridiculous, he hadn't actually taught them how to really get rid of it, but Mrs. Weasley kept an eye on the two girls as they walked into the drawing room.

"I really don't see why  _we_  have to take care of the Boggart," Dru started as she looked at the dresser containing the thing.

"You snuck out. This is your punishment," Molly Weasley said as she blocked the exit and crossed her arms over her chest. "Ask any of my children, I could do a lot worse than you having to face a Boggart."

"It's showing our worst fear, how much worse can you get?"

"As much as it does show your worst fear, it can also learn you how to deal with your fears as well, and maybe understand it a little bit better. Now, please, stop stalling." Mrs. Weasley opened the drawer and the Boggart slid out. It focused on Dru immediately and at first, it turned into Bellatrix LeStrange, but then it started to realise that she wasn't the thing that scared her the most, it was dead Neville.

Dru yelped as she jumped behind Rose, trembling. "I can't do this..."

"Yes you can," Rose said, pulling her friend next to her. "It's not real."

"But it... he looks so..." she was crying now and was trying to get away from Rose. "Rose, I can't..."

"Come here," Mrs. Weasley pulled Dru into a hug and caressed her back. "It's okay dear, it's okay..." She had an idea of what the girl was feeling, her own Boggart hadn't changed ever since she married Arthur and had given birth to her oldest, Bill. Molly's biggest fear was losing her family.

Rose bravely bit her lip as the Boggart had now begun to focus on her. As with Dru, her Boggart showed her previous fear first, for reasons unknown to her. However, Rose wasn't afraid of herself anymore. She wasn't the person she used to be, her grandfather and father were gone and now that she had George, she was certain that she wasn't going to end up on the wrong side of the fence.

Then, as the Boggart changed, she knew that she shouldn't have thought about George as the Boggart turned into a gravestone with George's name on it. Rose was nailed to the floor as Molly Weasley had started to sob. She had put Dru aside and stepped in front of Rose, brave as she was and the Boggart went through her entire family as she tried to get rid of it, but couldn't say the spell either. It wasn't until Harry started to yell (where did he come from?) that Professor Lupin took care of the Boggart, leaving the Mrs. Weasley and the two girls just very upset.

Rose just got really angry when Lupin said that the Boggart was 'just a stupid Boggart', but he was right. It hadn't been real. But it sure felt like it. She walked off to find George, while Harry tried to comfort Dru as well as he could (Rose was surprised that she had let him) and Lupin took care of Mrs. Weasley.

Rose walked into the boys' bedroom, her face ashen and her hands in her pockets looking to the floor. "Come here," George said and pulled her in his arms, close to him as he soothingly started to caress her back. "It's just a silly Boggart, I'm not going anywhere."

Fred just smirked, and with a puff of smoke (smoke bombs, they sure loved their smoke bombs), he disapparated into the kitchen downstairs to give his brother and his brother's girl some alone time.

* * *

Dru and Rose had never been send off to Hogwarts by this many people. Half the order went with them to send them off. Dru had been a bit nervous all day, seeing as it was the first time she would see Draco since she escaped the mansion. She had no idea how he was going to react to her. When they arrived at the platform, it took Dru no more than three seconds to see both Draco as the two people she had always called her parents.

While Narcissa wanted to make her way over to Dru the moment she saw her, Lucius hold her back. Draco didn't even look at his sister.

Dru's stomach started to turn. She wondered if she did the right thing by running away. suddenly she felt an arm around her. She turned her head to see Tonks was standing next to her.

"Can I trust you to behave yourself at Hogwarts?"

Dru had a devilish smile on her face. "Well, I've promised to take it slow, not to behave myself."

Tonks smiled and gave her cousin a kiss on her cheek. "Well, i'll talk to you soon. don't forget if you want to send me letters, send them to Grimmauld place. And you're going to stay there for christmas too."

Dru nodded and gave Tonks a hug. it was strange that she hardly knew Tonks, but she felt close to her all the same. "You behave yourself with Wolfy." Dru whispered.

"It's not Wolfy!" Tonks smiled and hugged her cousin back. "Now, go and find that boyfriend of yours."

Dru smiled and hugged the rest of the goodbye committee and waited for Rose to say goodbye to Lupin, so they could board the train.

"Don't have him have you grow up too soon," Lupin said kindly. "Or, actually, just don't grow up too soon, have a little fun and don't do things that I wouldn't do."

"That's so lame," Rose chuckled and hugged Professor Lupin, ignoring the looks from the children on the platform. "It's weird getting seen off."

"Good, then when you return for Christmas and Easter, we shall greet you with these Muggle banners, Tonks and I."

"Oh no," she groaned. "Please don't."

Lupin laughed heartily and gave her a pat on the head before Molly Weasley pulled her in her arms. "Take care of my boys!"

"Mum! You're embarrassing us! And her! And yourself!" Fred and George chorused while Fred rolled his eyes at his mother. "Don't worry, Remus, we'll be sure to get her in a lot of trouble!" Fred grinned as he set off a firecracker and threw it on the platform before he hopped on the train. "Come on, Georgie!" he laughed.

Rose put an arm around Dru as they walked inside the train, still trying to understand what just had happened. Sure, they had been living with these people for weeks now, but it was still hard to come to terms with the fact that there were so many people in one house that were looking after them now.

"Does this feels strange to you too?" Dru asked Rose as they followed the twins through the train.

"Yeah," she nodded. "It's weird."

Dru smiled and looked into the cabins they passed, trying to see if Neville had already boarded the train too.

"Not here, guys," Rose said with a smile. "There's someone with an entire train compartment all to himself! Keep walking!"

"See, I like that. Our girlfriend knows all the right places!" Fred laughed.

"Oi!" George said, hitting his brother on the head. "She's mine!"

"Oi, Fred, if Neville doesn't show up, you can be my spare." Dru said teasing. She and Fred had been thrown together a lot over the summer with Rose and George trying to spend time together.

"I'm already your spare," Fred chuckled and entered a nearly empty compartment. "Neville!" He said, hugging the boy in a dramatic fashion. "Oh I've missed you so much!"

"Get off him, Freddie," George chuckled and pulled his brother off Neville. "Let's give the two love birds some time alone! We'll be in the next one!"

Dru put her bag on an empty seat and nearly jumped into the seat next to him. "Hey babe."

"Hi," Neville smiled and hugged her tightly. "I've missed you!"

"Really? Why?" She loved teasing him.

"I really don't like the summer, it means that I can't see you every day."

Dru put her head on his shoulder. "Well, I'm yours until next summer."

"Good," he grinned and softly kissed her. "You look beautiful!"

Dru looked at her clothes. She still wasn't sure about her new look that she only just wearing today. "Rose picked them."

"Did you two go shopping?"

Dru smiled, she didn't mention the great escape to Neville in any of her letters. "Rose showed me around London."

"Oh, that's brilliant! She has been wanting to go there for quite some time now, I even covered for her last December when we were supposed to be visiting you. Did you like it?"

"It was so great. I've even got you two presents, but they're in my trunk. I'll give you one of them tomorrow." Dru kissed the tip of his nose.

"I just really missed you," Neville said as he softly kissed her lips and caressed her long black hair. "I really wished I could have come over and visited you at the Burrows again, I thought it was a really fun day."

"Well, we didn't stay at the Burrows much longer after you came around," Dru had not been allowed to tell Neville anything in her letters. "We had to move to another place.  _They_  didn't want me to go visit you." Her voice sounded bitter.

"Well, I didn't want you to come and visit me either," Neville said with a shrug. "What if your father would show up? My gran would go mental!"

Dru put her arms tightly around Neville. "I would have like to have stayed with you. Besides my  _father_  is in prison."

"Your uncle then," he chuckled. "Gran would have gone mental either way." He kissed her again, this time a bit longer than the last. "She did ask if you wanted to stay for Christmas."

Dru bit her lip. "Well, Tonks wanted me to go back to London, but... I'd rather go with you."

"I'm sure she won't mind," he smiled.

"Let see how it goes, but write Gran that I'm coming. We'll figure out how. I could always tell Tonks I stay at Hogwarts and go home with you." she laid down on her back and pulled Neville on top of her, while she kissed him.

"D'you think we've given them enough time to catch up?" Fred asked with a devious smile on his face as he fiddled with a whiz-bang (a safe one that didn't burn your hand or whatever, but still, a firecracker nonetheless).

"Leave them alone, Fred," George said as he put his arm around his Rose, who was finally reading through the papers he and Fred had made about WonderWitch. "What do you think, Rose? Is WonderWitch any good?"

"Still on the first page, George," she chuckled and shook her head. "You know what? I'm going to wait with reading this."

"You've waited long enough!" The twins chorused.

"We're on the train!" she groaned as she laid down on the bench with her head in George's lap. "Don't start testing those nasty sweets on the train, okay? I doubt you have the Doxy anti-venom on you."

"Yes mum," they chorused again and then burst out in laughter.

Rose closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, she had learned by now how to tune out the boys' excitement, but with George moving around all the time it was a little hard to deal with the moving train. She then got up and pulled George out of the seat before laying down again, leaving George looking at her in confusion. "Alright, I'll sit next to Fred, don't worry... you know that there are spells against travel sickness, don't you?"

Rose looked up to him with a smile. "I do, but you know... I don't really..." before Rose could finish her sentence, Fred had already cast the spell.

"You're welcome," he said nodding.

"I don't like it when magic gets used on me," she said as she sat up and took hold of the WonderWitch papers again. "Not that I don't trust you, Fred, but I've already had my fair share by people I loved and trusted."

"Are you angry?"

"Yes. No. Yes." she glared at the both of them. "Maybe. Thanks."

Suddenly there was a lot of noise and people yelling at each other from the compartment next to them. It didn't take long for Dru and Neville to come and joined Rose and the twins in their compartment. Dru was looking pretty angry, while Neville's red face showed huge embarrassment. They put their stuff down and sat down in seat opposite of each other, while a woman in a pink dress looked at them. "Do not let me catch you two again." she said, as she walked away.

Rose looked up at her friend and couldn't help but burst out in laughter. "Oh, I'm sorry..." she hiccuped. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Dru had her arms crossed over each other and tried to stare a hole in ground.

"Who's that?"

"Our new Teacher." Neville muttered with a now purple face.

Fred sat down between Rose and Neville. "Why did she yell at you, Neville dear boy?" he grinned while he but a brotherly arm around the boy. Fred knew he was going to like this.

"Snogging Dru's face off," Neville said blushing. Well, at least he wasn't stammering.

"And then some." Dru muttered while giving Neville a smile and pulled her shirt a bit further down.

"Leave them alone, Fred," Rose elbowed him in the ribs with a smile. "They haven't seen each other for weeks, so second base didn't come fast enough for them."

"You just continue reading and keep your nose out of romantic stuff," Fred said, petting Rose on the head like you would do to a dog that had done a good job. "I want to know more about that lady in pink!"

"We found you a girlfriend." Dru smiled.

"Oh yes, there's nothing more than I'd like to do than to fill her drawers with some  _Wildfire Whiz-bangs_  and point and laugh as she'll try to stun them."

"They replicate when you stun them," George nodded. "It's brilliant."

Dru smiled, got off her seat and pushed Fred of his. She then sat down next to Neville and leaned against him. "Are you okay?"

"Just spooked, that's all," Neville replied. "I mean... I know it's not possible but I could have sworn her eyes were shooting fireballs out of them."

Dru laughed and caressed his arm. "She was spooky. and I don't mean the dress." Dru turned her head towards Rose and smiled.

Rose was on page five of the huge stack of papers concerning WonderWitch and had gotten out her quill from her bag to scribble a lot and scratching out other things.

"Oh, she's got her quill out, I don't think she agrees with the Unicorn Urine." Fred said, peeking at the paper.

"Ew, Unicorn Urine? Who in their right mind would want to buy that?" Dru said and pulled an ugly face.

"Not girls, apparently," Fred replied with a sigh. "Well, we've got plenty of other things with Unicorn urine in it."

Rose then thought for a second before fiddling her own notebook with some of her old charms in it out of her bag and looked for one in particular. She scribbled it down and smirked at Fred who was smiling brightly.

"Georgie, I love our girlfriend."

"She's  _mine_ , Freddie!" George took a look at the paper himself and then smiled. "Girl charms! Wicked!"

Dru smiled as she looked at Rose. Dru loved the fact that the twins managed to get Rose thinking about fun things and not just about how the fate of the wizarding world was lurking in her head. She scooted over to Rose and read over her shoulder. "You are going to give her credit for all her work, aren't you?"

"No," Fred and George chorused. "She said she'd kill us if we did." Fred added with a smile. "In all honesty, I don't think she wants to be associated with it because mum will be so angry once she finds out that we're doing this, instead of getting a job at the ministry like dad."

"My Rosie isn't scared of your mother." Dru put an arm around Rose and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Are you, Rose?"

"Oh yes I am," she said, nodding. "She's one woman one shouldn't mess with." She rubbed her eyes and put her quill and notebook back in her bag. Reading the twins unreadable scribbles and trying to decipher it gave her a headache.

Dru rolled her eyes. "Rose, I understand that the twins wet their pants around their mother, seeing as they are little boys, but you're not really gonna tell me you're scared. Why should you be? Because she made you wear a pajama for a month?"

"It's the yelling and screaming that comes with it," she nodded. "Hurts the ears."

"Ah, but she yells and screams with love, from the bottom of her heart," George pointed out with a smile.

"Which is very very frightening."

Dru shook her head. "You guys are fussies. Rose and I snuck out to go to London and all we had to do is clean for a few days, which we had to do anyway. God, if you call that punishment." Dru closed her eyes as she leaned against Neville's chest.

"Yes, how is it that after your encounter with the Boggart, you clung onto Tonks for a few days, sobbing your eyes out whenever you thought of it?" Fred countered with a smile.

Dru gave him a dirty look. "Shut up, Fred." She hadn't told the boys what her Boggart was and Harry had been chivalrous enough to do the same. She didn't want anyone to find out that she saw Neville's dead body. It was hard enough that she saw it in her dreams every night.

"I actually don't think it was a real punishment either, Mum was shaking like a leaf for days too, and hugged us whenever she could," Fred continued with a shrug. "Maybe your real punishment for sneaking out like that will come over Christmas holiday."

Rose groaned. She hadn't thought of that. "We're doomed."

"I'm not." Dru smiled and looked at Neville, who was busy with fussing over a tiny, moving cactus he was now holding in his hand. "I've got other plans."

"Ohhhh!" the twins chorused with big smiles on their faces.

"Yeah, but you're going to be quiet about it. I'm telling Tonks i'm staying at Hogwarts for the holiday."

Rose wanted to say that it would be better not to lie, but she knew that in this case, Dru probably had to. "That's a great idea," she nodded with a smile. "You deserve that."

"Maybe you and George should stay at Hogwarts too, then maybe you can move up from second base to third base." Dru chuckled.

This made Neville look up at Rose. "You? Second Base?"

"Not quite, we're getting there..." Rose blushed and decided that the WonderWitch papers  _were_  interesting again.

"Oi, Dru! Leave my Rosie alone. She's doing this responsibly and not rushing anything." George said. Dru had been teasing Rose the last weeks and it was starting to get on George's nerves.

"Knock it off, George," Neville was annoyed and looked at the taller boy, two years his senior, but he didn't care too much right now. "I can't help it that my girlfriend is a bit more adventurous than yours."

"Would you two stop? Please?" Rose said frustrated. "There is no competition! You might as well get your... your..." she thought for a second and shook her head. " _wands_  out and see which one is the longest!" she then looked at Dru. "Dru, I love you, but please, let me do things in my own pace, okay? I'm happy enough that George has been  _extremely_  patient with me, but you nagging us on is  _not_  helping." She climbed out from her seat and grabbed the papers before moving towards another table.

"I was only joking." Dru said as George and Fred moved to Rose's new table too.

"I'm getting tired of those jokes," Rose said frustrated as she sat down and smacked the papers on the table. There were a lot of girls on Hogwarts her age that would  _love_  to move fast with their boyfriends, in fact, Rose had even seen that last year. And those boys just loved it all. Maybe that was normal, maybe it wasn't, but Rose was glad that she had George, who was patient enough to stick with her and her craziness. Dru just frustrated her when it came to those jokes. Rose wasn't Dru, although Rose wished that sometimes, Dru was a little bit like Rose.

"I really was." She muttered to Neville.

"Don't worry," he said, soothingly as he caressed her leg. "I know, they just don't understand you like I do."

Dru gave him a kiss on his cheek and put her head on his shoulder. George's comment about Rose been responsible for not moving fast was still echoing in her head.

"Hello," a high pitched but soft voice sounded. When Neville looked at where the sound was coming from, he saw a short girl with long blond hair standing next to the table. She looked almost angelic in a way. "You're Neville Longbottom, aren't you. Congratulations on your special project," she smiled.

Dru lifted her head up from his shoulder. "What special Project?"

"Oh..." Neville said and looked at Dru. "Professor Sprout asked me to teach students who need it some extra herbology for extra credit too," he then looked back at the girl. "Uhm... thanks?"

"I'm Luna Lovegood," she replied in the same tone of voice she had when she had started to speak, so she was probably not faking it. "And you're welcome, here's a copy of the Quibbler for you, my father owns the magazine."

"Your father owns that magazine?" Dru tried not to laugh. The Quibbler was a magazine with weird stories, more based on fairytales and myths than on reality.

"Go ahead, laugh all you want," Luna replied calmly. "But most of the time the Quibbler  _is_  right about certain things, like Nargles, nasty little things."

Dru now couldn't help but to giggle. "Nargles?"

Neville nudged Dru and gave her an angry look. "Thank you for the magazine." he said to Luna.

Luna smiled. "I think having you as a tutor is going to be nice." She then got up and left again.

"You're going to tutor her?" Dru asked.

"A handful of first years, yes, why?" Neville smiled. "Aren't you proud of me?"

"She's not a first year. She's a fourth year." Dru wasn't smiling back.

"Looks like you got competition for Neville's tutoring skills this year." Fred chuckled, remembering that Neville tutoring Dru usually ended up with them making out in the greenhouse.

"She won't be the only one I'll be tutoring! I mean...  _you're_  in the group too, you know, professor Sprout thinks that you could use all the tutoring you can get!"

"Well that makes me feel loads better." Dru shot at Neville, turned around and looked out the window.

"Someone's jealous." George grinned at Fred.

"Well, you know what happens if Neville tutors girls. Not only plants fall in love with him." Fred grinned back.

Dru got up from her seat and walked out of the compartment. She stood in the empty corridor and wanted to get some fresh air. She knew what Neville was like around plants; charming and funny.

"Guys, really?" Rose shot at them.

"We're just messing with her." they chorused.

"It's not funny," she said and shook her head. "That's like... messing with me for being  _slow_."

"Yeah, well she's got no problem with that, has she? What goes around, comes around." George simply said with a shrug.

Rose looked at him for a while, thinking, and knew that he was right. But it wasn't fair either. "Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you," she muttered and took a sip of her pumpkin juice that she had hidden in her bag. She also knew that it wasn't  _her_  place to go over and comfort her friend. "Neville, go apologise to your girlfriend," Rose shot at him and used one of the twins' firecrackers to get him out of his seat.

"For what?"

"For being a chick magnet, go on." Fred said, getting up from his spot and hauling Neville to his feet before shoving him into the general direction of Dru. "Sod this, I'm tired of being alone, I'm going to find Angelina and see if she wants to hook up." he threw his hands up in the air and started to walk down the other corridor, in search for the girl he went to Yule ball with and had been dating off and on since.

Neville found Dru looking out of a window in the corner of a deserted corridor. "Dru, why are you so upset?"

Dru looked down. "I...I don't …."She took a deep breath and looked out of the window again. "Luna is very pretty girl."

Neville chuckled as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Dru, how do I have prove to you I'm mad for you and no one else." he gently started kissing her neck and shoulder.

Dru tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She loved it when he kissed her like that. "This is a good start."

Neville put his hands on her hips, turned her around and kissed her fiercely.

Dru pushed Neville against the wall and pressed herself against him as she kissed him back.

Dru and Neville got so caught up in their kiss that they hadn't noticed that they weren't alone anymore.

Suddenly Dru got pulled away from Neville bij Goyle. Neville wanted to stop him, but Zabini and Crabbe grabbed him and threw him back against the wall and held him there.

Goyle had Dru pressed against another wall and was holding her wrists. "Well, what do we have here?"

"Let me go, Greg." Dru tied to reason with him, even though she was getting scared.

"I don't think I will." Goyle said and stood even closer to her. He was so tall and wide than Neville was and as he was looking at Goyle's back, he could hardly see Dru anymore.

"Let her go!" He said, but he couldn't move Crabbe was holding his arm up pressed against Neville's throat.

Goyle shot a look at Neville, before turning to Dru. "You're just giving it away to everyone nowadays, aren't you? You little slut." His whispering voice was even more treatmening than his actions were.

"Let me go." Dru yelped and tried to get away by kneeing him in his groin.

But before she could get away, he grabbed her by her throat and pushed her back against the wall. She could barely breathe as tears were running down her face.

Neville was now desperately trying to escape to help Dru, but he couldn't get out of the grip of his attackers.

Suddenly they could hear the trolley coming down the corridor. "We'll continue this another time." Goyle whispered in Dru's ear and gave her a kiss on her cheek, while she still struggled to get away. He let her go and she plummeted to the ground, clasping her chest, trying to get her breath back to normal. Goyle left the corridor, before Crabbe and Zambini let Neville go and left the corridor too.

Neville quickly made his way over to Dru and took her in his arms. "Are you alright?" he asked quickly before moving the both of them away from the trolley's path. "Dru?"

She shook her head and put her head against her chest. She was still having trouble to breathe properly.

"I'm going to kill them," he said before picking her off the floor.

"No, don't." Dru's voice was soft and small. She was hanging on to the front of Neville's shirt. "They'll kill you."

"Well, then I'll get Harry and Ron, I'm sure they would love to help out!"

"Please don't. You'll make it worse." She opened her mind, trying to get through to Rose. She wanted her friend to come and help stop Neville from doing anything stupid.

Neville saw the compartment with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in it and though it would be safe enough to take Dru in there.

"What the bloody hell happened to her?" Ron asked and got of his seat so Neville could lie Dru down on it.

"Crabbe, Zambini and Goyle, that's what," Neville spat.

"Yeah, and you're not going to do anything about it," Rose's voice sounded, she sounded a little bit like the old Rose, before her father obvliated her mind. Dru had sent her the imagery of what had happened and the feeling that she was afraid that Neville would do something stupid.

"Rose, what did they do to her?" Harry asked.

"What do you think? She's not a Malfoy anymore now, is she?" Rose checked Dru over and had her sit up instead of lying down. "Sit up, it makes you breathe easier," she smiled at her friend. "But not to worry, I have the perfect idea to get our revenge."

Dru was desperately trying to hold on to Neville's wrist. She didn't want him to leave her.

"What is it?" Neville looked at Rose, he so desperately wanted to go after Crabbe, Zambini and Goyle, knowing that they'd try again if they got the chance.

"Oh I can't tell you that," she said with an all knowing smile. "If I tell you, you'd be my accomplices!"

"It's terrifying how much she sounds like Fred and George..." Ron muttered as he closed the compartment door.

"Neville." Dru was trying to get him to sit down next her.

"Just, relax, okay?" Rose smiled widely. "Don't let her out of your sight, or wander the halls alone until I've had my fun with those boys. I'll get right on the path of revenge when we're at Hogwarts."

She received blank looks from Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville. "Trust me?"

"I'll go with you," Harry said, nodding, realising that whatever she was planning was going to be big. "I have a nifty cloak, you see."

"Alright," Rose nodded. "I'll go and work out some kinks, we'll discuss the details later."

As Neville was still standing, Dru stood up to crawl up against him, but she could barely stand on her legs.

"Neville, just sit down with her," Rose said tiredly and pushed the both of them on the seat, before reaching for Ron's drink and handed it to Dru. "Drink up."

Dru did what she was told, and then leaned against Neville. She was still shaking and she wanted him to hold her so she would feel safe.

Neville put his arm around her and sighed. "Fine, I'll leave it up to you then, Rose."

Rose grinned. "You won't be disappointed."

* * *

After arriving at Hogwarts, and everyone was sent to their dormitories to unpack and go to sleep, she and Harry Potter (of all people) made their way towards the Great Hall underneath his cloak so she could work her magic. It felt weird to do this, considering she hadn't used a single spell ever since she had returned from her few months in hiding, scared that something bad would happen, but for Dru? She was going to do this.

The next morning, at breakfast, Rose was sitting between Dru and George and smiled. She hadn't told Fred and George anything, because she didn't want them to get into trouble for something she had done. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore could do anything they wanted, but the twins would always speak the truth, they had nothing to do with what was just about to happen. She was taking a sip from her tea when all of a sudden screams and cries came from the Slytherin table. All the benches were suddenly floating in the air with all the students still on them and there was fireworks and exploding food and their hair and skin turned into freaky colors that would be a pain for Madame Pomfrey to figure out. A bright pink and purple banner fell from the ceiling above the students with one word, mostly a muggle word, but one word nonetheless: Karma. Suddenly, the dark house of Slytherin didn't look all that impressive anymore.

The teachers were shocked, Snape was trying to get his students down safely, and other teachers were scanning the faces of the other houses, to see who was laughing harder than the other, but it was kinda hard to tell, the whole scene was hilarious. Rose thought she saw Draco cry.

"Brilliant, that is," Fred and George chorused. "Who's responsible for that?"

Dru put her head on Rose's shoulder. "Thank you, Rose." she whispered while a weak smile had appeared on her face.

"You're welcome," she grinned and put an arm around her friend. "It's pretty loud, isn't it?"

Dru sat up straight again and took another piece of toast. "I like a bit of noise." She said.

All of a sudden McGonagall was standing right behind Fred and George. "Mr. and Mr. Weasley, would you like to come with me?"

"For what, professor?" Fred asked innocently, or actually tried to sound innocent. After years of pulling jokes on Hogwarts it was hard to be the innocent one, wasn't it?

"Do you think  _we_  are responsible for this?" George asked confused. "No way," he laughed. "Hey Freddie, I think we're getting blamed for something we didn't do!"

"If it's not you, then who is it?" McGonagall countered as she pulled the boys to their feet. "Certainly not your brother, or sister."

"But..."

"No buts, we're going to discuss the terms of your detention."

Rose sighed, she didn't want George and Fred to get into trouble. "Wait!" she said as she got up. "It wasn't them."

"Rose's right. I heard a group of Hufflepuff yesterday on the train planning a joke on the Slytherins." Hermione piped up.

"As much as I would like to believe that coming from you, Miss Granger, I don't."

"But it's true professor. They were mad, because...Malfoy and his friends were making really hurtful comments about Cedric and the way he died. The Hufflepuffs got upset."

Professor Sprout looked at her students while Snape was still trying to get his down. "Is that true?"

"Yes professor!" The Hufflepuffs chorused with a sad face, deciding to play along with Hermione's explanation, because this was a prank well done.

The two teachers looked at each other, both with confused looks on their faces before turning to Dumbledore who had a faint smile on his lips. He couldn't admit it, but Rose knew that he was amused. "I do not condone this sort of behavior," he eventually said. "For today, we shall leave this be, but please, the next time you will go to your head of house before you do something as elaborate as this, have I made myself clear?"

"Yes professor, sorry professor," the Hufflepuffs said in unison.

"Now, continue with your breakfast while we try to get those poor Slytherin students down from floating around like that."

It was still amusing to see how they were scared out of their wits, as Rose sat down again and continued to drink her tea. "Thanks Hermione," she whispered as soon as McGonagall was out of earshot.

"Well.." Hermione looked at Dru, who was talking and laughing with Neville. "...we're friends now, aren't we? and friends stick together."

"That was you?" Fred and George looked at Rose. "Blimey, remind me never to make  _you_  angry!"

"No one touches my Dru and gets away with it," Rose simply said as she calmly drank her tea.


	16. Allegiances

They had already received a glimpse of who the woman in pink was during the Hogwarts opening feast, but Rose couldn't believe her ears when she, Professor Umbridge, wanted to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts without actual spells. Not that Rose particularly minded for herself, charms were very different than offending spells, but she didn't really wanted to have her fellow students utterly defenseless either for when the war would come.

Everything theoretical? This was going to be a long year! Harry and Hermione of course, were very vocal about this, especially Harry. As Umbridge was working for the Ministry, she was convinced that Harry was making things up and had him written up for detention. Which was weird, Harry in detention.

Harry had been a bad mood ever since the end of summer, but now Dru was getting in a bad mood too. Half the teachers thought it would be better to separate Neville and Dru in their classroom. It wasn't that Rose disagree with them, but Dru was getting crabby about it.

The only they could work together now, were Herbology, Charms and History of Magic. Even professor McGonagall had Dru sit with Lavender en Patty after she realized that Neville and Dru were paying even less attention to class then before.

So by the time Umbridge separated them and put Neville on the other side of the classroom during the second DADA lesson, Dru was livid. "I hate that woman. I even prefer Lockhart at this point."

Rose snorted as she thought about the professor. "Not in Lockhart's current state, I hope." Fred and George had complained about Umbridge because she had sat in during their Charms class and had been too nosey for her own good. Umbridge had been made High Inquisitor by the Ministry of Magic and she seemed to be enjoying herself  _a little_  too much. Rose had wanted to speak up during Divination, where she, Umbridge, had been particularly mean to Trelawney, but decided she'd rather didn't.

Dru gave a weak smile. "If we're not going to use magic, we might as well be drawing pictures with Lockhart." She kept looking over to Neville. Umbridge had made him sit Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbot, who now sat in front of the boys, kept looking behind her and smiling at Neville. "I can't believe her. She knows he's my boyfriend." Dru was pushing the quill down on the paper so hard it broke the tip. "Damn it."

"Miss Malfoy, is something the matter?" Umbridge's voice sounded before appearing right at her side in a surprisingly fast manner. Rose wondered how on earth someone could sound so perky all the time.

"I broke my quill." Dru muttered and searched her bag for another, before she realised she had put them in Neville's by mistake during breakfast. "I think Neville got my other quill, Professor." She wanted to get up, to over to him and them, but Umbridge stopped her.

Umbridge suppressed a giggle. "Do you think I'm fooled that easily?" she said as she pushed Dru back down in her seat. "No, I have just separated you. I suppose you'll have to do with a broken quill for the rest of class."

"She can have one of mine," Rose offered before reaching for her bag.

"Leave it alone, Miss Shepherd, you are not responsible for Miss Malfoy's incapability to take care of her own utensils."

"I broke it, that could happen to anyone." Dru said, not even Snape was this unreasonable to the Gryffindor students.

"Yes, but it happened to you and your backup is in someone else's bag. Now, I don't like it when my students talk back at me, if I hear one more word coming out of your mouth, you will be in detention." Umbridge walked back to her desk.

"Stupid Toad Face." Dru muttered, while giving her an angry look. "Auw." Harry had kicked her from his seat to shut Dru up, he knew all too well what would happen in Umbridge's detentions. In fact, he had to go after dinner, this time for talking about Voldemort and Quirrell.

"Come join Harry in detention tonight, Miss Malfoy." Umbridge's voice sounded and when she turned around to sit at her desk again, she was smiling widely.

Rose rolled her eyes at Dru.  _I told you to play nice, and this is what you do?_  she thought to her friend.

_I broke the end of my quill and I can't even borrow yours!_

_I know, but she does sort of have a point..._

_I didn't do it on purpose. We're working on his potions homework and we were running late, so I threw my stuff in my bag, well apparently his, by accident._

_You don't have to explain yourself to me, you'll have to do it to her tonight!_  Rose was glad that DADA was the last class of the day before dinner, before she could retreat to the common room and go through every single class of the day in her head, to make sure she hadn't missed anything. Sure, maybe she was turning into some sort of Hermione clone but she didn't trust her head to actually have learned something during the day. It drove George nuts.

He said down next to her and gave her a kiss on her shoulder. "Are you ever going to put his stuff down and play being my girlfriend again?" He started fiddling with the hem of her school skirt. One thing he liked about Umbridge that all the girls had to wear skirts again instead of choosing between skirts and trousers.

"I..."

"You've pulled off the biggest charms prank ever, the first day back in school, do you honestly think that you're stupid?"

"That was one of my old ones..."

"That's sixth year stuff you pulled. You're so much better than you think." George pulled Rose on his lap. "Now maybe it's time you focused on some seventh year stuff." He gently kissed her.

She chuckled and answered his kiss, putting her arms around his neck and shifting in his lap so they both were more comfortable. "Any ideas?" she smirked as she gently broke off the kiss and looked him in the eyes.

George got a devious smile on his face. "Dru's in detention right now, isn't she?" He kissed Rose in her neck, just below her ear lobe. "That means the greenhouse is free."

"Yes..." she answered. "And no... Neville's there with his group of students who are most likely to fail Herbology."

"Well, we could find another classroom," George kept kissing her neck and her shoulder. He hadn't had the chance to fool around with Rose, ever since Lupin caught them, more than a month ago. He had missed her.

She thought for a second and shook her head, realising that Umbridge was going to patrol the corridors that night after "taking care" of Harry and Dru. "We'll be caught, I'm sure," she smiled and buried her fingers in his hair before kissing him on his lips again.

"Come Rose, aren't you the one that told Neville to live a little last year?"

"Yes, and as much as I would want to, tonight is not a good idea," she said slowly. "Trust me."

He groaned and decided to kiss her the way he wanted to in the common room then. He kissed Rose and pulled her closer to him. Besides some first years, no of the other students seem to be surprised at the display of affection. They had been getting used to seeing Fred and Angelina, so George kissing his girlfriend, was not all that different, besides, they knew that Rose and George would keep things kid friendly.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" she grinned as she looked at him after a while. "Having a girlfriend who can sort of tell if trouble is on its way."

"Well, I don't know if I want be caught making out with you by Umbridge. Neville told me he's still a bit too spooked to sneak off with Dru right now."

"On top of that, the only reason Dru's in detention is because her other quills were in Neville's bag, and Umbridge had separated us girls from the boys in class, so when hers broke, she couldn't get a new one, despite me offering one of mine."

"That's not fair. Everybody can break or lose his quill."

"I think we're going to be in a heap of trouble with Umbridge this year," Rose sighed. She hadn't dared to look that far into the future, she was keeping things closer now.

George gently kissed her. "What's life without a little trouble?" he grinned. He started to play with her hair as he was about to give her another kiss, when Harry and Dru came back from detention. This made several people look, because Harry was rubbing Dru's back, as she was crying.

"Dru!" Rose climbed off George's lap and ran to her friend. "What did she do?" she put her arms around Dru and held her tightly. In the absence of Neville, Rose would have to do.

Dru and Harry looked at each other for a second. Both of them didn't want the other ones to know. "She was just being horrible." Dru had covered her hands with her sleeves so nobody could see the blood on her hand.

"She was making comments about her and Neville." Harry lied.

"Where is he anyway?" Dru asked as she let Rose go.

"Still in the greenhouse with his students..." Hermione said hesitantly.

Dru growled. She had learned that besides Luna, Hannah Abbot was one of his new students. This was making Dru very uncomfortable.

"I saved you some pumpkin juice, you want some?" Rose offered before walking back to the table where all her books were spread out over it.

Dru followed her and sat down on the other side of the table. She got out her quills and parchment as she was still behind on Divinations, History and Herbology. Like Rose, she was also struggling to remember her homework. She opened her herbology book and picked up her kitten, who had grown tremendously over the last two months.

George looked at the two girls struggling with their homework and decided that while he could try to pull them away from it, he might as well join them. "Give me your Charms homework, I'll check it over." he said to Rose.

"Charms is easy," Rose said with a smile. "I think. I thought it was." she wasn't so sure now. She looked at her parchments and pulled out her homework from underneath the stack.

While the girls were doing their homework and he was helping them, Neville had returned and had quietly joined them. After an hour or so, George sighed and sounded a bit disappointed. "I have no idea why you girls are having doubts about yourself."

Dru looked up from her book. "Because we suck. Go play with Moggy, Holly." She said as she put her cat back on the floor.

"You don't," both Neville and George said. "Honestly, these are flawless. Now, put down your books and do something fun," George added before he closed Rose's book.

Dru gave Rose a weak smile. she knew the boys meant well, but they didn't get it. Rose and Dru never had any problems with any subject, besides Herbology which was a struggle for them both. Now they had to work to remember it all and that wasn't an easy thing to do.

"Sweetie?" Rose said sweetly before crawling into George's lap with a smile on her face that usually meant trouble. "I know that you mean well, but even though Dru and I were declared fully healthy after what happened last year, something has changed." she nodded to Dru. "She had her head restored by Snape. My father was a bit overeager when he obliviated me. On top of that, I missed a couple of months of school. It's hard work, being smart." she softly kissed him.

George smiled. "But you're overdoing it. You're studying too hard. This way you're getting too much stuff in your head to remember it all. You need a bit of a... distraction." He caressed her leg as he kissed her neck.

"I'm actually afraid that one day I'll see your head explode," Neville said to Dru.

"It won't." Dru said as she gently pat his arm, before pulling it back quickly. Her sleeves had rode up and her bloody scar had been visible.

"What was that?" Neville's eyes grew big. "What did she make you do?"

"Nothing." Dru said, trying to act like nothing wrong, but gently pulled her sleeve back over the back of her hand to to cover her hand again.

"That was blood!" he then looked at Harry and shot him a look. "Is she drawing blood while you're in detention? You must tell Dumbledore!"

"It's fine, it's nothing," Harry replied with a shrug.

"Yet," Rose said, before getting off George's lap. She collected all of her stuff and shoved them in her bag. "Good night everyone," she said as she kissed her boyfriend. "Night George."

"It's nothing to be concerned about.' Dru started down at her book, hoping Neville would let it go. She was gently rubbing the back of her hand. It hurt even more after that, but she didn't want Neville to read what was on it.

"I don't like it," Hermione spoke up as she, Ron and Harry joined them at the table. "She honestly believes the Ministry about not teaching us practical spells in class, and her idea of detention is just barbaric!"

"Just drop it, Hermione. Look, Harry and I already decided to watch our mouths," Dru could still feel the pain in her hand increase as if her hand was just realising what happened to it. She couldn't imagine what Harry must have gone through the previous week in detention, and felt sorry for him for having a few more sessions with Umbridge this week.

"We all know that you-know-who is back," she hissed as she looked around the table. "We need to fight for practical lessons."

"Don't be ridiculous," Both Harry and Ron chorused and shook their heads. "That's madness, we can't win from Umbridge."

"We'll see," she said with a smile on her face as she relaxed in the chair, before noticing that Dru was working on her homework for History. "Would you like some help with that?"

"Yeah, but not tonight if you don't mind," She closed her book. She was still rubbing her hand.

"What did she make you write anyway?" Ron asked. He knew what line Harry had to write, but Dru hadn't lied in class.

"Nothing." Dru muttered as she shook her head. She pulled her hands towards her chest.

Harry knew what Umbridge had made her write and couldn't help but to shoot a quick glance at Neville. He felt bad for the girl, because his line was not as personal as hers.

Neville took Dru's wrist and pulled it gently towards him and pulled up her sleeve.

 _I must not be promiscuous_  was now etched into her skin.

Hermione saw it too. She got out the ointment she used on Harry's scar and gave it to Neville, before ushering the boys to leave the two alone.

"That's just mean," Neville muttered as he gently started to rub the ointment into Dru's skin. "You're not promiscuous, you're better looking than her, that's the problem."

Dru gave a weak smile. "Well everybody seems to think so."

"Well, I don't." he softly kissed her. "And who thinks so? I'll make sure that they'll wake up in hives one day, I have enough plants at the greenhouse."

"Tonks...Rose...George...Hermione...Toad face...Lupin...Sirius...Mrs Weasley. Do you want me to go on?" She had kissed him between every name.

"Well, Rose, George and Hermione are easy targets... it's the rest that's a little hard to get to," Neville said as he put the ointment on the table and caressed her hair. "That woman is bonkers."

Dru smiled at the idea that Neville actually wanted to get revenge. "You're sweet, do you know that?" She gave him a kiss on his cheek as she turned in her seat, so she was now facing him. "I've missed your silliness." she caressed his cheek.

"I don't like it when people hurt you," Neville muttered. "But from now on I'll make sure that your stuff is in your bag at all times so that this won't happen again."

"Neville, it's not your fault. I... well maybe calling her a stupid toad face wasn't a good idea."

"Not really, she's meaner than Snape!" he put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "You need to be more careful who you mouth off to, and why didn't Rose say anything about Umbridge? You'd think that with her gift she'd have said something about her."

"She's not using her gift. She's scared of it." Dru climbed on to Neville's lap. "I'm worried about her. She should be learning how to control it better, not shut it off."

"Well, I can imagine that she's scared of it, look what happened when she actively used it... it wasn't really a great experience, was it? Gran was close to writing a howler to Rose, blaming her for what happened, she nearly sent it off to, but Dumbledore sent her a letter explaining it all."

"Of course he did." Dru muttered bitterly.

"That letter said that neither she or you should be blamed for what happened last year. Gran didn't want to send you a howler because she knows that I am in love with you, no matter what happens. She didn't want to break us up." he then smiled. "And that's saying something, you know. She thought you were wrong for me."

Dru looked at Neville with a shocked face. "But you said she was happy that a girl like me likes a boy like you. You lied to me."

"No, she did actually say that. Before saying that you'd break my heart one day," Neville shrugged. "I didn't tell you that, because she was wrong about that anyway."

Dru looked down, she could feel tears coming in her eyes. She had always thought that Mrs Longbottom was one of the few people that was on board with Neville and Dru being an item from the start. Now learning that she hadn't been, was increasing the feeling that Dru wasn't good enough for him. Dru got up from Neville''s lap, walked to the fire and stood infront of it. "Why does anybody believe I'm not my mother?" she muttered.

"It's not that, it's because your last name is Malfoy and well... gran doesn't like any Malfoy, but we've proven to her that you're the best Malfoy ever. Rose had given her a good sit down too, last year." Neville made his way over to Dru and put his arms around her. "People who hate someone just because of their last name is just... it's even worse than being a Malfoy, isn't it?"

Dru turned around so she was now facing him. "You didn't tell her the truth, did you? She doesn't know who I really am, does she?" She had wanted to ask him that for over a year now, but never had the courage to. she always feared Neville wouldn't have told his Gran that his girlfriend's mother was responsible for her son's and daughter-in-law's fate.

"It would break Gran's heart..." he admitted. "Same reason I didn't tell her that for a week she was housing Barty Jr's offspring. She would have pulled me right out of school."

Dru pushed Neville's arms away. "She's never going to approve of this. She already thinks I'm wrong for you. What if she learns what my real last name is?"

"We'll deal with that if it comes out, but Dru, she likes you now, honestly. She knows that labels are wrong, but she never got over the fact that mum and dad... well... it hurts her more than it hurts me to be honest..."

Dru was now crying. "Maybe she's right! Maybe I'm wrong for you." She took a few more steps away from Neville.

"You're not wrong for me. Gran's wrong, but Gran is Gran. I told you about her, she's very old fashioned and set in her ways."

Dru shook her head. "This is what everybody thinks. Not just her." she turned around to walk up to the dormitory. Despite the common room being empty, she didn't want someone to hear what she and Neville were talking about

"Well I don't think that way! That should be the most important thing!" he walked after her and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Dru, please stop running away from me?"

"Maybe we should start to listen to what everybody's telling us." Dru couldn't help noticing that there were so many people trying to pull them apart, or at least slow them down. "I mean.. I want to be with you more than you even realise, but …"

"We're going too fast, aren't we?" Neville said softly. "I'm so sorry... why didn't you stop me when-"

Dru smiled. "Neville, we're not going fast enough on my account. I want you."

"Then why do I have the feeling that you're going to tell me that we have to slow things down?"

"Me?" Dru put her hand on his cheek as she took a step closer to him. "You're the one who barely kissed me, since Um-we got caught on the train."

"She scares me!" he gently lifted up her hand and kissed it. "Look what she's done to you. I think we should just get a little bit more creative, we should be certain that we're alone, that's all."

Dru smiled. "We're alone now." She kissed him and she gently pushed him in the direction of the sofa.

He lifted her off her feet and with a few long strides they were at the sofa. He kept kissing her as he laid her down on it and smiled. This was great.

Dru grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him on top her as she kissed his full on his lips. she had been wanting to do this for months now. "I want you." she whispered in his ear.

Neville didn't hesitate for a second. He pushed up her shirt as he slipped both of his hands underneath it. She moaned underneath his touch, his cold hands were heating up at the touch of her warm skin. Neville could feel how her legs wrapped around him as he pulled her shirt off. He couldn't help but gently fondling her breast as he deepened the kiss. Dru felt glorious underneath him and he felt his blood rush through his entire body.

"What in the name of Godric Gryffindor are you two doing?" McGonagall's voice shrieked as she spelled the two youths apart. "Have you completely lost your minds?" she glared at them. Neville had stained his trousers, and was handing Dru her shirt as he tried not to look at her. "I came here to check up on you, Miss Malfoy, seeing as you had detention with Professor Umbridge, but I suppose you're doing alright."

 _Neville was helping me feel better_  Dru tried her best not to laugh. "I'm okay. I'd better go to bed." Dru wanted to leave the common room, so McGonagall would hopefully let Neville go too. She felt bad for him, she knew too well he was easily embarrassed.

McGonagall sighed. "You remind me of your cousin, Tonks," she spoke and took another deep breath as if to calm herself down."'I don't want to know more of this. I'm going to write letters to your pa...caretakers tomorrow. Now off you go... and Neville, I suggest you clean yourself up a little bit first."

Neville had turned beet red as he fled upstairs to the bathroom. The common room was not the place. They had to find some place else to be together.

Dru got to her bedroom and sat down on her bed. The rush of adrenaline was still racing through her body. She had never felt like this before. Maybe tonight hadn't went as she wanted it to, but she wasn't going to give this up.

Dru looked at rose sleeping and giggled. If only Rose knew what Dru had been up to. Dru got off her bed and gently woke Rose. "Rose, you're not going to believe what just happened."

Rose sleepily looked at Dru. "You better have a good reason to wake me from my pleasant dreams," she said calmly and sat up. "What happened? Are you okay?" She went from drowsy to alert in a split second. If anything had happened to Dru  _again_ , she wouldn't forgive herself.

"I felt it, Rose." Dru gushed a little kid that just opened her christmas present. "But we need your help."

"You felt what?" As it appeared, she didn't have a reason to be this hyper alert about her friend.

"Neville's ...wand. We need your help finding a place where we're not going to be disturbed."

Rose blinked at her, not knowing what to say. It was also quite weird that Dru asked for her help, because she knew that Rose wanted her and Neville to at least slow down a little. "I'll talk to Harry in the morning, maybe he'll lend you the map," she said curtly.

"Oh Rose, it was so good! I… I'm so making the right choice with this." Dru let herself drop on her back.

"I doubt that, but apparently you two are unstoppable, no matter what I say, no matter what others say." Rose laid down again and pulled her blankets over herself. If trying to stop them had resulted into this, then maybe she should go along with Dru's ideas. Maybe that would stop her. "I promise, I'll talk to Harry about the map tomorrow."

* * *

The next day during Herbology Hermione had sat down next to Rose. Herbology was the only lesson that Dru could still sit next to Neville for the time being. "She's really thinking about doing it?" Hermione asked as she flipped a page in her book, pretending to read.

"Yep," Rose sighed. "I'm not even going to try and stop her anymore, she must realise it herself that she's going too fast with him, even if it means that  _I_ am getting into trouble with Tonks or Mrs. Weasley."

"I overheard professor McGonagall telling Professor Sprout what happened. They decided that Dru is getting a different tutor for the Herbology that she doesn't quite grasp yet. And she wrote a letter to Tonks and Neville's Grandmother this morning." Hermione couldn't help a small smile appearing on her face. the idea of Neville having explain what happened to his Grandmother, was a funny thing.

Rose winced. "For Dru's sake, I hope that Tonks isn't going to send a howler to chew her out in front of the entire school like what happened when Harry and Ron took the flying car in the second year..."

Hermione laughed. "Or Neville's grandmother." Hermione glanced over to Harry. "Rose, I'm a bit worried."

"You shouldn't be worried about Dru and Neville, they'll be okay in the end," Rose hadn't followed Hermione's gaze, she was reading her book instead.

"I doubt that, I told Harry not to give them his map. But I was talking about Umbridge. You believe Harry too, don't you. We need to be getting prepared."

"We  _all_  believe Harry, Hermione," Rose replied, the all being all the children who were present at Grimmauld Place that summer. "In fact, I knew long before he did," she said with a faint smile. "I'm not agreeing with Umbridge's teaching methods either, but if it's what the thickheaded Ministry officials want... It's not like we have a place to gather, do we? And who's going to teach us? And who wants to participate anyway?"

"Well, there's us and I heard some of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students are willing to learn too." Hermione glanced over at Harry and nudged Rose so she could see what Hermione was thinking. "You think..."

"Harry? Teaching?" Rose chuckled and then looked at Hermione and blinked. "You're serious!"

"Look, Harry has the experience and the two of us can help him with what needs to be taught. Come on we're not being told we're the smartest girls of our age for nothing. We can do this."

"Not me," she shook her head.

"You did that crazy charm two weeks ago! You're so cut out to help Harry, even the twins were impressed!" she hissed. "I'm not giving up. My God, what happened to your confidence?"

"It shrunk?" Rose shrugged. "But fine, you go and talk to Harry and see what he says, and I'll help where I can if he says yes. But I doubt he will."

"Do you promise you'll help, no matter who's joins and who not?"

She blinked at the girl next to her, so even without Harry they would do this? Rose was in trouble. Deep in trouble. "I'm only doing it if Harry says yes."

"Yeah, of course, but I mean, if he says yes, will you promise to help him, no matter who will be taught by him and who won't?"

"I guess?" Rose said confused and shrugged. "But even if Harry says yes, where are we going to gather?"

"I don't know."

"Good luck with convincing Harry," Rose snorted and shook her head.

"Ha, within two weeks I will have him wrapped all around my finger, he just needs a bigger splash of confidence than you do." Hermione then giggled. "You and me could be his Angels, you know, like Charlie's Angels? We'll be Harry's Angels!"

"Oh, please don't," she said disgusted. "That show is so cheesy!"

"I know!" she giggled. "Oh this is going to be so much fun to organise!"

* * *

Rose made sure she was dressed warmly, for early October, the snow was a bit too much for an Autumn, but then again, anything was possible with magic, she supposed. So she had put on a few shirts and a sweater before covering herself with a nice thick coat and smiled at Dru. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Unlike Rose. Dru had only put on one spaghetti strap shirt and a loosely knitted sweater, that expose one one shoulder. Dru didn't get cold easily. She wore a pair of jeans that Rose bought her and her long boots. She got her coat and scarf and turned to Rose. "How long do you think this meeting is gonna take?"

She shrugged for an answer. Rose was just glad that she could spend a little time with George out in the open instead of having to sneak around all the time just to hold hands. "As long as it has to take," she replied. "Just be happy that you get to spend time with Neville without Umbridge looming over all of the couples in school."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Tonks hasn't written me about it yet. Gran was so mad at Neville. She even wrote  _me_  a letter to tell me I'm mental. " Dru smiled. At least Mrs Longbottom cared enough to get mad at her.

"It's just 'gran' now, isn't it?" Rose teased as she made her way out of the common room.

"Yeah, it's easier that way." Dru lied, she was a bit shy about feeling like she was a part of Neville's family, because Neville still hadn't told his grandmother the truth.

"Uhuh," she grinned and nearly tripped over her own feet at the bottom of the stairs, but luckily George caught her in time before she actually fell flat on her face on the common room's floor. "See, George? I've fallen head over heels for you!" she quickly quipped.

"Saved your dignity, I did," he nodded and helped her back on her feet. "I like it when angels fall from the sky."

"Usually it's not a good idea when Angels fall from the sky," she frowned at him and then chuckled. She could tell that he, and Fred for that matter as they liked to dress identically, had also prepared for the cold weather, by wearing one of his mother's knitted sweaters and a thick coat.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Fred asked Dru as he looked at the girl.

"What?" Dru asked as she looked at her clothes. "I'm wearing a sweater, aren I?"

"That's a summer sweater, Dru?" Ginny said. "It's freezing out there."

Dru shrugged. She put on her coat and wrapped her scarf loosely around her neck. "I'll be fine. I'm always warm."

Rose looped her arm around George's and then reached for Fred's and then started to walk out of the common room with a big smile on her face. "Let's go."

"What I-"

"Just so you don't get into trouble on the way Fred, I know how you two work and I don't want to be bombarded with snowballs on our way  _to_ Hogsmeade."

"Oh, so that means we can do it on our way back then?" Fred said laughing.

"Probably," she nodded and smirked at Ginny. She and Ginny had devised of a plan to actually try and cover the twins in snow on their way back to the castle.

"Gin, where's Michael meeting us then?" Dru asked as she was walking behind Rose and the twins.

"In town," Ginny replied as she looped her arm through Dru's. "He said he wanted to buy me something without me seeing what it was yet. What about Neville?"

"He had to check stuff in the greenhouses for the second years. He was going to come as soon as he could." Dru loved Neville to be so good at tutoring Herbology, but it was taking up a lot of his time. "At least I still got my spare boyfriend." Dru smiled.

"That's right," Fred nodded as he managed to get away from Rose's arm and put his arm around Dru. "I'm reliable, I'm hot, I'm funny and dependable. Oh, and I can suffer through seeing my brother and his girlfriend snog."

Rose shot him a look as they left the castle. "We're not that bad!"

"I wish." George smiled and give Rose a long kiss on her cheek. "Where do you want to go to first. Zonko's or Honeydukes?"

"Zonko's, most definitely," Fred said.

"I wanna go to Scrivenshaft's too. I need some new quills." Dru said as she checked her Moneybag. She hadn't even come close to running out of money, but she was still careful, because she couldn't get any more when she did run out. "Fred, if you two start your shop, can I get a job?"

"We'll see," Fred looked at his brother with an all knowing smile. "You don't have the legal age yet to work!"

"Yes, we're going to do things the  _legal_  way," George said. "Otherwise we'll get into a heap of trouble."

"You boys are selling skiving snackboxes to every student who asks for it, but you won't give little old me a job. After everything I've done for you and Rose, George." Dru chuckled.

"Ah, but we don't have our shop yet," Fred pointed out.

"But we will," George added. "And then, we're going to do things the legal way."

"Makes you want to vomit, doesn't it? The word  _legal_." his brother chuckled. "Such a funny word too,  _legal_."

"Don't worry, Dru," Fred said and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll buy you your quills!"

"You don't have to do that." Dru said with a small voice. She didn't like to be depended on anyone for money.

"Relax, it's just quills. Had it been clothing I would have said you'd have to wait for Neville."

Dru hit Fred on his chest with her fist. "Neville doesn't buy me clothes. He doesn't like to see me in them."

George smiled as he held the door of Zonko's open for the two girls to get in. "You think Neville has any idea what the hell he's risking by not coming." George muttered to Fred, as they walked in after the girls.

'He'd better come soon, if he's smart." Fred whispered back and went looking for some stuff.

"Rose, come here for a second." Dru said as she was standing in a lilac section of the store.

"Ugh, lilac." Rose remarked as she saw where Dru was standing. "What is it?" she smiled. "See something you like?"

"Just come over here. I want to show you something," she said as she took one bottle off the shelf.

Rose made her way over and had to duck because a fake bludger was flying around. She expected that it wasn't as heavy as a real one, but she didn't want to take any chance. "What?"

Dru glanced at the shop owner and held the bottle up is she was showing it to Rose. "Look, they've got their own girl section now. I thought it might be good to check out the competition."

She took hold of the bottle and read what was on the back of it, before checking other bottles as quick as she could. "I can't believe this," she muttered.

Dru took three love different lovepotions. "Maybe we should check them out."

"No!" she said with wide eyes and took the bottles from Dru's hands. "If you take these... it's not good. They're not love potions, they just make you violently ill." she then put the bottles back. "I feel for the poor sods who have taken this potion, or have been fed this potion." She saw the blank stare on Dru's face. "You're good at potions, read the description of what is in it and you tell me I'm right."

Dru took the bottle and smiled. "You're right. These are worthless, honestly, isn't anybody capable of brewing a good love potion nowadays? It's not that hard."

George joined the girls. "We're giving up on the love potions. None of the three of us can make them."

"Well, not well enough," Rose muttered. She wasn't as horribly bad at potions as the boys were, but love potions were tricky.

Dru smiled as she looked at George. "Congratulations, you've just hired yourself your love potion maker. I used to make them all the time to get animals to breed with each other. It was a relaxing way to spend time."

"Freddie!" George called for his brother.

Rose grinned and pat Dru on her back. "Well played."

"Well, I'm gonna need the money." She looked out of the window and her smile disappeared. "Maybe I'm going to need one myself too." She muttered as she put the bottle back on the shelf.

"Pfft. You don't need a love potion to get what you want. You just need opportunity." Rose put an arm around Dru and made her way over to the owner of Zonko's. "Sir? Unless you want to make people very very sick, and unless you want to be taken to the Ministry for advertising wrongly, may I suggest you remove those love potions?"

"Get out!" he blurted. "How dare you to insult my craftsmanship! Get out! Get out!" He started to push Rose and Dru out of the shop and all Rose could do was laugh once they were back on the street.

Dru was leaning against the shop window roaring with laughter. "My little Rosie, you really don't know when to shut up, do you?"

"I was just looking out for our fellow Hogwarts students," she hiccuped and sat down in the snow. "What if someone would slip Neville or George one of those? They'd be sick for a while!"

Dru looked at Rose in shock. "You'd really think that someone would do that Neville? Slip him a love potion?"

"You know how he gets when he's in the greenhouses," she shrugged. "Besides, it's the only way to get him away from you, a lot of the girls are scared of you, you know."

"They'd better be." Dru looked around if she could see Neville anywhere yet. "Where is the boy anyway?"

"Dunno," Rose looked at the door of Zonko's while Fred and George walked out.

"What are you sitting in the snow for?" George said, pulling her up to her feet.

"I had a laugh, and I had to sit down because of it."

"You don't insult Zonko," the twins chorused.

"He's not supposed to poison unsuspected targets either," she shot back. "It's so easy to fool someone into thinking that something's not what it's supposed to be, it's dangerous!"

"Yeah, that's why we're testing mostly on ourselves," Fred answered and sighed. "You have no idea how hard it is not to keep scratching our -"

"Hey!" George shot at his brother. "That's none of her concern."

"Something went wrong, didn't it?" Rose shook her head at the two before looping her arm around George's again. "Alright, come on, let's buy our Dru some quills for payment, so she can start making antidotes for your jokes."

Dru was still staring in the distance. She closed her eyes for a second. She didn't want the others to see her nearly crying. She took a deep breath before turning around. "Yeah, Fred. You're buying me quills right." she said with her most convincing smile she could manage at this point. "I need about 6 of them and I want pretty ones too."

"Not demanding at all, is she?" Fred deadpanned and headed into Scrivenshaft's to buy her some quills.

"There he is!" Rose pointed in the distance, where a shadowy outline of Neville appeared, accompanied by someone much smaller. "Go run to your boyfriend and snog his face off, you have my permission," she grinned at Dru.

"No, I'm gonna buy my quill first. It's not polite to keep someone waiting." Dru said as she went into the store after Fred.

"Good girl." George muttered and gave Rose a kiss on her head. "Maybe she and Neville need a break to see what the hell they're doing to begin with." George whispered in Rose's ear, so the approaching Neville couldn't hear them

"I've given up on trying to stop them, maybe that will stop them," she smiled back at him and kissed him on his lips before turning to Neville and little Luna. "Hi! Glad you could join us!"

"We're not late for the meeting." Luna said simply. "You know, your butt's covered in snow."

George looked at Rose's back and laughed. "Little madame here sat down in the snow." he patted the snow of her, amazed by the fact that she wasn't giving the stink eye for touching her butt like that. "What took you so long?" He then asked Neville.

"Luna had a fight with Zambini... the devil plant." Neville said and sighed. "I had to take her to Madame Pomfrey because the ointment alone wasn't good enough."

Dru had just heard what Neville said as he and fred walked out of the store. "Zambini?" She knew that plant was near  _her_  plant.

"Yes, it was quite scary," Luna said in her light voice. "But also quite fascinating, I wonder what it'd do if it would be put in someone's bed."

"I like you." Fred said. "Let's go to the Hog's Head. Harry's probably waiting for us." He offered an arm to Luna, who took it.

Dru looked at Neville. "I'm glad you could finally join us." She sounded pissed, but hurt at the same time.

"I am sorry," he apologised. "But I just couldn't leave her alone like that."

Dru gave a weak smile as she started following the rest of the group. "Did she like Joey?"  
She kept her hands in her pockets. She should have listened to Ginny, she was getting a bit cold now.

"She's never seen Joey," Neville replied as he put an arm around her. "Because you see, I'm trying to see if I can create a hybrid off of him and your plant and see what happens when it grows up. They're in the secluded area together." he then shrugged. "Who knows? It might be a very colorful plant with maybe a slightly nicer attitude."

Dru giggled. "Joey's not that bad. He just like a bit of mischievous. I like that, as long as he doesn't do it to me. I just wished you... let's make a deal. Hogsmeade weekends you don't tutor. I want you to myself a bit sometimes too."

"Alright," Neville smiled and kissed the top of her head. "What's so important about this meeting anyway? What does Harry wants to discuss with us that he can't at Hogwarts?"

"Well, he can't have it at hogwarts. Umbridge will kill us all if she knew what we were up to."  
Dru walked in the Hog's Head, pulled off her coat and sat down next to Luna. "Is your arm alright now?"

"Oh yes," she said in her uplifting tone of voice. "The nurse works wonders," she smiled.

Neville sat down between Dru and Dean and put an arm around Dru and watched at the other side of the group and saw Rose nestled on George's lap. He looked at her and smiled. Rose looked so different from the Rose he had at his house last year. She was happy and now had a group of family and friends surrounding her.

Neville then looked at Dru, who now was leaning with her back against the side of his chest. She was looking a bit lost lately. Her mood was all over the place, but no matter how much he tried, she kept insisting everything was fine, eventhough he knew she wasn't.

"Hi Neville." Hannah suddenly sat as she sat down next to Luna. "How's your special project going?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll have to wait a few more weeks."

Dru looked up at Neville. "Wasn't that plant in the secure section?" Her eyes narrowed at him. She wished she could get into his head to find out what was going on with him and his students, but she just couldn't seem to get inside anymore.

"Yeah, she overheard me talking to professor Sprout about it." Neville shrugged. Why was she being so weird about this.

Dru looked at Hannah, who quickly looked away when she saw Dru looking at her. She huddled together with Susan Bones. They were talking about something while sometimes glancing over at Neville.

Neville was now talking to Dean and didn't noticed it.

But Dru looked at Rose, who too looked at Hannah.  _Rose, you don't think they..._

 _You tell me, you can get into other people's heads,_  Rose smiled at her.  _But no, I don't think they're talking about you._

_What? I meant Hannah and Neville._

_I think that everyone knows not to go after Neville, they're just jealous, that's all_  Rose giggled when George started to nuzzle her neck while she and him both received a glare from Hermione. "Well go on then, Hermione, speak up," Rose chuckled.

After the meeting everyone who wanted to join Dumbledore's Army had to sign a paper before leaving the meeting. It was spelled in a way that should anyone who was on the paper would talk about it, they'd be in a heap of trouble. George and Fred took care of that after some nudging from Hermione.

Dru was the only one who didn't have to chance to sign it yet. "Well, Dru?" Hermione said as she handed her to quill.

Dru took it and bent forward to sign it. She hesitated. Suddenly it all became a bit too real for her. The war was coming close and now they were getting ready to fight. Dru closed her eyes. She didn't want to fight, she wanted to run away and be safe. she was just a kid.

Harry and Ron exchanged a look and Harry snatched the paper from under Dru's hand. "You don't have to join."

Dru looked up at Harry. "I didn't mean...I'm just..."

"It's fine. Maybe it's better if you don't." Harry said friendly but she rolled up the paper and handed it to Hermione. "Maybe it's better if you didn't get involved.

Dru didn't know what to say and looked at Rose for support.

 _They've waited for 10 minutes, it's not too far fetched that they're beginning to doubt which side you're on..._ she said quietly. She turned her head away from Dru.

While the group left to go back to castle, thinking about where to meet, Dru locked her arms into Neville's. "I'm on your side, you believe me, don't you."

Neville hesitated for a second. "Maybe you make it more clearer, Dru. You say one thing, but mean the other, sometimes." His voice was soft. He didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't understand why she hesitated so long.

Dru stopped dead in her tracks while the rest of the group went on. She could see Rose wanting to stop, but George gently pulled her along. Leaving Dru on her own.


	17. Rebellion and bans

It had been nine days since Hogsmeade and neither Rose or Neville had spoken much to Dru. They weren't ignoring her, but they didn't know how to act. Dru had alienated herself from the rest now.

They were having another boring class of DADA which they basically spent copying their books. Dru looked at Neville, who was turning his DA galleon in his hand. Suddenly she had enough. She closed her books with such a force that the whole class looked at her and poor Hermione nearly fell out of her seat.

"Dru, don't!" Hermione hissed at the girl sitting next to her. She instantly recognized the look on Dru's face. She was going to get herself into so much trouble.

"Miss Malfoy? What's your problem?" Umbridge asked sweetly.

"You are." Dru stood up and defiantly crossed her arms over her chest.

"Excuse me, dear?" Umbridge rose from her seat and started to walk towards Dru. "What's the matter?"

"I want to learn how to defend myself. I want to learn how to use spells."

"Reading the books is all you're going to need, you silly girl," she said, still that same pleasant smile plastered on her face. "Has Mr. Potter been feeding you lies again?"

"No, but I'm so sick and tired of you calling my father a liar."

"I said no such thing," she said.

"You said that You-know-who didn't come back. That's calling my father a liar."

The class started to mutter a little bit. "Rose, what is she up to?" Harry hissed at her.

"I don't know!" she shot back at him and tried to get in to Dru's head but it was closed off.

"But he isn't back, dear."

"The hell he is."

Hermione started to tug on Dru's arm, trying to make her sit down. "Dru, don't."

"Miss Malfoy, whatever Mr. Potter has said to you. It's a lie. He claims to have seen You-know-who. but it's not true." Umbridge walked back to her desk.

"He is back. You all know that. Even Dumbledore is saying it." Dru left her desk and moved to halfway through the class.

"Professor Dumbledore is only saying that because mr. Potter told him. But tell me dear if he would really be back why hasn't anyone but Mr. Potter seen him."

"Who says he's the only one. He's the only one with the guts to say it outloud." Dru was now standing next to Rose's desk. She too, was tugging on Dru's arm.

"Dru, I'm sorry. please stop this." Rose knew all too well what Umbridge would do to the girl if she went on. "Please I believe you."

"Dru, shut up." Draco had stood now too.

Umbridge stood up behind her desk. "Maybe you should listen to Mr. Malfoy."

"Why, he's just going to make me lie again. In fact he's lying too." Dru pointed at him, without taking her eyes off Umbridge.

"The only one who lies, is Mr Potter about seeing You-know-who."

"I SAW HIM." Dru's yelling brought the entire whispering class to a full stop.

Rose got to her feet and took Dru's hand. "He is back, Professor Umbridge," She said calmly. "Whether you're too scared of him to accept that, or maybe too cowardly to accept that, that's your problem. We need to be taught real spells -"

"ENOUGH!" Umbridge yelled. She looked at the class and smiled politely.

"Did she just insult the Professor?" Rose could hear someone whisper behind her.

"Now, Miss Shepherd, Miss Malfoy, I understand that the both of you had some serious problems with your mind last year and I understand that you both are still suffering from the effects. In fact, I think that you're better off in the infirmary right now. You shall meet me at my office for detention _tomorrow_  after dinner. The both of you. Now, off you go," she said as pleasant as she could, but her face said something else.

Rose collected her belongings and waited for Dru to be ready before making their way out of the classroom, towards the infirmary. "You're mad," she told Dru.

"No you are. Where the hell are you going? Come on, dinner time." She pulled Rose with her to the great hall. "I'm hungry." She grinned at her friend like nothing happened

"What? You want to get yourself in more trouble than you already are?" Rose chuckled. "Have you been drinking the crazy potions?"

"No, but i'm not going to infirmary for telling the truth." Dru walked into the great hall and sat down next to Fred. "You boys are done early."

"Free Period? But aren't you supposed to have Umbridge?" George said as he put an arm around Rose, who looked like a bludger had hit her in the head.

" _She_ ," Rose pointed at Dru, "was making a lot of noise in Umbridge, proving that she is loyal to  _Harry_  in her own extravagant way and I just couldn't let her get detention by herself again..." the last words of the sentence were muttered underneath her breath.

"Really?" Fred sounded impressed.

Dru looked at Rose. "Rose, you and Neville want me to stand on my own two feet, you should stop trying to baby me through everything. This was my decision, not yours. You didn't have to say anything, you wanted to, but don't act like you did this for me, to help me." Dru shot at her.

"I didn't say that, I just didn't want you to get detention by yourself again."

"What if I did, big deal. I can handle myself."

"Alright, fine," Rose said simply and got up. If she wasn't going to appreciate the sign of friendship then so be it. "I shall go back to Umbridge right now and apologise for getting caught up in your energy and that yes, something's wrong with my head."

Dru shook her head. "You stupid selfish little bitch. You really have to make everything about yourself don't you." Dru was so done with Rose twisting everything to make it about herself.

"Knock it off, Dru. Rose was trying to help you."

"Let it go, George. Dru has a point." Fred said.

"Never mind, George," Rose smiled at him and looked at Dru angrily. "I'm going to bed. I'm not hungry anymore." she said before walking out of the hall.

Dru looked at her friend, while getting yelled at by George. She didn't respond to him.

She waited for the fifth years to enter the great hall. She quickly got up and went straight to Neville, throwing her arms around his neck.

"You're mad, you know that?" Neville said as he caressed her back. "That was amazing though."

Dru was quietly sobbing, she knew everybody was watching her, but she didn't care. "You told me to show which side I was on."

"I kinda expected something else, not something this daring," he chuckled and softly kissed the top of her head. "That was amazing, that... wow, the amount of courage you had to have for that must have been... how are you feeling?"

Dru buried her face in his shirt as she sobbed a bit louder. "Stupid Rose." she muttered.

"She is annoying, isn't she?" Neville agreed with her. "I saw her talk to Umbridge just a minute ago, I think she's trying to fix things for you and her."

"I told her not to." Dru let Neville go and started walking towards the dada classroom. She told Rose to stop helping her.

"That's alright dear," Umbridge's voice sounded. "Here's a handkerchief, please don't snotter all over the floor, poor Mr. Filch has to clean up so many buggers..."

"I will come to your detention of course," Rose sobbed. "I mean, I sometimes just can't control myself and..."

"Just give me a handwritten copy of the first fifty pages of the book by tomorrow."

"Thank you, professor," she sobbed. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"Off you go, get some rest."

Rose walked out of the class room and wiped the tears out of her eyes with her sleeve. "Enjoy your detention tomorrow, all by yourself." she spat at Dru. "This was the last time I've done something a friend would do."

"You acting like a friend? You're acting like my baby sister. Like I can't do anything on my own. I'm only 6 days younger than you and I'm not some silly little git who can't take care of herself. Don't get me wrong; I'm grateful for what you did when I was in danger. But this is detention, not a life threatening situation, you need to let me grow up too Rose. Who can I fight in this War you're always talking about if I can't even get through detention on my own? I won't make it if I being held back. I'll be too weak."

"Good luck," Rose said, knowing that Dru was right, but she was still angry with her. Ever since Dru hesitated signing the scroll, Rose had started to wonder about Dru's true allegiance and if Rose had been fooled all this time, it wasn't really far fetched considering all the mind intrusions of the previous year.

She  _thought_  that she'd be a better friend if she'd stand and face it together towards Umbridge and she had so not felt comfortable pulling one of Dru's old tricks towards the most evil Professor in the history of Hogwarts, but apparently her  _friend_  hadn't liked the gesture.

"Rose... " Dru tried.

"No, you're on your own," Rose said stubbornly. Did she have any idea how many times in the last week she and Hermione had talked to Harry about Dru joining the DA? And how many times he had shot her down?

"Rose, just go to the great hall and eat. I'll go up to common room. You need to eat." Dru put her hand on Rose's shoulder before walking up the stairs. She knew Rose only meant well, but Dru had to try and stand on her own. She didn't want Rose to protect her from everything.

Rose felt how her stomach growled. She hadn't had breakfast due to not being able to wake up from studying until 4 in the morning and had to rush to class. And she didn't want to go to the common room all by herself now that Dru was up there. She made her way back to the Great Hall and quietly sat back down next to George. Wasn't there a charm she had figured out that could be put on a quill to copy things?

"Are you okay, sweetie?" George put his arm around her. "Did you talk to Dru?"

"I did," she said and leaned into him.

"Rose, was she telling the truth when she said she saw Voldemort?" Harry asked. It seemed like he was the only one that realised  _what_  she had said, instead of just that she was yelling at Umbridge.

"Yes," Rose nodded. "She did," she said slowly. "Why do you think that... oh yes, you weren't there." she groaned and poked George in the side.

"Rose had begged some of the adults," they referred to the Order as the adults to make things easier for them, "to go and get Dru but they were too scared, it was too dangerous. Merlin, I walked right in there! And took her away right from underneath his nose!" he exclaimed.

"Do you think...he hurt her?" Ginny asked. "That would explain a lot." She muttered.

"Oh god."Hermione sighed as she clasped her hand for her mouth.

Fred closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He knew Dru had been in trouble at her house, he just never knew how much.

"Rose?" George asked his girlfriend, expecting her to have the answer.

"I didn't know, okay? And I don't know." she said and angrily stabbed her chicken leg with her fork. More than anything she would wanted to go and find out if it was true, but she was still angry with her and right now, the anger won.

The group around them looked at each other in surprise.

George pulled his arm away from Rose. "Are you mental? Go up to her." He spat at her.

"No, she clearly stated that she doesn't want my help, or anything for that matter, as she wants room to grow up. As much as I want to go, she'll just..." she looked at George and didn't like the look on his face, even the rest of their little group was looking at her as if they saw water burn. "Besides, it's too late now anyway, Neville's already with her." she took the chicken leg from her plate and walked out of the hall.

George and the rest of the group followed her and George grabbed her first and pulled her along with them as they all went up to the common room.

Dru sat curled up next to Neville, leaning against him. She didn't seem surprised at all to see all of her summer house mates sitting down around her. "Yes, I saw him."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked.

Dru shrugged. "I... I didn't want to get George and Fred in more trouble. I really was grateful that you got me out of there, I didn't want your parents to know that what you did was even more dangerous than they already thought it was."

"You should have known," Neville said, almost accusing Rose of something as he looked straight at her. "You see the future, couldn't you have kept at least an eye on her?"

"Neither did you, Neville." Dru cupped his chin and made him look at her. "This isn't Rose's fault. I told you she doesn't look anymore. Besides if I'm that far away from her, she can't get through. You really need to stop blaming her for everything that ever happens to me." Her voice was warm, but still stern.

"Dru, but you should have told someone. The Order is looking for him and you know where he is." Fred said.

Dru turned to him. "The Order isn't interested in my information." her voice was still stern, but the warmth was gone.

"Don't be ridiculous," Ron finally spoke up. "Of course they are, why else would they've allowed you to stay after Fred and George came for you?"

"Because I'm a liability if they had let me go? I knew by then who half the order was. They were scared I'd tell. Look I'm not like Rose or Harry. They don't care what I do, because nobody ever trusts me. Not even you guys fully trust me."

"But..."

"You can't hide from her, Ginny," Rose finally spoke, she hadn't joined everyone around Dru, because she was still mad at her, but she had been listening. "The problem is that despite what most of the Order believes in, that blood shouldn't matter but one's actions should, it's still hard for them to... well... you know," she shrugged. "The only reason why people trust me quicker is that I go by my mother's name, even though my grandfather was a well respected man."

"Dru, why did you hesitate to join, if you really are behind us?" Neville had wanted to asked her ever since the meeting, but didn't know how to.

She looked at him. "I'm scared. I...I know we all are, but I'm going to lose people I love. No matter what happens. I'm forced to choose, between being on his side and be with people that love me and accepted or be the right side with-"

"I think you've already made that choice when Tonks offered you to be your guardian," Fred pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's not easy Fred, I'm throwing away the only life I know, to fight on the side of people who don't trust me and I'm not even sure one of them loves me one bit." She had said before she thought her words through. She closed her eyes, it might be how she felt, she knew Neville wouldn't like to hear she was doubting his feelings for her again.

"You're mad, you know that?" Neville said. "Look around you, Dru. Every single person in the room, including Rose, loves you. Why do you think we keep coming back to you? Try to pull you in? You should stop pushing us away, that's what you should do."

Dru looked at her hands. "I know you love me, Neville, but you didn't trust me either." Her voice was small.

"It's not just Neville that loves you, Dru." Fred smiled at her.

"Yeah, you're right we've should have asked you in Hogsmeade why you hesitated. But Dru, honestly, if you want us to trust you completely then... speak up. Tell us what's going on. You hide more the she," Harry pointed at Rose. "does and that saying something. I mean look at what happened when she tried to hide who her father was."

Dru put her head on Neville's shoulder. She knew she should tell the truth now, but she couldn't. They would hate her. Ever since they found Kreacher with a picture of her mother, they all knew she was Voldemort's most loyal follower and in prison although nobody but Rose, Dru and Neville knew what for.

"See you're still lying to us, right now.' Harry shot at her.

"Let it go, Harry. She's not ready for that yet." Rose said and saw everybody's heads turn. She shrugged. "Trust me, she'll tell us when she's ready. I know what it is and I know that it's not going to make any difference in whether you should fully trust her or not, because..." she thought for a second and shook her head. "It doesn't matter why."

"Harry's right. Dru has been keeping one secret from most of us. But Rose's right too." George gently caressed her back as he looked at her for a second, before turning his attentions back to the rest of them. "Dru's secret has nothing to do with us being able to trust us. She... just doesn't wants us to know everything.. So she told only Rose, Neville and myself, but if it makes you guys feel any better, Tonks, Lupin, Sirius, Moody and my parents all know too." he said and then smiled a little. "Well, the entire order knows," he added sheepishly.

Dru turned her entire body into Neville's as she wanted to hide in his arms. She hadn't realised so many people knew about it.

Neville put his arms around Dru and pulled her on his lap. "It's okay." He whispered in her ear.

There was a silence before Ginny spoke up. "Dru, why didn't you tell Tonks about you-know-who being in your house? She should know that. I mean she your guardian now."

Dru shook her head. She still hadn't heard from Tonks ever since she started school, despite her writing her two letters about her being scared of losing Neville to one of his pretty students. and she also never responded to McGonagall's letter. "Tonks doesn't care."

"You've been writing Tonks?" Rose asked surprised. "She..." she shook her head. "She's away with Lupin doing things for the Order, Bill is with them too. Nobody really knows where she is."

"Ha! You didn't say Professor Lupin!" Fred pointed at her with a smile.

"Oh shut up," Rose rolled her eyes at him. "I'm sure that once Tonks returns she'll reply to your letters, Dru. I just can't believe she didn't tell you, or at least that Dumbledore didn't tell you..."

Dru shook her head. "Why would Dumbledore tell me anything?" Her voice was bitter. "He only cares for his two golden kids."

"Oh come on. He must have spoken to you, after what happened to you last year?" Rose asked surprised.

Dru looked at her friend and shook her head.

"Professor McGonagall told her what happened?" Neville said as he gently caressed her back.

Harry looked at Rose. "He didn't even..." Harry knew that Dumbledore was avoiding him, but at least he had gotten an explanation at the end of the school year.

"What a jerk," Rose muttered.

"That's why you've been acting out?" George asked and looked at Fred, and could tell that his twin was thinking the same thing, considering they had talked about Dru and her behavior all summer.

Dru put her head on Neville's shoulders again. She was getting too tired for this. "Are we done?" she asked.

"I think we're done," Neville nodded and caressed her back. "You're tired, aren't you?"

Rose took one look at the clock and winced. It was getting close to bedtime and she still had to finish copying fifty pages of the DADA book. She put her bag on the table and pulled out some parchment, a quill, her DADA book and her little notebook with her old charms in them incase her hand would cramp up. She'd try out that copying charm if that would happen.

"Here, just take my notes. She can't keep our handwriting apart anyway." Dru said as she handed her her papers.

"It's not your notes," Rose smiled at her. "I got her to make me copy the first 50 pages of the book."

Harry smiled. "Rose, that's the same thing."

"Really? That's all we've been doing? I hadn't noticed," she said impishly, wondering where her own notes went then. "Thanks Dru."

Dru gave Rose a smile, before crawling deeper into Neville's comforting arms. She had missed that over the last week. "Can't we sleep here? I'm pretty comfy like this."

"Yeah, don't think McGonagall's going to like that." Harry smiled at Ron.

Dru hit Neville on his chest. "You told them?"

Neville pointed at the noticeboard. "She did, in a way..."

"It is strictly forbidden to spend the night outside your assigned dormitories for extra curricular activities that do not have anything to do with the course work we provide here at Hogwarts." Fred read out loud in a womanly voice. "Penalties shall be given."

"Well at least we made an impression on her." Dru said and gave Neville a kiss on his cheek.

* * *

Rose was looking at the Quidditch practice in the rain. George had forbidden her to do any homework while Dru was having detention, and made her sit outside in the freezing cold, hoping that her boyfriend wouldn't get hurt. The last time she had attended one of the practices, his brother had knocked him off his broom. Just for laughs.

She pulled her coat to herself as close as she could and tried to stop her teeth from chattering when she tried not to get a fright when all of a sudden Draco sat down next to her.

"What do you want?"

"We're going to win at the first match of the year," he said. "Mark my words. A team full of Weasley's? What's next? You?"

"You're lucky I don't fly, Draco."

"You should be ashamed of yourself, aligning yourself with Potter and those..."

"If you're angry with Dru, you should talk to Dru, not me," she said plainly and looked at him. "Unless you've come here to give me a blanket or an extra coat, I wish for you to leave me alone."

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Draco breezed.

"Yep," she nodded. "A ferret." Rose then smiled at him. "Brave of you to come alone though, Draco. It's funny how you think you scare me."

Draco smirked and in one moment, he had pushed her down on the bench and was sitting right on top of her. "I do scare you, I know  _exactly_  how to scare you." He took out his wand and pointed it at her.

Rose's first instinct was to scream, she really did not like this at all. It was easy to give a shout, and three Weasley's and one Potter would immediately make their way over. But instead of panicking, she took a deep breath and looked Draco straight in the eyes. "You've forgotten that I've spent my entire summer at the Weasley's." she said, managing to keep her voice even as she took hold of Draco's arms. "They're not always allowed to use magic indoors, and you know what they do for fun?"

"Hold each other's hands?" Draco cocked his head. She really didn't like the smirk he had on his face. "Sing songs around a campfire?"

"No," she said simply before managing to knee him in his private parts and tossing him off of her. "The boys wrestle, and I learned from looking!" she got to her feet and pulled out her wand, pointing it at Draco as he got to his feet again. She hadn't hurt him, she knew that. "Leave me alone, Draco."

"Why? I haven't given up!"

"Give up Draco!" George's voice sounded and all of a sudden Rose found herself clinging on to George for dear life as he had pulled her on his broom. "She's mine!" he laughed as they flew down to the pitch. Rose had squeezed her eyes shut and she was still holding on to George even though they were off the broom now.

"I think she's been petrified." Fred said dryly.

"No, she definitely still has color on her cheeks." Ron nodded and then started to laugh. "That was awesome, really, fighting Draco the muggle way."

"I do not like to fly." Rose managed to say and started to shake. It was colder on the pitch than it had been in the stands, mostly because right now, there wasn't a decent shelter from the wind. She looked up to George who was grinning from ear to ear. "Thank you but please... don't ever make me fly again..."

"You're a witch, witches ride brooms!" He pulled her against him and caressed her back. "You're freezing!"

"You're nice and warm," she said, putting her arms around him. Quidditch practice had its perks. No matter how cold it was outside, the players were always warm for some reason.

"Let's get inside, we were done anyway," he laughed and picked up his broom while he kept his free arm around his shivering girlfriend as they walked back to the castle. "I'm proud of you for not freaking out though."

"See? I'm learning!" Her teeth chattered.

"I'm just wondering what the hell got into those Slytherin boys? first Dru, now you?" Harry said. "Did Goyle bother Dru again?"

"Nope," Rose beamed at Harry. "At least not that I know of."

 _Help_  Dru's voice sounded desperate.

 _Where are you?_  Rose demanded. "Spoke too soon," she groaned.

_Astronomy tower, please hurry. he won't stop_

"Astronomy Tower," She then looked at Harry who was already on his broom, same with Ron, Fred and George. "No... I'm not going to fly... I love Dru but... please help her?"  _They're on their way... I'm sorry, I love you but I'm not going to fly!_

Rose ran into the castle trying to find Neville. She finally found him in the common room. "Neville," she said out of breath. "Dru's in trouble, half the Quidditch team is on their way to her but..." she took a breath. "She's going to need you." she then collapsed to the floor, sitting down in front of the fire. "Oh, I'm so out of shape," she breathed.

At that point Fred came into the common room holding a sobbing Dru in his arms. She looked small in Fred's hold. George was right behind him holding their brooms.

"What happened?" Neville asked before Rose could and took his girlfriend over from Rose and Dru's spare boyfriend, that seemed a bit reluctant to hand Dru over to Neville. "Thanks guys," he said before sitting down with Dru on the sofa.

Fred looked at George, should they really tell him?

Dru was sobbing into Neville shirt and pulled her knees to her chest. "Take me out of here."  
she asked. She didn't want to be in a room where other people would stare at her.

Rose looked at Dru.  _He didn't! Did he? You should be at the infirmary!_

_No_

_I'm going to get Professor McGonagall, we can't let this happen again and I don't want to hear a peep from you._  She looked at Neville and nodded. "Take her to your dormitory," she said and rose to her feet. "Don't let anyone in unless it's the professor."

"Rose wait." George stopped her from leaving. "We don't know who it was."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"He was wearing a mask." George whispered. He looked at Dru. "Harry and Ron went after him when he ran away. Let's wait to hear what they know, before we get the professor."

"Take me upstairs, please." Dru whispered to Neville. She wanted to put her arms around her, but she could barely move.

Rose was furious as she watched Neville take Dru to his dormitory. "Bloody convenient, isn't it? Wearing a mask?" She started to pace around, forcing her body to warm up and kept looking at the entrance to the common room, hoping that the door would swing open.

George pulled Rose in her arms. "Look, she'll be ok. She was scared, but she'll be ok. Look I know it sounds hard, but people do get over this."

"It's  _Dru_ , George," she said.

"I know, but she's strong. Harry got over it didn't he?"

She thought for a moment. "You think it's a death eater that assaulted her?"

"I don't know anybody else that would use a curse like that on a 15 year old girl." Fred said with an arm around Ginny, she was looking white as a sheet.

"Then we  _should_  tell the professor, now."

"Alright, let's go." George took Rose's hand and took her to the head of their house.

Dru was lying on Neville's bed. She had stopped crying and was pulling fluff off Neville's woollen blanket.

Neville was sitting next to his bed on the floor. She still hadn't said what happened and his mind was starting to fear the worst. "Dru?"

Dru looked at him, but was afraid to speak. She laid her hand near the side of the bed.

Neville smiled and put hand on her. "What happened?"

Dru closed her eyes and pulled Neville's hand close too.

Neville instantly knew what she wanted. He got up, climbed over her on the bed and laid down behind her. He carefully put his arms around her and hold her as close as he could. "Dru, please tell me?" he whispered in her ear.

Dru turned around so she was now facing him. "Somebody grabbed me and pushed me the floor. I tried to fight him off, but he was so much stronger. But then he suddenly got up and cursed me."

"Did he tried to ...force himself-"

"No." Dru's eyes looked at Neville. "No, he tried to scare me that's all." Dru put her head against his. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I'm just scared." She ran her hand through her hair and turned to lay on her back. "It was...never mind." She looked at Neville and let the back of her hand rest on his cheek. "Don't ever leave me alone again, promise?"

"I promise... well I can at least try... you know, with Umbridge and all..."

Dru smiled and turned back to her side. "I meant over the holiday and summer and stuff, idiot."

Neville snickered and nearly fell out of bed when Professor McGonagall entered the dormitory. "Are you alright, Miss Malfoy?" she asked worried as she made her way over to Dru and started to look her over, ignoring the fact that yes, they were in the boys' dormitory, and yes, Neville had had his arms around the girl. "Mr. Weasley, George, has told me everything."

"I'm alright, professor. I always need a few minutes to get back to myself after..." Dru looked at the bed, she had slipped up.

"This happened before?" McGonagall asked surprised.

Dru swallowed "Just twice." her voice was trembling. She was glad she had told Neville which curse had been used on her.

The professor looked at her with sadness in her eyes. "No child should ever experience that feeling," she said warmly. "You do realise that I have to inform professor Dumbledore about what just happened, don't you?"

Dru rolled her eyes. "Like he cares." she muttered

"Oh but he does care," McGonagall replied and sat down on the bed. "He just wants to limit his time with you because... because of your gift. He can close his mind to almost everyone, but you seem to have the uncanny ability to work your way around barriers, and he's not interested in you wandering around in his head."

"I've never done it to any teacher and you know that." Dru spat at her as she sat up.

"I do, but you know that he works in ways that even I can't understand sometimes. What's important, now, is that you were attacked on school grounds, possibly by a Death Eater, and we need to take action."

"Do what you want." Dru muttered, laid back down on the bed and crawled back into Neville's arms. He was the only safe place left.

"We shall keep it our little secret that you're currently in Mr. Longbottom's bed, shall we?" she smiled warmly. "I'm sure that the boys will keep an eye out to make sure nothing happens." she too, hated Dolores Umbridge with a passion. "Professor Umbridge doesn't want boys and girls within 8 inches of each other. So I leave you here then." She left the dormitory.

Dru looked at Neville. "Has she just seriously told me to simply stay up here?"

"I think so," Neville said, putting his arms tighter around her. "I'm so sorry..." he said softly. He hadn't said anything during Dru's conversation with the professor, but he had put two and two together; Voldemort  _had_  hurt Dru, and he suspected that she had lied about the amount of times.

"It's okay. I'm okay." Dru gave Neville a kiss. "I'll be okay as long as you're with me."

"Always," he replied and softly kissed her back. "So this means you're coming to the extra classes of Herbology tomorrow?"

"I'll see." She gave him a kiss on his neck and closed her eyes as she put her head on his shoulder.

* * *

The morning of the Quidditch match of Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, the entire breakfast table was buzzing with energy, despite the fact that it looked  _really_ cold outside. Harry and Ron had arrived a little late at the table, and Ron was looking as if he was about to die or something. He looked nervous, even though he had nothing to worry about.

George had told Rose that Ron was growing as a stopper, Ron had even made a save that had him and Fred impressed and that was saying something.

Luna's hat was... terrifying, but brilliant. Still pretty much terrifying but Rose couldn't help but stare at the girl in wonder. What was going on in that little head of hers?

When Angelina arrived to get the boys for a final pre-match talk and to get changed, George swiftly kissed Rose on her lips and smiled. "I left you a nice warm coat in the common room. It's impossible to get cold in that one, well, at least until the game finishes."

"Thanks George," she smiled at him. She would have gone and see the match anyway, considering it was the first game of the year, and he was playing. "Good luck!"

"We don't need luck," Fred replied as he walked after his brother. "We've got Ron!"

Rose chuckled and after watching the boys leave the hall, she looked over to Dru and Neville, wondering if they'd go to to the match or rather were going to use the opportunity to sneak off and suck each other's brains out during their mouths. Ever since Dru's rebellion against Umbridge, her explanation for her behaviour and her being attacked, Rose had kept her distance. They were still talking to each other, and still pleasant to each other, but something had changed and Rose couldn't quite put her finger on it.

The game itself was quite exciting, aside from the fact that the two new Slytherin beaters were Crabbe and Goyle. They couldn't really think for themselves, but they were strong and looking like bulldozers. Fred and George looked like twigs next to them. The Slytherins were chanting slurs about Ron, even though Lee Jordan tried to drown them out by his commentary. Rose actually liked Lee, he was the friend of Fred and George and he too, was helping them out with the twins' joke shop.

Gryffindor won the match thanks to Harry catching the snitch, but Rose didn't like what she saw happening below in the pitch after the match, nor did she like Hermione digging her nails into Rose's arm for gripping her too tightly. Fred was being held back by Angelina, Alicia and Katie, while Harry was holding George back for just a fragment of time before they both launched themselves at Draco. Madame Hooch's screaming voice said enough, all three boys were being sent to McGonagall's office.

That evening in the common room, Angelina wasn't all too pleased. Thanks to some new decree of the Ministry of Magic, Dolores Umbridge was able to place a lifelong ban on the boys, stopping them from allowing to play Quidditch ever again, at least on Hogwarts grounds. She was down a seeker and two beaters, and everyone looked angry.

Rose wanted to hug George and tell him that everything was going to be alright, but he really didn't seem to be in the mood for a cuddle and had pulled Fred to his feet to go to bed not soon after Angelina, Katie and Alicia went to bed. She decided to turn in early too, they had double potions on Monday and she still had the idea that she was missing  _something_  in the midst of all of her homework.


	18. All kinds of love and it hurts

It was the last DA meeting of the term, they would soon break for Christmas and although they all loved to have a break from Umbridge trying to reform Hogwarts and her prying eyes, Rose was scared. She never had a  _real_  Christmas and after hearing stories from George and Fred, she wished she could disappear. The boys had come to terms with the fact that they weren't allowed to play Quidditch anymore, but were still angry.

Dru had been allowed to join the DA, Rose hadn't voiced her thoughts, it didn't matter as everyone else wanted her to join, thinking that Dru had proven herself enough on what side she was on. Rose knew that Dru had to feel a part of something, but she wasn't sure if the DA was that part. Or something.

"Right! Duelling!" Harry said, maybe a little bit too excited for his own good. "We've been practising on dummies this entire time, but we all know that dummies don't fight back. The point is to disarm your opponent, not to hurt them... To show you how it's done, Ron and Hermione will be the first to go."

"A sickle," Fred muttered to George. Of course they were betting against each other while their brother was going to duel Hermione.

"You're on," George chuckled.

Dru stood next to Ginny, the two girls exchanged a look and giggled, Hermione was so going to kick Ron's ass. With Dru and Rose being distant from each other, Dru has being growing close with Ginny and Rose seem to have found a good friend in Hermione, one of the few people that understood how Rose's mind seem to work.

It took Hermione just one spell to floor Ron, even though Ron told his brothers that he had let that happen because he didn't want to hurt her, which caused George and Fred roll their eyes at him. Ron had his pride, after all.

They watched some other pairings duel each other, and much to everyone's surprise, Neville successfully disarmed Harry. No one but Dru had been wanting to duel Neville because he would have been easy, but he had just proven himself that he  _was_  as good as anyone else.

Dru kissed Neville on his lips in front of the entire Dumbledore Army, which caught Neville completely by surprise, which got a lot of ohhs and laughter, but Dru didn't care. She was so proud of him.

Rose and Dru were the only two left who hadn't duelled yet, and even though Harry looked a bit anxious for the two girls to duel each other, he allowed it because they wouldn't hold back. "You're mad, mate!" George said to Harry. "I'll have a go again, just... this is not a good idea!"

Rose shot a look at George. "We do know how to behave ourselves, you know."

"You don't have to do this. Duel Hermione or George, not her." Neville whispered in Dru's ear, while glancing at Rose. He didn't trust her to behave.

"Relax, babe. No matter what, Rose would never hurt me. You know that." Dru squeezed his arm and walked to her position. "Ready, Rosie?" she smiled at Rose as she readied her wand.

"Don't hold back," Rose grinned as she readied her wand too. "No cheating."

"Oh I don't dare to look," Ginny said, taking a step back to hide behind Neville.

" _Expelliarmus_!" Dru hadn't waited.

Rose didn't need words to shield herself from that, she could have known that Dru wouldn't have waited for Harry's signal. " _Confundo!_ "

Dru took a step to her right just in time. " _Reducto!"_

" _Protego!_ " Rose said surprised. "He said non-harmful spells!" she shot at Dru. " _Deprimo!_ " She watched as Dru was sucked up into the air by a vortex of wind.

"Rose, stop it." Harry said, realising he should have never paired the two.

Before Dru had safely hit the ground, Rose had used  _expelliarmus_  and  _stupefy_  on her friend and walked back in line, not looking if the spells had hit or not. She hadn't  _hurt_  Dru. She wanted to, but at least her spells had been peaceful.

 _"Stupefy!"_  Dru had felt Rose anger towards her and it was that anger had now overtaken her emotion. Dru hadn't even realized that she cast the spell, before it was too late. "Rose, I didn't mean to." Dru's voice was shaking. What had she done.

Rose scrambled to her feet and couldn't believe that the girl she  _used_  to call friend had just attacked her while her back was turned. She was furious. "How  _dare_  you attack someone while their back is turned!" some of her Father's Scottish lilt shone through Rose's usually perfect British accent.

"I didn't mean too. I couldn't sto-."

" _Expelliarmus!_   _Stupefy!_   _Petrificus Totalus!_ "

"Rose!" Neville blurted.

" _Expelliarmus!_ " Harry blurted and Rose got knocked back and lost her wand.

Dru had crawled to a corner of the room. The last spell, fortunately, had missed. She looked petrified at Rose. Tears were rolling down her face and she could barely breath. She felt it, Rose really wanted to hurt her.

"You okay?" Neville had made his way over to Dru and had pulled her into his arms.

Dru crawled into his arms, while she started sobbing even harder.

George had pulled Rose of the floor and was holding her close in his arms. She was shaking with anger. "Rose, what happened?" The sight of his girlfriend attacking her friend with this amount of force, scared him.

"She started it," Rose said. "She went out to hurt me, I didn't. Then, she attacked me while my back was turned and  _that_  is something that..." she felt anger flare up again and was glad that Harry was holding her wand otherwise she would have done something stupid. "I lost it... didn't I?" she asked with a small voice.

George looked in Rose's eyes with a scared look. "Rose, she wasn't holding her wand anymore. She dropped it after she cast her last spell"

It broke her heart to see her boyfriend look at her as if she was some sort of stranger, but the rest of the students in the room had the exact look on their faces and it took a little while to get it fully registered. She had attacked Dru while she hadn't had her wand anymore. She had done  _exactly_ what she had been afraid of all these years and her friend had been her victim.

She managed to get away from George's arms and backed away from him before making her way over to Dru, who was trembling and shaking and Neville wasn't even allowing Rose to come closer. "I'm sorry... I... I didn't see..." she said softly.

Dru looked at Rose, she was still terrified. She looked at Neville. "Take me to the common room, will you?" she whispered, as she was too afraid to stay near Rose, feeling that Rose was still angry at her.

"Yeah," Neville said, pulling Dru to her feet and into his arms before making their way out of the room. They were followed by the rest of the students, meeting was over.

George was the only one who stayed behind with Rose. He put his arms around his girlfriend again and caressed her back. "Are you okay?"

"No." Rose said and shook her head.

"Give her few days, she'll come around." He hoped.

"I think that..." she took a deep breath. "I should stay away from these meetings when we get back. I lost control."

"No, you're not going to stay away. You need to get your control back. Look, let's practice over the break. Maybe Lupin and Sirius can help you find your confidence back."

"George, you don't get it," she looked up to him with tears in her eyes. "I went to a  _very_  dark place in my mind, I even scared myself. She was wrong for casting a spell while my back was turned, but I was... so wrong in not realising she wasn't holding her wand anymore, I didn't see..."

George silenced her with a kiss. "I think you two need to talk to each other. Really talk." He shook his head. "You two aren't... " He pulled Rose closer to him. "Don't worry, Dru's coming with us for the break. you'll get the chance to talk there. You two both need to figure out what's going on with yourselves."

* * *

Two days later Hermione and Rose were sharing a compartment by themselves. Harry and the Weasleys had returned to Grimmauld place the day before after Harry had a 'dream' about Arthur Weasley being attacked. And now Hermione, Rose and Dru were going to join them. They were halfway there as Dru entered the compartment. She sat down next to Hermione and didn't look at Rose. the girls hadn't spoken one word to each other after the last DA meeting. "Hermione, I need your help with something."

"Of course, what is it?" Hermione responded as she smiled at Dru.

"I need to you to cover for me. I've written Tonks I'd be staying at Hogwarts this break. I need you to tell her that's true."

"But you're here."

"I'm going home with Neville." She glanced at Rose, before looking back at Hermione. "I want to stay with him."

Hermione nodded. "Very well, although after Tonks hears about what's going on at Hogwarts, I doubt she'll believe your letter."

"I don't care. I... I want to be with Neville. Just us alone." Dru couldn't help to smile as she knew what she and Neville would be up to.

Hermione's face suddenly changed too. "No, I'm not going to lie for you show you can sleep with him. You're mental."

"Hermione, come on. I need your help."

"I'll tell Tonks you stayed at Hogwarts." Rose suddenly said.

Dru looked at Rose. "You will?" She had wanted to go to Rose for help first, but never thought Rose would help her.

"You may have not realised, but I haven't said anything about you and Neville in the last few months," Rose said as she looked in her bag for the muggle medication against travel sickness. "I know what Neville means to you, and I think it's only fair that you have the same sort of freedom as George and I have. What you do with it, is all between you and Neville."

"Rose, we can't let them do this."

"Shut up, Hermione." Rose and Dru chorused.

"Thank you, Rose." Dru said, she hesitated for a second, but then suddenly threw her arms around Rose. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted to cast that spell. something came over me. I'm so sorry." she sobbed. "Please don't be mad at me anymore."

"I should say that to you," she replied and gently gave Dru a pat on her back. "I lost it."

"I know, we both did. Let's just not duel each other anymore." Dru pulled away from her friend and dried her tears.

"To be honest, I'd rather duel you and risk losing it than duel someone who can't defend herself that well," she gave a small smile.

Dru smiled, locked her arm into Rose's and put her head on her shoulder. "I don't like it when we fight."

"Don't worry, it won't happen again," she said, patting Dru on her leg. "Now stop thinking about it, you're going to spend two weeks at Neville's, that's great."

"I can't believe you're encouraging her!" Hermione rolled her eyes at the two girls.

"I still haven't gotten him his present." Dru smiled. "I'm wearing it right now."

"Ew," she shook her head. "Don't remind me, just... have fun."

"i will." Dru gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "Merry christmas." She then got up and gave Hermione a kiss on her cheek too. "Don't worry we'll be fine." She reassured the girl and got out of the compartment.

"Are you really sure it's a good idea to lie to Tonks?" Hermione asked Rose.

"I've tried everything. I can't stop her. If she's going to muck this up, she's better off with Neville. He loves her enough to understand. I think."

Hermione sighed. "Alright. Oh... and is it okay if I come home with you? I know that Mr. Weasley is hurt and all, but I really don't feel like skiing, I told my parents I was staying at Hogwarts too," she said with an all knowing smile.

"I think Ron would like that," Rose nodded.

Much to Rose's surprise, George was waiting for her at the platform. He looked awful. Rose let go of Hermione before running to George and flung her arms around him. "How is he? How are you?" she asked softly as she stood tiptoed in his embrace.

"He's alive, insisting he's fine. You know how he is." George said and looked surprised at Hermione. "I knew I offered to pick up two girls, but I wasn't expecting you, Granger."

Hermione shrugged. "I don't like skiing trips."

George smiled. "Ron's gonna be pleased."

Rose chuckled.

"Shut up you two." Hermione's face turned scarlet.

"Did Dru stay at Hogwarts?" George looked around, but didn't see her anywhere.

"Yes, she did," Rose nodded. "Can we go?"

"No," George chuckled. "That answer left your mouth too fast."

"She didn't want to spend the break with me." Rose sighed.

George gave her a kiss on her head, while he kept one arm around her and took Hermione's hand with his other.

_crack!_

As soon as they were back at the house, the girls were getting greeted and hugged by everybody. Rose looked around, but George had disappeared again.

"Go after him, Rose dear." Mrs. Weasley smiled bravely as she pushed pumpkin juice and snacks in her arms. "He needs you right now."

Rose nodded and climbed the stairs towards the bedroom of the twins and managed to open the door. She put all the stuff that Molly had shoved in her arms on the floor and crawled on the bed where George was laying down on and put her arms around him.

"Hi." George turned around and put his arms around her. "I thought you weren't allowed up here without supervision."

She chuckled. "You know very well that your mum gave us some more freedom before school started," she softly caressed his hair as she looked at him. "Besides, even if she hadn't, I wouldn't have cared."

He slowly nodded before taking a deep breath. "He's fine, he says. But he's not. If they remove his bandages he'll bleed out. He acted like nothing was wrong, you know..."

"That's what dads do," she kept caressing his hair and just let him talk.

"I can't lose him, Rose. Please tell me he's going to be alright?"

"Of course he will, he's a Weasley, you guys can survive anything," she smiled at him and softly kissed him.

George pushed Rose on her back and gently kissed her. Feeling her lips on his made him forget every worry he had had over the last two days. And he also hadn't been able to kiss her like this since they couldn't find alone time, with DA classes and Umbridge roaming the halls. He had really missed her. His hands found a way underneath her shirt and softly started to caress her stomach, he was desperate to feel her soft skin respond to his touch, to his kiss.

Rose allowed his hands underneath her shirt for a while, loving the feeling of his hands caressing her stomach, but as soon as they moved up towards her breasts, she had to break off the kiss and looked at him. "George, slow down, please?" she understood that he wanted to seek solace in something other than words, but this wasn't the right way. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm sorry." He moved his hands back to her stomach and started to kiss the thick vein on her neck and down to her exposed collarbone. He desperately wanted to feel her as close to him as he could, and why wasn't she dressed warmer than just a simple shirt? It was her own fault, she was usually dressed warmer in the weather they've had!

_crack!_

"Georgie, din- ohhh." Fred's voice sounded.

"Buzz kill!" George growled at his brother and looked at Rose, who was looking rather surprised. "We'll finish this later," he smiled at her and kissed her softly before helping her to her feet. "Let's get some food." He then shot a look at Fred, who was now laughing.

"That was great!" Fred grinned as he walked down the stairs behind his brother and his girlfriend. "You should have seen your face! Priceless!"

George sat down at the table and pulled Rose on his lap.

"Rose, where is Dru?" Ginny asked.

"She decided to stay at Hogwarts," Rose answered. "Tonks should have received her owl about that."

"What should I have received an owl about?" Tonks walked into the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley handed Tonks a stack of letters from Dru, and professor McGonagall. "Welcome back."

"Oh..." Tonks sighed and sat down at the end of the table to read through the letters. It didn't take her long to read McGonagall's letter and she was furious. "They got caught?" she yelled and looked at Rose. "You would keep an eye on them!"

"I can't when I'm asleep!" Rose countered and rolled her eyes at her. "Besides, it's not my job. I've had it with doing everything I can to keep them apart. It's tiring and they're not listening anyway."

"We sort of gave up a couple of months ago," George added, sounding a bit more calm than Rose had sounded. "Maybe letting them do their thing will end up having them to slow down."

"And she got attacked?" Tonks shrieked. "When did that happen?"

"On your trip for the Order." Fred replied as he sat down next to George. "Maybe if one of you (pointing at the adults) had kept more in touch with her, we (pointing at himself, Rose and George) wouldn't have to take care of her."

"We've been busy for the order. That's important." Lupin said.

"Yeah and it's not like Rose has gotten into trouble or anything," Tonks added.

"Yeah, but Dru's has no one looking out for her anymore." Harry said. "Even Lupin sent Rose two letters."

"She was attacked on the train by two of Draco's buddies when we went to Hogwarts," Rose started. "Thanks to some..." she hated to give the Hufflepuffs credit for her work but that was the official story, "Hufflepuffs they left her alone for a long time until she was attacked by what we think was a Death Eater on school grounds. And because we've been trying to keep her and Neville apart, they were trying to find places they could be alone together and failed miserably at it. So we gave up on that."

"But she's just 15!" Tonks said, not understanding the lack of commitment of the kids to keep Dru and Neville apart.

"So am I!" Rose said furiously. "And I'm not her guardian,  _you_  are! If you'd have taken just one minute out of your busy schedule to write her an owl, or at least to come and check those letters, she would have been feeling a lot better about things!"

"Maybe then she wouldn't have to hurry off to Neville for comfort." Hermione scowled.

"Children! Please!" Mrs. Weasley said shocked.

"You know we're right, mum." George and Fred chorused.

"Hold on a second, Rose, you said Dru stayed back at Hogwarts." Ron started, if you could see a physical lightbulb over his head, it was burning brightly now.

"That's what she told me," she answered. "She doesn't really still talk to me... you know."

"But Neville said she was going home with him." Ron hadn't finished his sentence before both Ginny and Harry had hit him over the head.

"What?" Tonks said furiously as she rose from her seat. "You're lying to me?"

Rose shot a look at Ron before looking at Tonks. "As we've been saying, we've given up in trying to stop her, thinking that maybe if things go wrong, she'd learn her lesson the hard way, Neville would never hurt her though so she's safe either way." she then took a deep breath and had to chuckle as George was chuckling too. "That's what you get when you leave the parenting, the giving attention and stuff like that in the hands of a bunch of teenagers."

Lupin tried hard not to chuckle, knowing that the kids were right. He had been telling Tonks to write Dru an owl or two when he wrote his letters to Rose, but she was busy doing something else. He looked over to Sirius, who didn't seem to be able to keep a straight face either and all Tonks was doing is getting more furious, she didn't see the problem. Dru was out of a problematic situation and she was safe now.

"Let's have dinner," Mrs. Weasley said chipper after the few minutes that it was quiet in the kitchen. She didn't want Rose or any of the kids to fall victim to Tonks' explosive behaviour. "You too, Tonks. If you still want to get your ward after having let the words of our children settle in, then you can go, and don't start blaming this all on me. I'm not interfering with children whose guardians haven't asked me to keep an eye out."

George gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "Maybe Dru will be fine now." he whispered in her ear. He knew how worried Rose had been about her friend.

"I hope so," she sighed and leaned into George. Mrs. Weasley put down two plates of food in front of them and she reluctantly got off George's lap and had to maneuver herself between him and Fred, who wasn't budging.

* * *

Dru and Neville had returned to his room as quickly as they could get away from his Gran.  
Dru walked into the bedroom and looked around. She had been there two times before, but that was at night. Now it was the middle of the day and the sun was shining brightly into the room. Neville hadn't tidied his room before going back to school. "Nice decoration." Dru smiled as she saw pointed at a stack of papers and books on his desk. She walked to the window and looked out of it onto the garden. She could see a lot of plants and a little greenhouse in the back of the garden. "I love this place." she muttered.

Neville had closed the bedroom door and locked it even though his Gran told him not to. He walked over to Dru and put his arms around her. "Maybe you could stay here in the summer, the garden is much nicer then."

Dru turned around so she faced him. "I want to stay here forever." She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. Her stomach started to flutter, she had been waiting for this for so long. They kept trying to alone, but every time someone interrupted them.

Neville walked backwards and pulled her with him to his bed. He laid down and Dru decided to sit down on top of him and straddled his waist. She shyly smiled at him. "Are you nervous?" she asked.

Neville nodded. "You are sure about this, aren't you?" He stammered as he gently caressed her upper thighs, for some reason, having her on top of him looking the way she did, was already wreaking havoc with his body temperature.

Dru nodded as she bit down on her lip. She took a deep breath and lost her top, revealing that she was wearing a purple lace bra. "I bought this for you." She could feel her face going red.

Neville sat up and let his hands slide up her legs to waist. "Thank you." He slowly kissed her. It was a different kiss then they ever had before. It was gentle, but still filled with more passion than any kiss they had shared before.

Dru slowly started unbuttoning his shirt. She put her hand on his chest and slowly pushed him back on his back as laid on top of him. She started kissing his chest, trying not miss on single piece of his skin.

Neville could feel himself getting more aroused. Her lips were soft and the combination of that with her long hair tickling his chest was making him want her even more. He pushed her on her back and kissed her more deeply than he ever did before.

Dru could feel how aroused Neville had gotten as he climbed on top of her. Somehow this was feeling different that it had done before. Something had changed but Dru couldn't put her finger on it.

Neville moved his lips to her neck and started sucking and nibbling it. He could feel her body reacting to him as he heard Dru softly moaning as she grabbed the back of his head.

Dru could feel Neville's hands letting her go and heard a soft clinching that made her realize he started unbuttoning his belt. They had never gotten this far without being caught. Dru let herself get into his grandmother's head to see if she was planning to coming up and checking on them. But his grantmothers wasn't thinking about the two teenangers at all.

Suddenly realised that they weren't going to be interrupted, that this was really going to happen. It freaked her out and she suddenly pushed Neville away from her and whispered. "Stop!"

He looked at her from where he sat, right next to her, just as half undressed as she was, and slightly confused. But she did say  _stop_. "Are you alright?"

Dru shook her head and hid her face behind her hands. she softly started crying. "I...I don't want this."

He quickly handed her her top and took her in his arms. "That's alright, we don't have to do this... I didn't want to do this either, to be honest, but you said..."

Dru put her top back on and looked at the bed. "I thought I did." She felt so ashamed that she had pulled him into this. "I'm sorry." She let her finger slide over the scar on her hand. "She was right."

"Dru." Neville sighed and pulled her closer in her arms. "She's not. We just got carried away. The both of us."

Dru leaned against him and closed her eyes. "I think we confused the excitement of sneaking around, with what we thought we wanted. Can we just go back to fooling around?"

"Try and stop me." He chuckled and he moved to sit with his back against the wall. Dru crawled against him and gently kissed him.

Neville kissed her back, but was suddenly interrupted.

_Crack_

"What are you thinking?" Tonks said, standing right beside Neville's bed. "Oh, I'm going to stay at Hogwarts," she said in a girly voice and then looked at Dru. "Is this Hogwarts?"

"No." Dru said in a soft voice as she got off the bed and looked at the floor.

"And you, put your shirt back on!" Tonks shot at Neville before turning her attention back to Dru. "You have a lot of explaining to do, let's go."

"What? You can't do that!" Neville said. "We..."

"I don't need explanation what you were doing." Tonks shot at him as she grabbed Dru's bag and took her hand.

_Crack_

Dru found herself in the kitchen of Grimmauld place. It was filled with people looking at her. Suddenly it got too much for her and she quickly ran out of the kitchen and went to the drawing room with the family tree carpet. She sat down on the floor, brought her knees to her chest and started sobbing.

"I can't believe this!" Tonks said as she started to pace around and muttering to herself.

"Tonks?" Lupin stopped her after a while and smiled at her. "She's upstairs, not here, and try not to get mad at her."

"I don't get mad easily," she countered and looked at him defiantly. "Can't you do it? Or Sirius for that matter? Molly?"

"No, you got her out of there, you have to deal with her," Lupin directed her towards the stairs.

Tonks grumbled as she took the stairs to the first floor where she found Dru in the drawing room. She sat down opposite of her and pulled her knees to her chest, just as Dru had done. "You want to talk?" she asked softly.

"I'm so stupid." Dru looked up to her. "I didn't want..." she put her head down on her knees again.

Tonks crawled her way over to Dru and sat down next to her. "You're stupid? What about me? I should have seen your letters sooner!" she put an arm around her and softly caressed her hair. "How about we're both stupid? Why are you stupid?"

"I...I didn't want to do it...I ….I couldn't...He should be hating me now."

She looked at her charge in surprised. "You... he..." she then realised what she had said. "It didn't happen? You had him stop?"

Dru nodded. "I got scared."

"I'm so proud of you!" Tonks hugged her tightly. "Well, not about being scared but... you know what I mean. And if he hates you for not wanting to go through with it, then he's not worth your attentions."

"He said he didn't mind, but... I know he really wanted to. I felt it. I don't know what to do now."

"Well, I think you both need some time apart for a couple of days and well... I could always apparate you back to his place then, just to talk while I'll have tea with his grandmother... the others don't need to know," Tonks said after a moment of thought. "I hope that you realise that it wasn't my intention to ignore you over the last few months... this is all new to me too."

"You regret it, don't you? Being my guardian?"

"Nah," she answered and shook her head. "But I should have realised that a teenager is not like a puppy, and should have asked Mrs. Weasley to look after you, like Remus has asked her to for Rose."

"Dora, I left Holly at Neville." Dru suddenly realized. "Could you go and get her?"

"Sure, hold on."

_Crack!_

"Hey, Neville!" Tonks smiled widely. "I'm looking for a cat and you'll see her again in a couple of days, you're not mad at her, are you?" she said as she started to look for Holly.

"Wha... what are you doing here?"

"Looking for Holly."

"But... my gran..."

"...is deaf, now where's that cat?" she found the cat hiding in a corner and took it in her arms. "My, she's grown." she then looked at Neville and smiled at him. "I like you, Neville. You stopped, not a lot of boys listen to a girl like that."

_Crack!_

"Here," she smiled as she put Holly in Dru's arms. "Are you and I okay? I promise I'll do better."

Dru nodded. "I'm sorry for being so much trouble. I just...I'm having so many problems at school."

"Trouble? You should hear my parents talk about me! You're no trouble at all." she waved her hand. "Shall we talk about that tomorrow? I think that we've dealt with enough for today."

"I haven't eaten anything yet." Dru heard her stomach growl.

"Molly saved you some. She actually made your favorite for supper." She helped Dru to her feet.

"She knows what my favourite is?"

"She's a true mum, of course she knows."

Dru went back into the kitchen, sat down next to Rose and place her head on Rose's shoulder. "How's Mr. Weasley doing?"

"He's going to be all right, sweetheart," Molly smiled warmly at her as she put a plate with food down in front of her. "They have the best care at St. Mungo's."

"Yeah, I know that." Dru lifted her head of Rose's shoulder and smiled at her. With Holly in one arm, she began to shuffle down her food with her other hand in a very Ron/Rose like manner.

Ginny looked surprised at her. "Did you and Rose take polyjuice potion again?"

"We have never taken polyjuice potion, Ginny." Rose chuckled.

"What I'm hungry." Dru said and drank her pumpkin juice.

George and Fred exchanged a look. "She didn't?" Fred muttered at his brother. George nudged Rose, hoping that she would ask her friend.

She shot a look at the twins and rolled her eyes.  _So? What happened?_

_It was amazing, really it was. I never felt so good, until..._

_You realised that you weren't ready?_

_Yeah, I...I don't know what to do now"_  Dru pushed her plate away from her.

Rose smiled widely.  _What did Neville say?_

 _That he didn't want to do it either, but.._  Dru put her head back on Rose's shoulder.  _I know he lied about it, he just wanted to spare my feelings._

 _You'll just have to talk to him about it the next time you see him,_  she put an arm around Dru and planted a kiss on the top of her head.  _I'm proud of you!_

"They're doing it again, aren't they?" Ginny said, looking at Harry. "Almost as if they can communicate just by thought. They're worse than Fred and George!"

Dru held out her hand for Ginny to take. "Come on then."

Rose grinned and nodded. "Take her hand."

Ginny made her way over to the girls and took Dru's hand.

Dru crawled into Ginny's head and showed her everything that happened between her and Neville that day. She trusted Ginny enough to do so.

Ginny stared at Dru in surprise. "Wow... that..." she stammered and shook her head, it was weird to feel someone else inside her head. She had had someone in there before, but that wasn't a really pleasant experience. "That... I didn't know you could do that!" She then flung her arms around Dru with a big smile. "You did the right thing!"

"I hope so, Ginny." Dru sighed and looked at Hermione who was clearly feeling left out. "Oh come here." And she showed Hermione the same thing she had showed Ginny.

Hermione smiled. "Guess you were right all along, Rose."

Ron and Harry also made their way over to the girl. They too wanted to see what the girls were talking about. Dru looked at Rose and smiled. "Sorry, boys. This is girls stuff."

"Lame," they chorused and sat down anyway.

"But I do realise now why Rose has been stressing so much about the fact that we will need you when... you know." Hermione smiled. "The possibilities are endless with what you just showed us."

"Don't worry. I'm on your side." Dru smiled.

"Yeah, you'd better be!" Hermione laughed and hugged Dru. "Oh we should so hone your skills, yours and Rose's... we should practise in..."

"Hermione!" Rose glared at her. There were still adults in the kitchen. They weren't telling the kids Order stuff, and they shouldn't tell them DA stuff, despite Sirius and Lupin already knowing about the DA.

"I need to go do something." Dru gave Holly to Ginny and pulled Rose out of her chair. "I want you to see me do this."

"Uhm..." George hesitated. "You're not going to take revenge now, are you?" He was still scared that this moment of peace between the two girls would end some day.

"Fine, you come too, but no one else."

George got to his feet and followed the girls to the drawing room on the first floor.

Dru was looking at the carpet while fiddling with her wand. "I'm a part of you guys now, aren't I?"

"Yep, you're truly one of us. Are you sure you want to do this?" George asked, realising what she was about to do. "You heard the chants during Quidditch."

"Not really." Dru smiled and glanced at Rose. She might have been at the game, she had been too busy with Neville to pay attention to anything else. Dru took a deep breath and pointed her wand at the picture of herself.

" _Bombarda_ "

Dru's face was now a big scorch mark and her name was hardly readable.

Rose hugged her friend tightly. "Congratulations on your new life," she smiled widely.

Sirius had made his way to the drawing room after hearing an explosion that wasn't sounding like one of the twins pranks. "Don't blow up the wall," he said shocked and looked at the two girls hugging each other before following their gaze to the new black mark on the wall. "Oh, now that's pretty."

"I'm the first one to blow myself off it." Dru said proudly and suddenly walked towards Sirius and hugged him. "But you're still my family, aren't you?"

"Well, if you think about it, we're  _all_  family," he smiled at her and hugged her back. "Even you and Rose."

"Don't remind me." George said as he hugged Rose. "Do you wanna..." He whispered as he looked at her name.

"Nah, don't want to steal Dru's moment," she chuckled. She was surprised that she was on the wall anyway, considering her father had fathered her with a muggle. But then again, her father had repented. She just didn't like the scorch mark on her mother's portrait. She hadn't even known she was on there, she only saw it when they moved a big cupboard while they had been cleaning the house.

Dru turned to Rose and took her hand. "How about not stealing each other's moment, but sharing it? Like friends are supposed to do." Dru pulled Rose closer to her portrait. "Let start our new life together."

"I shouldn't even be on there to begin with."

"Yeah, well," Sirius said as he looked at her. "That's what you get with a very fanatical father who thought he could convert his daughter," he smiled widely. "Go on, don't make Dru and me feel lonely."

She didn't hesitate to burn a hole in her own face. " _Bombarda!_ "

Dru pulled Rose in her arms. "I'm proud of you." She said. She knew this was hard on Rose as it had been hard on Dru.

She hugged Dru and smiled. "And I'm proud of  _you_. You showed a lot of courage today."

Dru's smile disappeared. "Would you guys please stop saying I did the right thing. I didn't." Dru let Rose go and walked up to her room.

"Alright, you didn't!" Rose called after her and took a deep breath. "I always say the wrong things."

"Go after her and just hold her without talking. she's just scared she's going to lose him now." George whispered. "Most guys dump their girlfriend after a while when this happens."

"If she is, then Neville doesn't know what's healthy for him," She muttered and then looked at George, knowing that he had flings before. "Did you?"

"It's complicated, we'll talk about that later," He said and pushed her towards the stairs. "Go and be a friend."

Rose made her way upstairs to their bedroom and laid down next to Dru before pulling her in her arms.

* * *

On Christmas morning, Mrs. Weasley was chasing after each one of the kids to get dressed because they were going to pick up Mr. Weasley from the hospital. She was upset because Percy had sent back the jumper his mother had knitted for him and she wanted to get out to see her husband just to forget that for some reason her son wasn't on speaking terms with them anymore.

Rose plucked on her jumper and shuddered. She didn't like wool much. She pulled it off again and started to look for a long sleeved shirt to wear underneath it so that she didn't have to feel the fabric. It was really nice for Mrs. Weasley to knit her and Dru something too, but having her order every one of them to wear it now that they were going to pick up Mr. Weasley from the hospital, was something else. In the spirit of Christmas, Rose was going to wear it, but then hopefully bury it somewhere underneath in her trunk. And, she had a feeling that the twins had told their mother that Rose liked bright pink and purple.

Dru was watching Rose fussing with her jumper and was very thankful she had received a cardigan instead. It was red and pink and purple rolled into one and Dru hated the colours, but was very happy with it, just because Mrs. Weasley had made her one. "Rose, do you need some help with your jumper?"

"No, I got it," she said as she pulled the sleeves of her long sleeved shirt over her hands and managed to get back into the jumper. She still shuddered a little and hoped that the feeling of having blocks of ice run down your spine would stop soon.

Dru took a deep breath and played with the hem of her skirt. "Do you think we really have to with them?" She hated St Mungo it brought back too many memories.

"She wants us to be there, doesn't mean we have to go into the ward," Rose replied and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Another reason to hate wool; it made her hair do weird things.

Dru smiled at Rose. "Stop fussing, you're making it worse!"

"Making what worse?" George's voice sounded from the doorway. "Oh look! You two look adorable! Fred, come look!" He had a hard time keeping a straight face. Apparently his mother had believed him and Fred on so many accounts.

Fred's head appeared around the corner (both boys didn't enter the bedroom) and smiled widely. "Yep, my spare girlfriend looks great. Yours looks fuzzy, George."

Dru stuck out her tongue at Fred. "I love my cardigan."

Rose walked out of the bedroom and hugged George without really touching him because of the wool. She didn't mind wool with cotton much but 100% wool just gave her the creeps. "I'm going to thank your mother for my jumper."

"You know, she really loves the both of you, she wouldn't have knitted you something if she hadn't." George kissed her softly on her lips. He knew that they all looked ridiculous, but it was sort of the Weasley family tradition.

Rose took George's hand and walked downstairs with him to have breakfast first. "Oh look at you!" Mrs. Weasley cooed and walked to her son and his girlfriend with open arms to hug the both of them. "Merry Christmas! Oh Rose, you look adorable!"

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Weasley, thank you for the jumper," she replied.

Dru came walking down laughing with Fred. "You're an idiot." She told him and she walked over to Mrs. Weasley and gave her kiss on her cheek. "Thank you for the cardigan."

Breakfast was great, it was just the Weasley's without Arthur and with Sirius and Dru and Rose, Harry and Hermione, and then Mrs. Weasley handed out more packages for all of them. She had knitted scarves for all of them as well. Rose tried hard not to be horrified. It wasn't that she was a snob or anything, she had never liked wool. Not even as a baby, her grandfather had told her.

"What's that?" George asked as he softly caressed a part of Rose's neck with his finger. "Are you ill?"

"No, why?"

"There's a rash!" He then inspected the rest of her neck and then her hands. "It's definitely a rash."

"Shh..." Rose said calmly as she took a sip of her tea. "I suspected that."

"Are you allergic to wool?" George asked her softly as soon as his mother was out of earshot. "But you wear woollen things all the time!"

"They usually have a cotton lining or it's fake wool... your mum uses the real stuff, but that's okay," she smiled at him. "It's just that my skin reacts to it... no big deal, it's new to me too."

"Get out of it then, I know you want to please my mother but Rose... she wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

"George, I'm fine." she told him and took a bite out of her toast.

When they went to visit Mr. Weasley in the hospital (accompanied by Moody and Lupin), they all were saddened to hear that he wasn't allowed to leave yet. In fact, he had agreed to something non-magical to treat his wounds and Mrs. Weasley was throwing a fit about it, causing all of them to strategically retreat and let her have her way with him.

"I wonder where the tearoom is?" Hermione wondered.

"Fifth floor," Rose replied before Harry could and shrugged. "Been here before, remember?" They walked down the corridor in the hope to find some staircase to take them up to the Fifth floor, but when they got around to the Fourth, they were all a little confused as to what floor they were on before Professor Lockhart peeked his head around the corner.

"Hello!"

"Professor Lockhart?" Hermione asked confused. "My, you haven't changed a bit!"

"Hey, isn't that Neville inside there?" Ron said when he got onto the landing. "What is he doing here?"

Neville had looked at the sudden voices that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and realised that he was busted, no one had realised that his parents were in this ward. Except for maybe Dru, Rose and Harry. On top of that, he wasn't really sure if he wanted to talk to Dru yet. He yelped and quickly ran downstairs. He was going to wait for his gran there.

"Neville, wait!" Rose called after him.

"Did you all come by for autographs?" Lockhart smiled widely and put his arms around Ron and Harry. "Come! I shall give you autographs!"

Dru looked a little bit pink around the nose and Rose had noticed that she was trying to stay out of view of the ward. "Go downstairs, Dru. Grab this chance to talk to Neville." Rose told her and her friend slowly nodded. "You want me to come with?" Dru shook her head and disappeared from sight.

Dru could have gone upstairs to the tearoom, but no, her flight or fight instinct told her to run downstairs, because that's where her rock was, even though the relationship was a little bit rocky? Or undetermined? She settled for 'confusing'.

She found Neville sitting on a bench near the door, looking absolutely embarrassed. "You shouldn't be embarrassed about your parents, you know." she said after she had sat down next to him. "You should be proud of them."

"But I am!" Neville said, he didn't dare to look at her. "But no one really knew... and then all of you show up."

"We're visiting Mr. Weasley. Apparently he tried Muggle medicine and he has to stay in hospital a bit longer now, Mrs. Weasley had a go at him, we decided to find the tearoom."

"Fifth floor," he replied.

"Then Professor Lockhart saw us."

"Ah, that explains a lot."

"So you see, we didn't mean to sneak up on you like that."

"Are you okay?"

Dru nodded slowly. "You?"

"I think so," he replied and then hesitated when he asked the next question. "Are  _we_  okay?"

"I don't know, are we?" she returned the question. "I mean, what happened..."

"I'm okay with it, I'm not mad at you for..."

"Are you?"

"Well..." Neville shrugged. "Maybe a little... but..."

"I knew it!"

"No... it's not that... it's just that I think... I think that  _I_  should have said something before we... you know. I just went along with it because..." Neville was stammering. "I didn't want to lose you."

"Neville..."

"No, let me finish," he said and finally looked at her. "I've been thinking a lot... I mean...  _a lot_  in the last few days and... well... all the things I've done, or do, is usually with you in mind, it's like... I don't have a mind of my own anymore. I feel guilty for tutoring girls because I don't want to upset you while there's nothing going on."

Dru gasped for breath. "You're breaking up me."

"I just would like to be my own person for a while..." Neville slowly said. "I still love you. Don't get me wrong, but... we're... too intense..."

Dru got up from her seat. "If you do this now, I'm not coming back to you."

"That's what I've been afraid of, too." he looked at her, he felt so sad on the inside, but he needed to do this for himself.

She chewed on the inside of her lip, trying her best not cry. "You really gonna do this?"

Neville rose to his feet and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Dru."

Dru took a few steps back and looked at him in shock. She then turned around and ran back crying to the ward Mr. Weasley was. She found Tonks talking to Lupin and Moody and walked to her.

"Dru?" Tonks asked as she put her arms around the sobbing girl.

"He...He dumped me." Dru sobbed.


	19. Happy New Year, Happy New Boyfriend

It was almost nine o'clock on New years eve and even though Dru didn't really wanted to celebrate it, she tried her very best to and least try and be pleasant for everybody else sake.

She had accepted that maybe she and Neville just never were meant to be. Although she did miss him, he had been right with them being too intense. Being apart from him this time felt different, it didn't hurt anymore, it was okay. That feeling scared her even more than any sad feeling she had felt over the last six days.

She was sitting on the sofa in the drawing room watching Rose, George and Fred playing with the twins firecrackers, they were pretty but didn't hurt as bad as muggle firecrackers, something Rose had been afraid of.

"What do you think, Dru?" Fred asked her as he smiled widely at her. "Think this will sell?"

"Yeah, I think everything you guys come up with will sell." she smiled back. Fred had spent a lot of time with her over the last few days, trying to lift her spirits. She was very grateful to him for that; nobody could make her laugh like Fred did.

"Which reminds us," the twins chorused and crossed their arms over their chests. "We paid you to make antidotes for a certain spelled candy and you haven't delivered, despite us giving you the offending piece."

"I've been busy, but I have enough time now." Dru said, trying to smile, but failing miserably.

"Sorry, Dru." George said. He hadn't meant to upset her. He walked over to Rose who was busy with playing the piano at the other side of the room. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Oh, there's a lot you don't know," she chuckled and stopped playing. "I suppose it's one of the perks of getting bored at home in a house filled with money and no love," she shrugged. "I taught myself."

"Teach me?" George asked and rolled up his sleeves.

She thought for a second and shrugged, before starting to teach him the notes to a silly children's song that was easy to play.

Dru looked at the two and smiled. They made a very sweet couple. They never had a lot of drama and just a lot of fun. If Dru was honest to herself it had been a long time, she just had a lot of fun with Neville, if you don't count the make out sessions. It had been shallow lately, and not something deeper, something she saw between George and Rose.

"Can I have this dance?" Fred grinned as he held out his hand to Dru. "George can't play, but it's a tune."

Dru smiled and thought for a second. She like letting him thinks she wasn't going to do it.

Fred took her hands and pulled her up her feet. "Come dance."

"Okay." Dru said and took his hand while placing her other on his shoulder.

"You have to play something decent now," George snorted as he pulled his hands away from the keys. "They're dancing."

"There's nothing to dance to, Georgie, keep playing!"

"Play something nice for them." George whispered in Rose's ear.

Rose had once found a CD in a second hand shop by an American called Bruce Springsteen, fortunately, they had a lot of muggle equipment that played those CD's at her old home (if not, she would have bought it anyway) and she had listened to that CD every day. There was one song that she had really liked, simply because of the message. She tried to remember the chords to the song that she had taught herself to play and softly started to play "Should I fall behind".

"Thank you, Fred. You've been a good friend the last few days." Dru said.

"Just the last few days?" he smiled at her.

"You know what I meant." Dru laughed, something she hadn't done in days. "You...well.. thank you."

"You're welcome," he said and then moved his face closer to her ear. "You want to hear a secret?"

"No." Dru smiled.

"Then you're not going to hear it," he chuckled and softly planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Then it'll stay a secret."

"Good." Dru smiled, she knew all too well Fred would tell her anyway soon. He was bad at keeping things to himself he wanted share.

"I've missed that smile."

Dru smiled at him and shook her head. Dru always called Fred her spare boyfriend and he did play his part well. "You're sweet."

"I'm the spare, I should be sweet," he nodded. "It's my duty."

Dru laughed. "Well, Fred, you're the best spare I could wish for." She playfully put her arms around his neck as they continued to dance, while he placed his hands on her back.

It suddenly hit Rose what George and Fred had been doing and looked at her boyfriend in shock. "Are you two mental? She's not even over Neville yet!" she hissed.

"Look behind you. She's smiling, when was the last time you've seen her like that? I'll tell you. At the Burrows." George whispered.

She knew that George was right, but for some reason she felt that it was highly inappropriate. They had been discussing Fred's feelings for Dru a lot of times because sometimes Fred talked in his sleep, and as much as Rose knew that Fred could make Dru happy, it felt too soon. It would go wrong.

Fred decided to take his chance now that Dru was relaxed and happy and smiling back at him and chastely kissed Dru on her lips.

Dru took a step backwards and clasped her hand infront of her mouth. "Fred?"

"Dru?"

Dru took another step back. "What are you doing?"

"I kissed you," he grinned at her.

She looked at him with eyes as big as saucers. "But why?"

"Well, if you would just have let me tell you my secret, then you wouldn't act so surprised."

"But.." Dru had no idea what was going on. "...we're just friends."

"No, we're more than that, we're each other's spares and I thought that now that you're finally not taken anymore that I should make my move before I lose my chance again." He shyly looked at the floor. "I do really really like you, you know..."

Dru felt her head spin. "I need to get some air." She walked out of the drawing room. She was confused. She had always liked Fred, he was a very good friend and they had always been very close, even more after the summer she spent at the Burrows, but she had never thought about him in that way.

Well, how could she? She had been in love with Neville for nearly four years now, but he was gone. Neville had caused a tear in their relationship, she couldn't forgive him for.

She made her way to the attic with Buckbeak trying to sort out what had just happened. Fred had been there for her the last few days. Everybody did their best to make her laugh, but he was the only one that could. Fred and Dru always had a playful and flirty routine between them, but that had never been more than that. Now Fred had kissed her and she didn't like how it made her felt. Her stomach was fluttering as she could still his lips touching hers.

It was just a few minutes until midnight and the start of a new year. Everybody had gathered in the kitchen. Everybody, besides Dru.

"Where's Dru? She should be here too. She shouldn't be moaning about the stupid Longbottom." Ginny said.

"Ginny!" Hermione rolled her eyes at the girl. "He's still Neville!"

"Come on, Hermione. Even you said he was a tosser for dumping her the way he did." Ron shot back.

"Fred, go get her will you? " Mrs. Weasley asked.

He walked towards the stairs, and saw that Dru was just about to come down on her own. Fred didn't really know what to do, he and George were used to being really loud and stuff but he had seen George change since he had fallen head over heels for Rose and Fred actually didn't quite know what to do now, because he was exactly feeling the way George had said he felt the first time.

Dru stood still at the top of the stairs and looked at Fred. "Hi."

"Hi... mum uh... mum asked where you were... considering it's uh... nearly midnight... she's made alcoholic punch we uh... are allowed one glass." He slowly walked up the stairs as he stammered. What had gotten into him?

"Yeah.. that..sounds nice." Dru felt her cheeks blush. What was going on with her.

He took a few more steps. "So uhm, are you coming?"

"I don't know." She could feel breathing getting irregular. She never had this before. "Is everybody in there?"

"Oh yes, the whole lot. All of us, excluding Perce and Charlie, then there's the better part of the Order..." he had nearly reached the top of the stairs.

"Ah.. Full house then." He was getting really close to her and it was confusing her. "What time is it?" But she got her answer when they heard the fireworks go off outside in the street and Everyone was wishing each other happy new year in the kitchen.

Fred took the last few steps and was now standing in front of her. "Happy new year, Dru."

"Ha...Happy new year." Dru stammered. He wasn't more than 2 inches away from her.

Fred decided to try again and kept his hands to himself as he kissed her lips.

Dru slowly kissed him back. She didn't know why, but it felt good. She took a step closer to him so she could feel his body warmth. She broke off the kiss in shock. "You kissed me."

"And you kissed me back," he grinned and still kept his hands to himself. He didn't want to scare her off.

Dru could help but to smile. "I know." She was still breathing irregular. Was this really happening? Was she really kissing Fred? "You had a secret to tell me?"

Fred nodded. "Remember that I asked Angelina to the Yule ball?" he said and he actually started to blush. "I didn't want to ask you because of Neville..."

"Fred, are you trying to pull my leg?" Dru looked into his eyes. He was so close to her, but he hadn't touched her. She didn't know what to think anymore.

He reached for a piece of her trousers and pulled it. "Now I am," he smiled at her. "I'm not touching you because I don't want to scare you or bowl you over with my amazing fingers, but go on, take a look inside my noggin." His eyes looked straight into hers.

Dru took a deep breath and didn't believe what she was about to ask. "Could you kiss-"

Fred kissed her again, longer this time, as his hands found the small of her back. He pulled her closer to him and waited for her to either bite on his lip or knee him in the private bits.

Dru playfully bit his lip before she kissed him back. She buried her hands in his hair and stood on her toes trying to reach him. "God, you're tall." she muttered through the kiss.

Fred took a few steps down while maintaining the kiss and chuckled.

"Oi, Fred, Mom wants to know-" Ron dropped the glass he was holding. "Bloody hell!" he muttered in awe. He had always been amazed by the confidence his brothers seemed to have, but this had just bowled him over.

Fred gently broke off the kiss and took Dru's hand. "Yeah, we're coming mate," he said and shook his head. "And a happy new year to you too, Ron!"

"Happy New year Ron." Dru smiled as she passed him on her way into the kitchen still holding Fred's hand. She didn't know what just happened to her, but she was just going to go with it. It felt too good to be wrong.

"That's better!" George exclaimed with a huge smile on his face. "Happy New Year, Freddie and Dru!"

Dru smiled at Rose, who was looking shocked at her.  _happy new year, Rose_

 _Uhuh..._ Rose didn't know what to say. If she was a cartoon, her jaw would have dropped to the floor.

 _I know, but he's just..._  Dru giggled.  _He's Fred!_

Molly Weasley managed to wiggle her way through the sea of bodies in the kitchen to hug the only son she hadn't hugged yet and then hugged Dru. "We'll talk about this later," she smiled pleasantly and handed the both of them a glass of punch. "Happy New Year you two."

"Happy New Year, mum," Fred laughed.

"Happy New Year." Dru smiled shy, she let Fred's hand go and walked over to Tonks to give her a hug. "Happy New Year, Dora."

"Happy New Year," she smiled and hugged her cousin. "Now, that, is a catch," she grinned in Dru's ear.

"I don't know what came over me, but..." She glanced over her shoulder and looked at Fred. "...He makes me happy, I realised that he's always been the one to make me happy."

"Oh, if your mother could see you now," she grinned and clung her glass against Dru's.

"I don't have a mother, only you. You're all I need, Dora."

Tonks made a sound between a sob and a squeal and pulled Dru in her arms. Maybe Tonks had already had a little too much to drink. "Same here, little Dru, same here and I  _promise_ I'll do better."

Dru giggled. "Maybe you should talk to wolfie right now." She walked over to Rose and gave her a big hug. "I know it's weird, but... I don't know. he makes me smile."

"No, I've thought about it," Rose said seriously as she set down her empty glass. "And I think this is good, because you know why?"

"Cause now we'll be sisters?" Dru joked.

"That too," she pointed out. "But no... this is the boys' last year at Hogwarts. Now I don't have to be jealous because you're going to miss yours as much as I'm going to miss mine."

Dru laughed and bit her lip as she looked at Fred.

"Just one tip," she smiled. "He likes to spend some quality time with his brother and Lee Jordan, and should you be around them when they are together, you should close your ears."

Dru shrugged. "I'm just going to let this happen to me, i'm not going fuss about anything anymore. I just wanna have fun." She suddenly thought of something. If she was really going to do this with Fred, she didn't want any secrets between them. She walked to Fred and took his hand. "I need to show you something."

"Okay," he nodded. "Show me."

Dru took Fred to the drawing room on the first room. "Remember that George told you I've got a secret?"

"Yes, he did."

Dru pointed at the scorch mark. "Lucius and Narcissa are my aunt and uncle. They took me me in because my real parents are in prison." She pointed at just above where her name used to be. "My real name is Druella Lucretia Lestrange." Her voice was small.

"I know," Fred said and put his arms around her with a smile. "I spent an entire afternoon in here cleaning out Doxy's, looking at the carpet was the only fun thing to do."

Dru smiled. "God, I wished you would have asked me to the ball." She wanted to stand on her toes to reach his lips "Screw this." She put her hands around his head before she pulled him down and kissed him.

Fred laughed and lifted her up so that they could kiss better. He now understood why George better when he complained about the height difference. He moved them towards the piano and sat her down on top of the lid. It was easier to kiss her this way. Fred softly caressed her hair as they kissed, before gently breaking off the kiss. "I need to say one thing though..." he smiled at her. "I'll be holding you back, a lot."

Dru nodded. "I want you to do that. Just fooling around, nothing more." She wanted to do this right this time around.

"And, with a little luck, we won't face the same scrutiny as George and Rose had been through at the start of their relationship," he started before George apparated in.

"Freddie, mum's wondering what you're doing!"

"I've told Fred who I am." Dru said as Fred lifted her off the piano. "We're coming back downstairs."

"Are you going to be as annoying to me and Dru as I've been to you and Rose?" Fred asked his brother.

"Worse, mate. Worse." George grinned.

"Don't worry Fred, let me handle this." Dru smiled and walked downstairs with the boys right behind her. She walked to Mrs. Weasley. "Sorry we snuck away, but I wanted to tell Fred the truth." She then whispered. "About who I am."

"Alright dear," Mrs. Weasley smiled and looked at her son who didn't seem distressed at all and nodded. "I appreciate your honesty, but you and Rose are still not going to share a bed during the night with my sons," she said warmly before pointing at the pumpkin juice. "have a juice."

"I don't want to, Mrs Weasley. I'm not ready for that. Ask Tonks." She gave Mrs Weasley a kiss on her cheek and walked over to Rose, Ginny and Hermione. "What are you girls talking about?"

Ginny squealed and flung her arms around Dru's neck, knocking the both of them over to the floor.

"I guess she's happy," Rose snorted and took a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Fred, help me. Your sister is trying to kill me." Dru laughed.

Ginny gave her brother a look before smiling down at Dru again as she sat down on top of her. "No way, I'd like to stay alive myself," Fred laughed.

"Ginny, I'm sorry you're very sweet, but I like kissing your brother, not you."

Ginny giggled as she hugged Dru again and got off of her before helping her to her feet again. "I'm just happy!"

"Really, I couldn't tell that." Dru deadpanned with a smile before giving Ginny a kiss on her head. Dru sat down next to Rose again and looked at Fred talking to George. She couldn't help but to smile.

Fred looked back at her and winked, before returning his attention back to George.

Dru looped her arm around Rose's. "Yeah, now I'm really ready for my new life."

* * *

It was weird to be back at Hogwarts. So much had happened over the three weeks that they had been home, but Rose realised that it had all happened for a reason. It was the sunday before term started again and they were gathered in the common room. Rose was using George as a chair as she was reading up on the history of magic as he used her back as a table to write out some stuff he had thought of for the shop.

Dru was looking at the boys' joke stuff, trying to work out remedies she could make for them. She kept twisting her hair around her finger. She hadn't noticed that Neville had just come back from his holiday too.

George had, but he didn't want to pay attention to it. But when he saw Neville approaching their table, George gave Neville an angry look. "H-hey guys..." Neville said, trying to sound as normal as he could. "How was your holiday?"

Dru looked at him and gave him a friendly smile. "Good, very good. How was yours?" It surprised her that seeing Neville wasn't doing anything to her.

"Oh, you know," he gave a slight shrug. "You look good."

"Oh this is really... uncomfortable," Rose said softly to George. She closed her book and got out of his lap."I'm going to see what's taking Fred so long, I'm hungry."

"No, he'll be here in a minute." George pulled Rose back in her lap. "Just act like everything fine. You're only making this harder. Let Dru and Fred deal with this." he whispered and he held her closer to him.

"I feel good, Neville." Dru bit her lip for a second. "Look, there's something you should know."

"There you are, Fred. What took you so long?" George said as he saw his brother enter the common room.

"Filch... then Umbridge... I swear it gets harder every time." He threw the loot on the table and smiled at Neville. "Hi Neville!"

Dru had tilted her head back and smiled at Fred who was standing behind her. "Did you get caught?"

"Of course not," he grinned and softly kissed her before handing her a chocolate bar. "When me or George gets caught stealing, then we know we're getting too old for this stuff, and then we'll quit."

Dru smiled. "Thanks, but I don't like chocolate." she put the bar on the table and looked if Fred brought her something she would like.

"Wow, couldn't wait, could you?" Neville sounded furious and hurt at the same time and he wasn't sure who he was directing his anger to. Fred or Dru.

Dru stood up. "You dumped me, remember? You wanted your space. Well you got it." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I warned you. If you dumped me, you were never gonna get me back."

Fred handed her some cookies instead and sat down on the table next to her, looking at Neville. "You've had your chance, Neville, you've had enough warnings from all of us too." he pointed out and shook his head. "But don't worry, we still love you, just not like before. I hope that you can be as civil with us as we are with you."

"Bit rich coming from you, isn't it?" Neville shot at Fred.

"What do you expect, Neville. They all know what happened before you dumped me." Dru took a step back and was leaning against Fred. She didn't liked to be reminded of that night.

"And how, and where," Fred said as he protectively put his arms around his girl. "It wasn't right, mate."

"You didn't want be with me anymore, it was your choice. Now don't go and bitch that I've found someone that does want me." Dru put her hands on Fred's arm.

"Fine," Neville said, throwing his hands up in the air, giving up. "Hope you two are happy."

Dru looked at the floor. She was happy, very happy, but she didn't want to rub that in his face. She didn't want to hurt him. "Look, Neville, maybe...maybe you'll find someone that understands you better than I do. Maybe you'll be happy then." Her voice sounded friendly, but at the same time she tightened her hold on Fred's arm.

"As I said, I hope you two are happy," Neville said again and tried not to look angry or hurt. "I'm going to unpack my trunk." he smiled bravely and made his way up to the dormitories.

"He'll come round," Fred said and softly kissed her neck.

"I hope so, but just so you know. I am happy." Dru whispered. She could feel the entire common room looking at her. There was one gaze in particular she didn't like.

"You know..." Angelina rose to her feet, she had been sitting out of sight from the group sitting at the table and put her hands in her waist. "It would have been  _nice_ of you to tell me to get lost before you found someone else to fondle."

"Get lost, Angelina." Dru said bravely.

This had Fred, George and Rose in stitches. "What she said," Fred nodded. "It's not like you and I were exclusive, Angelina."

"Oh you're so lucky you're banned from playing Quidditch now." If she was able to, she was shooting daggers from her eyes by now. Katie and Alicia got to their feet as well and pushed Angelina towards the dormitories.

Dru gently caressed Fred's cheek. "You're still my favorite and the best player Gryffindor ever had."

"Oi!" George said hurt. "What about Harry?"

"He doesn't have a club." Dru grinned as she sat down in her chair again.

"What about me then?"

"Don't worry, George," Rose chuckled and kissed her boyfriend. "We all know that you're better than Fred."

"Speak for yourself. Fred is so much better, it's ridiculous." Dru said as she looked over her papers.

"I think you need to restrain him before his ego floats to the ceiling," Rose nodded and then laughed as she threw a piece of crumpled paper at Dru. She then reached for a chocolate bar that was on the table and started to nibble on it. Unlike Dru, she loved chocolate.

"Well, as long if it's  _his_ ego and not George's, it's the right ego." Dru didn't look up wrong her papers, but gently squeezed Fred's leg as he sat down next to her. "You know my number one, don't you?"

George gently nudged Rose, hoping that she would stick up for him and wipe that smug smile of Fred's face.

"Oh no, you've co-created this monster," Rose shook her head at George. "Besides, you pulled me onto your broomstick! I'm terrified of flying!"

"Oh not that again! I was  _saving_ you!"

"Uh huh...  _after_ I managed to get him off me and have him right where I wanted him to be."

"I was chivalrous!" He objected laughing and then kissed her. "I was actually waiting for you to call for help, but you're right, you did fine on your own and I shouldn't have terrified you by pulling you on my broom to free you from mean Draco."

"Mean Draco? Did I miss something?" Dru asked. Because of Dru's own drama later that day, Rose had never told her what happened.

"Yeah, it was nothing," Rose waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it."

Dru put her the papers down. "I think it won't be that hard to make remedies for all of this stuff."

"I sense a 'but' coming, Freddie," George said as he leaned on the table.

"Me too, Georgie."

"But...but...but...nothing." Dru said. "This is kid stuff. I'll start on the first one next saturday."

"Brilliant," Fred smiled widely and softly kissed her. "You're brilliant."

Dru giggled as she looked at him. It was still a bit weird having him kiss her. He could make her feel like a giddy little school girl.

Rose collected her things and one of the pumpkin juice boxes that Fred had brought up with him and kissed George fleetingly on his lips. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight you lot." she smiled.

"Goodnight, Sweetie." George said and gathered his own stuff. "I'm going to bed too."

Dru got out her history of magic book. She still had two chapters to read. "Are you going too or are you going to keep me company." Dru smiled at him.

"Read fast," he chuckled and started to collect the shop stuff before putting it in his bag.

It took her about 45 minutes before she closed her book. "Done." She put her book in her bag, got up and sat down in his lap. "Well, at least that's behind us."

"What?" Fred asked sleepily. He had been nodding off for the better part of the last 30 minutes, but had kept himself awake because he didn't want her to be alone in the common room.

She gently kissed him. "Our first evening in the common room as a couple."

"Uhuh," Fred nodded and smiled before he kissed her again. "Go to bed."

"Good night." She gave him one long kiss before getting up and going to bed. She gave a sleeping Rose a kiss on her head. "I'm so happy." She whispered, before getting in her bed and falling asleep in to a dream that for the first time in more than a year wouldn't ended up in a nightmare.

* * *

The next morning Rose and Dru were already having breakfast together going over the homework for history of Magic. Rose was a bit surprised to see Dru this cheerful in the morning and actually eating her breakfast for once.

"What?" Dru asked when she saw Rose looking at her as Dru got her third piece of toast.

"Nothing," she smiled as she sipped her tea. "It's good to see you truly happy."

Dru smiled. "I feel like a giddy little school girl, but it's good."

"You  _should_ feel like a giddy little school girl because you're little, and a school girl," Rose nodded and reached for a piece of toast.

Dru giggled. "I don't know what that boy did to me, but I'm kinda liking it."

She looked to see if the boys were coming yet, but instead saw Neville walking towards them. "Good Morning." Dru wanted to stay polite.

"Hey," Neville greeted her back and sat down before getting a piece of toast. He put his history book on the table and started to read.

Dru wanted to say something, but she didn't know what. She decided to keep it as simple as possible. "How did you do with your horoscope for divination?"

"Fine, thanks," Neville said as he took another piece of toast. "You?"

"It took me about three days to get it right." Dru sighed. "I should have just taken muggle studies last year." She then smirked. "Harry and Ron were trying to cheat their way through it, but then Moody found out and he made them start from scratch."

"I'm not in the mood, Dru." Neville said, still not looking at her. "Give me some time, will you."

Dru threw her hands in the air. "Fine, you came to me last night first, but take as much time as you need."

"Well I didn't know you were seeing someone else already now did I?" he shot at her.

"Yeah, well you snooze you loose." Dru shot back.

"Morning," George said as he sat down between Neville and Rose. "Sleep well?" he asked as he kissed Rose.

"Did you?" she smiled and nearly jumped ten feet in the air when Umbridge shot a spell at George to make him sit further away from her.

"That's mean." Fred said as he came and joined the girls. He sat down next to Dru.

"Hi." Dru smiled at Fred.

"You're not going to kiss me, are you?" Fred grinned and kissed Dru instead. "You're such a chicken."

"Hem hem!" Umbridge's voice sounded and also shot the same spell at Fred. "Do I need to remind you that boys and girls are not to be within eight inches of each other?"

"Well, He's not a girl and I'm not a boy." Dru said.

Rose snickered and nearly spat out her tea.

"Miss Malfoy, do you need some more time in detention, seeing as I'm seeing you with another boy?"

"No professor." Dru's voice went small as she looked at the table.

"Good, then might I suggest you stick to the rules?" Umbridge smiled warmly and then walked off to separate more couples at the breakfast table.

"That woman makes my skin crawl," Fred muttered as he grabbed a large piece of toast and one egg to throw it at Neville. He could hear the boy snicker.

"Oi!"

"I heard you," Fred shot a glare at Neville, while holding Dru's hand as she had already reached for her wand and was looking furious at Neville. "Calm down." He shushed her.

"But he's-"

"Calm down," Fred said again and smiled at her. "I trust him enough not to spill all of your secrets, but jinxing him won't do you any good. Trust me?"

Dru lowered her wand but was still looking furious at Neville, who looked shocked that Dru had pulled her wand at him.

"Now, keep breathing," Fred told her calmly and set down a mug of tea in front of her. "And have some tea. Ignore him." Sure, he had known that Dru could be temperamental, and he was glad that she was listening to him. Maybe she had learned from the things that happened in the last four years. Not that he minded, he liked hotheads, but for the safety of everyone in school, it was best that she mellowed down a little bit.

She laid down her wand on the table and looked at the scar on her hand. "I've got to go." She grabbed her bag and walked out of the great hall towards the classroom. Everything was still spinning in her head. Was she being promiscuous? Neville had told her that he felt that she was the one responsible for them going too fast, everybody had told her that she was losing her mind when she wanted to sleep with Neville and now she was with Fred. Maybe she was doing this all wrong again.

She sat down on her desk in a empty classroom she put her arms on the table and let her head rest on it.  _No, not again_ , she thought to herself and lifted her head when more students seemed to be dripping into the room.

Rose sat down at the table Dru had picked out for them and smiled. "Hi!"

Dru smiled back. "Hi."

She had brought a piece of toast up with her and she was just finishing it off. "I don't understand what happened to Neville. I mean, he broke up with you, right? Why is he such a... frustrating person all of a sudden?"

"Who knows? I'm so done with him. I've tried. I mean I didn't snog Fred in front of him and tried to keep my hands to myself. I've been civil. I mean, by Merlin, you would almost think I left him after he said no to sex, instead of the other way around."

Rose chuckled. "I think you two should just not talk to each other for a while, I think that breaking up with you is one of the hardest things he's ever done."

"That's going to be hard to do, Rose."

"Right, herbology extra studies..." she nodded. "Well, don't speak to him unless he talks to you first then."

Dru sighed and nodded. She knew she had to be at the greenhouses tonight and it wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

When the Daily Prophet arrived, everyone was in shock. Ten Death Eaters had escaped Azkaban and Sirius Black was being blamed for it by the Ministry. The group knew that he had nothing to do with it, and Harry was furious, but it happened. Rose could tell that it was really hard on Dru, especially because Bellatrix LeStrange was one of the escapees and she decided to leave Dru and Fred alone after dinner.

Dru was sitting on the Gryffindor bleachers looking at an empty Quidditch pitch. She was cold, but she didn't want to go inside.

Fred quietly sat down next to Dru. He had been all over the castle to find her, and then realised that she could very well be outside somewhere. "She's not going to hurt you, not while I'm around," he said after a while as he put his arm around her.

"What if she gets in my head again?"

"I think that Snape made sure that she can't, and if she does, well, we'll see what happens then."

"She'll be furious if she finds out about you.'"

"Of course," he chuckled. "So?"

"What if she goes after your family, or you?"

"Do you honestly believe that she'd care enough about us Weasley's? We're annoying, but I doubt she'll come after us. Or you for that matter. We just have to keep you out of trouble, that's all."

"Yeah, the kind of trouble she wants to me to be in."

"Well, I'm your boyfriend, and that's exactly the kind of trouble she doesn't want you to be in, so it's perfect." he grinned.

"That...That...that doesn't even make sense." Dru smiled.

"It doesn't have to make sense now, does it?" he chuckled and softly kissed her. "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you as long as you're at Hogwarts or at Grimmauld Place."

Dru put her head on Fred's shoulder. "Did you happen to see if Neville's alright?"

"He's a little shaken, but I suppose he's alright," Fred replied. "He just wished that the Prophet hadn't told the entire world about his parents."

"I wish I could be there for him right now." Dru put her arms around his waist.

"Well, you can, but he's been such a jerk to you in the last couple of days... I don't think it's wise."

"I know that. But that doesn't mean I don't want to be there for him." Dru looked at Fred. "You know what I mean, right? Neville and I have been friends for years. I'm sad I can't help him through this."

"He'll be fine."

Dru put her head on Fred's shoulder again and enjoyed being held by him, before something suddenly dawned on her. "Fred?"

"Yes beautiful?"

"Do you realise we've been sitting here holding each other?"

"Well... yes," he grinned. "I suppose Umbridge doesn't have eyes outside the castle."

"Can we take a little advantage of that?" Dru grinned as she lifted her head and ran her fingers through his hair. They hadn't had a proper snog since new years eve. They were still getting used to them being together.

Fred softly caressed her cheek before kissing her gently on her lips. "Of course we can," he said sweetly before kissing her again.

Dru put her arms around his neck and suddenly she felt warm and safe. She knew that with Fred near her, nothing bad would happen to her.


	20. Testing one two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this, if you made it this far, you're amazing and we love you. This is just a heads up that this chapter will be cracky and fun and a rollercoaster. It ah... kinda got away from us. Just a bit... well... yeah. Hmm...
> 
> ~ Anne & Annie

It was the first Saturday after start of term and Dru, Rose and the twins had gathered in the potion class room. Dru was busy working on two remedies and a love potion at the same time. Rose was helping her by following her instructions, while the boys were sitting across from them making notes. "I think the love potion is almost ready." Dru said as she was carefully stirring it.

Fred got of his seat and stood behind her and looked in the cauldron. "What does this one do?"

"This one causes a person to let their feelings intensify. So if they're in love with someone, but too shy or scared to tell them, they take this one and the potion will intensify their feelings to the point where they can act on them."

"We need a test subject," Fred and George grinned. "There's no way we're going to test  _that_  on ourselves." Fred then added.

"Maybe we could do it on Rose." Dru smiled and looked at her friend. "George knows she's under a potion, so he can keep her in check."

"No," Rose shook her head. "I'm all for being a test subject but for something that intensifies something... no." She was still scared that she'd lose control over everything. Her gift, her temper... potions could do  _one_  thing but could end up doing another.

"It'll be fine," George grinned at her. "You'll be fine."

"Rose, your feelings are better in check than ours. I'm already...well you know. and the boys have too mature feelings that you and I both want to keep buried." Dru grinned at Fred.

"Look, the three of us won't let anything happen to you. But let's do it on the common room for safety. We don't want Umbridge to find you all giddy at George, or you both be in trouble."

"One drip." Rose held up one finger. "One drip, and nothing more because I hate the word intensify... and I trust you, Dru, but that potion could be more than just a love potion."

George and Fred high-fived each other and grinned.

"I swear, if it makes me lose my inhibitions, I'll kill all three of you in the next DA meeting."

"Rose, relax. I know what I'm doing!" Dru smiled as she started to pour all of her potions in vials and started labeling them. "I think." She muttered to Fred with a grin. Truth be told, Dru had only ever used her love potions on animals and she didn't know how long the potion would last on a human.

"Yeah... that's why I'm saying one drop," Rose said suspiciously. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Fine, do you want me to take it?" Dru suggested.

"Oh no, your feelings are very important for your gift... you're right, I'm the best candidate."

"Come on, you lot. Let's get back to the common room then." George said and took the papers, so Fred could help Dru carry the vials.

When they got into the common room, the boys first brought all the stuff to their room, before returning. Dru was sitting on the armrest of the sofa playing with the vial of love potion in her hands.

George pulled Rose on his lap. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I guess," she nodded. She took the vial from Dru and put a few drops on her finger before putting it in her mouth and getting the liquid off before swallowing it down. "There."

"Well?" Dru asked, as she leaned on Fred's shoulder, who was sitting next her.

"How do you feel?" Fred was getting a bit anxious.

"Good, like me, I suppose." Rose frowned and looked at George with a big smile. "Hi handsome!"

"Hi, sweetie." George grinned. "Feel different yet?"

"No..." she said before she turned around on his lap. She put her arms around his neck and smiled at him. "I'm still me," she nodded and kissed him tenderly.

George gently kissed her back. He knew he probably shouldn't but he was dying to find out what the effect of the potion would turn out to be.

Dru smiled at Fred as she bit her lip. She had an inkling that the potion was starting to work.

Rose felt as if she wanted to crawl inside of George, be as close to him as humanly possible, which was ridiculous because that wasn't possible and that made her sad. She gently broke off the kiss and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, sweetie. What's wrong?" George asked concerned as he caressed her hair. He shot a look at Fred, thinking that they should not have done this.

"It's impossible to ... no it's stupid..." she chuckled as she wiped the tears out of her eyes before caressing George's hair.

"Somehow I have the feeling that once the potion wears off, she'll be  _very_  drained," Fred noted.

Dru couldn't stop laughing at the sight of her friend. Her potion was working alright.

George chuckled at Rose and gave her a quick kiss on her lips. "What's stupid?" He was getting curious.

"Well, first off..." Rose got off George's lap and started to pace back and forth in front of the fireplace. "I am stupid for thinking of something that stupid in the first place. Me. But I  _am_  stupid for not being who I was before while I know that I can still be that person so I'm terribly stupid. Very very stupid. Actually, George, I'm so stupid that you shouldn't even be with me. Seriously." she kept pacing.

"I think I didn't make the potion right. It's not focusing enough on her romantic feeling." Dru whispered in Fred's ear. She didn't want George to hear she slipped up.

"That's alright," Fred smiled. "You have no idea how many times George and I suffered from failed experiments."

"And I love you, George, I love you  _so much_  and it scares me. It scares me and that makes me so sad!" Rose felt tears run down her cheeks but she kept pacing. "And it's so sad that my father didn't like... oh dad..."

George got up and stopped her from pacing, by pulling her in his arms. "It's okay, Rose. How long does this stuff normally work, Dru?"

"A..a few..few hours." Dru stammered. She let herself sink into Fred's lap thinking George was going to yell at her any second.

"Not too bad then," George shrugged and caressed Rose's back as she had put her head against his chest and was sobbing. "We can do a few hours."

"My father's dead... and he killed my grandfather!" Rose sobbed and took hold of George's shirt. "Don't ever leave me, George? They left me, and they lied to me and they hurt me and..."

"I'll never leave you." George kissed the top of her head. "I'll never hurt you." He felt bad for the girl.

"I'm sorry... it's all so stupid... I can't..." she chuckled. "I'm stupid, but that's not the point, is it? I thought of something stupid and it made me cry."

"You're not stupid, Rose. You're a bit emotional, that's all." He chuckled and put his hands around her face. "You feel better in a few hours." He gently kissed her on her lips.

Rose grabbed the back of his head and kissed him back, harder and with more feeling behind it than she had ever kissed him. Without breaking off the kiss, she climbed onto the table so that he wouldn't be too uncomfortable kissing her.

"hm, Rose, should we-" But George didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Rose pulled him into a even deeper kiss.

Rose couldn't control herself anymore. She wrapped her legs around him and started unbuttoning his shirt.

It only took George two seconds to realise what she was doing. He quickly broke off the kiss and had grabbed her wrist. 'That's not a good idea, Rose." his voice sounded strained. It wasn't as if he hadn't wanted it, but he was not going to take advantage of Rose like this.

Rose blinked at him and managed to get back on her feet. "It may not be a good idea, but it certainly felt good!" she said before looking at him. "Don't you love me?" she asked in a small voice.

"Rose, I love you to bits, you know that. But you don't want this." George grinned.

"We could slip George a few drops too." Dru chuckled in Fred's ear.

"You mad? Mum will kill us if she'd ever find out!" Fred laughed. "Let's just... handle with one ticking time bomb instead of two, and enjoy ourselves."

Rose felt tears run down her cheeks and ran towards the entrance, where she bumped into Neville. "Neville!"

"What's wrong with her?" Neville asked as he protectively put his arm around Rose. "What did you do to her?" Neville had started seeing Rose like a sister and he didn't want anyone to hurt her.

"He didn't like me kissing him, Neville," she sobbed. "And he said that I didn't want to kiss him but I did!" she then realised that she was with Neville. "And YOU! You're a complete idiot you know that?" she took a step away from him and looked at him furiously. No signs of tears anymore. "How could you!" she hit him on the chest.

"What did I do?" Neville asked surprised, as he shielded himself from her fist.

"Uhm, did we ever take her wand away from her?" Fred asked hesitantly.

George quickly reached into Rose's back pocket, got her wand and threw it at Fred. He then pulled her away from attacking Neville. "Rose, calm down."

"No! He promised not to hurt Dru and he did! He broke up with her!" she then realised what she had said and started to cry again. "That was so sad... it broke my heart..." she put her arms around George and buried her face in his shirt.

"It's okay, Dru's fine and so is Neville, aren't you?" George looked pleading at Neville, for him to agree.

"What in the name of Merlin is going on?" Neville demanded.

"We gave her a potion to enhance her feelings." Dru said.

"Are you mad?"

"She agreed to it. We needed someone to test it on." Dru's voice was small. She still hated it if Neville got mad at her.

"Relax, mate," Fred said and gently caressed Dru's leg. "We're in a controlled environment. George and I usually test these things on ourselves but we're too honorable to actually have let this happen."

Rose had been watching Fred and Dru talk to Neville and smiled at George. "You know, I like this," she nodded.

"Like what?" George asked.

"You. And Fred and Dru... I've never seen her happier." she sighed happily. "She and Fred were made for each other."

"Rose!" Dru said shocked.

"I know that I've said that about her and Neville too, because you know, that's what my head told me, but no, this is so much better. He..."

"Rose, don't." George said as he looked at Neville.

"And Neville is just...  _Neville_. Breaking up with Dru was typical a Neville move to do, he got too scared. But that's okay, she's got Fred now, so much better."

George put his hand over Rose's mouth to keep her quiet. He looked at Neville. "I'm sorry. It's the potion."

"Yeah... right..." Neville said as he made his way to the boys dormitory.

"I've got to go and talk to him." Dru said, got of Fred's lap and quickly followed Neville. She knocked on the door, before she walked in.

"Leave me alone," Neville muttered.

"Neville, I'm sorry. I never meant for any of this." Dru said down on the end of his bed. Tears were rolling down her face, she never meant to hurt him.

"It's not your fault," he sighed and moved over to put his arm around her out of instinct. "I shouldn't be such a pain in the neck."

Dru moved back from him. "Neville."

"What?"

"We're not... I mean..." Dru was stammering. She and Neville had always had an attraction between them and her being with Fred hadn't changed that, but she wasn't going to give in to it.

"What? It's what  _friends_  do, isn't it? Comfort each other? What do you want me to do, Dru?"

"I don't know. You needed your space." Dru knew it was better if she left, but she couldn't get up.

"Yes, and I'm doing very well in my space, when I'm not confronted by the fact that we broke up and that you're with Fred now."

"We didn't broke up. You broke us up. Stop pulling Fred into this. He's got nothing to do with what's between us"

"Just go." Neville got up and rummaged in his trunk to find his notes on Herbology. "I need to give these to Luna."

"Fine."Dru got up and walked back to Fred. She crawled back into his lap and leaned against him. "Stupid jerk." She muttered.

When Neville had left again, Fred softly kissed her. "Don't worry, you'll be friends again, he just realises what he's given up."

Dru looked at Fred and smiled. "Promise me you'll be less stupid than him."

"I'm a Weasley, I'm always stupid," he grinned. "But I'll never hurt you like that."

Dru gently kissed him and placed her head on his shoulder.

"Keep your eyes closed," George told her. They were sitting on the floor in front of the fire and George had decided that Rose had suffered through enough of the potion and since she had told him that she sometimes managed to find her inner peace again by relaxing and trying to tune everything out, he was going to try and help her do just that.

A part of him was really happy that thanks to the potion, he knew that she had deeper feelings for him that she had let on, and that he had been right about her keeping a tight lid on those feelings for reasons he didn't really understand yet, but it was good. Fred had been right about taking away Rose's wand, he didn't want her to accidentally hurt someone if someone else than Neville had walked in that she didn't particularly liked, like Lavender Brown.

On the other hand, he had realised that  _maybe_  it would have been a better idea to have had someone else, someone other than one of the four of them, test out the potion. Dru was too reliant on her feelings for her gift and this could have messed her up completely and him and Fred  _knew_  that they would have gone full out on the girls and they wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

And yet, another part of him realised that maybe this had been a good experience for Rose despite it being an emotional rollercoaster. Maybe she'd learn that it wasn't that bad to share. She had had everything bottled up and maybe that's what made the experience so intense.

"Maybe I better take the potion myself next time." Dru sighed as she looked at Rose. "Rose's not strong enough for that amount of feelings."

"What if you brewed something and you  _think_  that you can handle it and it leaves long lasting damage?" Fred asked and shook his head. "No, you rely on your feelings too much."

Dru lifted her head and looked at him. "I'm not as feeble as everyone thinks I am. I feel more than most and I know how to handle myself."

"Just worried, that's all."

"I've behaved myself so far, haven't I?"

Fred chuckled. "Yes."

"Then trust me."

"Alright, Rose... one thing at a time, okay?" George asked her and she nodded. She looked so serene at this point, she was calm and hopefully in control. "How do you feel?"

"Tired, so tired."

"You want to go to bed?"

"No, I'm just tired," she said with a peaceful smile on her face. "Tired of myself."

"Do you still feel high strung?" Dru asked.

"Not now... if I let go then... yes." she nodded. "I'm aware of how this potion is affecting me now and it scares the hell out of me."

"Well, I suppose it's better to let Fred go next then. Maybe it's smarter to let George take care of you." Dru said. "We need to test it on all of us to see the full effect." She looked at Fred. "Don't you think?"

"Ah, science," Fred chuckled. "You're absolutely right. Usually George and I both test the same product, occasionally Lee."

Dru handed Fred the vial. "When you're ready."

He pointed at Rose. "She had just a few drops, I'm going to do the same," he said as he put a few drops on his finger and put it in his mouth. "George, keep an eye out, will you?"

Dru put the vial in her bag and looked at Fred.

All of a sudden, Rose started to laugh. "Ginny caught the snitch!"

"What are you talking about? The game isn't in weeks." Dru asked.

"I know!" she giggled. "The new team... well... it needs some work."

"Thanks." George said a little hurt. He secretly wanted the team to fail, without him and Ferd on it.

Fred had started to kiss Dru's neck after gently caressing her hair away from it and caressed her stomach with one hand over her clothes.

"Are you okay, Fred?" Dru asked smiling.

"Never better," he replied, not stopping with what he was doing. "I like the way you smell."

Dru giggled. She knew she would have to be strong, but she couldn't help liking the way Fred was kissing her and a bit of kissing never hurt anyone.

"Hands above the table, Freddie," George reminded his brother and looked at Rose. "How are you feeling?"

"Scared," she said with tears in her eyes, she had just seen something really bad happen and she wanted it all to stop. "I want this to stop!" she crawled into George's arms and squeezed her eyes shut as she put hands on her ears, as if that would stop her from seeing and hearing things.

George put his arms as close around him as tight as he could, without taking his eyes of his brother. "It'll be over soon. The potion's probably going to wear off very soon."

Fred nuzzled Dru's earlobe. "Did anyone ever tell you how pretty you are?"

Dru shot a look at George. "No." she lied. "Tell me." she turned around and put her arms around his neck.

"You are so incredibly pretty, your beauty can stun a man..." he moved his hands to her lower back and gently pulled her closer to him.

"You're an idiot." Dru chuckled.

"No, I'm not. Even George said you were before he decided he wanted the shortest one of you two."

"What?" Dru and Rose chorused.

"As I told you before, that you two are both the prettiest girls in the school. I just like you the most." George reassured Rose.

Fred grinned and moved his hands underneath Dru's shirt, he wanted to feel her skin underneath his finger tips.

"Ok, let's leave that for another time." Dru gently removed his hands from under her shirt. "I don't mind, but not when you're under the influence of a love potion."

"Ah, love," Fred sighed happily. "Such a cruel feeling."

Dru laughed. "You're a funny guy, Fred."

"I'm not just funny, you know," he said as he kissed her lips. "There's more to me than just funny."

"I know that, silly. But I love your funny side, it makes me happy."

"You know what would make me happy?" Fred said in a low voice and a wicked smile on his face.

"You can tell me, but i'm not promising anything." Dru was very much on her guard.

"I can't really say, because you know, you're 15 and it would be... very wrong."

"Maybe you shouldn't then." Dru said as she gave him a kiss on his lips without thinking about that might not be the smartest thing to right now.

Fred kissed her back, harder, and got out of the sofa before setting Dru on the table. He was about to push her so that she would be lying on the table when his brother pulled him away from her. "Aw, Georgie, I was having fun!"

Dru got up and put her arms around Fred. "Let's keep that kind of fun for later." She wasn't going to let him scare her and winked at George. She knew George would keep Fred from going too far.

"But I want it now!"

"She said no, Freddie," George said and pat his brother on the back. "Later, much much later."

Dru gently kissed Fred on his lips. "I don't shy away from a body binding spell if you don't behave."

"Now I like the sound of that!" Fred grinned and winced when George slapped him on the head.

Dru roared with laughter as she suddenly saw that Ginny was standing at the corner with Dean and Seamus and had witnessed the whole thing. "It's fine. He'll go back to normal in a few hours."

"Ginny!" Rose said giddily and waved at the youngest of the Weasleys. "I really like your hair."

"She was worse," George pointed out as he made his way over to Rose again. "Well, on the love front,  _he_  is worse, but ..."

"I can't believe you're using your own girlfriend to test something new." Ginny said in shock.

"George and I are going test it too, just on a different day. When these two are back to normal." Dru said as she gently pushed Fred back on the sofa.

"You're mad, all four of you!" Ginny shook her head.

Dean looked at George. "Can I buy that stuff too?" He couldn't help but snicker at the thought of what that stuff would do to Ginny.

"No," Fred and George chorused. "It's still in its testing stages, mate," George added.

George sat down in the chair and pulled Rose on his lap. "If you want I could colour your hair, to make it look like Ginny's."

"Ohhh!" Rose smiled widely. "Why haven't I thought of that? Oh right, because I'm stupid."

Dru suddenly realised that Fred had two wands in his back pocket. She got them out and put them under the sofa for safe keeping.

"You got my wand out!" Fred snickered and kissed Dru again. "You want to touch my wand?"

"No, and you're going to keep  _that_  wand away from me." Dru snickered while she kissed him back.

"Freddie, Ginny's here, keep your mouth shut."

"George, your sister has a dirtier mouth than the two you put together." Dru said as she broke off her kiss with Fred.

"That's true," Rose nodded. "Oh and congratulations Ginny! You're going to catch a snitch!"

"Ignore her." Dru said and slowly pushed Fred's hands from under her clothes again. "Behave." She said with a grin.

"I am? When!" Ginny bounced her way over to Rose.

"Soon," she nodded with a big smile on her face as she put her head down on George's shoulder. She then yawned and closed her eyes. "I think I'm going to take a nap."

"That's my good little girl." George chuckled, while not letting Fred out of his sight. Although he had to admit that Dru was doing pretty good with Fred, who kept trying to get under clothes, but she wasn't letting him.

"Wow, you're really are fast, aren't you?" Lavender said as she and Patty looked at Dru, who was still kissing with Fred.

"She's slow, actually," Fred deadpanned after gently breaking off the kiss.

But Dru got off the sofa and sat down on the armrest as she looked shy to the floor.

"I mean, poor Neville..."

George felt Rose tightening her grip on his shirt, she wasn't napping yet. "Can you two come back another time to have a bitch fight?"

"Why? Because you're all so cute together?"

Fred pulled Dru back towards him and protectively put his arms around her. "Words don't hurt, curses do," he smiled at her. "Breathe."

"Aww, look at that, it makes me sick!"

"Would you shut up?" Rose snapped as she got to her feet. "I'm sick and tired of hearing you complain about everything and think that just because you've got great hair and a pleasant attitude... well most of the time, you've got the right to dive nose deep into someone else's problems!" She had already noticed that someone had taken her wand away from her and maybe that was a good thing. "And it's not 'Poor Neville', 'Poor Neville' broke up with  _her_ , and she moved on. He knew the risks. For your own good, let it go, Lavender."

"Rose, It's fine. Just drop it." Dru said as she put her head against Fred's chest.

"No, it's not fine, I'm sick and tired of people treating you like you're the enemy, like you're always to blame for things. It's not fine." She glared at Lavender, wondering if the girl was going to say something else.

"Well, sorry, but she has been gushing over Neville for months and now suddenly it's Fred. She's a slut." Patty said, trying to defend her friend.

"Oi!" Fred called out. "I'm usually not one for hitting girls but right now you're pissing me off!"

"Just leave her alone. You have no idea what Neville did to her. He's not as innocent as you make him out to be." Ginny shot at them.

Patty pulled Lavender out of the common room and nearly walked into Ron, Harry and Hermione as they just walked in.

"What wrong with them?" Harry asked.

"Fred and Rose told them off for bitching at Dru again." Seamus said. He and Dean were sitting down at at table enjoying the show that Fred and Rose were giving them.

Rose was fuming. "They're so lucky I can't find my wand right now," she said before sitting back down in George's lap.

"Okay, they're gone now. Try and focus on me. Maybe your anger will go away then." He gently caressed her back.

"I can do that," Rose giggled and softly kissed George as she dug her her hands into George's hair. "Yep, definitely."

George chuckled as he gently kissed her back.

Fred caressed Dru's hair and looked deep into her eyes. "You're pretty, and you're adorable and they shouldn't be so mean to you."

"Uhm..." Hermione looked at them. "You slipped them something, didn't you?"

Dru giggled as she broke her eye contact with Fred. He was making her nervous. "Hmm... we're testing a new product. George and I are up tomorrow."

"Is that such a great idea?" Ron said worried. "Fred! You shouldn't touch her like that!"

Dru took Fred's hand and held them together to her chest. "Behave."

"Oh breasts," Fred sighed happily.

Dru quickly moved his hands against his own chest, but she couldn't help laughing at him. "We need to make sure the product is safe. But we could test it on you if you want." Dru said to Ron.

"No thanks," Ron said and put his hands up. "Pass."

"Wise decision, Ronald, I think they're being irresponsible." Hermione nodded.

"Don't be such a..." Fred started. "I know! Why don't you try, Hermione?"

"Fred, knock it off." Dru said and kissed him to silence him.

But Ginny was laughing now too. "Maybe it  _would_  be a good idea to let Hermione try some. Or Ron?"

Even George was now laughing. He broke off his kiss with Rose and put her head on his chest. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Totally zen," she nodded and closed her eyes. "I'm not doing this again, George," she said seriously. "It's really really hard to control myself."

"Don't worry. It's my turn next." he said and gave her kiss on the top of her head. "Try and get some sleep. You feel better then."

"I don't know what I would do without you, George... I don't even know what I would do if you've left me... I might explode."

"I'm not going anywhere for a few months as least. And after that I'll never be too far away." George pulled her into to tighter embrace. "Fred you could try just holding Dru. It's nice too."

"No, I'm actually fine now," Fred nodded. "I didn't have that much." He said and caressed Dru's hair.

"Fred, when did it wear off?" Dru asked with a shock face.

"Right after... ohh I made the comment about your breasts?" he smiled. "That was inappropriate and I'm sorry."

"Fred, when did it wear off?" Dru asked again, she started to realise he had been fooling her a bit.

Fred sighed. "Right after George pulled me away from you," he then looked at her innocently. "What? A guy can't have a little bit of fun?"

"If I had know that, I wouldn't have pushed your hands away." Dru said. "I would have known that you could stop yourself."

"What? I made sure that I behaved myself, I never went anywhere near your sensitive areas."

George rolled his eyes at his brother. "So much for collecting the correct data on the potion."

Dean and Seamus were in stitches in their little corner at the table.

"Behave, or I'm going to spill some in your morning pumpkin juice." Dru warned them before gently kissing Fred.

"That would be interesting," Fred replied while returning Dru's kiss. "How's Rose doing?"

"Sleeping," George said softly and kept caressing her hair. "Thankfully."

"Honestly, I like what you guys have done to the girls, they're a lot more happier now, and open, but you're..." Hermione shook her head. "Don't ruin them, you know."

"Thanks for the faith in us, Hermione," George chuckled.

* * *

When Rose woke up the next day, she had a huge headache but at least she felt she was herself again. She and Dru had made their way to the breakfast table and were now chewing on pieces of toast and drinking their tea. "So you're not afraid of what it might do to you?" Rose asked her friend.

"Honestly, yeah...but... I promised." Dru answered.

"You don't have to, you know." Rose reached for one of the boiled eggs and started to peel it.

"If I go too far, Fred will stop me." Dru shrugged. "I'm more afraid of what I might say than of what I might do."

She sighed with a nod. She knew that her friend still had feelings for Neville. "I think Fred knows. I mean, you and Neville were pretty intense, it's not easy to get over that."

"I'm more scared that Fred finds out..." Dru drank her tea. She didn't wanted to admit it, but she hardly felt anything anymore when she saw Neville.

"What?" She smiled at her friend.

"Never mind, Let's go up and get this over with."

Rose finished eating her egg and downed her tea in one go. "Just a few drops, remember that," she said as she put an arm around Dru as they made their way up to the common room.

"Good morning!" Fred and George chorused as the girls walked into the common room. "Who's going to go first?" Fred added before kissing Dru gently on her lips.

Dru looked at George, who was dreading this almost as much as she was.

"You guys really have lost your mind? You can't let Dru take that stuff." Neville said. He had been watching the twins. He overheard the boys last night talking about Dru and George testing the potion today.

"I'll go first." Dru said quietly to Fred.

"No! I will not have it!"

"Neville, you lost your voice about anything concerning her when you broke up with her," Rose said sweetly. "Besides, she wants to do this and she says she can handle it, I'm not too keen on it either, but we'll see what happens."

"Fine, But I'm staying then. If anything goes wrong, I'm going to kill you." He looked more at Fred than at George.

"Neville, I get your point, but you're only going to hurt yourself if you stay." George said.

"I don't care." Neville said resolutely and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm staying."

"No, Neville. You don't want to see her take that stuff." George looked at Fred. He and Rose had both tried to have sex with their partners. George wanted to spare Neville seeing Dru jumping Fred.

"Listen mate," Fred spoke calmly. "You've seen in what kind of state Rose was yesterday and how I was... you don't want to see Dru with enhanced feelings, trust me. But, I also understand that you're worried, and if you want to stay, you can stay."

"You're just scared when she takes that stuff, it will prove she wants me more than you. That you're just...some...in between guy."

"You really shouldn't have said that," Fred looked at Dru who was already putting a few drops on her finger. "She might get mad." He reached for Dru's wand in her boot and pulled it out of there. He put it in a safe place, somewhere she couldn't reach. He saw that at the moment, Dru was ignoring Neville and she was doing a good job at it.

She licked her finger and smiled. "I don't really feel that different."

"Give it a moment to work," Fred said, pulling Dru on his lap. Mostly to ensure that she wouldn't go off on Neville. She could be like a little firecracker without the potion, she could get far worse with the potion. He softly caressed her hair and smiled at her.

Dru looked at Fred and smiled. "You're a funny guy."

"I know," he chuckled.

"You called me pretty yesterday."

"Well, that's the truth. You are very very pretty." Fred kissed the tip of her nose.

"Am I just pretty?"

"Hot too, so I suppose that makes you pretty hot."

Dru giggled and started to kiss Fred's neck. "I lied to you."

"You did? About what?" he softly caressed her back, he could take the neck kissing thing without any problem.

"You asked me if anybody called me pretty before?"

"Ah yes, I did, didn't I?" he laughed. "Well, what's the truth then?"

"Neville used to call me pretty and Blaise told me too."

"Blaise is a bit of a knob, isn't he?"

"I used to call you Beautiful, not pretty." Neville said, trying to see if he could get her to pay attention to him.

Dru looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, you did."

Suddenly George realised why Neville had wanted to stay. "You slippery little git." he spat at Neville.

"He stole her from me, there's no rule I can't steal her back."

"He didn't steal her, you let her go!" Rose glared at him. "I think you should leave."

"No." Neville said firmly and smiled at Dru. "You don't mind me staying, do you?"

"No." Dru said.

Fred looked at Neville, if he really thought Fred was going to give up that easily he had another thing coming. "Well, I think you're beautiful too."

Dru looked back at Fred and kissed him full on his lips. "I think you're beautiful too." She whispered in his ear.

Fred chuckled and couldn't help giving a scowling Neville a very smug look. Dru was his now and he had no plans of giving her up without a fight.

"I think it's my turn now." George looked at Rose.

"Can't you wait at least until Neville stops being a jerk?" she asked worried.

"I don't have forever." George gave Rose a kiss. "Behave yourself." George spat at Neville.

Neville nodded and kept watching Dru who was now just sitting in Fred's lap, giggling about nothing.

George sat down in the chair as he put the drops on his finger and put his finger in his mouth. When he looked at Rose's worried face, he laughed. "Come here." He reached out for her with his hand.

She made her way over to him, sat down on his lap, and put her arms around his neck. "I'm still worried, even though I'm in your lap now."

"You worry too much, Rose."

"Yeah... you keep saying that," she smiled at him.

"Well you do, but then so do I." He gently kissed her collar bone. She shouldn't have worn just a top without a cardigan at least.

"You do?" Rose played with his hair. "Why?"

"I'm constantly scared I'm going to hurt you. Going to do something you don't want and you either run away or..." He rested his forehead against her chest. He was trying to fight the potion from telling her everything.

"George Weasley, I'm constantly amazed by your amount of self control," she smiled and planted a kiss on his head. "You'll never hurt me, and if you scare me... well, we'll talk about that."

"But I want to lose control every time I feel you." He let his hand slip underneath her top. "I really do."

"Hands above the table, Georgie!" Fred laughed and Rose shot him a look.

"He's fine, he's not doing anything he usually doesn't do... yet."

"I wanna get my hands under the table." Dru said and let her hands slide down Fred's chest towards his private parts.

"Ohh no," Fred took hold of her hands and kissed them before placing them on his shoulders. "We're not going under the table."

"But that's fun." Dru smiled. "Don't you want to." She started kissing the thick vein in his neck, trying to make him give in on her.

"Oh yes, I really want to, but it's not..." Fred took a deep breath and stared to the ceiling. "Not like this."

But Dru wasn't giving up easily. She would just kiss him now, and try again later.

Meanwhile George was still fighting his urges to tell Rose everything that was on his mind.  
but she was driving him crazy. He loved the feeling of her fingers through his hair. He suddenly tried to slide out of the chair, so he could lay on top of her, but as soon as Rose's back touched the floor, George was pulled back into his seat.

"Sit." Neville said as the then helped Rose back to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... thanks Neville... I didn't see that coming."

George suddenly started sobbing. "See, I can't keep control of myself."

"Oh honey..." Rose kneeled down in front of him and softly caressed his cheek. "You're under the influence of the potion, of course you can't control yourself, that's why we're testing it, remember?" She had never seen George cry, and she hated what it was doing to her. It was like her insides were getting torn out of her body and pushed back in. "It's okay!"

"Is he crying?" Fred laughed. "George and crying? Wow."

"Shut up and kiss me." Dru whined as she sat on top of Fred and forced him into a hard kiss.

Neville walked back to his chair on the other side of the room. As he walked by Dru and Fred, he couldn't help himself. He let two fingers trace her bra strap.

Dru broke off her kiss and looked at Neville with a wide, devilish smile on her face. She had always loved it when he did that.

Neville sat down and smiled back at her. He knew how to get a reaction out of her.

"George?" she got to her feet again and sat down in his lap, making him look at her. He was still sobbing. "I know you want to protect me from whatever you're holding back, but I have a wand, I can get you away from me if needed. You're not being a reliable test subject right now, that's what this is all about, remember?" she softly kissed him. "I love you, no matter what happens."

George nodded and kissed her for a few seconds, before he suddenly broke the kiss off. "Did you just tell me you love me?"

"Don't act so surprised," she smiled at him.

George pushed Rose onto the ground, not caring if she was on her feet or not, got up and pulled Dru off Fred. George then got on the sofa, hoisted his brother up to stand on it too, and started to bounce up and down. "She loves me, she loves me, she loves me, Freddie! She loves me, she loves me."

George had pushed Dru on the floor and Neville decided to seize his chance. He gently helped her back on her feet. "Are you okay?" He gently caressed her back.

Although Rose really liked seeing her boyfriend jump on the sofa, she felt that she needed to keep an eye on Neville right now. For whatever reason, his jealousy had turned him into a jerk while he had been the one to break it off with Dru. "Neville, you slimeball!" she called out as she got to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Dru said and smiled at him. "You shouldn't have done what you did."

"No, I should not have broken up with you, I'm sorry," Neville nodded. "Can you forgive me?"

"Yeah, I can. I'm not mad at you anymore." Dru smiled.

Neville looked at Fred, who hadn't noticed yet the Dru was standing with him now. "I really miss you."

"I miss you too. You're always been my best friend."

"Fred," Rose said and pointed at Dru and Neville. Fred rolled his eyes at the two of them, hopped off the sofa before lifting Rose up on it to keep George happy and made his way over to Dru and Neville.

"Everything alright?" he asked. "I think that it's really really sad that Neville is trying to take advantage of the fact that you're under the influence now," he said to Dru as he put his arm around her.

Dru looked smiling at Fred. "He told me he was stupid and asked if I would forgive him and i said Yes."

"Well, forgiveness is always good," Fred said, hesitating. He didn't like the smug look Neville had on his face.

"Yeah, and I really do. I'm not mad at him anymore. And I do really miss him." Dru smiled at Fred, before smiling at Neville.

Fred had berating Neville about taking advantage of Dru now that she was oversharing things, and how wrong it was, but he couldn't help but feel rejected. He didn't want to be the spare ever again. Damn Longbottom.

"And I shouldn't have broken up with you," Neville said slowly. "I wish I could just take that back, you know... what was I thinking?"

"You were thinking that it was my fault that we nearly had sex. That I was controlling your mind, but the funny thing is, You always made the moves first, not me." Dru was still smiling at Neville. "Do you still think that way?"

Neville swallowed hard. "Of course not, I never thought that, I was breaking up with you, I had to say something."

Dru shrugged her shoulder, before looking at Fred again. He was looking really depressed. "What's wrong with you?"

"You're going back to him, aren't you?"

Dru smiled. "You're funny."

"What? Why not?" Neville asked shocked. "What does he have what I don't?"

Dru looked at Neville. "He makes me happy. He doesn't make me feel like I'm going to be tossed aside, because he either doesn't want me anymore or that I'm too much trouble."  
She looked at Fred. "You like it when I'm trouble, don't you?"

Fred grinned at her. "You know I do."

Dru put her arms around Fred waist. "I love Neville, but I wanna be yours now."

"I can live with that," he said with a smile and softly kissed her.

Dru suddenly put her arms around his neck and jumped a little so she could wrap her legs around his waist.

"Alright, let's not do this," he chuckled and moved her back towards the sofa, but he was surprised that George was still jumping on it, Rose was keeping an eye on him from the floor. "You alright, Georgie?"

"She loves me. she loves me, she loves me."

Dru let Fred go and joined George. "She loves you, she loves you, she loves you."

"She does, doesn't she?" George grinned at Dru.

Dru nodded. "She really does. You're lucky!"

"You're lucky too!"

Dru shrugged her shoulders. "I want your brother, but he doesn't want me."

"He so does!" George nodded violently, he almost looked like a jumping bobblehead figurine. "You have no idea what he talks about in his sleep."

"Georgie, let's not go there, shall we?" Fred said as he pulled George of the sofa.

George picked Rose up from the floor and pushed her against the wall. "I love you, you know that." and hugged her.

"And you're bonkers," she laughed and caressed his cheek.

George kissed her while wrapping her legs around his waist. "I won't hurt you. I just want to kiss you." his voice started to sound more like his normal voice.

"I know, don't worry." she softly kissed him as she put her arms around his neck. "I trust you."

"What the hell is she doing?" Angelina asked as she walked into the common room.

"She is jumping on the sofa," Fred said and rolled his eyes at her. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Why?" Angelina looked at Dru like she was a bug that needed to squashed.

"She's happy."

"She's crazy." Angelina said.

Dru suddenly lunged at Angelina and grabbed her hair. "You stupid..." Dru turned Angelina into her object of rage. She was cursing like a fairy whose tail got stepped upon, which left George, Fred, Neville and Rose shocked that Dru even knew those kinds of words.

Angelina was screaming as Dru was trying to rip every hair out of her head.

"Dru!" Rose managed to get between Dru and Angelina, and hoped that she wouldn't get hit. "Calm down," she said softly and pushed her away from the offending girl. "It's okay, calm down, breathe."

But Dru was taller than Rose and because of her sudden rage she was a lot stronger than normal. She pushed Rose to the side and lunged at Angelina for the second time.

"Guys, do something or I will use my wand on Dru and I don't want that to happen!" Rose barked at George, Fred and Neville as she nursed her wrist. She had felt something snap when Dru had pushed her away.

Neville grabbed Dru around her waist and pulled her back from Angelina. But Dru was struggling hard to get out his grip and Neville could barely hold her.

Fred moved himself in front of Neville and Dru and made her look at him. Neville (luckily and wisely) released her and Dru threw her arms around Fred. "She said calm down," He said softly and caressed her back. "It's okay... but calm down." he planted a kiss on top of her head.

Dru nodded and hid herself in his arms. There was something about him that always calmed her down. She put her head against his chest and closed her eyes. She could feel her anger slip away and with it the rest of the effect of the love potion. "I don't think we should use this potion voor the shop."

"Well, study suggests that girls have adverse reactions to it," Fred replied with a chuckle. "Us boys however..."

"You can't guarantee that it won't be used on girls," George said.

"What the hell? You were trying something out again, weren't you? Turned that little sprite into a Giant?" Angelina spat. "Thanks a lot, Fred."

"I still have some more potions that we could try." Dru looked at Fred and gently kissed him.

Rose looked at Fred and Dru, they seemed to be okay, Dru seemed to be doing fine again. George was still a little bit shocked, but he was fine too. She decided to take the opportunity to slip away to the infirmary to get her wrist checked out. Madame Pomfrey could heal broken bones within a heartbeat, she did it all the time with the Quidditch players. She was never going to allow herself, or Dru, to test out something ever again, at least until Dru was certain that it would be safe.

"Rose, where are you going to? Neville asked. "What's wrong with your wrist?" he had followed her out of the common room.

"Nothing, I'm fine," she managed a small smile.

"Then I shall accompany you to wherever you're going, we made a deal, remember? You weren't allowed to walk somewhere by yourself anymore."

"Yeah... but there are extra safety measures in place now, so it's safe."

"Yeah, right." Neville said as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "So, George hurt your wrist, did he?"

"It wasn't George," Rose glared at him. "This was an accident, go and play with your plants."

"Sorry, can't do that."

She decided to have him tag along then. He was acting like a jerk one moment, and perfectly fine the other, and now he was acting like this Jack Russell terrier that had bit down on her leg and wouldn't let go. As expected, Madame Pomfrey easily fixed her wrist, and she didn't really ask any questions. She just said that whatever Rose had been doing that she shouldn't do it again because it'd likely end up with the same result.

"Hey, it's lunch time, you want to come to the Great Hall?" Neville said, as Rose exited the infirmary.

"Sure, why not," she said with a shrug.

"Rose, did you mean what you said yesterday?"

"Well, the potion enhances feelings... I'm sorry," she said softly. "But you and Dru..." she took a deep breath. "Maybe this time without her will do you some good. You two were far too intense far too quickly and you can't disagree with me on that because you know."

"But.. She loves me, she even said so today."

"Yeah, she does. But she loves Fred too. It's complicated, I know, but I think that you should take your distance a little bit, you know... In the end, it won't matter anyway."

"Wait, what do you mean in the end? You think she's going to come back to me?"

"I don't know, Neville. You shouldn't wait for her, that's all I know. If you love her, you should let her go. She's happy."

Neville looked at the ground. "But isn't she going to turn bad, if she's not with me?"

"Not as long as she stays with Fred and doesn't swap him for someone other than you."


	21. Firecracker and WonderWitch

"Hey, Rosie?" George asked as he tickled her with the end of his own quill. "You know what day it is?"

"Hogsmeade?"

"Well, yes, but think again," he chuckled.

"We can actually go to Hogsmeade and not having to worry about Umbridge!" she smiled widely. "That's the day!"

"It's Valentine's Day, you silly git," he laughed and softly kissed her. "We should do something special today."

"But I don't want to go to Hogsmeade, I have work to do." she pointed at her school work. "And besides, Valentine's Day? That's a day to exploit couples in spending more money."

"It's a day to celebrate  _love_  and being in love, and well, I love love and I'm totally in love with you." He started to put away their stuff and pulled her to her feet. "Go get your coat."

Rose made her way upstairs and tossed her bag onto her bed before grabbing her coat.

"Going to Hogsmeade?" Dru asked as she was going over the charms notes while sitting on her bed.

"Yup, George is taking me." she smiled. "Fred has something for you downstairs."

Dru looked at Rose. "What does he have?" she asked as she pulled on her thigh high black boots. She had gotten them in London, but hadn't worn them yet.

"Oh something very special," Rose smiled widely and grabbed her coat. She watched Dru leave the room first and grabbed Dru's own coat. If she was going to suffer through this, then so would Dru.

"Good morning, my beautiful little firecracker," Fred said as he bowed before his girlfriend.

"Good morning." Dru said smiling. "Rose told me you had something for me?"

"I do!" Fred kissed her softly on her lips and smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day, gorgeous!"

"I don't do Valentine's Day. I told you that." Dru gave him a kiss back.

"Sorry, you do now," Fred looked at Rose who handed him Dru's coat. "You're dating a Weasley, and we Weasley's really like to be cheesy."

"You sneaky little bitch. You set me up." Dru smiling at Rose. She turned back to Fred. "Well, I got you a present." She put her arms around his neck.

"And what's that?"

"Well, your present is that you can watch me walk around in my new boots today." She laughed. "Happy Valentines Day."

"I like your new boots," Fred nodded and put his arm around her. "Let's go."

Dru put her coat on and locked her arm into Rose's, while the boys were throwing snowballs at each other. "Seriously? Valentines day?"

"Yep," Rose chuckled. "Believe me, I was surprised too, I didn't even know that it was coming."

"I hate Valentine's Day."

"I hate it too... I want to bet we're going to see all those mushy couples out there in Hogsmeade... Ick."

"Oh... Should we make a run for it?" Dru giggled. The boys were a few yards away from them.

"No, I think we should humor them," she nodded. "Who knows what might happen?"

"I still think we should make run for it, or at least try." Dru moaned. She liked Fred, but Valentine's Day was about showing your love, if you wanted or not.

"Well, I think that we should humor them, I mean, they obviously love Valentine's Day, and I love George, he won't like it if I'd run."

"Fine." Dru sulked. "Oi, are you guys going to spend Valentine's day with us or with each other." Dru called after the boys, how now even further away from them.

The boys grinned at each other and with a  _Crack_  they were suddenly walking next to the girls again.

"That's better." Dru sighed, she let Rose go and looked her arm with in Fred's arm. "So what do you boys have in mind for today?"

"We're going to be extremely cheesy and take you two to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. It's all pink and red and frilly, and she has great tea with scones." Fred grinned. "And flying cupids and roses and all kinds of things."

"Well, you're really going to torture us, aren't you?" Dru moaned.

"Torture?" the twins chorused. "It's cheesy, not torture!"

"Besides, it's the only day in the year that being cheesy is in fashion, live a little!" George grinned and ruffled Rose's hair. "We're tempting fate by taking two not so girly girls to a very girly girl establishment."

"You better be prepared to snog my face off, else we're going to done." Dru gave Fred a kiss on his cheek.

"Oh I will," he smiled widely and put his arm around her. "And, you can have anything you want from Zonko's joke shop, well, one thing, not everything."

"Zonko?" Dru asked. "Yeah, you really are a bloke."

Rose laughed and locked arms with George as they continued walking towards Hogsmeade. She didn't like all the girly stuff, but the boys were crazy and a little bit of mocking the day didn't hurt anyone. "Let's do this, guys. Let's mock the hell out of this day!"

"That's the spirit!" George laughed.

"Fine, I'm in." Dru gave in.

"That's my girl," Fred grinned.

* * *

It was the last DA meeting before the start of the Easter Holidays, and with the Death Eaters escaped and the possibility of Dementors showing up, Rose and Hermione had asked Harry to teach them about the Patronus. After all, he was the only one who could summon a full bodied one (and an amazing one at that) and he had fought off two Dementors during the summer last year.

"Make it a powerful memory, the happiest you can remember, allow it to fill you up." Harry's voice sounded, added by that a full bodied Patronus was the hardest one to produce, but that shield forms were also equally useful in fending off the Dementors.

Rose had never thought about learning the Patronus, she hadn't really cared much for it. After all, she used to have a grandfather who worked at the Ministry and thus she never had to think much about dealing with the guardians of Azkaban. She did know, however, that a patronus was quite personal. Harry's was a Stag, just like his father's, because he loved his parents more than anything even though he'd never met them. Rose had to admit that she was slightly frightened at the thought that either her Patronus would be something terrifying or, in the worst case, that she wasn't able to produce one at all.

A part of her felt so proud when Ginny produced a horse as a patronus. It was absolutely beautiful and she couldn't help but to look at it for a while.

"Come on, Sweetie. You try." George whispered to her, while his monkey was running around with Fred's monkey. It hadn't come as a surprise that even their patronus' were identical.

"Come Rose, give it a try." Harry was now standing next to her.

"I'm actually more than okay with just looking at what everyone produces," she smiled.

"Rose, this was your idea, now try." Harry said stern, he was really sounding like a teacher.

"Think about when we got you Dru back." George said, trying to help her along.

"That's not my most powerful memory, George," she smiled at him. Granted, she had loved it when they had gotten Dru out, but that was  _their_  show of love and affection. Rose had already realised that most of the patronus' produced had been made with a memory of love, she didn't have to be a mind reader for that one.

The look on Luna's face was sheer bliss, for example. No, she'd rather think of something else, something that was really special to her, like the day where she and George were playing in the pond at the Burrows together before Fred came and played his disrupting part. She took a deep breath. " _Expecto Patronum_ " she said softly and was surprised at what she saw.

"Wow," Fred and George chorused. "At your first try too?"

"Excellent, Rose." Harry patted her on her shoulder as walked over to Neville, who was really struggling.

Rose stared at her lioness in disbelief as it roared.

"You really are a wonder witch." Dru giggled.

George gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "I knew you could do it."

She looked at him just as her lioness disappeared. "That was weird," she chuckled and softly kissed him back.

"Come on, gorgeous," Fred coaxed Dru. "I showed you mine, you have to show me yours now."

Dru giggled " _expecto patronum_ " But it was no use. Dru was struggling with hers. To be honest she wasn't that far away from Neville and she could see him struggling too. And every time someone told him to think of something happy, his gaze wandered to Dru, before failing again. She felt really guilty

"I can't do this." Dru said softly.

"Sure you can," Fred softly kissed her. "Think of something better than what you thought of just now."

" _Expecto Patronum_ " But again nothing happened but some silver clouds.

"I have an idea." Harry said and whispered something in Fred's ear, before standing next to Dru.

"Take a deep breath and think of New Years eve." Fred smiled warmly.

Dru had to smile too. she closed her eyes and thought about Fred on the stairs kissing her. " _Expecto Patronum_ "

This time a bird appeared and Dru realised what Harry had told Fred. The moment Dru said her spell, Fred had sneaked up behind her and put his arms around her.

"Thank you." Dru whispered as she looked at the bird fly through the room for a few seconds before it disappeared again.

"That was beautiful!" Rose smiled widely at Dru.

"Just don't let your lioness eat my bird." Dru said and she put her hands on Fred's arms that were still holding her.

Suddenly the whole room shook and all the patronus' disappeared. Someone had found them.

* * *

Dolores Umbridge was now the new headmistress after Dumbledore had vanished from sight, and had immediately initiated a few Slytherin students into the Inquisitorial Squad to make sure that  _all_  students listened to all of the new rules. Draco more than anyone tried to find ways to punish Dru.

Dru and Rose had been communicating in their own special way over the last few days to think of a plan to get their boys a great birthday present, and had finally settled on a plan to get what they wanted. Very early on April 1st, they made their way to Umbridge's office and cast a few Confundus Charms to confuse the cats on the wall, threw in some of the Weasley's whiz-bangs and used the summoning charm to get their brooms out of there without even setting foot in Umbridge's office. It was simple. Maybe a little bit too simple.

Brooms in hand, they snuck back to the Gryffindor common room before squealing and hugging each other for a job well done.

"Come on. Let's wake them up." Dru went up the stairs of the boys dormitories and quickly found the one belonging to the 7th years. She crawled on Fred's bed, while Rose sat down on George bed.

Dru gently kissed Fred's lips. "Happy birthday."

"Huh?" Fred sounded sleepy and surprised at the same time. "What are you doing here?"

"Giving you your Birthday present, come and get dressed." She whispered and looked at Rose.

Rose softly kissed George on his head before teasingly tugging on his hair. "Wakey wakey, sleepy head."

He turned to his other side. "5 more minutes, mum."

She giggled and started to unwrap George from his blankets. "George, wake up," she whispered in his ear.

George opened his eyes. "I've died and gone to heaven, I see angels." He put his arms around Rose and pulled her next to him.

"No," she giggled and kissed him. "I'm just here to wish you a Happy Birthday and I urge you to get dressed because Dru and I have thought of something special for your 18th birthday, since it's probably not going to happen for the rest of your school year."

George got up and got dressed.

Rose and Dru waited in the common room for the boys to come downstairs, both holding a broom behind their back, which was kind of silly considering the brooms were taller than the girls were.

"Surprise!" Rose and Dru grinned as they saw their boyfriends sleepy faces walk down the stairs.

"You didn't?" George said surprised.

"We did what?" Rose asked Dru. "We didn't do anything, did we?"

"Nope." Dru smiled as she saw Fred's face when he realised she was holding his broom.

"We just found these brooms larking about in a corner in some office," Rose said as she handed George his broom. "Have fun."

"I can't believe you did this, Thank you." He gave Rose a kiss on lips and pulled her close to him. "Best birthday gift ever."

"It's your 18th, it has to be something special," she smiled and kissed him back. "Just don't you dare pull me on that thing again," she giggled.

Dru handed Fred his broom. "Just don't get caught."

Fred kissed Dru tenderly before grinning widely. "Never!"

After the boys were done kissing their girlfriends, they looked at each other and switched brooms, which had Rose and Dru in stitches. They had spent 15 minutes trying to find out which broom was whose, only to get it wrong.

The girls followed the boys outside, and it was fun to see them take off as the sun was rising. Rose put an arm around Dru and smiled. "Yep, best birthday gift ever."

"I just realised something." Dru said.

"What?" Rose asked. "That we're going to be dead, if Umbridge catches us?"

"No, we're 15 with 18 year old boyfriends." Dru giggled

"Yes!" Rose cheered and grinned. "That is absolutely true."

George landed next to the girls. "Rose, one ride please. It's my birthday. I'll take it slow. I want you to see Hogwarts from the sky." He reached out his hand to Rose.

"I'd rather have both my feet firmly planted on the ground," she smiled at him.

"Come on, please."

"Yeah, Rose, you got us our brooms, one ride is all you have to do next," Fred grinned as he stopped next to Dru. "Coming, Dru?"

Dru looked at Rose. They both hated flying. "All right." Dru got up. "Where do you want me?" She hadn't been on a broom since their lessons first year.

"Right behind me and hold on tight," Fred answered. "It's really fun, Dru. I promise."

Dru did as he said and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "This part is fun." she grinned.

As George watched Fred and Dru took off, he felt a bit sad. "Please, Rose." He asked. "I won't fly fast."

Rose sighed and took a deep breath before she nodded. He helped her on the broom and Rose viselike put her arms around his waist. "Okay, I'm ready..." she said with a small voice.

George took off and did what he promised. He didn't go too fast. he kept going higher before stopping and hovering in the sky. "You've got your eyes closed, don't you?"

"Yes." Rose clinged to him for dear life.

"Rose, open your eyes."

"NO, I'll fall."

"I'll never let you fall. Open your eyes, Rose. I want you see this."

"What do you think, Dru?" Fred asked her. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"What is?" Dru had buried her face into Fred's shirt as she was still holding on to him.

"Yours got her eyes closed too?" George asked. The two brothers were now hovering next to each other.

"Yep, but she doesn't realise that I can hover all day if I have to. I'm not going down until she opens her eyes."

"No, we have to bring the brooms back, before she catches us." Rose piped.

"Then you'd better open your eyes," the brothers chuckled.

Dru slowly opened her eyes and gasped for breath. They were miles high, but she wasn't scared. The breathtaking view of the entire ground of the school was lying there beneath them.

"Oh my god." She whispered. "Rose, open your eyes."

"No... I'm  _really_  scared!"

"Fred, get me next to her." Dru said.

Fred did as she asked and Dru let one hand go and put it on Rose's arm. "It's okay, Rose. Once you open them, you won't be scared anymore."

She was shaking like a leaf and really didn't want to do it, but opened one eye anyway. She saw Fred and Dru and a whole lot of sky. She then looked at the castle and even though it was beautiful, she was still really scared.

"Sweetie, just relax and take in the view." George said. "I love Hogwarts best from up here and I wanted to share this with you."

"Yes, it's beautiful George, I've seen it but I'm really afraid."

"It's okay. I'll take you down." George made a gesture to his brother that it was time to go and they both descended to the ground.

"I'm really really sorry," she said as she felt the ground underneath her feet again. "I'm really..." she put her arms around herself and willed herself to calm down and stop shaking.

George put his broom on the floor, put his arms around her and lifted her in his arms. "Thank you, for coming with me." He kissed her and pulled her as close as he could. "Don't worry, unless I have to save your life, I will never ask you to come with me again." he chuckled a little.

"I spoiled your birthday now," she sulked.

"Are you kidding me? You would have spoiled it, if you hadn't come with me. You..." He kissed her again "...are my favourite birthday present, as long as you smile."

She gave him a slight smile and hugged him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Wasn't that bad, was it?" Fred asked Dru as he landed them.

"No." But as soon as she got off the broom, her knees gave in and Dru landed on the grass.

Fred chuckled and put his broom down before helping his girlfriend back to her feet. "Oh look at that, this beautiful girl just fell for me."

"Sorry." Dru put her hands on her head. "Flying makes me really dizzy." Dru was struggling to stay on her feet as her knees wanted to give in again. She put one hand on Fred's arms so she would fall again.

He put his arms around her and smiled. "But you flew and you saw, and that was the most important thing," he said and softly kissed her.

"Happy birthday, handsome." Dru smiled. "Now, lets get these brooms back, before anyone catch us."

The girls brought the brooms back while the boys went to the great hall. Just a few minutes after the girls had joined them, Ron and Ginny joined them as well. "Happy 18th birthday." Ron said and handed his brothers their presents.

"Thanks, Ron," the boys chorused as they opened their present.

Ginny gave the boys the presents she bought them and planted a big kiss on each of their cheeks. "So, what did you get from the other twins?"

Dru and Rose looked surprised at them, but Ron, Fred and George laughed. Dru and Rose were so inseparable, despite their occasional hiccups, that amongst the Weasleys they had gotten the nickname 'the other twins'.

"Something special." Fred grinned and kissed the top of Dru's head, who had was holding his arm and put her head against his biceps.

"Yeah, really special." George chuckled and gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "A memory I'm never going to forget."

Both Ron and Ginny looked at their brothers in shock. "They gave up their vir-"

George hit Ron over the head. "Get your head out of the gutter."

"We're dating ladies, Ron," Fred grinned. "Although that was the best ride of my life."

George and Fred looked at each other with a wide smile. "Yeah!" they cheered as they high-fived each other.

Ron's eyes got even bigger. "What did they give you?"

Dru smiled and put her hand on Ron's as she showed them what the four of them had been doing that morning. She then showed it to Ginny too.

"I can't believe you two broke into her office." Ginny was in awe of her sisters-in-law.

"Wicked." Ron said.

As the great Hall started to fill, Umbridge was starting to her rounds again, breaking up couples as she went along.

Dru hadn't noticed her and was still leaning against Fred and Rose, who was gently playing with George's hair, hadn't noticed her either.

"Hem hem."

Dru, Rose and the twins nearly jumped ten feet in air. Rose managed to collect herself and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Professor Umbridge, but it's their birthday..."

"I think you and your friend over there (pointing at Dru) could use a lesson in chastity."

"Ah!" Rose said and shook her head. "You didn't see us kiss, or touch each other inappropriately, we were being very  _chaste_ , professor."

"Yes, but as I told your friend before and it is clearly set in school rules, boys and girls are not allowed to be within 8 inches of each other."

"Dru and I are tiny, 8 inches is like... a mile in our world."

"Well seeing as your boyfriends are clearly letting you girls act the way you do around them, I don't think they care very much if I gave you a little detention tonight."

George quickly got up and lifted Dru up by her hand. They both crossed the table to take each others seats. Dru sat down next to Rose. "Is this better, Professor?" Dru tried to be polite, but she couldn't help her frustration from sounding through her voice.

Umbridge seemed to think for a moment. "Switching seats is not the issue, and neither is you back mouthing me about detention tonight. It's horrible to see such young girls being badly influenced by their older boyfriends. Tonight, after dinner, I will make sure you two won't be easy targets anymore."

Dru and Rose both stood up and started yelling at Umbridge.

"MS. LeSTRANGE, MS CROUCH." her voice boomed through the entire hall. Every student and teacher was now watching Rose and Dru fall back into their seats, their faces in horror. In the 5 years at Hogwarts no teacher, how mad he or she might have been, had ever used their real names on them. Umbridge looked at them with a smug face. "Detention, tonight, don't be late," she smiled brightly before walking off towards the teacher's table.

Immediately the hole great hall started buzzing and whispering.

"But those are deatheater names?"

"Crouch, isn't that the man who got killed last year?"

"Lestrange but they escaped prison!"

"But those people tortured the longbottom."

"Didn't she use to go out with the Longbottom Boy? Poor guy.'

"Wasn't Crouch's son responsible for that with the Lestrange's? Mighty convinient for those two to be friends then."

"I can't believe I trusted them!"

Both Dru and Rose were white as a sheet. It was so hard not to get up and started yelling at everyone. She had her hands clenched around her tea mug, and her knuckles were turning white. Running would be too easy, but staying put was even harder.

Suddenly heard even more whispering. "What's he doing?" "Is he going to yell at them?" "He's going to kill them." "Come on, kick their butts."

Rose felt two hands on her shoulder and someone place a kiss on the side of her head. When Rose looked up, she saw Neville now moving towards Dru.

"Neville, he's lost it, I'm sure that they have him under a spell!"

He put his hands on Dru's head and gave her a kiss on the back of her head, before sitting down between them. He took Dru's arm and locked in his own, before putting his other arm around Rose. He gave a weak smile to them both. "Nobody touches my girls."

"Thanks, Neville," Rose said slowly. "But they seem to have made up their minds, haven't they?"

All of a sudden a spell hit the three of them, separating them again. "You don't learn, do you?" Umbridge's voice sounded.

"Someone please take my wand before I curse her head off," Rose said bitterly.

"Are you mad?" Neville called out to Umbridge. "You're supposed to teach, give people confidence and make them feel safe, and all you do is terrify your students!" he got to his feet and took Rose's wand out of her back pocket before handing it to George. "You're even doing it to the first years! Rose and Dru have done nothing to anger you, aside from giving you lip, and your only defense is making them look bad for using different names than their own?" Neville took a breath, but he wasn't allowing Umbridge the satisfaction to speak before he was finished. "You know very well that they are one of the smartest girls of our year, they've proven time and time again that they're one of us, one of the good guys and what do you do? You destroy their lives even further than it has been destroyed. Don't you think that they're not afraid of their own family? Rose got obliviated by her father, she was cursed for two months by her grandfather. Dru forgot ME, because her family was messing about, and there is so much more, and despite all that, they're still two of the nicest girls that I know!"

"See you in detention tonight too then, Mr. Longbottom," Umbridge said with a smile.

The entire Great hall was looking at Neville as he took his seat between Rose and Dru again. "Well, at least you girls don't have to go alone."

Dru looked at Neville wide her mouth wide open. "Neville, you just..." She looked at Fred, who was looking shocked at Neville.

"Showed everyone that you're okay," Neville nodded he calmly took a piece of toast to chew on.

Dru and Rose looked at each other and both smiled. This was the Neville they both knew and loved. They suddenly simultaneously gave him a kiss on his cheeks.

"Does this mean you're not mad at me and Fred anymore?" Dru asked with a small voice.

"Still mad, but still looking out for you. I promised you that, didn't I?"

"So...We're not going to be friends again?" Dru looked at him. She had really missed her friend.

"Sure, but slowly, okay?"

"I can do that. slow, I'm good at slow. I'll be the slowest person you've ever met." Dru smiled.

Everybody at the Gryffindor table was laughing, except for Hermione of course. She had her hands clasped in front of her mouth and there were tears of joy rolling down her cheek. "Oh..Neville." she cried out.

"I think we should go to the common room so Hermione can hug it all out," Ginny chuckled. "Before... well you know."

Hermione slapped Ginny on her shoulder. "I'm just glad they made up."

"Aren't you guys mad at us?" Dru asked a she looked at Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione.

"We do have eyes, you know. We saw your names on the carpet before you blasted yourself off it and Hermione kinda suspected last year when Moody turned out to be Rose's dad... we thought that eventually you'd tell us." Harry explained. "We're not mad."

"You could have told us that you knew. We've been trying so hard for you not to find out." Dru looked at Rose.

"We know, although it was a little bit of fun to see you struggle like you did," Hermione grinned.

"If anyone understands what keeping secrets means and does to you, then it's us, you know that. We were just patient." Harry added.

Dru grinned and shook her head. "I've been terrified of what you were going to think of me when you found out."

"Well, nothing really. You've been on our side the entire time, even as a Malfoy." Ron pointed out. "It's one of those cases where you shouldn't look at someone's name, but only at their actions, which, in your case, was quite hard to separate at times."

"What do you mean?" Dru asked "Hard to separate?"

"Well, you know, you were acting a little... spoiled? The first few years?" Ron didn't like the glares he was receiving from Rose, Ginny, Neville and Fred.

Dru grinned. "I am spoiled." She sighed as she looked Fred. "Sorry, that I can't celebrate your birthday tonight."

"George and I will be waiting outside her office for you."

"Wait in the common room, We don't want more detention." Rose smiled, she had seemingly found her footing again, before looking at Neville. "And Dru and I smart? I love you, Neville, but had we been smart we wouldn't have gotten detention." she snickered, before reaching for her tea.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Harry said, looking at Rose. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?" Rose asked confused. "Steal their... things?"

"No, well, yes, but when Lupin taught me, it took me awhile to get a full bodied one, you know."

"Beginner's luck," Rose shrugged. "Ugh, we've got potions today, had enough of those for a while."

"Oh come on, only the first one went really wrong, the rest of the love potion worked fine." Dru took another bite of her toast.

"Wait, what?" George and Rose chorused in shock. "What?"

"Relax, we tried them on other subjects." Fred grinned at Dru.

"Without telling me?" George blinked. "Since when did that happen?"

"Since you and Rose were too busy snogging each other's faces off, Fred and I got some work done." Dru smiled at Fred.

"We weren't that bad," Rose said. "Honestly, you and Fred snog more than we do!"

"No, we don't." Dru said defensively. She and Fred had been taking it a bit slow, Dru didn't want to make the same mistakes as she had made with Neville.

"Sorry to have to tell you this, Rose, but you're the love duffie now." Fred grinned and winked at Dru.

She shrugged and took a sip of her tea.

"Oh, you should not have said that," George sighed. "You see those little cog wheels turning inside that pretty little head of hers?"

"I see a pretty head, but no cog wheels in there, George." Dru laughed

"Nope," Rose shook her head. "It's still empty in there, I can hear my own voice echoing through my head, I don't hear the sound of cog wheels."

Dru put her head on Rose's shoulder. "I knew I should have gotten you a brain instead of a necklace a few years ago."

"I told you, but you wouldn't listen," she shrugged and took another sip of her tea.

"I hate to break up your little tea party." Snape spoke. "But you mind find it interesting to know all your classes started 5 minutes ago."

The group looked at each other in shock. "Oops!" they all said and started to collect their stuff. "Sorry Professor Snape," Ginny smiled at him.

* * *

It was just her, Dru and Neville in Umbridge's office and she was in full ranting mode on how students should respect their teachers, especially the Headmistress who was a Very Important Person in the Ministry and that from all students at Hogwarts Rose should have been the one to understand the importance of respect towards someone working at the Ministry. She then started ranting about how their parents had asked the school to lie about their last names towards other students, that it was improper for them to deceive everyone and although it was admirable from Neville, he should not have defended the girls the way he had done. She then ranted on about chastity, how it was improper for young girls dating older boys especially at their age and let the Weasley boys cloud their judgement. It was morally wrong of them to openly flaunt their relationship with the boys, even with their knack of getting into trouble and that girls should act like respectful ladies and not the way that Dru and Rose had behaving themselves.

Neville had to write "I must not disrespect my teachers" and the girls had to write "I must not disrespect myself" for what seemed ages. Rose found that at least for the first half hour, she could block the pain from really hurting, but by the time that Umbridge had them finish, which was close to bedtime, Rose couldn't feel her hand anymore through the pain that the charmed quill had caused. She was furious and even lashed out at Umbridge who threatened that Rose could come back for another round of detention the day after, where she'd have to write "I must not have a temper", and she was relieved when Umbridge didn't make it an order.

Dru hadn't said one word all evening. She was hardly shy for words, but she never was good at handling pain. She had been quietly sobbing all evening as she felt the blood being drawn from her hand.

Neville on the other hand didn't seem bothered by the pain at all. He just had his hands in pockets as the trio walked back to the common room. "Well, that was a entertaining evening." he remarked loftily.

"I'd rather walk barefoot over hot coals," Rose muttered as she tried to unclench her fists. She was just extremely pissed off, and it was hard not to act on it. She wanted to kick the portrait for stalling with opening to the Gryffindor common room.

"I have some ointment in my trunk to put on our hands, it numbs the pain a little, are you interested?" Neville asked.

"No."

"I heard Hermione say that she would already have some stuff ready for all of us, but thank you." Dru muttered as she was still crying a little bit.

"Hey, Sweetie, you're back." George came straight to her as he saw her walking in.

"Sorry we missed your party," she smiled brightly at him and hugged him tightly. "Did you at least have fun?"

"Nope." George said with a smile. "Fred and I decided to have our party tomorrow night instead, of do you have to go again?"

"She almost had to come back tomorrow," Neville said to George. "And don't let that shiny face fool you, either."

"Shut up, Neville," Rose shot at him and kept her arms around George.

"There's my girl," Fred said and scooped Dru up into his arms and took her to the sofa where Hermione had left some thick cream to put on Dru's hand. He softly kissed her as they sat down and started to put the cream onto her hand.

But Dru tried to get away from him. She had been called promiscuous and a slut all year and it was really starting to get to her. "Don't do that." She gently pushed Fred's face away.

"Alright, I won't kiss you," Fred said a little hurt, but kept rubbing in the cream. "You do know that you shouldn't listen to that mean old bat, don't you?"

"Yeah, well it's not just her, is it?" Dru said as she glanced at Neville and Lavender.

"And that, was just plain old bullying." He tugged on her left ear. "One ear in," he then tugged on the other. "out the other."

"I'm not in the mood for jokes, Fred." Dru said annoyed. "Everybody thinks I'm easy, you do too, admit it."

"You and easy, in the same sentence?" Fred frowned. "You're not easy. It was hard work for me to be your spare, and it's harder work for me now that I'm not your spare anymore, I mean... here I am, trying to make you feel better and you're trying to push me away."

Dru really wanted to snap at him, but she instead bit her lip very hard. She didn't want to fight with him. "I just feel so …" She looked at Neville, she had felt so worthless after he told her that it was all her fault that they went to fast. Like she was seducing him to things he didn't want to do.

"Teenagery?" Fred said with a smile. "I've been there, I'm still there, but I learned how to deal with all of that," he softly planted a kiss on her hand. "Do you think that it's fun for me and George, or even for Ron and Ginny, to hear that us Weasley's are all the same?"

"But you and George are the same." Dru said.

"I guess you don't know us that well then," Fred said. "Like everyone else."

Dru leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm really trying to do this right, you know. To make this work. but sometimes I feel so … not good enough."

"Okay, listen... you're not supposed to be perfect, nobody is perfect, no matter how hard they try. Secondly, you're only 15, you're supposed to make mistakes. Or get bullied, or even bully people yourself. Thirdly, you're good enough for me. And good enough for Rose, and even Neville."

Dru shook her head. "He'd always say that too." She had forgotten that Neville was only four feet from them and hearing every word she was saying to Fred. "But when I did make a mistake, he dumped me straight away. And I don't want to you to dump me."

"The way I see it, what happened between you and Neville was not your fault, nor his. You see, Neville had to learn too, he had to learn that the most important thing about being with someone is to talk, to properly talk, like you and I are doing right now." He pulled her back into his arms. "And I'm not going to dump you, no way. I'd sooner die than dump you, you're great now, I'm wondering how great you'll be when you're all grown up," he smiled and planted a kiss on her neck.

She curled up against him. "I'm sorry I'm such a buzz kill. I don't take pain well, it makes me crabby."

"George and I decided to fully celebrate our birthday tomorrow anyway," he shrugged. "And you're not a buzz kill, I'm glad that you're showing that you are insecure, just like me."

Dru put her hand on his cheek. "You? Insecure? Why?"

"I'm not as good as George, in many ways. He's the better beater, he's the better student, he's got brilliant ideas for our joke shop, and sure, I have my own stuff, but sometimes, I'm a little bit jealous of my brother. Ginny makes me feel like I'm an idiot, most of the time but that's just sibling love isn't it?"

"You're silly, You and George have the same grades and you both are great beaters 'cause you're a team. And about the joke shop? We've been working on great stuff without George. And Ginny, well she makes us all feel like idiot sometimes. You, Fred Weasley, are perfect.." She gave him a kiss in his neck. "And you're my favourite Weasley."

"Ugh," George said as he sat down on the nearest chair with Rose on his lap. "Look at that, so sweet it makes me feel ill."

"You're just jealous, because Fred is the sexy one of you two." Dru smiled. "Not the sexiest of the family, but surely the sexiest of the two of you."

"Wait, who's sexier than me?" Fred wondered out loud.

"That's a secret between me and Rose." Dru winked at Rose.

"Oi, Rose, tell me." George said

"It's Bill," Rose said as she put her head on George's shoulder. "It's the hair."

George looked at Fred. "Why do all the pretty girls pick Bill?"

Rose reached for the cream and got a fair amount of it to put on her hand before she rested her head on George's shoulder again. It was almost as if she was in some faraway place and she had been ever since she set foot back into the common room. "It's an easier name to say than George," she quipped. "But you know, it's good that the pretty girls always pick Bill, because that left you free to ask me to the ball."

"I would have always asked you to the ball, you are the prettiest girl in the whole school." George gently started kissing her neck.

"No, she's not." Fred said and threw a pillow at his brother.

Rose flinched when the pillow hit her in the head instead, disrupting her somewhat zen-like moment. She picked the pillow up from the floor and handed it to George. "His aim is a little off," she said with a little smile and got up from George's lap before softly kissing his lips. "I'm tired, I'll see you in the morning."

"Oi." He pulled her back on his lap. "Don't I get one proper birthday kiss?" He grinned.

"Well you had one this morning?" she countered with a smile and gently pat him on the head.

"It's my birthday, I want one before I go to sleep." he pulled her close. "Don't you want me to have a good end to my birthday?"

She softly kissed him again and caressed his hair before getting off his lap again. "Good night," she smiled.

"Good night, Sweet pea." George walked her to the stairs and gave her a kiss on her hand, before going upstairs too. He and Fred had been talking about skipping their NEWTs and create mayhem before focussing on their store, and he was going to take up inventory. One session with the old bat had turned his girlfriend in something other than his girlfriend, as if she was in some faraway land, battling some invisible foe, and he didn't like it.

The common room was nearly empty. Dru was sitting in Fred's lap. "I can't believe we're not going to be in school together anymore. It'll be strange not seeing you and George fooling around."

"Oh we'll fool around," Fred grinned. "Just not here, even though I really love Hogwarts."

"But I've never been at this school without you here too. It'll be weird. I'll hardly get to see you."

"Well, I was here without you," he countered. "Well, that was before I knew you... but... still, I had Georgie, you and Rose will be okay."

"You know..."Dru bit her lip as she couldn't believe she was going to fess this up. "... I had a bit of a crush on you in my first year."

"Yeah? What happened?"

"Ron." Dru giggled

"Ron? You had a crush on him too?"

"No, you silly boy. Do you remember that he and Draco got into a fight during the last Quidditch match?"

"Yeah... it wasn't pretty."

"Yeah, well it was Draco, Crabbe and Goyle against your brother, until... Neville started to help him. Then I had a crush on the both of you. But you never noticed me and Neville did." she looked down and played with Fred's hand.

"You were eleven... I was thirteen... I mean, the moment I saw you on the train it was like... I don't know, I was just smitten, but it was weird and George kept teasing me because of it... and then Neville... well, I thought I'd lost my chance, so instead, I became the spare, and a good friend."

"I'm a bit glad for that. That we waited so long to get together."

"Yeah, that was a good thing, no rush," he smiled.

"And now I've learned from my mistakes with Neville and I can do it right with you."

"We're both going to do this the right way," he softly kissed her. "It's not all up to you, there's two people in a relationship, not one."

"Yeah." Dru looked at him with a smile. "From now on it's the two of us."


	22. What career? Gift or Curse?

It was career advice day for the fifth years and they were sitting outside McGonagall's office waiting on their turn to be called in. Rose, Dru and Hermione had taken some of their schoolwork with them to get a head start on learning for their OWLs and were sitting in a corner waiting for McGonagall to be finished with Harry.

"Ms Malfoy? Would you please come in?" McGonagall said as Harry left.

"Aren't you supposed to call me Ms Lestrange?" Dru grinned as she sat down with her teacher.

"Oh that woman drives me up the wall," McGonagall said a little bit out of character. "I didn't say that."

Dru bit her lip as she clasped her hand in front of her mouth, while she laughed. "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret, Professor."

She nodded with a faint smile across her lips. "So, I am sure that I already know, and fear, the answer, but have you thought about your future?"

"I'm going to help Fred and George with their shop."

"That's what I thought," she nodded. "What if that doesn't work out? What will you do then?"

Dru shrugged. "I'm not really good at anything, besides reading minds and a fair bit of potions."

"Well, you could be an excellent Auror, or even working in the legal department of the Ministry."

"I'm not cut out for Auror, I'm not strong enough. And I don't want a stuffy job behind a desk. I want to work with people."

"Well, I know that herbology isn't your strongest point, but you're excellent at Defense of the Dark Arts too, how about a healing position? That way you can work with people."

"Maybe, but I don't like the smell of St. Mungos. But honestly I'd love to work in a shop or as a landlady in a pub or something. I know it's not what people expect from me, me being a spoiled princess, but I love that sort of stuff."

"I'm glad to see you being level headed about your future, and your future occupation. Not many of the fifth years have shown that. But, should you ever change your mind, I want you to come to me and we'll have another talk."

"I'm sure Harry, Ron and Hermione know what they want and Rose knows what she wants."

"We'll see," McGonagall smiled. "Now, a word of advice, Ms. Malfoy. Remus Lupin has informed me about the true extent of your special ability, and I think that you'd become an even more remarkable young lady if you would try and harness the ability to project things, visions or situations, in someone else's head."

"But I'm scared I'll hurt someone. I dare to really do it with Rose. With her it's easy. But I'm a bit frightened to peek in other people's head, after what happened last year."

"I know that it's something that I shouldn't be encouraging, but wouldn't it be great if you could reach out to your enemy's mind and scare him off without having to use your wand? All you have to do is ... I don't know, make him or her think they're on fire?"

"But who am I using to do that to? I'm not like my birth parents, I don't like hurting innocent people. And I can't ask Rose for help, because she is struggling enough with her own gift...Oh please don't tell her I said that. She'd kill me."

"What do you mean?"

Dru took a deep breath. "She keeps her mind closed. Too closed. She can hardly see beyond a few days anymore. George told me she told him she's too scared to."

"Yes, your and her ability is something we don't know how to help you with, I'm afraid. Albus - Professor Dumbledore - has asked me not to send you to Professor Snape again, for the time being. Just think about what I've said about what you could  _try_  to do, and next time you find yourself in trouble, you might dare to try it. It might come in handy one day." she smiled reassuringly. "I know you can do it, you're a very powerful young lady, and I know you wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it."

Dru bit her lip. "Professor?"

"Yes, ms Malfoy?"

"What if the people that deserve it are your own family members?"

"That is one hard decision to be made, but I'm sure that whatever decision you'll make, will be the right one." She gave a smile. "Besides I was under the impression that you're well on the way of becoming part of a very big family that's on our side."

Dru giggled. "Yeah, I guess I am. I try and see if Fred and the others want to help me. Thank you, Professor."

"Please send in Ms Shepherd on your way out," McGonagall gave her another smile.

Dru walked to Rose, glanced back into the office. "Mention Umbridge, you'll love the reaction."

"She's not going to yell at me, is she?" Rose said as she put her book down and rose to her feet.

"Nope, trust me."

Rose made her way into McGonagall's office and quietly sat down.

"Did Ms Malfoy warn you on the way in?" McGonagall didn't look at Rose, but looked through her papers, trying to find Rose's form.

"About what, professor?"

"You tell me, you can see the future, not me."

"Well, if Dru would have warned me before coming in... it would be rather pointless, wouldn't it?"

McGonagall looked at Rose for a few seconds. "Right, Miss Shepherd, Have you thought about your future, I mean really thought about what you want or are you going to join your friend?"

"I have, actually. I feel that I'm not capable of being an Auror, or any kind of Ministry official due to the fact that even though my Grandfather was a well respected man, he kind of made a fool out of himself when the truth came out about my father."

"That's not a reason not to be an Auror."

"Perhaps, but I don't want to deal with the backlash of what he did, or be confronted with the fact that my father was a Death Eater. Or maybe with my own silly ideas of loving my father and believe that he could be reformed if I just loved him enough," she shrugged. "I enjoy the fun side of Magic, to show that not all Magic is bad, and I want to share that with people. I'm already helping Fred and George with their shop from here, so why wouldn't I do that when I graduate from Hogwarts?"

"Because I'm afraid that you're only doing this because it's the easy way. And that one day you're going to wake up and regret that you didn't push yourself hard enough. That you might even start to resent Ms. Malfoy, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley for not pushing you to be all you can be. Mr. Potter has told me he was really impressed seeing how good your spells are. He thinks you'll make a great Auror. And then of course our new Head of Hogwarts told how absolutely wrong you both are for being an Auror."

"Well first of all, with no disrespect to any teacher, I'd love to blast off the headmistress' head for creating so much grief with the students. George and I roamed the corridors yesterday trying to make the first years feel better after their detention," Rose said calmly.

"Well as long I don't see you do it, go ahead." She gave a little smile. "Oh, what is with you two? Do you and Ms. Malfoy have a gift you haven't told us about? Letting people say things they shouldn't say?"

Rose gave a little all-knowing smile before continuing. "Secondly, I've pushed myself hard enough after last year. After the months I spent away from Hogwarts, I realised that I had been a coward, and not a true Gryffindor. I noticed that I had to work harder to get caught up with everything and that I shouldn't have gone in the first place because I had people here that needed me. You can't tell me that I haven't pushed myself hard enough for changing the way I was, I was disillusioned by thinking that it's okay to jinx the heck out of people just because you want to, or throw curses around like they don't mean anything." She said slowly. "Thirdly, I won't grow to resent Dru or Fred and George, because they need me. Dru is my rock, as I am hers. George... he has a calming effect on me, something that I absolutely need. It's weird, Professor, but there's something between me and him that I can't explain. It's not just hormones, it's something more. And of course Harry thinks I'll be a great Auror. I think he was just afraid when he saw my lioness."

"I know you have been working very hard, and believe me..."She smiled at Rose. "...I have seen it. But you are capable of so many great things if you put your mind to it. I would be a bad teacher if I let you waste it away in a shop, without making sure that I made sure you know that you have so many more potential."

"I feel that it's my right place. That somewhere, in the future, those three will need me. Besides, Diagon Alley... there'll be a lot of people out there that could use my help."

McGonagall gave a deep sigh. "That's what worries me, Rose." it was the first time Rose had ever heard McGonagall calling her by her first name.

"Why?"

"You think too much about others sometimes and too little about yourself. And unlike your friend, who relies on the energy of others, like mr Longbottom and now Mr Weasley, to feel good, most people, including yourself, need to care of yourself before you can take care of others."

She thought about the professor's words for a bit and then smiled. "I'm okay. I actually find it rewarding to see that the people I care about are fine. I never had that, really. In a way, besides everything that's going on and will happen, I'm happier than I've ever been."

"Well, now that's sorted then, would you like to tell me why you're not working on training you special ability?"

Rose blinked at the professor. "How do you... never mind," she shook her head. "It got a bit frazzled after my father hurt me."

"Between you and me, you know how I feel about divination. But you are really different. You actually know what you're talking about. I mean, I tolerate Professor Trewlawny, but she's nothing compared to you. The things you said would happen, all happened, which is also the reason why Professor Dumbledore..."

"The real reason is that as of right now? The future scares me." Rose said and sighed. "And I think that the  _Order_  in particular relies on what I can do. I mean, apparently I was the one who told my father how to get to Harry last year, that's... I..." she said and wiped the tears out of her eyes. "I can be the one responsible for undoing all the work that have been set into motion to make sure that Harry... well. It's just better for all of us if we're not seeing the possible fall out. Or who wins or loses."

"I understand dear, and I also understand that it's exceptionally hard on a bright young mind as yourself to decide what to tell and what not, as not to tempt fate in risking changing the outcome, or sometimes share things to change the outcome and no one should have to make those decisions." the professor sympathized. "And I know that what I'm asking of you. Just think about it for a while, I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't sure that you were strong enough for this. I don't believe in divination very much, but if I'm correct in remembering a certain theory, is that you've been given this ability for a reason."

"It's cheating."

"Is it? Or is it helping to ensure that our world knows peace for once and for all? That your future children won't have to live in fear?"

"Was this it, professor?"

"Yes, you may go. Please send in Ms. Granger." she smiled.

Rose almost fled the Professor's office and ran to the Gryffindor common room to find George. He and Fred were going over their supply of whiz-bangs and whatnot for whatever reason and were laughing as they were plotting something. She just quietly sat down next to her boyfriend and tried not to cry.

Dru was reading a book, while with one hand, she gently ran her fingernails up and down the exposed skin on Fred's arm. "I borrowed one of your books, Rose. you don't mind, do you?" She said without looking up.

"No." Rose tried to sound normal, but Dru immediately knew something was wrong.

"Rose, what's wrong?" Dru asked as she kicked against George his shins.

"Hey, cupcake." George pulled Rose on his lap while giving Fred and Dru a dirty look for laughing at how he called her. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing, I'm fine, just... slightly frustrated, that's all," she replied with a sigh. When she saw the looks on their faces, she started to explain. "Professor McGonagall thinks that I'm too overqualified to ..."

"Well, you are," George chuckled and softly kissed her. "And so is Dru, but it's your own choice, isn't it?"

"She even called me 'Rose'," she said and shook her head. "Harry told her about how I'm doing with spells, and she was really pressuring me to become an Auror and I gave this long reply of why I shouldn't be, but I just realised that all Aurors know how to fly, I should just have said that I don't."

George chuckled. "You'll get used to people being disappointed in you. She told us that she really didn't know what to do with us and that was the entire career advice conversation."

"She didn't?" Rose and Dru chorused.

"Did," the boys answered with a nod. "But that's okay, we're going to be the best joke shop ever, and we will even beat Zonko's," Fred added.

"Besides, Auror training is hard. Oh, maybe you could join our father at the Ministry!"

Rose shot George a look. "I managed to stop her from trying to get me to teach Divination instead of Professor Trelawney, but then she started to go on about my special gift and I just..."

"Oh you too!" Dru exclaimed. "She told me that I should try and do something else with my gift, like... projecting things in people's heads."

"And in effect make you even more dangerous to the bad side?" Fred shook his head. "She's bonkers, she is. Afraid that Harry can't defeat you-know-who by himself."

"He can't," Rose muttered and put her head on George's shoulder. "At least not until all the puzzle pieces are in place and people are where they should be. The whole Order knows that already."

"Maybe, but the order is for people of age, not for 15 years old girls." George kissed the top of her head. "They are making you two grow up way too fast."

"Rose, you might think I'm a bitch for saying this, but I do think she's got a point there somewhere." Dru didn't dare to look at Rose or George.

"Why?" Rose asked. "All we've been taught growing up is that it's wrong to cheat. I think that looking into the future is cheating, and sure, I've been saying a few things here and there, but I haven't seen so far into the future anymore because..." she shook her head. "I don't like what I see, okay?"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts, Dru. You have no idea how hard this has all been at Rose. She doesn't need any more pushing from you!" George snapped at her

"But I just..."

"I said no buts Dru." George shot at her again.

"George!" Fred shot at his brother. "I get it that you want to protect Rose, but you're not talking to my Dru like that."

"Calm down, George," she said softly with a smile. "They all mean well, don't worry, it's fine." Rose nodded. "And maybe, maybe they're right. I'm not pushing myself hard enough and I've been given this for a reason, so I must be strong enough to deal with it all, right?"

"Can I please explain what I meant?" Dru's voice was soft.

"Of course," Rose nodded and hit George on his shoulder when he wanted to speak up again.

"I think that you need to train your gift more, so that you could use it like you did when we were dueling. I don't even know if you realised, but you were so focussed that you, before I lost control and tried to stun you in your back, knew what I was going to do, which spell I was going to use. if you could train on that, on the person you're fighting, you'll always be one step ahead."

"That's ... Quite brilliant, actually, Dru." George said, before turning to Rose. "You'd be practically invincible, if you could do that."

"I wasn't using it, I know you well enough to know what you're about to do."

"Rose, you were! I was stuck in your head remember, you were doing it, you just never realised. You even saw it coming that I changed my spell at the very last second."

"Rose, if there's even a small chance Dru's right, isn't that something to check at least. We'll help you and I'm sure my siblings and Harry and Hermione want to help you too." Fred added.

Dru looked as if a light bulb just went on in her head. "Of course." she whispered.

"What?" Rose said, glad that hopefully the subject had changed.

"Don't you see it, Rose. we've been wracking our brains over why You-know-who wants a seer and an empath. He knows what we're capable of, he know if we master our gifts, we'll be very valuable. Why else wouldn't he just have killed us? He had enough chances too."

"I know that," she softly said. "One of the other reasons why I'm not using my gift anymore."

"Rose, not using your gift will not stop him from coming after you. He'd just kill you, but if you were to master it and fight on our side with your skills, maybe I've got a chance." None of them had realised that Harry had been overhearing the conversation the moment he heard his name come up. He sat down on the chair next to George and Rose. "I'd feel a lot better knowing that someone as strong as you, Rose, was fighting beside me."

"I'll always be on your side, Harry, and so will Dru," Rose said and all of a sudden couldn't look at him, but he had to know how dangerous it would be. "Remember that I said that my father used the Imperius curse on me? He took me to see you-know-who."

"He did?"

She slowly nodded. "Almost everything that happened to you last year during the tournament... came from my head..." she said softly. "I'm so sorry... I knew that what I was doing was wrong but I couldn't stop myself from telling everything... and this is exactly why I don't want to master my gift better because I know that should we be taken away by them that he will become a lot more dangerous than he already is."

"Well, we'll just have to make sure you stay at Hogwarts or at Grimmauld Place and not sneak out anymore then," Harry pointed out. "And I knew... you shouldn't feel guilty about what happened, it wasn't your fault."

"Professor McGonagall said I should try and put stuff in people's heads, like feelings or images to scare them or soothe them," Dru softly spoke.

"Images? Really? That's brilliant," Rose said with a smile. "You could scare the hell out of Death Eaters!"

"But it's not that simple! I don't like to hurt people!"

"Then we shall practise with the non-offensive things," she smirked. "I trust you."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea..." George said, hesitating.

"Neither do I." Dru crawled into Fred's lap to give up her chair to Hermione, who had just came into the common room. "How was your advice, Hermione?" Dru wanted to change the subject.

"Auror, of course," Hermione smiled proudly. "What were you talking about?"

"Nothing important. So Auror? I always thought of you as teacher. Or maybe minister of magic." Dru tried desperately to get Hermione talking.

"Well, yes, she said that that were possibilities too," she nodded. "She was proud that I wasn't going to waste away my talent, or whatever she meant by that."

"Rose and I were a bit of a disappointment to her, I'm afraid." Dru smiled at Rose. "But on the other hand, we're already sure that we have jobs when we're done with school."

"Well, that's rubbish." Hermione said with a shrug. "You'd be great Aur- what?"

"We're not going to be Aurors, are we Rose?"

"Oh no, there's flying involved," she shook her head.

"They're going to be with us in our shop," Fred grinned.

"Are you mad?" Hermione sounded furious. "Honestly?"

"Of course they are! They've already been helping us with setting everything up," George said as he gave Rose a kiss.

"I'm not... I'm not saying that it's wrong or that you can do better... it's just... you're going to waste away your talent!"

"Nope," Rose shook her head again. "Magic is supposed to be fun too."

"Besides, my talent is potions and with them, I can make them all day and experiment a little too." Dru smiled. "And I need Fred near me to work on my other talent too."

"Why is Fred so important to your other talent?" Harry asked surprised.

"Well, I can't snog on my own." Dru looked at Fred. "You think I'm talented at snogging, don't you?"

"Absolutely. And I can't wait to discover the other things you're going to be talented with."

"Ew," George and Rose chorused and Rose threw a piece of crumpled paper to Dru before laughing.

"That's rich coming from you, George. You spend every night talking about Rose's snogging, and it takes a few pillows to the head to stop you," Fred grinned.

"Yeah, but she's  _really_  good at it."

"Shut up," she playfully hit George on his chest. "When are you going to tell me what you're going to do with all those whiz-bangs?" she said, pointing at the table.

"Never!" Fred and George chorused. "You'll see."

Dru looked at Fred and focussed on his mind. It took her only 30 seconds to see what they were up to. She looked furious at Fred. "What?"

"Did you just cheat?" Fred chuckled at her. "Georgie, I think she cheated!"

But Dru wasn't laughing. "I can't believe... When were you going to tell me this?"

"Not," Fred shrugged. "I can't believe you just cheated, now it's not a surprise anymore!"

Dru looked at Rose for a second, got off Fred's lap and pulled him on his feet too. "We need to talk! Alone!"

"Ohh, lover's row, that's a first!" George grinned and saw Fred and Dru walk towards the boys' dormitories. He then looked at Rose with a smile. "Go on, cheat."

"Nope," she chuckled. "Whatever you're going to do, it's probably not good news from the looks of Dru's reaction."

Dru closed the door behind her and sat down on of the beds. She couldn't remember which one was Fred's, so she just picked one.

"What?" Fred looked at her with a smile. "It's a great idea, it's not like George and I are going to pass all our NEWTs anyway and this way, we'll go out with a bang!"

"I just can't believe you two were seriously going to do this." Dru shook her head as she looked angrily at the floor.

"You're going to love it!" He said and sat down on the bed next to her. "That old bat will get what she deserves."

"But you made me a promise! Don't you care about that?" Dru looked hurt at Fred. Her anger was fading away into sadness.

He was confused. "Wait... what are you talking about?"

"You say we were in a relationship. That we were in this together." Her eyes began to water. "I trusted you."

"For some reason I have the feeling we're not talking about the same thing here..." Fred looked at her before putting his arm around her. "I thought you're upset because George and I are going to set off those whiz-bangs in a couple of days when you're having your OWL's."

"In a couple of days?" Dru bit her lip trying not to cry. "I can't believe you were not going to tell me that you were leaving." She put her hands in front of her face.

"Actually, it's in a couple of weeks and you won't have to be without me for a long time anyway, it's close to the Summer Holiday. We were going to tell you when it was sooner to the date we've planned to do it, I swear." he softly caressed her hair.

"You weren't leaving without saying goodbye?" Dru looked at him.

"Of course not!" He planted a kiss on the top of her head with a smile. "You're my girlfriend, do I really want to risk hell coming down on me when Summer starts? You should see my mum when she's angry, I'd rather fight a dragon than an angry woman."

She smiled as she leaned against him. "I saw you guys leaving and us just standing there and George said he was never going to tell Rose. I thought..."

"Well, we couldn't just tell you, could we? I mean, we weren't alone and we don't want a lot of people to know about this," he softly kissed her lips. "We do have a reputation to uphold, you know."

"I'm a really stupid idiot, aren't I?" she wiped her tears away.

"No, you're not. You're just insecure," Fred used his sleeve to clean the tears from her face. "George and I are proper blokes, Dru. We've been planning this for a while now but we would never,  _never_ , leave you without saying goodbye, without giving you a proper heads up. You can  _trust_  me."

"I'm sorry, Fred." she gave him a kiss. "I guess I have to get used to having someone around me I can really trust. I just still have a lot to learn." She gave him another kiss as she put her arms around him.

"Now, I do have to admit that I've been keeping something from you. But also from George and Rose and if  _they_  find out, they'll kill me," he sighed as he pulled her in his lap. "It's got something to do with Rose... when we cleaned out the house, I found her birth certificate, and she snatched it from me without looking at it."

"What?" Dru asked.

He shook his head. "All I'm saying is that she should take a look at it. I think she carries it around with her in her enchanted purse. There's not much in there. It actually broke my heart realizing that her grandfather wasn't really that interested in details concerning his little granddaughter."

"Fred, tell me."

"I don't know what went wrong, but it stated that her birthday was July 11th, 1979, not 1980."

"Fred, It can't...I mean...Are you sure?"

"I know, that technically, it can't. But I saw the numbers. I doubt she's ever seen them, but... it's just weird. She should have been a year higher. It's been in my head this entire time and I haven't gotten anywhere closer into figuring out what's going on."

Dru bit her lip. "What can I do?"

"When we were there, that day, she had this purse enchanted to be bigger on the inside, not that she needed the charm, because she didn't put that much in there. I think she's stuffed it into her trunk, deep down, far away where she doesn't get reminded of her family, I bet."

"What colour?"

"Purple? I think?"

"Okay, stay here. I'll be right back." It took Dru only 10 minutes to return unseen to Fred with the birth certificate. "You're right 1979. She's 16." Dru sat down next to Fred again. "Do you think she knows?"

"I doubt it," he shrugged. "I don't know if she should know, maybe you should take it to Professor McGonagall and see what she says?"

"No, we can't. What if she gets into trouble. No, we have to wait until we can talk to Lupin. Maybe he can clarify things. Until then we don't tell Rose or George about this."

He hugged Dru. "I'm so glad that I'm not the only one knowing about this now, it's been nibbling at my brain for a year now."

"Well find other things that can nibble on you then?" Dru smiled as she kissed his neck.

Fred gently caressed her hair and laughed. "Nibble away!"

Dru softly bit his neck before kissing it again. "You taste delicious." She gently pushed him on his back and leaned over him as she continued kissing him.

"Oh, careful now..." Fred said huskily as he slipped his hands underneath her shirt and started to caress her back, pulling her closer towards him.

"Really, I thought you liked me to be a bit feisty." Dru whispered in his ear before she gently bit his neck again.

"Oh I do," he answered as he kept caressing her back, but stared at the ceiling of George's four poster bed to think of something else. He was already strangely turned on by her biting his neck like she did.

"Fred, remember I said I wanted to take it slow?"

"Yes, and I'm holding you to that."

"Good, I want you to, but I also want to feel your skin on mine." Dru took the hem of his shirt and tugged it to make it clear to him that she wanted his shirt off.

"Yeah... not here," he chuckled.

"Why not?" She let her fingernails run down his chest under his shirt, trying to get him to take it off.

"Because..." he couldn't help but moan, his little firecracker was driving him wild without doing anything at all - yet. He flipped her over on the bed so that he was hovering above her and kissed her hard, before getting off of her and the bed. "I'm a gentleman, we're in a dormitory that I share with four other blokes and..."

Dru got on her knees and pulled Fred against her. "They're not here, but I am." She started kissing and nibbling his neck again.

"I really... really... need a cold shower right now."

"Hmm, that good am I now?" Dru grinned.

He hadn't had sex for months now, after starting to date Dru and it had been hard on him, but he kept his word, he was a true gentleman around her and he would make sure that he wouldn't do anything stupid, but right now, he fought himself over the fact that he wanted to push her down, get her undressed and make her feel so good that she'd thought she ended up in heaven after reaching that blissful high, because it wasn't proper. "Yeah... we really need to stop... right now..." he said slowly.

"Okay." Dru sat down on the bed and pulled her shirt down again. "I won't torment you."

"Oh, it's not torment, not at all... it's just... I can only control myself up to a certain point, I mean, I'm not George, he's like a... saint compared to me."

Dru pulled Fred back on the bed to sit next to her. She put her head on his shoulder and hold his hand in hers. "Fred, if I asked you something, would you promise to be honest to me?"

"Always," he said, putting his other hand in his lap to hopefully conceal the fact that he was really excited.

"Did you sleep with anyone else, beside Angelina?"

"Yes."

"Anyone I know?"

"It's not important, it was just fooling around, you know."

"But I wanna know, I want to hear it from you and not believe the rumors."

"What, the rumors that I'm easy and excitable?" he chuckled. "That's old news."

"There are a number of girls that told me you like to sleep around and you still do. Now I know you don't sleep around on me, but If you told me the truth, I can sort out who's trying to stir things up between us."

"Well, I have been sleeping around, that was before we started to date," he replied with honesty. "I'm a guy, that's... well not really an excuse. But it had always been Patricia, Alicia or Angelina, and no one else."

Dru kissed Fred on his cheek. "Thank you." She breathed a sigh of relief. "Now I know who's just trying to screw with me."

"Anyone in particular?" Fred chuckled.

"A few, but don't worry, I'll get to them. And just so you know..." She took his head in her hand as she rested her forehead against his. "I've never doubted that you stopped sleeping around when we got together. I know you would never do that to me."

"Well, we're properly dating, aren't we? Can't do things I used to do!" he smiled at her and softly kissed her. "I never loved them, but I'm completely smitten by you."

Dru closed her eyes. "You have no idea how happy you have made me the last few months. I've never been this happy in my life."

"Good," Fred nodded and softly kissed her again, happy that the questions about him sleeping around had made him deflate. "That means I'm doing my job as a boyfriend."

"Yeah and then some." Dru kissed him and then laid down on the bed, pulling him with her. She put her head on his chest and curled up against him. "You're not just my boyfriend, Fred. You are so much more than that to me."

* * *

"Let's start with something easy," Hermione said as they sat in the common room. It was just their group of people, every other student was occupying the library studying hard for their OWLs, and before the common room would fill up again, they could use this opportunity to help the girls get focused. "I'll think of a word and you have to tell me what it is."

"Hippogriff," Dru and Rose said almost at the same time.

"I wasn't ready!"

"Cauldron."

"But!"

"Dentist chair." they chorused again before Rose frowned at Hermione. "Seriously?"

"My dad's an orthodontist..." Hermione was now picking lint off her shirt.

"But... I don't understand," Ron said confused. "How come you two practically say the same word at the same time? You're not a mind reader, are you Rose?"

"No, but I can look ahead, remember?"

"Ron, You know I can read minds, don't you?' Dru asked him.

"Yeah, why?"

"Could you please stop thinking about undressing a certain person. I need to focus on what Hermione is trying to teach me." Dru put her hand against her forehead. She hadn't been had her mind open wide like this for a while and she was sort of overwhelmed with the thoughts of the people around her

"Bless you, Ginny," Rose said. All they were doing were party tricks, really. Well, it felt like that to Rose.

"Hatchoo!"

"Bless you, Ginny," the boys chorused.

"I'm not..." Ron looked at Dru. "Well, I am..." he said blushing.

"Well, I'm sort of your sister in law now and i don't want to see what you're.. thinking."

The twins were smirking at each other.

"Sorry, I've seen parts of Rose that you haven't seen yet and sorry George," Dru said, while madly blushing for what she had seen in Fred's head.

"What!" Rose gaped at George, who just shrugged innocently.

"Alright, we've established that you're really good at mind reading, Dru," Harry laughed. "Now try to put something other than your own thoughts or what you've seen so far into someone else's head. Like... well let's start with a teddy bear."

Rose started to giggle like mad.

Dru reached out her hand to Harry. "Give me a teddy bear and I'll shove it up your nose."

"Are we going to get treats for performing on command?" Rose wondered out loud. "I do a great impersonation of a dog rolling over and dying."

"Come on, girls, Work with me here." Harry shook his head laughing.

"Well, I am. I've just proven that I can work with short term futures without freaking out," Rose said as she laid down on the ground.

"I might have an idea for her to focus on what somebody's thinking." Ron said and went up to his dormitory. He came down a few minutes later with his chessboard. "I'm a good player, lets see if you can beat me."

"Who do you want? The mind reader or the one who sees the future, because game wise? It's the same."

"Rose." Ron said. George looked at Fred and smiled. Ron was by far the best player they knew. He was very good at changing his game play so he could still win.

"Alright, place your bets, twins. I've never played chess before." Rose sighed and got up to sit at the table with Ron.

"Ah, but I'm going to change the future, because it's always in motion, Hermione says."

"You actually listen to what I say?" Hermione said surprised.

"I'm not an idiot, of course I do!" Ron said, starting to put the pieces on the board.

Dru laid her head in Fred's lap, who was sitting on the floor. With everybody focussing on Rose, she could close her eyes and forget what she had found out what was going on in the twins heads a few minutes ago.

Fred caressed Dru's hair and smiled. "You're doing great."

Dru was playing with a loose thread on Fred's jeans. "Yeah." her voice was sarcastic, she started to remember why she'd closed her mind to only who she wanted hear. She didn't like finding things she shouldn't have known, it was too personal, too intrusive, too complicated.

"Ron's going to win, what do you think?"

"I don't know." She turned so she was now lying on her back, looking up at Fred's face. She caressed his cheek and frowned. She didn't like what she just discovered in George's mind. "I think this isn't a good idea for me to do."

Fred kiss the palm of her hand. "If you find too much information in someone's head... surely there must be a way to filter things you don't want to see? Like... just a portion or something without going too deep into someone's head?" He understood that this whole mind reading ability could get troublesome in more than one way if she was unable to control it properly.

"It's complicated. I started closing my mind to filter who I could get in and who I would pass on when I was eight. Now I have to set it all open again and It's hard to concentrate on what to see and what not, especially because apart from you and Rose everyone else in this room is trying to hide things for me to see, making them even more present in my mind."

"Ignore them," he smiled and softly kissed her before sitting up straight again. "Focus on tuning them out without closing yourself off."

"HA! I won!" Ron's voice sounded from across the room. "I can't believe I won from a seer!"

"What happened?" Harry asked as he sat down at the table.

"Well, she opened up far too quickly and I could just shove myself in there, you know..."

"Oi! That sounded way too dirty," George remarked and slapped his brother over the head.

"I didn't mean it like that! Look at the board! It's a massacre!"

"I told you, I don't know the rules!" Rose blurted. "And on top of that, I don't know what the pieces do, it's really hard to..."

"You need to focus." Harry simply said. "That's all, focus. Now, try again."

"I can help with telling you what piece does what." George sat down next to her. "Let's beat the brat."

"How's she doing, Harry?" Dru asked, still lying on the other side of the room, head in Fred's lap.

"Failed round one." Harry replied, watching Ron set the pieces back on the board.

"Good girl." Dru smiled and tugged on Fred's shirt so he would bend down and kiss her again. She liked that Harry was so focused on Rose and not her. She had never really showed Harry what she could do, so he didn't really think her gift was very impressive and she didn't really care to change his mind.

After Rose failed again, she was really close to giving up.

"You need to keep closer to the now, you're thinking a bit too far ahead." Harry said. "Try only focusing on his next move and the one after that, but not further."

"If you know it so well, why won't you do it yourself?" Rose asked Harry. "I usually have Dru to have me see the nearer future."

"Yeah, but i think it's important that your gifts are more individualized . If you get separated during a battle, you need to fight back on your own."

"I don't need to see the future to kick ass, Harry."

"No, but it might you from getting your but kicked like Dru's surprise attack during DA." Harry had his arms crossed over his chest. Rose couldn't help but snicker, he really got his part down as teacher.

"You look ridiculous," she snorted.

"Just try." Harry said with a tired sigh.

"Yeah, Rose, just try." Dru grinned as she was kissing Fred.

Rose picked up an apple from the table and threw it in the general direction of Dru and Fred, hoping that it would hit something vital, before turning her attention back to the chessboard. It was hard to perform under pressure. It wasn't just Ron, Harry, George and her at the table now, even Ginny and Hermione had joined them, probably because they didn't want to see Fred and Dru make out.

"Maybe you should leave her to it, Harry. Ginny, you and I should focus on Dru for a bit. Let Ron and George help Rose." Hermione gave Rose a smile. She could see Rose had become nervous from all the attention.

"Performance anxiety?" Ron teased Rose and winced when Hermione hit him over the head with a book.

"Behave, Ronald," she chastised him.

"Hermione, stop calling him Ronald." Dru said annoyed, as she could feel Ron's feelings shimmering through hers. He hated it when she called him that.

"Never," she said simply as she pulled Harry and Ginny back to Fred and Dru. "You, are going to practise on compartmentalizing someone's head, pick up only what you want to get picked up. Since I'm the most sane person at this point, you can use my head to practise."

Dru sat up and patted on the floor for Hermione to come sit in front of her. "What do you want me pick out of your head?" She said with a devilish smile as she was a bit intrigued. She had never dared to get inside of Hermione's head.

"Well, how about I'm going to think either left or right and you're going to say what I'm thinking. Often in battle people think about their moves first, before acting upon them."

"You mean like your thinking right now, if you're gonna be smart enough to not think of a certain something... or worse if I would say outloud what that something is."

Hermione blushed.

Dru rubbed her hands together. "I think I'm going to like this." Dru knew it was just as important to unnerve Hermione with Dru's own behavior as to focus on the parts that Hermione was trying to hide from her.

"Well, let's see, There's... well we all know that one."

"Dru! Focus!" Hermione said. "Left or Right, stay out of the rest."

"Why that's the juicy part." Dru knew she was getting to Hermione and she needed to do that get inside of her head. "Oh there's more...Really? Him?"

"Stop it." Hermione was not liking what Dru was doing.

"But this is fun. Really? Sweet Hermione and a Teacher?" Dru grinned and heard Ron drop a chest piece out of his hand.

"Alright, stop." Ginny spoke up and shook her head. "Take me, I can handle it. You won't be crushing me like you've been crushing Hermione," she said in a daring voice. "I have six brothers."

As Hermione tried to get up, Dru grabbed her wrist. "Sorry love, but if I have to do this, I have to do this right. And that means being cruel."

Hermione nodded, but got up quickly, she knew Dru was right, but it had unnerved her a bit, she never had realised that Dru could really see everything in her mind she didn't want anyone to know.

"Which teacher?" Ginny whispered grinning before sitting down.

"Shut up." Hermione whispered back, but couldn't help a weak smile

"Alright, Ginny, are you ready for this? I won't be easy on you." Dru said, still carrying the smile of a devil on her face.

"I'm not scared of you." Ginny said with a smile. "I have six brothers, remember?"

"Yeah, I do. I've seen the minds of three of them from the inside and I can fill your head with stuff out theirs, that would make you tremble with fear or lust."

"NO!" Ron, Fred and George chorused.

Dru cackled.

"Dru, play nice," Rose warned as she finally had put Ron into checkmate. "I think I've won, did I?"

"That's not fair, Dru distracted me." Ron exclaimed.

"Well, as you said it yourself, you're an experienced player, shouldn't  _you_  have anticipated my moves?" Rose said easily and shrugged. "She didn't distract you that much, I've been blocking your way into my court the entire time."

George planted a kiss in Rose's neck. "That's my little bad girl," He whispered in her ear.

Rose giggled and softly kissed George's lips. "Hey, what's this about a certificate or something that keeps popping up in the near future?" she suddenly called out.

"What?"

"You have something of mine? Or something?"

"Not that I know of." George scratched behind the ear.

"No, not you... well I see you holding it too but... no... it's not clear... anyone? Does a certificate of some sort ring a bell?"

Dru's concentrating was suddenly interrupted, which made her accidentally put the image of Fred and Dru discussing the certificate on George's bed in Ginny's mind.

Ginny's eyes became big as saucers and looked at Dru. "You're kidding!" she hissed.

"Gin, don't." Dru whispered.

"Ginny, No." Fred whispered.

"Liars," Rose muttered and looked at the chessboard. "Again?" she looked at Ron and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I won two times, so let's do three out of five." Ron nodded.

Dru did something she never did to anyone than Rose, but she had to.  _Ginny, if you can hear me, please nod._

Ginny nodded.

_Fred and I... we found out something that might change everything Rose thinks she is. We want to talk to Lupin about it before we tell her. Because this might mess her up real good? Can you give us some time to figure this out?_

Ginny nodded again and smiled widely.

_Is this weird? hearing me in your head?_

"Yeah... but it's okay, it doesn't hurt or anything."

Harry looked at Ginny and Dru what they were doing.

_I never did this with anyone, but Rose before_

"Seriously?" she asked surprised. "So when you were quiet, you weren't actually... quiet?"

 _Nope, it's fun when we're in class._ Dru grinned

Rose grinned as she saw Dru and Ginny talk. It was good that she was trying that, it could help everyone a lot.  _Good Girl_ , Rose thought towards Dru.

"Wait, Ginny? Who are you talking to?" Fred asked, not realizing that Dru was smiling at his sister.

 _Ginny, Rose just called me a good girl_  Dru leaned with her back against Fred's chest. It was finally calming down in her head.

"She is!" Ginny said, looking at Rose. "This is amazing!"

"What is?" Harry asked. "Ginny?"

"They can talk to each other without speaking." Ginny said. "I can hear Dru's voice in my head."

"And because Dru's a mind reader, you actually can have a two way conversation." Rose pointed out, before beating Ron again.

"Oi!" Ron called out. "Nobody has won from me twice in a row!"

"This one does." George said while he was looking at Fred. He'd started to suspect that his brother knew more about this certificate.

"Really? That's brilliant, Dru. That could be so helpful! Can you do it over long distances too?" Harry asked her.

"Well I can get inside Rose's head anywhere within Hogwarts, that's how she knew I was trouble and she sent you to find me. But other than that I don't think so." Dru answered. "And it doesn't work with everyone. Some minds I can get in. Some people are too good at occlumency, like Snape or …. but some I just can't break into to."

"Can you get into anybody in this room?" Hermione asked.

Dru nodded and gently caressed Fred's leg. "But it's not always fun, you know. Sometimes you find things you don't wanna know." She looked straight into George's eyes.

He stared back and they held that scare for 30 seconds before Rose noticed them staring at each other.

"What?" Rose poked George in the ribs with her elbow.

"They know something."

"Shut it, George." Dru's voice was threatening as she gently squeezed Fred's leg. She didn't want Fred to get in trouble.

"What? About that certificate?" Rose wondered, she moved the pieces on the chessboard without even looking now.

"What certificate?" Dru asked. "I've never seen a certificate." She was still looking at George.

Rose saw that Fred was looking at Ginny. "Fred? Ginny? You know something about a certificate? You can deny all you want but if I want I can find out, you know."

"Why are you going on about this certificate anyway?" Fred asked.

"Because I have a feeling that it concerns me and I have a feeling that you've already handled it before..."

"Let it go, Rose." Dru said. "Let it go."

George got up, walked over to Ginny and hoisted her up from the floor. "Where did you see it?"

"Ginny, don't." Dru and Fred got up too.

George put his hands on her arms and looked in her eyes. "Ginny, what ever they said, you need to tell me what you saw." his voice was friendly but determined.

"Leave her out of this, Georgie. She's an innocent bystander." Fred spoke up and sighed before looking at Dru. "She has a right to know."

"Fred, no!" Dru was now standing facing her boyfriend and the rest of the room staring at her back. "I told you, we have to be sure."

"We can talk to Lupin after she knows..." he looked at Rose, who was still battling Ron at the chessboard. "It's not fair and I've been walking around with this for a very long time."

"Fred, listen to me. This is not a good idea." Dru begged him.

"Probably not, but if we don't tell her, she'll keep on digging anyway, and Ginny will slip up one day."

"Fred, please."

"It's somewhere in George and Fred's dormitory." Ginny said as she looked at Rose. She rather took the blame than let it cause a fight between her brothers of between her brother and his girlfriend.

Dru looked at Ginny as she saw Rose and George go up the stairs. "You really shouldn't have. Rose not stable enough to handle this."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see," Ginny said bravely. "I think that she deserves to know because she's had to live with so many secrets for this long until last year, and I think with this, she can finally get a little bit of closure."

"Since when did you get so wise?" Ron piped up, hating it that Rose had beat him again just before she and George had gone upstairs.

"Since I'm dealing with you lot, that's when."


	23. Fred is going to hell

George was looking under Fred's bed and in Fred's nightstand. "It's not here."

"What about your bed? Dru still can't keep you apart sometimes, and to be honest, neither can I until I hear one of you speak or see the both of you on your feet," she suggested. "Although she's worse at it than I am."

"Oh gee, thanks," George rolled his eyes at her before looking underneath his bed. He knew what was in his nightstand and she didn't have to see what was in it, it'd give her a heart attack with all the portable swamps they've been trying to get to work. "Just don't turn into my mother and give us the wrong presents."

"Never," she chuckled.

"Found it," George reached for the piece of parchment and got back up to his feet. "It's your uh... birth certificate."

"What!" she exclaimed before getting it out of George's hands. "Fred had this when we were at the house! And I put it in my bag!" She started to look it over and shrugged. "It looks normal to me. Rosalie Crouch, born July 11th 19..." she suddenly turned white as a sheet. "This can't be right..."

"Let me see." George looked over her shoulder. "1979? but you're a 5th year? You can't be 16."

"I..." she looked at the paper in disbelief and sat down on George's bed. "I..." she didn't know what to say. Growing up, Winky had always teased her about being lied to by her grandfather, but Rose never believed that. Winky, the stupid house elf, wasn't quite reliable when it came to keeping secrets other than keeping Father safe but this was just weird. But it made sense too for some weird reason.

George sat down behind her and put his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Why don't we go asked Dumbledore. If you are a year older than your classmates, surely he knows why."

"He's not here, remember?" she sighed.

He rested his forehead on her shoulder. "Stupid git." He muttered to himself. "We could ask McGonagall. She's the head of our house and a member of the order. She might know."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, let's go then." Rose softly kissed George on the lips. "I hope that this is a forgery."

"If not I do get to tease Fred for dating such a young little witch." George chuckled in her ear. But the moment he saw the date he knew it was correct. There had always been a maturity about her, he could place. Like she was just a bit older than her peers, which was funny, because she was one of the youngest in her class.

"If it's not, that means I'll be 17 in a couple of months."

"You'll be of age. Shame you still have to finish your school."

"I could say the same about you, you know," she retorted with an all knowing smile. "I've seen what you're going to do with Fred."

"I did my 7th year, I'm just not graduating. I'll make you a deal if you do your 7th year until easter, you can quit." George kissed her.

Rose chuckled. "Alright, let's go find out if this is real or not," she kissed him back before taking his hand and getting off the bed. They made their way back to the Common Room while Rose held the certificate.

Dru was standing with Fred, half hidden away in his arms, thinking that at any point George and Rose could start yelling at the both of them.

"We'll be right back," Rose announced. "We're going to sort this right now."

"There was a certificate?" Harry asked puzzled. "What kind?"

"You'll know soon enough." she replied and looked at Dru, who looked a little bit frightened. "I'm not angry, George and I are going to Professor McGonagall and get to the bottom of this."

"Well, I'm a little bit hurt that Fred has never said anything to me about it," George pouted before Rose pulled him out of the common room.

"Like you never mentioned that..." they never found out what Fred said, because the portret closed behind Rose and his brother.

* * *

"Where did you find this?" Minerva McGonagall was looking at the parchment that Rose had just handed to her. "During the cleanup of your house? Did you already do that?"

"I took a few things, yes..." Rose said somber. "Fred found it and I just never looked at it, but figured it might come in handy in the future..."

"Mr. Weasley, if you please, close the door, would you?"

As soon as George had closed the door, McGonagall cast a spell that would stop people from overhearing what was going to be said in the office, and then Rose knew that she was in trouble.

"Well, I know the story, of course. Albus has told me, but I think you should hear it from the person who's responsible for getting you to Hogwarts." She took a handful of floo powder and tossed it in the fire before muttering "Grimmauld Place".

"Minerva!" Sirius's face appeared in the fire. "Who's that with you? Harry?"

"No, Sirius, I've got Ms. Shepherd and her Mr. Weasley here."

"Are they alright?" Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded. "Did they get into trouble?"

"No, nothing of the sort," McGonagall replied. "I'm looking for Remus."

Soon, Remus Lupin's head appeared in the fire with a smile on his face. "Hello!"

"Remus, Ms. Shepherd found a certain certificate that has her puzzled, could you talk to her about it, please?" McGonagall shoved Rose in front of the fire.

"Oh..." all of a sudden he didn't sound too cheery anymore. "Hello dear, it must be a bit of a shock for you, to see your certificate..."

"Fred found it last year at the house. I never took a look at it until he and Dru started to make a fuss about it."

"Well, yes. I can tell you that the certificate is accurate, and I can also explain why you haven't been told about it."

"Grandfather always said..."

"Your grandfather, was once a brilliant Ministry official, but he didn't really pay much attention to you, did he? His workaholic nature had already drove his son to extremes. Barty never really cared about how old you were, and even though you showed the potential of becoming a great Witch early in life, he just closed his eyes to it."

"I thought you said you didn't keep an eye on me?"

"Well, I had to, hadn't I? When you were in nursery school, the Ministry had to keep sending the Magical cleaners over to make teachers, and children, forget that you had done magic. Barty, under pressure by the Ministry, then got you a special tutor to teach you at home. When the Hogwarts acceptance letter arrived when you were 11, your grandfather was furious. He didn't want you to leave the house. In hindsight, I now realise that he didn't want to risk you telling people about your father. He wrote Dumbledore and told him that you showed no magical potential whatsoever."

"He did?" Rose could hear Mrs. Weasley gasp in the distance.

"When I found out I was furious, of course. I asked Dumbledore to give you another try a year later, and I would do everything in my power to talk to your grandfather about you going to school at Hogwarts, because you had to learn how to deal with magic, and with the power you possess... although I hear that you're still not that confident?" he said with an all knowing smile.

"Let's talk about my confidence later, please?"

"Well, your grandfather finally understood reason, it was as if I was talking to a brick wall for months but he finally gave in, under the condition that you'd be a year younger than stated on your birth certificate as not to raise any questions from other students or teachers, but from what I understood is that you never really knew that age you were when you were younger?"

"No, not really. I had special days where I'd get gifts and what not but that was it. I just can't believe he went this far..."

"Your grandfather was a man of extremes. He was a fine Ministry official back in the day, but a lousy family man, forgive me for saying that."

"No, it's alright..." she said softly. "It's what keeps going on in my head as well, when I think of him? I miss him, but..."

"There's no fault in mourning for the people you've lost, after all, he was your grandfather, how flawed he might have been. Same goes for your father." Lupin responded with a reassuring smile. "Now that you've found out that you're a 16 year old 5th years student, doesn't mean that you can quit school once you've turned 17, you know that, right?"

"No, that's fine," she said with a brave smile. "I mean, everything has a reason. Even your grandfather asking people to lie to you about your age."

"Good girl," Remus smiled before being pushed away by Mrs. Weasley.

"Rose dear, is George with you?"

Rose looked over her shoulder and saw George shaking his head, he knew what was coming. "He's busy?" she didn't want to make it sound like a question but it did.

"Well, alright, could you tell him that even though you're close to coming of age, that he still should respect you as a young woman and keep his hands to himself?"

"Not to worry, Mrs. Weasley. George has been nothing but honorable."

"You keep saying that... alright. Study hard for your OWLs, Rose. And George, don't forget about your NEWTs!"

"I will," Rose smiled.

"I think we should cut this short before Umbridge gets wind of this," McGonagall said and quickly doused the fire. "Are you alright, Ms. Shepherd?"

"Yeah, it explains a lot, to be honest."

"I thought it might. Now, off you go, you have studying to do. Good luck."

"Are you okay?" George asked worried as they walked back to the common room. "I mean, really okay?"

"No," she said with a smile. "But give me some time for this to sink in and I will be."

George kissed her as soon as the portrait closed behind them.

"Well?" Dru asked. She and Fred had been waiting to find out what had been going on, while the rest had gone to the library to study.

"Well..." Rose answered as she and George walked further into the common room, to join Dru and Fred at the sofa. She then started to explain to them what Lupin had told her.

Dru didn't have the courage to look at Rose, she kept looking at the floor, wishing Fred had never found that birth certificate in the first place. she worried that discovering yet a new set of lies designed by her Grandfather would mess up Rose's head again and Dru was liking who Rose had become since last summer. She was happy and laughing. When Rose had finished her story, Dru quietly spoke up. "I'm sorry, Rose."

"Why are you sorry? it's not your fault." Rose sounded a bit confused.

"I hate that this is happening to you again."

"Don't be sorry, it's fine," she sighed and then smiled. "At least this time it's just about my age that he liked, it's not really important."

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me, Fred," George was gently caressing Rose's arm while she was sitting in his lap.

"I didn't know what to do, I'm sorry George," Fred apologized.

"Look, after he told me, he wanted to go to you guys or at least McGonagall. I'm the one that stopped him." Dru said.

"Fine." George said and gave a weak smile. "At least he told the truth in the end."

"Let's just drop the subject, okay?" Rose asked as she nestled into George's arms. "I'm fine, no one got hurt and that's the most important thing, although next time someone gets caught snooping in a bag that I've hidden pretty well in my trunk, you'll get jinxed."

Dru grinned as she put her head down on Fred's lap again. She was still contemplating if she should tell Fred what she had seen George hide from his brother. Fred would be hurt and George would kill her, but if anything she had learned this year it's not good to keep secrets.

"It's dry out... can't we just go and get a book and go somewhere outside?" Rose wondered. "I like sitting inside, but I just want a little fresh air. If you don't want to come, that's fine too."

Dru looked at Fred. "What do you want? i won't mind going outside too."

"You two girls go," he said with a smile, before shooting a look at his brother.

"Yeah, go on," George added.

"Stay out of trouble!" Dru grinned, gave Fred a kiss and walked to the portrait hole.

Before following Dru out, she kissed George and picked up a book from the table. "We could go and visit the Hippogriffs if you like?"

"Yeah, good idea. I haven't been there for a while." She looped her arms around Rose's and whispered. "Could we talk about something?"

"Of course," Rose nodded.

When Dru and Rose got to the Hippogriffs, they sat down against a tree Dru looked at Rose. "George has been hiding a big secret from Fred."

"How big?"

"It crushed George when he found out and it will crush Fred even more."

"Then I don't think that you should tell Fred. I know that keeping secrets is bad but... well, maybe you should tell him..." Rose sighed as she rested her head against the tree trunk.

"What if I told you first, maybe if you know what the secret is, you can help me decide what to do?"

"You picked it up from his head, didn't you? I'm not sure if I want to know what's going on inside his head..."

Dru took a deep breath, she had to tell someone. "George and Fred both lost their virginity to Angelina, who by the way lost hers to Oliver Wood."

"Ew! I didn't want to know that, but I don't see why this is such a big dea- Ohh... Fred doesn't know that George... and... ohh, he found out after Fred asked her to the ball?"

"Yeah, you know the boys. they share just about everything, but not girls. Fred has always known that George used to sleep with Katie and George knew about Fred and Alicia and Patricia, but Angelina had asked them both not to tell anything."

Rose shuddered. "Too much information..."

"What?"

"I never asked George about the girls he went out with because that would be weird and now you've just ..."

"Sorry," Dru chuckled. "But you understand right? I mean, I had to tell someone, and you're the one I trust besides Fred, and seeing this concerns him..."

"I know!" Rose said after a while. "You should  _make_  Angelina tell the boys."

"I like that idea, but how are we supposed to do that?"

"Angelina, well... she's quite the jealous type, isn't she? You saw how she reacted to you and Fred after the Christmas Holiday," She shrugged. "I think that if you'd be able to put..." Rose started to laugh. "No... that's really cruel... but..."

"But what? Tell Me!"

"I  _think_  that it would be a great idea if you'd be able to put a sudden desire for both twins in her head while you and I are with them. Angelina will grow frustrated and she'll start speaking her mind, which, isn't such a good idea and thus, Fred will find out."

"I don't like the idea of desire in her mind. I don't know if..." Dru looked down. Angelina was Fred's ex and they had been very attracted to each other. She didn't want to light any old sparks.

"Fred is  _your_  boyfriend now. You two are exclusive, and he hasn't seen anyone since you two got together, you shouldn't be afraid that he still has feelings for Angelina, if he even had feelings for her."

"He used to have sex with her, and he's really missing sex and because I'm not ready yet... I don't know what he does if she makes him get him turned on. He might... I don't know. All I know is that I know jerking off alone isn't doing it for him anymore."

Rose started to laugh. It was weird to talk with Dru about this, considering she hadn't even talked to George about his feelings yet. All she knew was that she could trust George in not going too far and wait until she was truly ready. "I'm sorry," she hiccuped and then pat Dru on the back. "Still having trust issues, I see?"

"No! Fred would never hurt me on purpose, But I'm... I've seen his mind, Rose. I'm driving him mad and he doesn't know what he has to do to keep it under control anymore. And I'm not ready yet. I mean I want more then I'm getting now, but I don't want to go all the way yet."

"I think we all want more," Rose smiled when she saw the look on Dru's face. "Yes, even me, but I truly am scared that one day Umbridge will figure out that as Headmistress she can barge into every common room on the grounds and do something horrible. My plan was to wait until the Summer, now that Mrs. Weasley has started to trust me and George to keep things... well... maybe we could take things further than kissing and caressing each other's back underneath shirts."

'Rose, are you really? I mean I knew you wanted to, but … I thought you might not be ready."

"George is... yeah, I think I am ready for more, but here on Hogwarts it's just a bit hard to find it out."

"No it's not. I know the place. I know two, actually."

"I was thinking about the Shrieking Shack, I'd take him there, and talk to him about it and see how far I would be willing to let him before I'd ask him to stop. If I'd ask him at all."

"You could try the bleachers."

"Poetic. Cold too," she nodded.

"Well then I know the perfect spot!" Dru smiled. "Somewhere you won't get caught."

"You're strangely excited, it scares me," Rose laughed. "Alright, I'll bite, what spot?"

"The room of Requirement? You can make so to suit your needs." Dru grinned.

"It's practically still in shambles, remember?"

"Well, then ask one of Hermione's flames and...oh the Gryffindor changing room on pitch."

Rose was amazed by the ideas Dru had. "You really were desperate with Neville, weren't you?" she said surprised.

Dru looked down. "It was about... wanted to secure the relationship, not about wanting to close to each other. I still don't really get what went wrong between us. Don't get me wrong, I love being with Fred, but it's weird how things went so wrong between me and Neville, without either one of us knowing why. By the way have you heard? Ginny walked in on Neville kissing Hannah Abbot?" Dru wa smiling when she said the last sentence. "Good for him, don't you think?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "It's great, now you both can move on. I still stand by what I said, Neville and you will be together one day, but you need someone like Fred to stabilize you in life, despite him being not so much stable sometimes."

Dru looked angry at rose. "I can't believe you would say that. I don't want to be with Neville anymore. I want Fred and no one else."

"Good, then  _trust_  him in being able to keep a grip on himself when he's with you and don't worry about him running off with Angelina when she's going to be in full bitch and seduce mode. He won't."

"Well, I've been thinking, maybe I could help him a bit." Dru blushed.

"Yeah, you could always help him a bit," Rose nodded before looking at Dru, realising what she had just said. "What?"

"Well, he needs...uhm...how am i supposed to say this...uhm...more than his own hand on certain body parts, so maybe if I'd do it..." Dru looked at the ground, she could not believe she just fessed this up to Rose, but she wanted someone to tell her she was doing the right thing. She didn't want to make the same mistake she made with Neville and do things without talking to someone about it.

"I think that's a brilliant idea, to be honest."

Dru looked at Rose with her mouth wide open. "Really?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I mean, I don't know how to explain it but... you  _need_  that extra thing just as much as he does, besides, you have to start somewhere, right?"

Dru giggled. "So what are you going to do with George? have you settled on a place yet?"

"Unlike you, I like to things over. And then think things over again," Rose giggled, teasing Dru was fun.

"Oi, I have thought this over. I'm trying to do things right this time. I want to be responsible about this." She said proudly. "And blow his brains out."

"Good girl," she nodded. "I might not be so responsible should something happen," she said with a wolfish grin.

* * *

It was the day before the Quidditch final when George and Rose finally could steal a moment alone again while they were walking towards the pitch to watch the final trainings of Gryffindor. It had been a week or so after they had found out about Rose's real age and for Rose, puzzle pieces had fallen into place.

She didn't quite understand why everyone was making a big fuss about it, because it was something as minor as being a year older than she truly was. Had it been... she wasn't even sure what to think of that could have been worse. Maybe a hidden twin somewhere. Or a brother or sister. Or maybe that her mother wasn't dead or something like that.

Dru didn't want to admit it, but Rose knew that her friend was still afraid that she was going to have a breakdown or something like that, but Rose was okay with it. Ever since she had seen her own patronus, a lioness, something had clicked. She  _had_  always been protective over her friends, especially Dru, and she had been reading up on a lion's personality. She hadn't agreed on many things (Rose didn't think she was a leader or very much decisive, and certainly not particularly domineering or cruel unless a person deserved it) with what she had read, but she had realised that she had to grow up a little so that she could be all that she could be at this point in time.

Her last feeling of feeling sad or a bit lost was when McGonagall told her that she was afraid that Rose would end up resenting her friends, or waste her talents and waste away in a shop on career day. She had been furious and sad because it had been her own decision, she hadn't been coerced.

George winced as the beater who had replaced him on the team, Andrew Kirke, made a fatal mistake and fell off his broom. Ron wasn't a strong keeper, so that meant that the rest of the team had to be excellent and attuned to each other and they really weren't. It was a mess. "I miss playing Quidditch," he muttered. "Look at them, they're a mess."

"You miss playing or you hate it that for the first time in years Gryffindor doesn't seem able to win the match and you always figured to go out with a bang?" Rose asked with a smile on her face as she looped her arm through George's and leaned in against him. Even though it was Spring, it was still chilly on the grounds, especially since there was barely any shelter.

"Oh, I'll go out with a bang alright," he chuckled. "It would have been more fun though if Umbridge hadn't banned us from playing."

"They still have two Weasleys on the team, they'll be fine."

"I love it how you always seem to see the bright side of things," he smiled at her and softly kissed her lips.

"Not always," she pointed out. "More often I don't want to listen to reason."

"Yeah, you have a little problem with that sometimes," George grinned.

Rose playfully hit him on the shoulder. "I'm working on it, I mean, I'm really working on it. Because everyone else is going on about how I should be training my gift and what not, I need to be balanced myself... I've been out of balance for the last few years... especially after last year."

"Is that why you often sneak off to the girls' prefect bathroom every other night?"

She nodded. "It's actually quite peaceful there, Hermione told me that it's big and lofty and usually she's the only one in there, so I decided to go there and meditate a little," she answered. "Well, it's peaceful there until Myrtle comes round and starts talking your ears off."

"But does that really help? That meditating thing?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "I mean, I've done it before, and not as often as I do now, but it really helps. It gives me a lot of clarity in my head, it's easier for me to take a peek into the future, further than a couple of weeks, and it's quite clear."

"What about the war?"

"Still fuzzy, but happening," she sighed. "It's still going to be bad, really bad."

George put his arm around her and softly caressed her leg. "Please promise me that you'll stop when it gets bad for you again? Or when you feel like you can't handle it? I don't want you to go through what you've gone through before." He pulled her closer against him and kissed the top of her head. "It's so frightening to see you lose yourself."

"Yeah... I know," she sighed. "It won't happen anymore, because I am more sure of things now."

"Sure of what?"

"Sure of you, us." she smiled. "Sure of what I want. Sure of what my place in this world is, those kind of things."

"Ah, so you're sure about us?"

Rose climbed on George's lap and faced him as she put her arms around his neck. "For a while I thought that you really were going to use me for as long as you wanted, then would realise that I'm completely bonkers and would move on to someone else... I mean, that's what..."

"Sweetie, I know that you have trust issues with men," he smiled at her and softly kissed the tip of her cold nose. "While you were scared that I was going to run off, I was scared that I was going to lose you. Again."

"Sorry, George," she smiled. "You're stuck with me, I'm not letting you go." Rose kissed George tenderly as he pulled her closer towards him despite her being already in his lap. Their kiss kept growing in intensity, and she could feel how his cold hands were working their way underneath her coat and shirt, and strangely enough, she didn't mind his hands cooling her off.

She lost track of where she was for a while, loving losing her rational mind for a while, feeling heat radiate through the layers of clothing and being kissed by George. She wanted more.

Rose giggled when she broke off the kiss, this time not for air but because she realised that they were out in the open, making out. She was furiously blushing, this had been the longest that they had been kissing over the last year, and she had loved every minute of it. George was enticed as well, she noticed. "We're out in the open," she giggled again.

"Yeah... I just realised that myself," George said huskily as he looked her in the eyes. Her green eyes were sparkling with  _want_  and George knew that feeling all too well. "We should take this somewhere private, what do you think?"

She bit her lip as she kept looking at him, with a small smile on her lips.

"Unless you don't want to see where this will lead us? That'd be okay too," he said a little bit insecure, but George had decided to be a little bold now that she was in the mood.

"I trust you," she replied with a smile and softly kissed his lips. "But there's no real place on Hogwarts where we won't be disturbed or where we won't be out in the open..."

"Shrieking Shack," George grinned. "Unless you're freaked out by the Whomping Willow."

She narrowed her eyes on him and shook her head. "Not a good idea."

"Well, I know another place, but you won't like it either."

"What's that?"

"Up in the dormitory. Used to do that all the time, we boys have this code where-" George swallowed his words, Rose wasn't looking too happy, and he was afraid that he had blown his chance now. "Not in the dormitory then."

Rose just glared at him, but she wasn't moving from his lap. She had heard from Dru that he used to have flings with Katie and Angelina, but for him to blatantly wave that in her face, was just unbelievable.

"I told you, I'm not a saint, I did have girls before you."

"It's not that, George, I would have asked if I was curious."

"Then what is it?"

She just smiled at him and then planted a kiss on his lips. "You just think about that for a while, I'm going back inside."

"Rose..." George groaned.

She got off his lap and made sure that her clothes were proper before making her way down the bleachers. Rose felt how her body slowly started to settle as she walked back towards the castle and joined Dru in the great hall for dinner with a big smile on her face. Maybe she had been a little bit mean towards George, but he had obviously thought of places where he had been with Angelina and Katie, and she wouldn't have any of it. She wasn't  _them_  and even though she was curious as to explore possibilities, she didn't want to do it in places where her boyfriend had his adventures. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to sit on George's bed anymore.

"Rose?" Dru said amused as she saw the look on her friend's face. "What happened?"

"You really wanna know? Get inside my head."

Dru closed her eyes and concentrated on Rose's mind. "You filthy little girl! Oh you would have gone through with it, wouldn't you? Good on you." Dru smiled.

"Have you?" Rose asked. It had been two weeks since their talk and neither one that said anything about it until now.

Dru shook her head. "He's been avoiding being alone with me, so he can keep his control. The problem is..." Dru got a devilish smile. "Now that I decided I want to give it try, I really want to do it."

"Well, you should," she giggled and peeled off her jacket.

"Rose Shepherd, I never thought I'd live to see the day you would encourage me to do this." Dru looked at her friend. "Where is he going to be after dinner?"

"Who?"

Dru rolled her eyes at Rose. "Blaise Zambini. Fred, idiot, Who else."

"Ah... uhm... having boy talk with George, I think I left poor George a little confused."

"Where?"

"The boys dormitory."

"Right!" Dru looked at her plate. "Should I go? To him? Now?"

Rose looked at the entrance to the great hall where Fred and George were just walking through. "Nope, I think you have to wait a little longer."

"Well, maybe I should get him a bit in mood then."Dru said grinning, before the boys had reached them.

George sat down next to Rose. "I'm a idiot. Sorry." he gently gave her a kiss on her cheek, when Umbridge wasn't looking.

"Yep, you are. You know why?" Rose smiled at him.

"Yeah, I know why. Sorry, but I'm have never done this before either, you know. Being a boyfriend and caring about other feelings when it comes to...well you know." Because Umbridge was watching he took Rose's hand and held it in his under the table. "Will you let me make it up to you?" His eyes were sparkling again.

She took a piece of meat off the plate and smiled at him. "Yes, of course," she answered with a nod. "And it's okay, George, really... but us girls just think a bit differently about  _that_ than you boys."

George smiled wide. "I'll do better next time. Promise." He leaned in to her and whispered. "We could always do it on Fred's bed. Never done that before."

Rose started to laugh. "No!" she giggled as she scooped some potatoes onto her plate. "You'd better eat something or she'll come and visit us."

George started to eat and kept looking and smiling at Rose during dinner.

Dru looked at Fred. "Honestly, they're worse than we are." She gently squeezed Fred's leg. She did it often but this time she had placed her hand a lot high the normal.

"Yeah... sadly!" He sighed. "But then again, he's the oldest."

"Doesn't mean you have to get left behind." She let her hand slide a little closer to his private parts.

"Dru..." Fred warned her.

"Fred.,."

"Don't do anything that you don't want to do," he said teasingly as he dug into a piece of meat as if he needed to kill it still.

"I'm not." Dru teased back.

"No, you are," he nodded.

"Says who? I'm not." Her hand was dangerously close to his groin area, but decided to place it on the inside of his leg instead.

"She's not ready to go all the way yet, Fred," Rose chuckled as she saw the look on his face. "She just wants to  _help_  you. Relax."

George kicked Fred in his shins and shook his head not to go in on Dru's advances. Fred had just asked George that morning to help his brother not to take this too far with Dru.

"Yeah... not a good idea," Fred nodded and reluctantly removed Dru's hand from his leg. "I won't be able to stop myself from wanting more and be honorable."

Dru looked down at her plate. She knew Fred wanted her, but she could help feeling rejected. She saw in the corner of her eye Angelina giggle. She was clearly enjoying seeing Fred turn Dru down. "I'll see you later." Dru got up from the table and left the great hall.

"Aww, poor no-self control Fred." Angelina taunted with a smile on her face. Ever since the twins got banned from playing Quidditch and thus messing with the team dynamic and how good they were, she had been furious with them.

Dru wanted to go for a walk and without noticing she had been doing that for 15 minutes, she found herself wandering into the greenhouses, walking in on Neville kissing Hannah. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll go."

Hannah giggled. "I have to study. You guys talk." she smiled at Neville, before leaving the greenhouse.

"Uhm... Hey." Neville said, blushing.

"Hi." Dru smiled friendly. "Don't worry. I already heard Ginny had walked in on you. Hannah is a nice girl"

"I thought you didn't like her?" he smiled at Dru.

"i didn't when she was going after my boyfriend. But now she's making my good friend happy, so now I like her."

"Are you okay? You look a little sad." Neville made his way over to Dru and gave her a hug.

"Nothing." Dru said as she walked away, looking around at the plants. She didn't know if talking about Fred to Neville was a great idea.

"I don't believe you."

"I'm having a bit of a … thing with Fred. I don't want to bother you with it."

"Well, Fred's a bloke, I'm a bloke..." Neville said slowly. "And I'm your friend, so, the least I can do is try to make you understand your boyfriend, I suppose..."

"Really? Won't that be weird for you? I don't want to … I like us being friends again, I don't want to ruin it." Dru bit her lip as she looked at Neville. She could use a guy's insight on the matter.

Neville shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I know that I would have come and try to talk to you if things between me and Hannah would be a bit... weird."

"Well, Fred and I haven't ….well you know. But he has done it before and it's getting complicated because I'm not ready yet and he's finding it hard to … keep it under control." Dru blushed and hoped that Neville wouldn't be mad at her.

"I could never really control myself around you either, even if we were taking things slow. We guys are easily excited," Neville couldn't believe himself, talking like that. He sat down on one of the tables and sighed and raised his hand. "Best friend, ever."

Dru laughed and walked over the the table and sat down next to him. "I don't know what to do now. I don't want to rush myself into things I don't want, but if I do take a little step, he's scared he won't be able to stop himself."

"Yeah... I know what you mean... I've heard some mean stuff about Fred, and George, and I actually feel kinda sorry for him. He's not a saint you know, he's had girls before you. A lot and multiple times."

"Just three and I know who they were. But he's now starting avoid being alone with me, just so he knows he can't lose control. But I'm even more scared that Angelina will take advantage of him."

"Fred won't let that happen, he cares too much about you."

"I know he cares about me, but that girl is...uhhh." Dru made a strangeling gesture. "She's very frustrating."

"You haven't noticed, have you? She's been trying to get to the boys when you and Rose were otherwise occupied, they just keep blowing her off." Neville had never stopped watching out for his girls, and had even observed the twins when they were alone. It was the least he could do to make sure that they wouldn't hurt Dru and Rose.

"She has been what?" Dru got off the table, fuming. "I'm going to jinx that girl so bad, she'll be in the infirmary till next year."

"Relax, she's just jealous and trying to get a rise out of you and Rose."

"Hold on a second, how do you know that Angelina has been going after Fred  _and_  George?"

"I have eyes too, you know."

Dru smiled. "You have been watching them, haven't you?" She knew Neville had always been protective over Dru and Rose. It was a side of him that was very strong, but hardly anybody ever recognised that in him.

"Of course, someone has to look out for you."

Dru gave Neville a big hug. "You are a very good and loyal friend, Neville. You really are."

"I'm sure that Fred will be okay, despite his  _desires_. He knows how to keep his hands to himself, he loves you and doesn't want to lose you."

"And I'm sure that Hannah was gotten herself one of the best boyfriends you can find here at Hogwarts." Dru gave Neville a kiss on his cheek and was glad to find that the strong physical attraction between her and Neville had largely died down. "I'm going back to the castle, you go and find that lovely girlfriend of yours and pick up where you left off, before I came stumbling in."

"You should say bye to Joey, he really misses you. He didn't even want to get attached to the Dru plant, makes me sad, really. They could have made weird and great babies."

* * *

By the time Fred woke up, all the other 7th years had already left the dormitories to get breakfast. it was the last Quidditch game of the season, and everybody wanted to get ready in time for it. but Fred was in no mood to hurry, he hated the fact that he couldn't play. He got up and was just about to make his way to the bathroom, when suddenly Angelina came into the room.

The fact that Fred was wearing nothing more then his pyjama pants and no shirt, made Angelina smile. "It's a shame that all of this goes to waste on a 15-year Little Girl, that doesn't know what to do with it."

"Will you knock it off? Fred glared at her. What is Merlin's name had he ever seen in her?

"I'm sorry, Fred. It just... she has what I want and she not doing anything with it." Angelina was now standing right in front on Fred. "And I want to so much with you."

Fred took a step backwards. "Angelina, stop this."

"Come on, Fred. I saw you yesterday. You want sex and you want it now. So let me give you what she's been holding out on you." Angelina tried to kiss him.

"Oi, would you cut it out?" George's voice sounded angrily. He had returned to the dormitories to get his warm coat out so that Rose could put that on instead of her own, as it for some reason, had disappeared. "You've had your chance, Angelina. Move on and stop acting like a bitch, we both know that you're not like this and are just pissed that we got banned."

"George I found Rose's coat. It was in my trunk." Dru came into the boys room. "What's going on here?"

"Fred and I were just reminiscing, see you around Fred." Angelina smiled at Dru, trying to let her believe something happened between her and Fred.

When Angelina was out of sight. "Don't people know it's useless to lie to a mind reader?" Dru smiled at Fred and handed George the coat she was holding. "Here, now hurry. Rose's getting cold."

George wanted to go to Rose, but at the same time he didn't want to leave his brother, who had confessed to him how difficult he found it resisting Dru the last time she was up in their dormitory.

"Fred, tell your brother to leave." Dru sat down on the bed she sat down the last time.

"I'll get out if you stop sitting on my bed," George pointed out.

Dru grinned at Fred. "Really, his bed?"

"Fred, you're disgusting." George chuckled. "How would you feel if I screwed a girl in your bed?"

"It's not like we're going to use it for longer," Fred shrugged. "Get out, Georgie, I'll be fine."

When George left, Dru used her wand to close and lock the door. She was determined not let Fred escape this time. "Why are you avoiding being alone with me?" she got up and stood in front of Fred, placing one hand on his bare chest.

"Uh..." the usually vocal Fred was at a loss of words. This was the first time that he was barely wearing any clothes while being with Dru and she knew exactly what she was doing. "I'm afraid that I'll take things too far with you, and that I won't be able to stop." He walked to his trunk and wanted to get clothes out of it.

Dru quickly sat down on his trunk. "Oh no, you're not." She giggled to see the confident Fred struggle a bit what to do next. "I trust you. I know you will stop if I want you to."

"I don't trust me."

Dru stood up and put her hands on his chest again. "Then trust me." She gently placed kisses on his chest. "Trust me that I'm right about trusting you."

Fred groaned and lifted her chin so he could kiss her on the lips after he bent a little forward to be able to properly kiss her. "I just don't want to end up hurting you."

"You won't, but let's make one thing clear; I don't want to go all the way yet. Just more than what we've been doing now." Dru gently let her fingernails run up and down his chest, remembered how that had made him feel before.

"So do I," He answered before giving in to her and put his arms around her before kissing her and pulled her closer towards him.

Dru slowly started to walk backwards to get Fred on his bed, kissing him along the way. "You're so..." She moaned a little. She slowly sat down and looked up to him, she suddenly felt a bit shy. "I feel silly." she giggled.

Fred leaned in on her, slowly pushing Dru further onto the bed before he hovered above her. He kissed her hard and put his hands under her shirt.

She answered his kiss eagerly and started to caress his arms, the angle he was at, made it hard for her to touch his chest, or his back, but she was already enjoying this.

"Can I take off your top?" Fred asked huskily after he had gently broken off the kiss. "Just your top?"

Dru bit her lip, but after a few seconds she nodded very slowly. "Just my top."

He carefully helped her out of her top and smiled at the sight before him. She was as gorgeous as he had pictured her in his mind's eye when he had been helping himself in the showers. Fred licked his lips before planting a kiss on her stomach, working his way upwards while he kissed every few inches or so.

She shivered as she felt his lips touch her skin. Dru had never allowed Neville to do this, well, she wanted to but it had been messy, Fred had set out to make her feel good and she already felt butterflies in her stomach. She gave an involuntary moan when Fred's hand cupped her breast. Even though it was still safely secure in her bra, it felt amazing.

Dru felt Fred's chuckle resonate through her body as he still had his lips on her skin. "You're liking this, aren't you?" he asked as he looked at her with a big smile on his face.

Dru nodded shyly, but still with a big smile. "Yeah, I..." Lost for words she gently kissed him, while she ran her fingers through his hair. Because he was so close to her, practically lying on top of her, she could feel through the fabric of her and his trousers how excited he had gotten. He was kissing her neck now, occasionally giving it a playful lick, and his hand was still fondling her breast.

She was hoping that she was able to stop him before he'd go too far, he had made her feel glorious already and she didn't want him to be uncomfortable either.

Fred started to chuckle as he slowly rose a little from her body, her taste and scent was already driving him wild and he thought he was better than that. Well, or not, since she had made him horny as hell.  _She's 15, Fred,_  he reminded himself. And it didn't escape him that she was most definitely turned on as well, and he decided not to have her explore the rest of it just yet. Her pants were staying on. His... well, needed to come off.

He gently helped her up from the bed and took her to the bathroom with him, where the evidence of him getting off was easily erased with water, and where nothing could be stained. "Have you ever seen one before?"

Dru shook her head and kissed him. She wanted him more than she ever thought she could want him. He tasted too good and his manner of trying to be a gentle with her as he could, was making her want him even more. She took a deep breath. "Show me!"

He laughed. "You're a little demanding, aren't you?" he softly kissed her lips as he kept laughing. "It's a monstrosity, to be honest."

"I'll be the judge of that. Now take those pants off." She tugged on the hem of his trousers, not knowing where she got her bravery from, because she was very nervous, but she didn't want him to see it. She was afraid that he would stop then and that last the last thing she wanted.

"I can do this without you, if I have to," he said gently, knowing that she was nervous as hell.

"No, I want to do it." She wanted to bite her tongue off, she sounded like a child.

"Alright, you know what?" Fred decided to compromise. He didn't want to force her to do anything she didn't want, even though she said she would do it. "How about you just stand there, and watch me get off? That way, you're still helping me."

Dru shook her head. She took a deep breath and kissed his chest as she slowly let her hand slide into his trousers. She wanted to do it herself. It felt bigger than she had thought, a little bit like jelly, but hard too, she couldn't help to give a little giggle, that she tried to hide by kissing his neck.

"I'm so going to hell for this," Fred laughed with a moan. Because his pants were still on (maybe for the best for now), she couldn't see what she was doing (not that he thought that she'd know what she was doing anyway) and had tugged a little too hard, but in a pleasant way. "What I like... is you to caress the shaft with your hand, not with your fingers, you can grip it firmly if you like. Don't freak out when you feel the skin move a little."

Dru nodded and did as he told her. She could hear him moan, letting her know that she was doing it right, giving her a bit more confidence. She was starting to enjoy the feeling of his length in her hands, it was really turning her on even more. She could hear his breathing getting ragged. "Is ...Is this better?"

"Oh yeah..." he smiled at her as he leaned against the wall with his back. "It feels  _so_  good... Rub harder if you wish."

Dru rubbed harder as she could feel her own breathing become slightly laboured now too. It was feeling a whole lot better then she had thought. The butterflies in her stomach were increasing and she started to feel a bit light headed, which surprisingly felt really good.

He gently caressed her hair and loved the feeling of her hand working him hard. "So close..." he breathed.

"What do I do when you come?" She felt like a little girl when she asked, but she wanted to do it right.

"Lose your grip but please... your hand... feels so good... don't remove it."

She did what he asked and slowly started kiss his chest again, She gasped as she could feel him come, not realising what that would do to him. She then couldn't help to giggle, which she tried to quickly recover from feeling really silly. "Sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry?" he said breathlessly as he looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "For making me feel this good?"

"I feel silly because I'm giggling." Dru said shy, she stood on the tip of her toes and kissed him, still not sure what to with her hands now. but then she felt how his cock had gotten limp underneath her touch and slowly removed her hand from his pants.

After catching his breath, he gently took her hand and wiped it down over his pants before directing her towards a sink to wash off her hand, and had to laugh when she giggled again. "You are adorable, you know that?" he said as he stood behind her to clean her hand. He softly kissed her in her neck and grabbed a towel to dry off her hands. "Now I need to clean up myself, could you get me a pair of underwear and my trousers from my trunk?"

Dru bit the inside of her lip, feeling slightly disappointed that it was over now, before getting him what he asked. She played with the taps of the sink as she waiting for him to finish showering.

He grabbed the towel and started to dry himself off and wrapped it around his waist before getting out of the cubicle. Fred smiled widely as he kissed her. "You were great."

Dru smiled and put her hands on his chest again."It felt good too. We should do this again sometime. Maybe you could th..." she took a deep breath,  _come on Dru. Now is not the time to be shy_  "Maybe you could give me a hand too."

"I will," Fred said after thinking for a moment. "When you turn 16, your birthday present," he kissed her again, noticing how she tensed up. "I promise... I just... it feels kinda weird now... I mean... you know... I'm already going to hell for having you help me..."

"Well, if you're already going to hell, what's stopping you?" She kissed him harder, pushing him against the wall of the cubicle. She wanted more. "How about if Gryffindor wins, you help me. If Ravenclaw wins, I'll help you again." She was feeling more confident now.

He grabbed her face with both hands and looked her deep in the eyes. "As much as I really want to... I can't. You're currently overrun by hormones too," he smiled at her. "I'm not rejecting you. I'm giving you my promise, my word, that on your birthday, I  _will_  give you a hand."

Dru nodded and put her arms around him as she put her head against his chest. She didn't want him to see her disappointment. She knew he was trying to protect her from herself, but she couldn't help feeling a bit let down.

"But you know what?" He grinned as he softly caressed her hair. "I think that you and I are going to have  _so much fun_  when you're finally, really, ready."

Dru grinned and hugged him a bit tighter before letting him go. "Come on lets get dressed and hurry to the pitch. We need to see Ginny catching the snitch. She'd kill us if we missed it. What did you do with my shirt?"

"It's on my bed, don't worry."

"Fred?"

"Yes, my beautiful princess?" he said as he got into a cubicle to get his underwear on and his pants before returning.

"First off, I just give you a handjob and you still don't want to me to see you naked, you're an idiot, and second, I'm really glad we did this." She kissed him. "oh and third, Don't call me princess, I hate that." she gave him another kiss and went back to the dormitory to get her shirt.

"Alright, your majesty." Fred bowed before finding a shirt he could wear.

_Oh if he was going to play it that way_  she thought to herself. "I'm glad you finally listening to me, George." she gave a little shriek as Fred had grabbed her from behind and pulled her in his arms.

"You're mean." He chuckled.

"Princesses are mean." She grinned back.

"Fine, I get it, no princess Dru anymore."


	24. Mortal Peril? Mum's clock must be off!

During the game, George had noticed that Rose's eyes had gotten big as saucers and that she had been shifting in her seat a little. When he had asked her what was going on, she replied that she had had a vision of the future or something and that it had been good.

She had felt stupid after telling George that nothing had been going on, but in fact she had been trying to find what Dru was doing a minute into the future and she had caught a glimpse of what she and Fred had been doing. It was totally awkward and invasive in a way, and she now realised what Dru must go through on a daily basis; seeing things she wasn't meant to see.

Rose loved it though that despite everything, Fred had stayed truly a gentleman and hadn't taken Dru up on her offer of him touching her. It was comforting to know that they were going to be alright.

Ginny had zoomed passed the Gryffindor bleachers a few times, having this amazing big grin on her face, she was clearly enjoying herself while she was dodging the Ravenclaw seeker and chasers. Even George said that his replacement was quite alright this time, especially after seeing him in training the day before.

"Finally!" Rose cried out when she saw Dru and Fred join them on the bleachers. "What took you guys so long!"

Both Dru and Fred turned beet red and Rose just giggled as she sat closer to George to make a bit more space for her friends to sit.

George took one look at his brother and shook his head laughing. "You're so going to hell."

"Well, halfway to hell," Fred shrugged and put his arm around Dru.

"Well, going to hell was worth it." Dru simply said as she watched Ginny and Ron. "Where are Harry and Hermione?"

"They just left with Hagrid," George replied. "Looked quite important too, he couldn't wait until the match was over."

"Oh," Fred winced as he looked at Ron missing a stop. "He could have had that one! Come on, Ron!" he yelled.

Fred and George were soon getting as excited about the game as the rest of the Gryffindor students on the stand and Rose grinned at Dru. "I have to apologise to you."

"For what?"

"Let's just say that I know how you feel now when you see things in people's heads that you shouldn't have seen."

"Rose!" Dru smiled. "You know what I was up to! by Merlin, you're getting worse by the minute."

"Well, it took you awhile so I got worried," she shrugged. "But trust me, I will not  _ever_  do that again. I need the wizard equivalent of brain bleach without spells."

Dru put her head on Rose's shoulder. "It was so good."

Rose giggled and put an arm around her friend.

"Rose, look at that. How cute!" Dru pointed at Neville who was sitting hand in hand with Hannah a few benches below them.

"Yeah, they're adorable, aren't they?" Rose smiled, glad that Dru thought Neville and Hannah were cute, maybe there was still hope for her friends to be friends again. "They've been sitting like that since the game started. Umbridge is nowhere in sight. I think she doesn't want to stain her pink clothes."

"I walked in on them kissing yesterday night." Dru suddenly remembered she hadn't told Rose about her talk with Neville.

"Aw you too? That's it, I'm the next one to walk in on them."

Dru laughed. "Hannah left and Neville and I had a talk. it was nice, just like friends again. He even gave me some advice on Fred. Telling me to trust him."

"Yes, you can trust Fred," she nodded. "But I already told you that."

"Yeah, I supposed I needed a guy to tell me in this situation. I told Neville I'm really happy he found a nice girl like Hannah."

Rose hugged Dru tightly. "Good on you, Dru."

Dru got out her wand and sent a doze of harmless energy towards Neville. When he turned around both Dru and Rose smiled and waved at him. Neville smiled widely and waved back.

Dru looked back at the game. "This is the best year I ever had at Hogwarts."

"Yeah," Rose smiled and had to duck to miss George's swinging arm when Ron stopped another one. "No big things happening, easy going... two lovely boyfriends who seem to be more interested in the game than their girlfriends who are COLD! Although we could have done without the old bat ruining things for us."

George pulled Rose to her feet and put his arms around her. "If you want I could warm you up after the game." He kissed her cheek, without stopping to look at the bludgers.

"Hmm..." Rose put her arms underneath his coat to warm up her hands. "The Room of Requirement looked to be back in one piece," she said as she held onto him tightly.

"What?" George looked at Rose in confusement. "Did you just?"

"Yes."

"Oh... I like that, very much," he grinned from ear to ear before looking back at the bludgers. The Beaters were a bit too slow and nearly knocked Ron off his broom. "Oh come on! Move your asses!" he called out.

Dru laughed as she too had gotten up and was rubbing her arms and hopping up and down a bit to get warm. She kept looking at Ginny. "Come on, Girl, Find that snitch." she muttered

Rose looked at Dru, who actually seemed interested in the game, which was something she never had been before, or maybe it was just because of Ginny.

"It's our family now. We've got to be proud of them, don't we?" Dru said as she held Fred's hand and let her head rest on his upper arm.

Rose chuckled. "Go Ginny!" she called out.

"Come on Ginny, Find the damn thing!" Dru called out.

Fred and George looked at each other before laughing at the sudden enthusiasm of their girls.

"Ginny! We're cold! Find the snitch!" Both Dru and Rose chorused before laughing. Rose tried to get even closer to George without losing balance.

"That explains their enthusiasm, Forge." Fred chuckled at his brother.

"I know, Gred." George replied and saw his baby sister speed off all of a sudden. "Yeah! Ginny!"

Dru was now jumping up and down the bench. Part enthousiasme, part proud of Ginny and a big part trying to get warm. "Did she get it?"

"Not yet," Fred said and put his coat around Dru's shoulders. "You should have taken your coat with you," he chuckled.

"It's Spring, why is it so cold?" Dru put her arms around him so she could wrap him in the coat too. "Maybe we should go back to the showers, get warm." She whispered in his ear.

"Oh man!" Fred said and looked at her. "You need a cold one!"

"Will you go with me?" her eyes were sparkling.

"No!" George said and hit his brother on the head.

"Yes! She's caught it!" Rose cheered. "Yay Ginny!"

George lifted Rose up off her feet. "You were right."

"Of course I'm right. The last time I said she'd catch a snitch, she caught it too," she said with a smile and softly kissed him. "The only difference was that they didn't have enough points to win."

George kissed Rose again. He was still thinking about what she had said earlier on about going to the Room of Requirement, but he didn't dare to ask her if she wanted to go. He was afraid that she would have changed her mind. Or that she had forgotten about it. George was a bit afraid that once they'd get there, she'd turn him down or that she'd freak out.

She put her arms around his neck and returned his kiss eagerly before gently breaking it off with a smile on her face. "I'm really cold."

"Let's go inside. Fred and I always raid the kitchen to throw a party, but if you want to go somewhere else, I'm sure Dru could help him."

"I'm sure she can," she nodded. Sure, she was a little nervous, but after what had happened the day before, she knew that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her, and go slow with her. "George, I meant what I said, I'm not backing out." She said a bit more seriously.

"Fred, can you raid to kitchen with your firecracker over there? I need to do something for my girl."

"Can we help?" Fred asked teasingly, knowing full well what George was saying.

"Do you want me to tell mum what you were doing, when she hears you missed the first half of the game?"

"Do that, and she'll send me to a special kind of hell, although now that we've got our own place..."

"Can we stay there over the summer?" Dru asked.

"Well, that's up to mum, Tonks and Lupin, isn't it?" Fred said, caressing her hair. "And I think that they don't trust me and George enough to stay honorable without supervision."

"I can supervise," Rose nodded as she started to pull George away from Dru and Fred.

"I'm coming" George took Rose's hand and made sure they stayed together as they went through the crowd down the stairs of the grandstand.

When they were away from the buzz of the winning of Gryffindor, George gently squeezed her hand and made her look at him. "You're not going to do this because of what Dru and Fred did, are you?"

"George..." she smiled up to him. "I was more than willing to give you more yesterday, but then you put your own foot in your mouth."

"Right." He so didn't want to be reminded of that.

"But I just want to make one thing clear... I'm not  _sure_  if I want to take things all the way just yet, we'll see, okay? I just want you to promise me that when I ask you to stop that you won't be mad." She quickly released George's hand and took a step away from him when she saw Umbridge coming around the corner.

"Yes, of course," George said with a nod, trying to sound as casual as he could. In fact, he was already excited about all of it. He couldn't wait to explore Rose's body, despite having _been_  Rose over the summer for a little while. He wanted to feel the real thing and he wondered if she smelled as good without clothes too.

As they made their way up to the Seventh floor, Rose could feel that she was getting more nervous by the minute, but what was the reason that she was nervous? She was going to give herself to George, probably not completely but at least a portion of her, and if she had the nerve to continue, he could have it all.

It wasn't as if she never had feelings like these before, but she had always been sensible, knowing that boys could be complete tossers, her grandfather had always warned her about them, usually because Rose's father had been a complete tosser towards her mother. It had been consensual when they conceived her, but her father had left her pregnant and had never really returned.

And it wasn't as if she didn't want to return the feelings that George had for her, because she did. Every time that he told her to stop doing something because he would want more, made her realise that he truly cared about her and that he too, had wanted her to wait until she was fully ready. And she was.

Maybe finding out that she was actually a year older than she had thought she was helped. Just a little. There was a slight possibility that she would end up torturing herself because she'd still have to be at Hogwarts for another two years after this school year ended, and George wouldn't be with her.

But no, she was ready to have George explore her body, she was more than ready to explore George's, and she knew that at least for now, it was the only chance she'd get as George would leave with Fred in a week, and after the OWLs something was going to happen and she couldn't really see past that yet. Besides, there was no way that Mrs. Weasley would allow Rose to stay at Fred and George's apartment above their shop over the summer.

George walked past the Room of Requirement three times, thinking that he could really use a comfortable bed, maybe a fireplace and something hidden from everyone else in the castle. He knew he had to be specific and he really didn't want them to be found, by anyone. When the door appeared, he opened it for Rose and closed it when they both had gotten in.

The room had surprised him, it looked like a real cozy bedroom with indeed a fire burning and a beautiful four poster bed. It was actually quite a romantic setting. Maybe a little bit too much.

"Too much?" George asked as he pulled off his coat.

"A bit, yeah," she smiled at him as she took off her own coat. "But you know, at least we don't have to worry about other people in here," she said as she put her arms around him and tiptoed to kiss him.

"Now that we're truly alone... are you still sure?"

"George."

"Rose?"

"Stop asking me that."

She sat down between George's legs in front of the fire and leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her. Rose liked sitting like this, it was comfortable and warm and she felt safe. Even though she hated it that George would just leave school and not finish his NEWTs (with Fred), she loved hearing him talk about the shop he and Fred had acquired in Diagon Alley. It didn't sound too big, and he was actually worried that the shop would bust out of its seams with all the stuff he and Fred had come up with over the years. He also said that the shop was a priority, and that the apartment above it would come later, but he insisted on saving up for a piano so that Rose could play on it for him, he had loved it when she played on the one at Grimmauld Place.

She, in turn, warned him about the fact that soon, the ministry would start to believe Harry's claim of the return of Voldemort and that chaos would come to Diagon Alley. She wasn't quite sure when, but she wanted George to know it, so he (and Fred) would be safe. Which, in turn, had him asking her about the things she'd seen and how she was progressing with it, but she just sighed in return.

George was kissing her neck now, as his hands were caressing her stomach over her clothes. He was going to take things slowly, to make sure that Rose wouldn't freak out. But he loved touching Rose anyway, no matter how. "What are your dreams then, Rosie?" he asked softly, before continue to kiss her neck as his hands were underneath her shirt now.

"Just to be with you," she smiled as she looked up to him. "I don't care where you'll go or what you'll do, I just want to be with you."

He chuckled. "Silly bint."

"But it's true," she nodded. "I really want to help you and Fred with the shop, and be with you. I don't see myself do something else, and I know it's weird to say this now, but unless you're getting tired of me, I'm not going to leave you." She softly kissed his lips and got to her knees before turning around to put her arms around his neck. "You're not tired of me, are you?"

George chuckled. "I'll never get tired of you and I want you to come help me with the shop, after you graduate." He kissed her and caressed her back. "But those were not the dreams I was asking about."

"Then you need to be a little bit clearer," she said as she caressed his hair. "My dreams are often mixed in with small peeks I get of my own future," Rose giggled.

A devilish smile appeared on George's lips. "Then peek into the future and tell me what you see me doing to you." He kissed her again, this time harder, as he pulled her closer against him.

"I'm not going to do that," she muttered through the kiss. "I'm not a cheat." Rose dug her hands into his hair and relaxed into the kiss.

His hands slipped under her shirt again and then decided that that shirt was an obstruction. George gently broke off the kiss. "Can I please take off your shirt? I'll even take off mine if that makes you feel more comfortable, or leave it on if you want, but you're losing your shirt."

She chuckled and pulled off her own shirt and placed it beside them. "Better?"

George swallowed hard, he really liked what he saw. Her skin was almost flawless, apart from a healed scar or two on her left shoulder, and her beautiful breasts were looking at him. She hadn't worn a bra, was that to surprise him or didn't she ever wear one? He had never really paid that much attention to their whereabouts.

"George, they're just breasts," she chuckled.

"Just breasts, you say?" he said with a smirk on his face. He got to his feet and gently pulled Rose from the floor as well. He lifted her up and carried her over to the bed, where he gently laid her down. "Just breasts, you say? My Rose... they're so much more and once you realise that they are, you will want to keep them away from me."

George sat down on his knees next to her on the bed before kissing her again, deep and hard, before he started to draw circles over her torso with his index finger, slowly making his way from her stomach, up to her breasts. He loved it that she was slightly ticklish, her little giggles and her attempts to move her body away from his touch had started to heat up his body, and he had to remind himself that she was Rose. Not Angelina (who just wanted a quick fix, even though it meant hurting him) or Katie (who liked it that George was into touching but her patience would run out eventually). No, even though he had treated Angelina and Katie with respect, Rose deserved more than just respect. And he had to make sure to do this right or she'd be spooked.

Rose gave an involuntary moan as George cupped her breast and gently squeezed into it. He chuckled and gently broke off the kiss, only to kiss his way down her neck towards her collarbone. He lingered there for a while, and decided to tease her a little by rubbing his thumb over her nipple. Just as he did that, a sound sounding somewhere between a shriek and a moan escaped Rose's lips and it sounded music to his ears. "The plan..." he started to say between kisses along her collarbone and down to her other breast, "is that I'm going to make you feel so good first, before I do anything else."

George moved his hand to her other breast and just as he squeezed into that, he put his mouth over her nipple, gently teasing it with a little bit of suction. She was squirming underneath his touch, making little noises that had started to drive him a little wild. It took him a lot of restraint not to just get her out of her pair of jeans and get it over with already.

She tugged on his hair to bring him back up for a kiss on the mouth, and he was more than eager to do so, but he wasn't letting go of her breast. He liked playing catch and release with his favourite new toys and see what it did to his Rosie.

After a while, he moved his hand back down to her stomach and started to move his hand between her jeans and her skin, as not to alarm her before he'd strip her from her jeans. Her body, much like his, had started to warm up underneath his attentions. "Rosie, can I take off your jeans?" he whispered before sucking on her earlobe, waiting for her to answer.

George had sent her flying with everything he had done so far, and it hadn't hurt. On the contrary, she hadn't known that something as innocent as fingers touching her skin would feel  _so good_. She trusted him not to hurt her (although she had been told that it  _could_  hurt, but she wasn't afraid of it, she had learned to deal with pain various ways and she was sure she could handle it) and nodded for an answer, not trusting her voice anymore. She had already made noises that she hadn't known that she was capable of.

He smiled and softly kissed her lips before opening her jeans and helped her out of them, only to having to pause to take off her shoes first. "Oh Rosie..." he sighed happily, seeing that her underwear was already well soaked, it temporarily distracted him from what he was doing, but then focused back on what his plan was; getting her off without him having to hurt her, then getting her off  _with_  having to hurt her a little. He nearly came in his pants from just thinking about it.

George discarded her jeans and ran his index finger up and down her leg before moving his face back upwards to kiss her needily. As he was caressing the inside of her thigh, he could feel her heat radiate through her underwear and he couldn't resist to being cheeky and skip her getting used to his hand down there and gently placed his hand over her underwear, which made her arch her back into him with a moan. "George..."

"How are you feeling, Rosie?" He asked her softly. "Good?"

"Good, I'm good," she nodded and felt how he started to apply pressure on to her heat with his entire hand. "Good," she nodded again.

He chuckled and fleetingly kissed her before deciding that the underwear was a nuisance. Rose seemed relaxed and still lucid enough to tell him to stop if she wanted him to (but he didn't want her to) and he was just so curious what she'd do if he'd start stimulating her clit. He got rid of her underwear without asking her to (she'd stop him, right?) and placed his hand back over her again.

"Still good?"

She giggled when George didn't wait for an answer as he kissed her again. As they kissed, he slowly moved his hand over her heat, occasionally touching her clit just to get her familiar with his touch. When he noticed that her breathing had turned into short, and sometimes longer, breaths, he stopped kissing her on the mouth, to make sure that she could breathe, and started to plant kisses all over her upper body, lingering at her breasts and nipples, just as he started to use his index and middle finger to stimulate her clit.

Whatever George was doing, it was sending pleasurable waves through her entire body, building up to something much greater, she realised. She had to remind herself to continue to breathe as she was getting light headed and grabbed hold of the sheets when the pleasure became almost too much for her to handle. "George..." she moaned.

"Don't fight it, enjoy it," he responded huskily before her body tensed up and then relaxed again.

"Ohhh..." was all she could say. She felt as if the world had exploded around her and it felt so good. George laid down next to her, still fully clothed, and took her in his arms, making sure that she was okay. It took a while for Rose to be able to breathe properly, and all the time she had this big goofy grin on her face. "That was... wow..."

"You were great," he said softly as he kissed her neck. "So beautiful..."

"I didn't do anything," she giggled.

"Oh but you did," he said as his hand travelled down south again. "You were amazing," he whispered in her ear. To be honest, he had half expected her to tell him to stop, but since he hadn't been hurting her, she didn't. The painful bulge in his own pants told him that it was his turn now and he wasn't going to let her cool off.

It didn't take long until Rose was squirming against him with a giggle. "George?" she questioned him.

"Are you ready for more?" he asked her with a moan. Her wiggling against his body made his cock an even happier one, but he didn't want to scare her.

"I trust you," she answered and turned around to kiss his lips.

George smiled at her and got off the bed to take off his shoes and pants, before freeing his cock from his underwear and had to chuckle when he saw the look on Rose's face. "Don't worry, he won't bite... well... just a little at first."

She started to laugh and shook her head. She, of course, knew of the male anatomy, and she had felt George's excitement a lot over the past few months, but she had never realised that it would look like  _that_ , and she wondered if it was going to fit, too.

He climbed back onto the bed, this time on his hands and knees and placed his hand back over her vagina. "Now, I'm going to use my fingers to open you up for me, it might feel a little weird, and I will stop whenever you want me to."  _although it's going to be hard and I'd have to jerk off right in front of you if you stop me, please don't stop me, Rosie_  he begged her in thought.

She nodded and tried to relax again. All of a sudden, she felt nervous again. Or maybe anxious. She knew she could trust George. He loved her, she loved him, but this was going to be something entirely different from everything she knew.

"Relax, Rosie," he smiled at her and softly kissed her as a distraction before inserting one finger inside of her. He chuckled when she accidentally bit his lip in surprise. He licked his lips as he looked at her, her green eyes were sparkling with anticipation and she looked heavenly.

"Sorry," she apologised with a small smile and gave a little moan when he started to move his finger around in her. It felt weird to have something inside of her, moving around like that. She felt his lips on her neck, then on her collarbone and her breast, before he kissed her lips again and she felt how he inserted another finger not long after.

George took his time, although he really didn't want to, but he had to take into account that not only was Rose still a virgin, she was also a lot smaller than he was used to and she might feel a little extra tight around him because of it. Distracting her with kisses seemed to work as he inserted a third finger and made sure that there was plenty of room for at least the first portion of his cock.

"How are you feeling, Rose? Still good?"

"Good," she gave a nod. In fact, better than good. George made sure to rub her clit every once in a while that sent those magnificent waves through her body again.

He reached for his pants and fumbled a condom out of his pocket. He usually didn't make a habit out of carrying one around, but since Rose had given him hope the day before, and they hadn't settled on a place yet, he had put one on him. George fumbled it out of its package and slid it on, before using her juices to slick the condom so that it would slide better inside of her. They'd talk about not using one when she'd be out of Hogwarts, or later.

"This is going to hurt just a little, Rose," he said softly as he moved between her legs and sat down on his knees. He grabbed a pillow to raise her hips just a little bit and bent her knees so that he'd have easier access to her. When she gave a small, brave nod, he slowly started to push himself inside of her. The first bit was easy, he could feel a little resistance, but that was it. Rose's eyes had turned into the size of saucers and she was biting her lip as she watched him.

He pushed, and waited a few moments for Rose to get used to him, and then pushed again. He could see that she was in pain, but she was doing so well. He was proud of  _his_  Rose and when he pushed through a different kind of resistance that he had been pushing through the entire time, he could feel her muscles contract around him, she winced too, but she didn't seem to be in too much pain. The moment he was buried inside of her, he took a few deep breaths and kissed her. "You're doing great, my beautiful Rose. How are you feeling? Does it hurt?"

"A little," she replied. "But it's not as bad as I had thought." She didn't quite understand why he kept saying that she was doing great, she wasn't doing  _anything_  but allow him to do whatever he wanted to with her, and she loved every minute of it. Well, apart from feeling how he was filling her up. That was weird.

George smiled at her and shifted a little so that he had even more access to her. He kissed her greedily and squeezed her breast, before slowly starting to thrust inside of her.

Oh she didn't know where to place her arms and hands as George moved inside of her. It hurt quite a bit, actually, but she knew that  _eventually_  it wouldn't. At the same time, it felt amazing, and right. But still it hurt. George slowly picked up the pace of his thrusts, and it suddenly dawned on her that he looked as if he was trying to control himself. "George, I'm fine," she breathed. And she was. "I'm stronger than you think."

He blinked at her, it took him a little time to understand what she was saying. He then smiled at her and started to move faster, thrust harder. He was almost there, almost. Rose surprised him by putting her legs around his and had him slide in even further, before he felt his entire body shake, and how he emptied himself inside the condom inside of Rose. It was great, his girl looked so beautiful and she was so amazing. George felt all giddy now. When he had collected himself, he pulled out of her and discarded the condom on the floor, before taking her in his arms and pulled the sheets over them. "Oh Rosie," he sighed happily. "You were so great."

She giggled, and enjoyed being in George's arms as the buzz of having sex was slowly wearing off. She felt nice and warm. Safe. Rose was glad that she had trusted George, he had been absolutely perfect, and wished that every girl in the world had a George, but not hers. Her George was hers and hers alone.

She turned around and put her arms around him before snuggling up against him. He was still wearing his shirt, but next time, she was going to get it off him too, so that she wasn't going to be the only one completely naked. Maybe next time, she'd dare to start exploring George's body, just like he had explored hers today. "Can we just stay here for a little while before going back?" she asked.

"I had no intention of moving just yet," he replied as he kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Rose."

"And I you."

* * *

They had gone back to the dormitories first to take a shower before joining the others at the dining table in the Great Hall. "Where have you two been?" Harry wondered out loud. "You missed a great party, Ginny caught the snitch today!"

"We know," George smiled at Harry.

Dru was sitting next to Fred and smiled at Rose.  _Well?_

Rose giggled as she scooped up some food on her plate. She was famished.  _Well?_

_How was it?_

_Three Quarters of nice and a quarter of pain,_  Rose replied as she managed to get the biggest chicken leg of the platter onto her plate.  _Amazing, really, George was so patient and so sweet and... amazing._

_How far did you let him go?_

_All th... I might have difficulties walking straight for a day or so,_  Rose smiled at Dru as she took a bite from her potato.

Dru smiled and shook her head.  _I'm so happy for you._

_I can't believe I've forcibly ignored my feelings for this long, although... it's definitely worth the wait._

"They're doing it again," Ginny gave a nod towards Dru and Rose. "You'd better be talking about what present you're going to give me for catching the snitch today and win the championship!"

Dru smiled, put her arms around Ginny, who was sitting next to Dru, and gave her a big kiss on her cheek. "How about that?"

"That'll do," she nodded.

"Did you hear Rose and me cheer for you? You were amazing out there. You're giving your brothers a run for their money."

"Oi!" Ron, Fred and George chorused. "And they were only cheering because they wanted to go inside, they thought it was too cold," Fred added with a nod, which made him receive a slap on his arm from Dru.

"And because we love Ginny," Rose added.

"Don't listen to mean little boys, Ginny." Dru said. "They're just jealous."

Ginny smiled at Rose and Dru. "What were you talking about?" She knew something was up.

Dru smiled at Rose as she let Ginny go. "Rose discovered... something she didn't know about herself."

Rose shot a look at Dru.  _What the hell!_

"Really? What?" Hermione asked.

"That it was really really fun to just  _come_  and see the look on Dru's face." She stuck out her tongue to her friend before taking a bite out of the chicken leg.

Dru looked at her friend and it took her a few second to realize what she had meant.  _Really?_

_Well, what else was I supposed to say? You put me on the spot._

_but he made y... You came?_

_Don't look so surprised,_  she said as she continued to eat.  _But, he didn't make me come with his... my god that thing was big, and it fit! But... no, he made sure I came before he started to.. poke me. And it was great. I want to bet that Fred could do the same to you, just without the poking, still._

Dru glanced at Fred who was talking to George and Lee.  _But he won't, I asked him to, but he didn't do it._

_He will_  Rose said with an all knowing smile on her face.  _It'll be the best birthday present ever._

Dru looked at the table.  _I'm so sick of everybody telling me I'm too young._  She felt left out somehow. She knew that Fred and George more than 2 years older than, but now with Ros turning out being a year older than her, she felt like she was now more than ever the child of the four of them.

_You just have to wait for a couple months. That's all. I mean, George and I... we'd never have done this if that certificate hadn't been true..._

Professor McGonagall stormed into the Great Hall, looking at the Gryffindor table and spotted the boy she wanted to talk to. "George?" she sounded out of breath.

"Yes, professor?"

"I received an urgent message from your mother, she said you were in mortal peril."

Fred snickered, George groaned. Molly Weasley carried a miniature version of the big grandfather clock at home with her everywhere she went. "I'm not."

"Clearly." McGonagall said curtly. "Any idea why she would say that?"

"I have no idea, professor, but I'll sure send my mother a letter telling her that everything's fine."

"Your mother... I like her. I have no idea what made her think that you were in mortal peril but..."

"The clock. She carries a clock with her, it glitches from time to time." George explained innocently, realising that he had to tell his mother what he and Rose did and... he didn't want to think about it just yet. Technically, Rose was of age. No, he was falling off a broom above a concrete floor or something, that was going to be the lie to his mum, because the clock never glitched.

"Alright then, well, enjoy your meal," she then smiled at Ginny. "Great catch."

"Thanks, professor!" Ginny beamed.

Dru looked at Fred and laughed. "Good thing she wasn't looking at the clock this morning." She whispered in his ear.

"Are you kidding? If we'd do what  _they_  did, it'd show prison! That would freak her out!" he whispered back.

Dru gave a weak smile, before putting her head on his shoulder. This was the day that everybody had to point out her age to her and she wasn't liking it. Even Mrs weasley's clock had pointed it out to her.

"Hello, you lot," Neville's voice sounded from behind Dru. He was alone, and carrying a slightly bigger Joey.

"Joey! You've grown." Dru gently stroked the stem.

The plant gently wrapped its leaves around Dru's wrist. "With your permission, Fred, I'd like to take Dru to the greenhouses to test her on her herbology in preparation for the OWLs in two weeks."

Dru dídn't wait for Fred to answer and rose to her feet. "Let's go." She said to Neville.

As Neville and Dru walked out of the great Hall, George looked at Fred. "You better be careful, Fred. You know what Neville's like in the greenhouses." He teased his brother.

"George!" Rose kicked him in the shins. "It's Neville. He's harmless now that he has Hannah."

"But Hannah's not with him now, is she?" Ron teased Fred, he loved being able to tease his older brother. That was something he didn't get to experience a lot.


	25. Last Night

It was the night after Gryffindor had won the final. It was nearly 5 o'clock in the morning and everyone had gone to their beds for a bit of sleep.

_Dru was dreaming about being inside Fred and George's apartment. She was looking for Fred. She could see the contour of the flat in her mind and she was looking in every room trying to find him. "Fred, where are you?" Dru felt something was up, where was he?_

_The flat seemed to be empty and so was the store. When she saw him talking to George in the backroom, she tried to get closer to him, but every time she was near the door, she suddenly was a feet away from them again. She kept calling him, but he didn't seem to hear her._

_When she got to the door for the sixth time, she could walk into the room, but suddenly she was somewhere else, a long corridor with doors on each side of it and neither Fred or George was anywhere to be found. "Fred, George, where are you?" Dru could feel herself panicking. Something was very wrong here. "Fred, please."_

_"He's not here." it was a woman's voice Dru heard behind her._

_Dru didn't dare to look around, she had heard the voice to often in her life. "Well... then he's going to come get me." Dru bluffed._

_The woman's laugh was menacing and high. "Now why would he?"_

_"He loves me." Dru closed her eyes and tried to let herself be filled up with the love she knew Fred felt for her._

_"Now why would he love such a itty bitty _baby_?" The voice was mocking her._

_"Well, he just does and you can't stop this." Dru suddenly felt a rush of energy as she turned around and stared in the eyes of her birth mother._

_"I did it before. I stopped you and Longbottom, I can stop you and the Weasley boy too." she raised her wand and flames started to come out._

_"NO!"_

Dru felt somebody violently shaking her. "Dru, wake up. you're having a night mare, Wake up Dru." She could hear Rose's voice in the distance.

"Come on, Dru. listen to Rose. You're safe. You're in your bed." Hermione sounded terrified.

Dru could hear them, but she couldn't stop shaking or open her eyes. She heard the door open. "Not again. Not Fred!"

"What's going on. I could hear her scream in my room."Had Dru screamed so loud that she woke up Ginny too?

"Ginny, go get your brother, we'll get her to the common room, help me Hermione."

"Which one?"

"Fred!" Rose and Hermione blurted at Ginny.

Dru could feel that the two girls trying to hoist her on her feet, but Dru had no control over her body, so she couldn't cooperate. She was dead weight.

"Come Dru, help me and Rose out, at least a little."

"Let me help!" Dru recognised the voice, but couldn't place it.

"I'm gonna to get help." an another voice said and Dru could hear the door open again.

Dru could feel herself being helped out of the bed and onto her feet, by presumably Rose, Hermione and a third person. They helped her out of the room an down the stairs. Dru's feet had barely touched the floor of the Common Room as she was lifted of her feet by other person.

The moment she felt his arms around her, She knew it was Fred who had lifted her up. She could now slowly open her eyes and saw him carry her to the sofa and sat down with her still curled up in his arms.

"What happened?" Fred asked as he gently rocked the the girl, trying to stop her from trembling.

Hermione and Rose exchanged looks before Rose spoke slowly. "I think Bellatrix is trying to mess with her brain again."

Fred was shocked and didn't dare to look at Dru. He remembered the day Rose and Dru woke up in the infirmary, not knowing who Neville or George were. Now he might face the same thing.

As Dru had rested her head against his chest. So when she felt his heartbeat increase at the sound of Rose's words, she grabbed onto his shirt. "I still remember, Fred." She looked around her and saw George with Rose and Hermione with a very worried looking... Lavender?

The portrait hole opened and Patty came in with professor McGonagall. "Ms Malfoy, what's going on?"

Dru buried her face in Fred's shirt, she felt too drained to talk and hoped either Rose, Fred or Hermione would explain what happened.

"She had a very vivid nightmare, Professor," Rose explained. "Dru usually has nightmares, but this one was very intense, scared her a lot."

"I think we might have overreacted a bit." Hermione added. If Rose wasn't telling McGonagall what she just told them Rose had a reason for it. And when it came to Dru, Hermione trusted Rose's instinct.

"She'll be fine, in fact, Lavender was just about to get her a glass of water," Rose said, looking at Lavender with a smile, who dashed off to fetch that water.

Knowing her friends lied on her behalf, Dru relaxed and loosened her grip on Fred's shirt.

Patty shrugged her shoulder and went back up to the dormitory.

"Are you sure, you're all right? Maybe I should take you to the infirmary." McGonagall asked worried.

Dru grabbed Fred's shirt even tighter nowt, accidentally digging her nails though the fabric and into his skin.

"Yeah, she's alright, professor," Fred winced and caressed Dru's hair. "She just had a scare, she doesn't need the infirmary."

"She doesn't  _like_  the infirmary very much," Rose nodded and then looked at the Professor. "I  _know_  that she'll be okay." She took the glass of water from Lavender's hand and handed it to Dru.

Dru released Fred's shirt and took the glass. "Thank you." She whispered and tried not to show that she was still trembling.

"Well off to bed then. Try and get a few more hours of sleep." the professor said as she left the common room.

As Lavender had no intention of being the only one to go back to bed, Hermione decided the group didn't need her for this and said. "Come on, the Weasleys take care of their own. " She gently pulled Lavender back upstairs.

"Will someone tell me why you three are lying?" Ginny asked angrily.

"It was just a nightmare, right, Dru? She got into your head but you do know who Fred is, don't you?" Rose said as she sat down on the table in front of her best friend and her boyfriend.

"It wasn't just a nightmare. She tried to attack me again, but I … I don't know... I just knew what was going on and I couldn't let her make me forget Fred." Dru wanted to crawl away inside of Fred, just to be as safe as she could be.

"That is amazing," Fred said, he was truly impressed. "See? You  _can_  influence things that happen inside your head." He planted a kiss on her head. "You're my WonderWitch!"

"Oi, That's my line." George said.

"What's mine is yours, Georgie," Fred grinned at him. "We both have a WonderWitch!"

"Fred, Rose is the wonder witch, remember?" Dru's voice was still a bit weak. "I'm the firecracker."

"You're both." Fred answered.

"Can I stay with you for the rest of the night?" Dru asked as she had put the glass down and was now holding on to him again, making sure what ever his answer might be, she wasn't letting him go.

"Yeah," he nodded and softly kissed her. "Of course."

Rose had gotten up from the table and had made her way over to George, who looked so cute with his hair still in a mess and sleep on his face. "Go to bed, sleepy head."

"Come with me." George said and lifted Rose off her feet. "Good night, Ginny." He gave his sister a kiss on the side of her head. "Coming, Fred?"

"Coming, George!" Fred rose from the sofa with Dru in his arms and carried her towards the dormitories.

"Night boys." Ginny smiled as she went back towards her own bed.

* * *

When Dru woke up the next morning, she had forgotten she was in the boys dormitory for a second. When she felt Fred's arm around her, she turned around and smiled at the sight of a sleeping Fred. He looked so calm and peaceful, it was a sight that not many people got to see of Fred. She gently kissed his neck to wake him up, she wanted to play.

Fred slowly opened his eyes and smiled. "It's Sunday, go back to sleep."

"I want to play." She kept on kissing his neck and shoulder, but when Fred closed his eyes again, she gave him a gently playful bite. "I like nibbling." She whispered.

"Prison," he muttered and put his arms around her.

"I promise I'll come and visit you." She kissed his lips as she played with his hair.

"Dru... we can't play, you're in the boys dormitory, and there are boys sleeping still, but they can wake up any moment," he said softly and kissed the tip of her nose. "Go back to sleep."

"Well, you're no fun." She sulked and turned around again. She put her head back on the pillow, but didn't close her eyes. She was wide awake and couldn't sleep anymore. She started making noises to make sure Fred knew she wasn't sleeping and pretty bored. She then realised that both boys had whiz bangs in their nightstands.

Rose screamed when she heard bangs and whistles going off and nearly fell out of George's bed. If it hadn't for him holding her while he was asleep, she would have. "What the hell!"

The whole dormitory woke up and the boys didn't know whether to be confused that there were Whiz bangs going off or that the twins had their girls in their beds.

"I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose." Dru said with a small innocent voice.

George turned on his back, rubbed his eyes and muttered. "Yeah, he got himself a firecracker alright."

The boys muttered and reluctantly left their beds, cursing as they stumbled out of the dormitory. Fred sighed and softly kissed Dru's lips. "It's Sunday. National Sleep-in day, and you're awake and bored, what to do with you?"

"I learned a few tricks from my boyfriend." Dru grinned. She was know lying on her back, looking at Fred next to her.

"Feed her to the hippogriffs," Rose muttered as she pulled the blanket over her head.

"I like that idea." George pulled the blanket over his head too and pulled Rose towards him, making her giggle.

"Are you still sleepy?" Dru asked with a seductive smile on her face.

"No," Fred replied. "And the answer is no."

"I didn't ask anything!" Dru smiled as she let her fingers caress his cheek.

"No, but I kinda know how your mind works," He softly kissed her lips. "Hands above the blankets," he said, before kissing her again.

"Why?" she gently let her fingers run down from his chest down to his trousers.

"Because!" He said in a high pitched voice. "My brother and his girlfriend are in the bed next to us  _and_  ... Dru, please understand, I really want to, but I was wrong in letting you help me, even though it was really nice, but..."

"Fine." Dru got out of the bed and stood there looking at him with her hands to her side. "I suppose this is what they meant; you had your fun, so how cares about me?"

"I care," Fred said with a groan and got out of bed too. "Which is why it's so hard for me to resist you, but I have to. Please, Dru. I'm trying to protect your virtue here."

Dru had tears in her eyes, she knew that Rose and George could hear every word she said, but she didn't care anymore. "No, you don't. You don't care. You got off, sod it what I need, right?"

Fred rubbed his eyes. "Okay, you know what? Fine, go to your dormitory, get dressed. I have an idea."

Dru nodded and left the room.

"Fred!" George sat up and looked at his brother. "She's just 15."

"I don't want to lose her, mate," he said and looked for his pants.

"Fred, honestly, she is just a kid, she's not emotionally developed enough to handle this."

Rose poked George in the ribs. "As far as everyone on Hogwarts is concerned, they all think I'm still 15 too, but I'm not and that's what made a difference with you, George." She sat up and looked at him. "I've only been 16 for two weeks and I don't feel any different than before."

"But you are 16, and you always have been more mature then her. Look at her. She doesn't get what she wants an she trows a fit. She's a still child."

"Well, you know, I think we should approach this the same way as we did with her and Neville. If she truly isn't ready, she'll stop Fred, at least Fred has the decency not to break up with her for it. She'll be sixteen in July, which is soon." She sighed. "She's a lot more mature than you give her credit for."

"Exactly," Fred pointed out.

"And she's jealous, so she's going to see how far she's willing to push herself. If she truly isn't ready, she'll stop."

"Why is she jealous?" George asked.

"Because we all got what she wanted, she just wants to... get off, Fred doesn't even have to use his...  _wand_  to help her with that."

George put his hand in front of his eyes. "Ew, mental picture...not good."

She then looked at Fred. "I trust  _Fred_  enough to keep it in his pants and not inside of her. No one has to know about it. However, if I do hear that you've gone a bit too far... boils down there will be the least of your problems."

George laid down on his bed again. He realised Rose did have a point, Fred would behave himself. "Behave, Freddie! Behave!" He warned his brother.

Fred made his way over to Rose and planted a big kiss on the top of her head. "Thanks," he smiled widely and darted out of the dormitory, waiting for Dru to be in the common room too.

She came down 10 minutes later. "Are you still mad at me?" she asked a bit insecure.

"For setting off those whiz-bangs? Definitely," Fred nodded and took her hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Dru asked, trying not sound too excited.

"We are going to the 7th floor," He replied with a smile on his face. "Then you are going to open the room of requirement for us, with one specific thing in mind; that nobody can find us, the rest is up to you."

She did as he said and not long after they found it, the room opened. It was now a simple bedroom. With a few candles lit. When she and Fred were both in the room alone together she suddenly felt a bit nervous. she was a bit worried that she might have giving him the wrong idea about how far she wanted to go.

Fred kissed her eagerly. "I will get you off," he said huskily in her ear. "But, only with my hands."

She looked down. "You wanted me to honest with you, right at all times?"

"Yes."

"The reason I got upset if because I want us both to feel good. It felt good yesterday, but I wanted you to make me to feel good too. I sort off felt overlooked a bit...forgotten." her voice was small and she felt really embarrassed, but she wanted him to understand that this wasn't just about hormones. It was about sharing something together.

"I know, and I'm going to make it up to you today. It's all about you. Not me."

"But that's just it. I don't want it to be about me, or you. I want it to be about us. That we both ...get off." Dru looked at the floor. "I still want to help you, and for you to help me, do you understand?" She finally looked at him again.

"I do," He nodded and then grinned as he lifted her up and brought her over to the bed. "Your turn is up first!" Fred gently put her down on the bed and greedily kissed her.

Dru ran her fingers through his hair as she deepened the kiss. Although she was still feeling a bit nervous about what was ahead, she was less nervous than she was the day before. She removed her hands from Fred's hair and started tugging on the hem of his shirt. "Take it off."

Fred chuckled. "No, you take yours off," he teased as he slid his hands underneath her shirt and started to pull the shirt up to help her out of it. "Oh, yep. Better already."

Dru laughed, but was not letting him get all the fun. She took hold of his shirt and pulled it off him. "You're right! This is better." She let her fingernails ran down his chest, before pulling him on top of her in a hard, deep kiss.

He kissed her back for a while before gently breaking it off and moved so that he was now hovering above her. He then started to kiss her neck, occasionally giving a nibble before starting to kiss his way down her chest.

Dru closed her eyes, enjoying feeling his lips on her skin, she started to feel slightly light headed again. She pulled one knee up, making her skirt ride up. She figured that a skirt would probably get him even more excited.

He put his hand on her knee and slowly made his way up her leg. "Little firecracker," Fred grinned as he planted a kiss on her breast, she had made things too easy for him. She wasn't wearing a bra, and she was wearing a skirt, she was really one feisty little girl.

She was feeling her head spin, but in a very nice way. Fred was driving her crazy. "You're not so bad yourself." She had one hand buried in his hair, and with the other she was holding on to the sheets. She was fighting the urge to move her body up towards him.

He loved the way she gasped when he put her hand onto her heat, and started rubbing it. It was easy to have a girl climax, it was just a matter of finding the right buttons and the right combination, and Dru was highly sensitive so it was easy. He put his mouth over her nipple and started to lick it, occasionally giving it a good suck too.

"Oh god..." She moaned as she tightened her grip on his hair. She could feel her body rise up towards Fred's a little, she was losing control but Fred didn't seem to mind it. When he chuckled while having his lips on her skin, it made her shiver, she loved it when he did that.

Fred started to rub Dru's clit while he continued kissing her torso, between her breasts, down to her stomach and back up again. He loved the feeling of her body heating up, and responding to him and the little noises that she made. He loved noise. A lot. Her responses had set his body off too, he was as turned on as she was right now, and then realised that he hadn't been quite the gentleman he was supposed to be. But he didn't care. "If I'm hurting you, just say stop..." he said in between kisses.

"If you stop now, I'm going to kill you." Dru groaned, the build up of feelings in her body was almost getting too much. She cupped his chin and then pulled his face to hers, she kissed him hard, before gasping for air as she felt like her body exploded. She smiled as she tried to steady her breathing and looked at Fred. "I can't believe you tried to keep this from me." Okay, so maybe stabilize her breathing wasn't going to happen so fast.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Fred smirked and got to his knees. He softly kissed her lips before sitting up straight with his hand inside his pants. "Just relax, and breathe, I'll take care of myself," he smiled brightly.

"No, you're not." Dru sat up herself and pushed Fred on his back. "We had deal, remember." She kissed him hard as she pulled his hand out of his pants. She started kissing his chest and gently let her hand slide into his pants. This time she knew what she was doing. While she was working his length, she kissed his nipple, before giving it a playful bite.

Fred closed his eyes and enjoyed what Dru was doing to him. With her confidence up, it felt so much better then the day before, when she was shy and unsure what to do. He love the fact that Dru was a wild one, a lot wilder then the older girls he was used to. It didn't take him long to come.

Dru got her hand out of his pants, took her wand and used a spell to clean them both up. She then put her head on his chest and felt him put one arm around her before he put the other one under his head. They just laid there, not talking, for about ten minutes before Dru lifted her head from his chest. "Fred?"

"Hm?" He still had his eyes closed and a big smile on his face.

"I'm hungry." Dru said as she gently kissed his lips.

Fred chuckled. "Come on let's get some breakfast."

* * *

Fred and Dru joined the others in the Great hall for Breakfast. Because Umbridge was keeping a close eye on them as they walked in, Fred sat down next to George and Rose, while Dru sat down on the other side of the table.

"How are you?" Ginny asked.

Dru smiled at Fred, who gave her a wink. "Never better."

"Do I need to curse something to punish someone?" Rose asked as she nibbled on a piece of toast.

"Don't you dare, I'll curse George if you do." Dru simply said as she took an apple from the bowl. "Fred kept himself to all the rules."

"I don't think I want to know what this is about, do I?" Ginny asked.

"No." Fred and George chorused.

Harry, Ron and Hermione moved from their seats further down the table and sat down next to the group. "Dru, Hermione old us what happened last night. How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

Dru bit her lip to stop herself from smiling as much as she did. "I'm okay, I guess."

"Dru handled herself brilliantly," Rose smiled. "It would help though if she had been a little bit more cooperative when we tried to wake her," she winked at Dru before getting an egg.

"I wanted to, but I couldn't. But on that topic...what the hell was Lavender doing?"

Hermione gave a little growl, that none of the boys noticed, just the girls.

Dru looked at Rose and decided to try something she never did before. She tried talking to all three girls at the same time.  _Is she crushing on Ron?_

While Hermione looked shocked at Dru, she had never heard Dru inside her head before, Ginny nodded.

_Okay, But why was she trying to help me? Ron and I aren't really close._

_Getting into the grace of Ron's friends? I don't know._  Rose shrugged and took a sip of her tea.

Ginny closed her eyes and concentrated really hard.  _To get into the grace of the girlfriends of his older brothers._  She smiled when she saw in Dru and Rose smiling faces that she managed to get her message through.

Rose looked at Dru in shock. Her friend was the one linking the girl's heads together, functioning as a conduit of some sort and she was doing a great job at it.  _Hermione, say something in your head, I think we have another reason to be proud of our Dru_

_This is ridiculous_  Hermione's voice sounded in the girl's head, which made them all snicker at the same time.

_But at the same time brilliant. Now we can gossip about the boys with them right next to us_  Ginny looked at Harry for a second, before smiling at Dru.

All the girls had to laugh.  _Hermione, you know Rose and I will never accepted Lavie as our sister in law._

_No!_  Ginny said in panic.  _No way, she's... ugh. She... is just annoying._

_Stupid cow_  Dru smirked as Lavender walked by and waved at Dru, Rose and Ginny.

Fred and George looked at the four girls. "Hold on. Are you talking to them now too?" George asked Rose.

"Hmm?" Rose blinked at him. "Sorry?"

"You're doing it, aren't you? You're talking in your head again." George smirked at her.

"Oh, yeah," she smiled. "Dru figured out she can link us."

"Link what?" Harry asked. He and Ron hadn't been following the conversation.

"I can make us girls talk to each other." Dru said as she took a piece of toast, smiling at Ginny, who had noticed that Dru was hungry.

"Why are you so hungry?" Ginny asked with narrowed eyes.

_Fred_  Dru took a piece of her toast.

Ginny's eyes grew bigger. "What!"

"Gin, relax,  _we_  didn't go all the way." Dru smiled.

"Oi!" The twin chorused, both for their own reasons.

"What does that mean?  _we_ " Ron asked as he looked at Fred.

Rose finally realised what Dru had said. "Dru!" she kicked against Dru's legs. "Oh I'm so slow today."

"What?" Ron asked again, as he poked Fred in his side.

"Wrong brother, mate," Fred snickered.

"What? Did George and Dru...?" Ron asked gobsmacked.

"Wrong girl, mate," George and Fred chorused laughing.

"Did you and Rose?" Harry asked George.

"I can't believe you two!" Hermione hissed. "I thought that maybe Dru would but... Rose? Seriously?"

"Oi! Thanks Hermione." Dru said, but couldn't help to laugh.

"You guys know she's 16, almost 17." George put his arm around Rose and gave her a kiss on her head.

"But wait, What did you and Dru do then?" Ginny asked Fred.

"Kept my hands above the blankets and didn't get my wand out, kinda wished I had, but ..."

"Fred!" Dru kicked his shins.

"What?' He asked innocent.

"Don't lie, you did not keep your hands above the blankets." Dru smirked.

"Oh gross people! I'm trying to eat my breakfast!" Ginny glared at everyone. "Shush, or change the subject."

"Well, you asked Fred." Dru said.

"I shouldn't have asked."

* * *

The next Sunday, they were sitting at the breakfast table again and the boys were giddy. Dru and Rose were feeling a bit depressed, because they knew that they were going to pull some elaborate stunt in the next morning and leave school. Fred and George had helped them study for their OWLs to the best of their ability (book in lap but doing other things at the same time) and had spent extra time with their girls.

Rose had thought that she would have a few more weeks with George at Hogwarts, and she didn't want to believe that he and Fred were going away on Monday. She wasn't hungry at the breakfast table, and instead just nursed her mug of tea while the boys were making fools out of themselves.

Dru had barely touched her food for two days now. She had her book open on charms now, but she could hardly concentrate. She put her arms on the table and rested her head on it. Her head felt too full to study.

"Blimey, who died?" Ron asked as he sat down at the table.

"I can't remember anything. I'm going to fail Charms tomorrow." Dru didn't lifted her head up, she didn't want to show her face to Ron, very afraid he might see that she was lying. She was upset that Fred and George were leaving.

"Oh, I can help you with Charms!" Hermione smiled at Dru.

"I think she is beyond your help." George smiled and patted Dru on her head from across the table. He then put his arm around Rose and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "What do you wanna do today." He whispered in her ear.

"Spend it with you," she smiled at him and took a sip of her tea.

"Yeah, I already figured that, but how?"

"I don't care, I just want to spend today with you," she smiled at him.

George looked at Fred. "What am I supposed to do with that, Freddie?"

"I say, take advantage of that, Georgie!" Fred grinned at his brother. "You know, the good ol' room..."

"Oh no," Rose shook her head. "It took me a few days to walk up straight, no."

George laughed. "But practise makes perfect and less pain!"

"No."

Even Dru was laughing now. She slowly lifted her head again and sat up straight. "Maybe you should give him another go. Second time around is always better, third even better than that." She smirked. She and Fred had sneaked up the the room of requirement three times now.

"You're talking about George as if he's some kind of bicycle or other thing that you need to get used to for a few times before falling off," Rose chuckled, before turning to George. "I love you, but if you are going to deposit that swamp of yours, I need full mobility." She said softly.

George kissed Rose on the lips. He didn't care if he got into trouble anymore, since he was leaving the next day and Umbridge wouldn't be too hard on Rose, as she wanted all the students to excel, to show that she was the best Head Mistress Hogwarts ever had, so she wouldn't ruin her students' hands, much.

She kissed him back for a short while before breaking off the kiss and pushing a piece of toast in his mouth. "We could go for a walk."

"Okay, just us or do you want to take my shadow and grumpy over there?"

"Just us, you can leave your shadow to take care of grumpy."

"Have fun, Freddie. I'm taking my girl for a walk." George got up and helped Rose up too.

"I'll see what I'll do with Grumpy. Probably take her upstairs again," he nodded with a smirk and chewed on his toast as he looked at Dru. "Or something..."

Rose put her arm around George as they walked out of the castle. "You're going to miss this place," she nodded.

'I know." George put his arm around Rose. "I have a lot of good memories here."

"Like?"

"Well, getting into a lot of trouble at first, of course," he chuckled. "Quidditch, and figuring out how the map worked, that took us quite some time. Filch has so many great things in his office, Fred and I always thought we'd go back and get some more."

"And then you decided to use your own stuff," she smiled.

"That too," George chuckled. "And then there was you." He kissed Rose. "Do you remember this place?" He sat down and leaned against the tree.

"Yeah," she smiled and put her arms around him. "I wanted some peace and quiet and decided to sit with you and your brother of all people," she chuckled.

"I was so glad when you sat down next to me. I wasn't sure what to do after Ron interrupted our kiss the night before."

"You did fine," she put her head against his shoulder and sighed. "It took me a lot of bravery too, you know. I half expected you to have asked me to the ball just because you couldn't get anyone. I wasn't even going until fa..- well."

"Rosalie Shepherd! Are you completely mental! I could have gotten anyone. Angelina and Katie both asked me to go with them, but I turned them down. I only wanted to go with you. I liked you from the moment me and Fred met you and Dru on the train. I remember that day like it was yesterday. Two very pretty girls and one chubby kid!" George chuckled.

"Oh it was horrible!" she laughed. "I mean, Dru was attached to Draco's hip and he wouldn't take no for an answer and kept trying to talk to me, in the end I got so frustrated that I sat down next to Neville because he was alone too. Not soon after Dru joined us, that was fun."

"Yeah, poor Neville had no idea how to act, having two very pretty girls in his compartment and actually talking to him. And then Fred had passed the compartment, went to find me and he told me; 'Georgie, there's a girl in the compartment over there and I am going to make her my girlfriend'. So I went with him and he took me to your compartment."

"And you two let Neville's frog escape, which set off the wrath of Hermione because she felt sorry for Neville. To be honest, he was crying, because his gran would kill him if he'd lose to frog."

"Yeah and then Dru started to comfort him, which really saddened Fred. I loved teasing him with being smitten with Dru. If only he knew that I liked you from the moment I saw you."

"Don't be daft," she said crawled on his lap. "I was this weird awkward girl! I still am, but you're bonkers." She put her arms around his neck and placed her head on his shoulder again.

"You were wearing a pair of jeans and a pale yellow shirt with a brown jacket and white sneakers. Your hair was in a long braid and you were sitting with your legs over all three seats, like you owned the place. Yeah I liked you from the start. I might not have been in love with you yet, like Fred with Dru, but I liked you from the start."

"You're sweet, I actually didn't pay much attention to be honest. Train travel and me never got along." She softly kissed him. "And my grandfather had told me horror stories about boys."

"Well, he was right about some of them." George chuckled. "He made you stay away from Malfoy."

"Father kept pushing me towards Draco, but really..." she shook her head. "Draco?"

"Yeah, you had better taste." George gently kissed her.

"Well for me, anyway," she giggled and kissed him back. "You have no idea how much you've changed my life. Well, you and your entire family that is."

" _Our_  family. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but my mother is going to force me to marry you, once Ron tells her what we have been doing."

Rose didn't react for a moment and then looked up to him with a smirk. "Or, she could force me to never see you again and I think that would be worse than being stuck with you for the rest of my life."

"Be careful now, I might hold you to that one day."

She softly kissed him on his lips. "I know."

"Would you do it?" George asked intrigued. He and Rose never really talked about the future yet.

"What?" she smiled. "Marry you? Are you asking?"

"No, silly girl. I was just wondering how you felt about those kinds of things. For the future. Merlin, I'm not Fred. I don't jump into those kinda things without thinking."

"Good," she nodded. "George, I have no plans to leave you. Not now, not in the future, unless you want me to leave you," she said slowly.

"I will never leave you. Twenty years from now I want to have a family of my own. And I want that with you." They kissed and after a few minutes he broke off the kiss gently. "Okay, that's enough of serious stuff for now. Let's go have some fun."

"We're not going to fly," she pointed out. "But what did you have in mind?"

"What ever you want to do! I don't mind just staying here snogging your face off, but it's your day. You pick."

"I just want to be with you, I like sitting here like this," she smiled. "Not that I'm cheesy or anything, but..." Rose shook her head. "I'm probably going to miss this for a long time, miss you, I'm not sure, it's a bit unclear."

"Rosie, you only have one month left of school. Then you're going to stay at our apartment for the summer."

"I hope so," she smiled at him. "I just feel that there's something big coming and I try to see what it is and I can't make sense of it, see? I'm silly." She then took a deep breath. "And as much as I'd really want to stay at the apartment over the summer, there is no way that your mother will let Dru stay over and I don't want her to feel left out again."

"Well, she's Tonks' responsibility, not mum's. We will see. But Rose, as much as Dru doesn't want to be left out, she'll never let you stay if she knows you can go. She would never do that to you. And Fred's been thinking. If she's not allowed to stay with us, he can get her every morning and bring her back every evening. That way she can be with him, and mum will be happy too."

"Is it weird that I actually feel sorry for Dru and Fred now that we found out that I'm actually a year older than I was told?"

"No, as much I love that it makes thing so much easier on us, I do feel sad for them. It's almost a bit harder on them now, because of the difference. But they would never let it stop us from being as happy as we could be, they'd kill us."

"Well Fred won't stop us, I'm not so sure about Dru, you saw how she got last week."

"Well I had a talk with her Friday. She explained to me that although it was bothering her a bit, it was Fred's comment about it being a mistake to let her help him, that really set her off. She's feeling a lot better now he's not holding her back anymore."

"Uhuh... and your mum will kill the both of us, if not the three of us for letting it happen, or Tonks will." she chuckled. "But I hope not, she's a lot more responsible than people think, even I get surprised by her sometimes and you know, I'm proud of her. She's getting more confident with her special gift and that's just amazing."

"Yeah, she can surprise everyone. I always thought she was a bit weak, a bit depended on the people surrounding her. I mean, she always leaned on you, Neville or even Draco. But she's different with Fred. It's like his love for her is making her stronger. Like he's her fuel, they're a good match."

"I leaned on her too, you know... I often got caught up in her energy. I mean, I know I have a temper, I can have one, but she usually added fuel to it. You, however, have a good influence on me. I haven't jinxed a Slytherin since the beginning of the school year." she grinned.

'You haven't? Merlin, I'm having a  _bad_  influence on you. You never hold out on jinxing Slytherins." He chuckled.

"Well, they haven't been harassing Dru, so... maybe that's the thing."

"Still, can't you make them bald? As a going away gift for me."

"Sure," she giggled. "You should leave some of your whiz bangs behind too, so we can continue to sell them and annoy Umbridge."

"Already taking care of it. We wouldn't leave our girls empty handed." George gently pushed Rose on her back as he kissed her. "We put three boxes in each of your trunks."

Rose giggled and answered his kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, Rose."

They went back to the Great Hall around lunch time for some lunch and spent the afternoon walking around the grounds of Hogwarts. At dinner time, Rose decided to be bold and took George to the Room of Requirement for the rest of the evening, to make sure that his last night on Hogwarts would be at least memorable.

"I'll see what I'll do with Grumpy. Probably take her upstairs again," he nodded with a smirk and chewed on his toast as he looked at Dru. "Or something..."

Fred looked at his girlfriend, who really looked as if someone had taken away, or was going to take away, her new favorite toy. "Wotcha, Dru," he grinned before throwing a small piece of toast her way.

She threw the toast back at him. "Would you rather I'd be trilled knowing what's going to happen?"

"You won't have to miss me that long, come on, let's do something fun."

"Yes, I'll will miss you that long. What do you want to do for fun?" She put her head against his shoulder.

"I hear that the room of requirement is free," he snickered and kissed the top of her head.

"Really, Fred?" she smiled. "One last day at Hogwarts with me and all you want to do is get off. Well, at least I know what I mean to you." She teased him.

"No, I don't, I thought I could get you off," he grinned. "But fine, we could go and visit the Hippogriffs and the owls and the pitch and..."

"No, I wanna to go to your favourite spots, not mine. It's your last day, I still have two years of this place."

"Yes, but as it's my last day, I dedicate this day to you. So whatever you want. We could stalk the halls and tease first years. Or jinx those Slytherin boys..."

"Let's go the Quidditch pitch. You always love that place." Dru got up and reached her hand out to Fred.

Fred took her hand and pulled her out of the Great Hall, leaving his sister and his brother just stare at their backsides. "Loved. I have a new love now."

"Fred Weasley, you're can be so cheesy sometimes." Dru put her arms around him as they walked to the Quidditch pitch. They found a nice spot on the bleachers. It was sunny and warm for once. "How's the apartment coming along?" Dru asked as she sat down.

"Shop first. Apartment later. There's just two beds in it now." Fred answered and put his arms around Dru. "George is talking about saving up for a piano so that Rose can play, mad he is."

Dru smiled. "Are you finally going to have separate bedrooms?"

"Yeah, the apartment is above the shop, and there's a small dining room, a kitchen and a den on the ground floor of the apartment and the floor above that has two big bedrooms and a smaller one, which will probably be used for storage if we've got too much stock and can't use the storage room in the back of the shop." He said and caressed her hair.

"What about your office and workroom?

"Down in the belly of the beast, of course!" he grinned. "The basement."

"I can't wait to see it."

"Well, you will. This summer."

"I think I'm really going to love this summer. I mean I know I can't stay with you all the time, but at least we can spend our days together." Fred had already told Dru about his plan, that if she would not be allowed to stay with him, he would come and pick her up every day.

Fred frowned at her. "Are you seriously gonna tell me you're just going to agree with this and not fight this?" It was out of her character to not fight for what she wanted.

"Yeah, I've grown up!" Dru smiled as she kissed him.

Fred chuckled and kissed her back, while he pulled her on his lap. "I'm going to miss this, I going to miss you."

Dru smiled as she play with his hair. "Well, missing me is almost unbearable."

"Almost." Fred teased.

Dru gave with a playful slap on his arm before kissing him again. "You are really going to miss this place, aren't you?" She saw him looking at the grounds surrounding them.

"Yeah!" He nodded and held Dru as close to him as he could. "I really am. I love this place. Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about getting our shop going, but I'm going to miss just walking around the ground, goofing around, without mum breathing down our necks. The noise and commotion in the common room. Watching you sitting in the window seat playing with Holly."

"Watching me? You're crazy."

"No, I'm not," he chuckled. "I like watching you. You're so cute with whatever you do, even if it's just reading a book."

"No, I'm not." Dru shook her head. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that this very handsome older very popular guy was interested in her.

"Even if you wave your hand," Fred smiled as he softly kissed her. "Or when you smile, or when you're angry..."

Dru giggled. "You are crazy, Fred Weasley."

"Oh don't make me go all cheesy on you and say 'crazy about you'," he laughed and kissed her again. "Oh, I've said it, oh well."

Dru put her arms around his neck. "You make me a very happy girl, did you know that?"

"Well, that's good, isn't it? At least I'm doing something right," he softly kissed her again and caressed her hair.

"Fred, will you please doubting yourself. You do something right. You're amazing, Fred." She caressed his cheek. She wished he could see how great he was. "You're no less than George. I love you like I could never love him."

"You love me, do you?" he smiled at her and saw her blush. "Well, I love you too."

Dru bit her lip and looked shy. "You do?" she was aware she probably sounded like a five year old.

"Of course I do, silly," he softly kissed her lips. "You're the most beautiful, adorable and sweetest person that I know, and you're hot. And slightly crazy, which is brilliant."

"Well, you are the funniest, cheesiest, amazing, lovable person that I know. And not to mention you're the handsome twin and definitely bonkers."

* * *

That evening it was late when Rose and George finally came back into the common room. Fred was sitting in one of the arm chairs with Dru crawled up in his lap. "Where did you two disappear to?" Fred asked smiling.

"Trying to keep up with you," George laughed and sat down on the sofa. Rose sat down next to him and nestled herself against him.

"I can't believe this our final night together at Hogwarts like this." Dru said.

"No, George and mine final night. You two have two more years to go before you can get all sappy."

"I think there will be tears when they go," George nodded. "Loads of 'em."

"I meant the final night with the four of us, idiot." Dru punched him on his chest. "Besides who's going to cry for us? No tomorrow there will be tears."

"Tears of joy, not sadness," Fred pointed out. "I hate it when girls cry when they're sad."

"I'm going to laugh. I'll be so glad finally be shot of you guys." She smirked

"That's the spirit!" Fred laughed and softly kissed her. "It'll only be a month, you can do without us for a month, and we promise we'll write every other day or so."

"God, you're cheesy." Dru smiled as she kissed him. "Just don't expect any letters in return. I'll be to busy entertaining guys when you're gone."

"If that involves juggling or joke products I'm all for it."

"Well, now that I know the room of requirement really works, I'm going to make full use of it." Dru was laughing as Fred started tickling her.

"You'll write me, would you Rose?" George asked as he caressed her hair.

"Of course, someone has to keep you to posted about the days after tomorrow," she smiled up to him before settling back against him.

"And you still owe me bald Slytherin boys."

"I do," she nodded. "I'll steal Lavie's wand again."

"And this time let her take the blame for it." Dru smiled

"Oh yes, or maybe I should try to get someone else's wand... oh well, we'll see," she shrugged.

"George, I heard you're thinking of buying a piano." Dru asked.

"Yes! Oh don't worry, Rosie knows and doesn't like it, but what's the one thing you would like to see in the apartment, Dru?"

"Well, I'd like a nice stove so I can make some of your mum's recipes, she learned me last summer. Other than that I just want a room for me and Fred alone."

"There's two bedrooms, that should be easy."

Dru looked at Rose and smiled. "Rose and I are going to start completely fresh. We don't have any stuff that's not in our trunk any way." It suddenly dawned on her that she and Rose both didn't have a home anymore. They both just stayed as house guest in other people homes.

"Shop's a priority, then we'll see about the apartment, I mean, mum will expect us to come home at least ... oh every day so she can make sure we eat." Fred chuckled. "The beds will do for now."

"Rose?" Dru asked

"Sorry, what?" she opened her eyes and looked at Dru. Granted, she felt a little bit sleepy, but she had been trying to see what the upcoming fight was that was coming. She wasn't even sure if it was going to be alright.

"Well, in two years we're going to be done with school, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I just realised that neither of us have a home to go to then, maybe we could try and rent something of ourselves in Diagon alley. I mean together as housemates." Dru offered.

"Oh!" Rose smiled at her. "I was actually thinking about getting a flat in the middle of Muggle London, that would be so great."

"Well, that's cool too. I mean by that time we old enough to apparate on our own and London is a nice city. Wouldn't it be fun just the two of us?" Dru was getting exited about the idea.

"Hold on a minute," George said and looked at Rose. "I thought you said you'd never leave me."

"Yeah, and I thought all you needed was a room for the two of us." Fred said to Dru.

"Yeah, but you guys have an apartment. Rose and I don't even a proper home now. We're just house guests in either your home, the burrows or Grimmauld place."

Rose nodded.

"But, the apartment is for the four of us to live in. I though we had made that clear." George said a bit confused.

"No." Rose and Dru both shook their heads.

"Well, we always figured you girls were just moving in with us." Fred said as he looked at George. Didn't the boys tell the girls that?

"Hold on, Fred." Dru moved and was now looking at him again. "Are you seriously asking me to move in with you?" Her face was in shock.

"You really need to be asked?" Fred blinked at his girlfriend. "Then yes, move in with me."

Dru felt her mouth dropped to the floor. She could produce a sound, so she just nodded still in shock.

"Am I going to have to ask you too or are you getting the picture that I want you move in with us?" George asked Rose, as he looked at her.

"I don't know," Rose said with a smirk on her face. "I mean, two Weasleys and a Dru? Wow, that's going to be so..." she screamed when George started to tickle her. "Yes! Of course!"


	26. Bang Bang with some OH SHIT!

The boys had created absolute mayhem during the OWLs for Theoretical Charms. Whiz-bangs were flying everywhere, multiplying when Umbridge tried to stun them, teasing the Slytherin boys and Rose had to admit, the boys had done an absolutely brilliant job in charming the Whiz-bangs to do their bidding.

It was sad to see them fly around on their brooms inside of Hogwarts, despite having big smiles on their faces as if they were doing the best thing in the world (well, to them it was, and to the rest of them it was just amazing to watch how those boys were having fun) and advertising the address for the shop, before they flew out and both Rose and Dru knew that they wouldn't return for the rest of term.

Umbridge made them finish their exams in the mess that Fred and George had created, and Rose was wondering where they had deposited their portable swamp. She found out when they had a small break. She and Dru stood against the wall, arms around each other and just admiring the twin's handy work. Professor Flitwick was looking at it too, scratching his head and muttering lines such as "how am I going to clean this up?".

It was fun to see that most students had figured out that with the Bubble-Head charm they could cross the swamp. It would at least earn them a few extra points, Rose thought. "Well, they're gone," she sighed, still looking at the swamp.

"Yeah, I know." Dru sighed. "But at least they did go out with a bang."

"Yep," she grinned.

"Come on let's go and study for transfiguration tomorrow."

* * *

The weeks of their OWL tests went by too quickly, Rose felt as if she didn't have a thought of her own anymore and was pooped, and was sleeping soundly when Ginny woke her and Dru up from their afternoon nap, they'd never been one for taking a nap in the afternoon but they hadn't had much sleep during the week. "We're going to help Harry save Sirius, come on!"

"What?" Rose asked groggily.

"I'll explain on the way! Get dressed!" she hissed and threw her clothes in her face.

Dru was already putting on clothes. "Ginny, I don't get it where are we going to?"

"London."

"How?" Rose asked.

"We don't know yet, but Luna said she had a plan."

Dru and Rose followed Ginny into the dark forest where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Neville were already waiting for them. Ginny had filled them in on the way over there.

"Well, how are we going to London?" Dru asked as she tried to catch her breath.

"We fly, of course," Luna said, pointing at the Thestrals.

"No... there must be some other way we can get to London..."

"Rose, it's okay if you want to stay behind, we won't think any less of you." Hermione replied. "But well, we might need you in there..."

"But we can't fly. She's scared of heights and I'll get sick." Dru said.

"Rose can come with me and Dru..." Harry looked around to see if he should put Dru with Neville or Ron. Ron was her brother in law, but he couldn't see the Thestrals, and Neville could, but he was her ex.

"She can come with me," Neville said. "She'll be safe with me."

"Harry, I'm not getting on that."

"Well, you're going to have to." Harry said as he climbed onto the Thestral and held out his hand for her to take it. "There's nothing to be afraid of, besides, Thestrals aren't brooms, they're a lot safer."

Neville suddenly grabbed Rose from behind and put her on the Thestral with Harry. "Just hold on to him." He said while walking over to another one. "Come on, Dru."

Rose clung onto Harry as if he was the last straw she could hold on to before falling into a pit. Sitting on the Thestral, however, felt as if she was on top of a horse, and she had been riding horses when she was little. At least she didn't have a Thestral of her own, she could close her eyes.

Luna helped Ron, Ginny and Hermione into their Thestrals before getting on to one herself. "I know a spell that helps against motion sickness, Dru, would you like me to cast that one on you?"

"Yes, Please." Dru asked as she held onto Neville for dear life.

Luna took out her wand and pointed it at Dru. "Done!" she smiled widely. "Let's go."

The room with the prophecies was dark and scary. Harry wanted them to stay close together, and Rose couldn't help but taking Dru's hand. Maybe coming along wasn't such a brilliant idea after all.

Dru felt the need to also stay close to Neville. It was a feeling she hadn't had in a long time, but Neville seem to understand and made sure he was walking right in front of her the whole time.

Both Dru and Rose also kept a watching eye on Ginny. With her being the youngest Weasley they felt they were just as much responsible for her as Ron was.

"He's not here!" Harry's voice sounded. "He's supposed to be here!"

Something caught Dru's eyes and she nudged Neville to look at it as it was high up and he was the tallest of them all. "Harry, this one has your name on it." Neville said

Ginny suddenly took Rose's hand and when Rose turned around she realised they were being closed in by death eaters.

Dru startled as she suddenly heard Lucius's voice and saw him walking towards her. Neville gently pushed her behind his back with his free hand while his other was holding his wand. He wanted to keep her out of her father's view.

But when Bellatrix suddenly appeared too, Neville almost immediately pointed his wand at her, and Dru step out from behind him, trying to calm him down. Neville used his free hand to push Dru behind him again. He realised they should have never brought Dru or Rose with them.

On Harry's signal they all attacked the death eaters and started running while trying to fight them off.

Somehow, Rose and Dru had been separated from the rest of the group. Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone one way, Neville, Luna and Ginny the other and as one of the Death Eaters had blocked their way, Rose and Dru had no choice but to run into a different direction. Rose didn't like this one bit. She was too panicked to get an accurate read on the future, even if it was just one minute ahead, and she still thought it was too dark in the room to actually see where they were going. She reached her hand in her pocket and smiled before throwing a few whiz-bangs into the air, before pulling Dru into another isle.

Suddenly they all bumped into each other again. Ginny saw another Death Eater coming and called out; " _Reducto!_ "

She shouldn't have down that. Al the shelves with the prophecies were now falling like huge domino stones. They ran to back of the room where Harry opened a door and all of them took a long deep fall. When they nearly hit the ground they stop and hovered for a second before landing.

Neville helped Dru to her feet. "Are you okay?" He pulled her hair out of her face. She had a cut on the side of her forehead.

Dru nodded but she couldn't help to take his hand. She was scared and wanted to get out of there.

"Ow," Rose said as she scrambled to her feet and looked back up from where they had fallen, before hearing faint whispers in the air around them.

"Department of Mysteries? Got that part right, didn't they?" Ron muttered.

Harry had gotten to his feet as well, and had started to walk towards an archway in the center of the room they were in now. "The voices, can you tell what they're saying?"

"There aren't any voices, Harry," Hermione said. "Let's get out of here."

"I hear them too," Luna said, standing next to Harry now.

"Harry, it's just an empty archway, please Harry!"

"Guys..." Dru could feel something coming. She was squeezing Neville's hand now.

"Get behind me!" Harry suddenly called out.

"Stay close to me." Neville whispered to Dru.

Suddenly they were all fighting a wind of flying death eaters that were taking Harry's friends away from him one by one.

Dru was standing near Neville. She could see her mother holding him. She looked next to Neville and saw Dolohov holding Rose. She was fighting him, but he had put his arm around her neck, nearly choking her. Dru was so busy looking at where her friends were, she hardly realised that somebody was holding her back by her hair.

"Well, look Bella dear. It's our little girl, my oh my, didn't she grow up fast." Rudolphus was saying.

Dru swallowed. She had always been so focussed on Bellatrix, she had nearly forgotten her father was a death eater too.

"Leave her alone." Rose screamed, while still trying to fight out of Dolohov's hold.

"Shush," Dolohov told her and silenced her with a spell.

"Oh, look at that! It's wee baby Crouch!" Bellatrix cackled. "All that joy about having someone to see into the future, and she didn't see this coming? You must be hurt!"

"She's not so special as you all thought she was, is she, Potter?" Lucius said as he was now standing in front of him. "Her mind is just as easily fooled as yours."

"Father, don't he's just a kid." Dru yelled at Lucius.

Lucius closed his eyes for a second, but then pretended not to hear her. "Did you really think children stood a chance against us." He smiled at Bellatrix.

"Father, please." Dru tried again.

"I'm your father." Rudolphus pulled Dru's hair so hard, that she screamed from the pain.

"Don't touch them!" Neville called out, he couldn't stand seeing Rose and Dru incapacitated, they were all scared, but he just wanted  _them_  to be alright. They should have never been brought to the Ministry.

"I'll make this, simple for you, Potter," Lucius held out his hand to Harry. "Give me the prophecy. Now. Or watch your friends die."

Rose saw how Harry looked around, eyeing his friends.

"That includes your own daughter." Harry responded, while he had on eye on the terrified Dru. She looked more scared than the others, but then Harry realised she probably was, because she was feeling the fear of all of them bundled up in Dru's emotions

"Don't give it to him, Harry!" Neville called out before getting silenced by Bellatrix.

Harry slowly handed Lucius the prophecy before a flash of light appeared out of nowhere. "Get away from my godson." Sirius' voice sounded and hit Lucius in the face.

More bright lights appeared, one by one revealing a member of the order, while one white swirl was pushing the Death Eaters away from the group. There was Lupin, Shacklebolt, Tonks and Moody. Rose was relieved to see Lupin again and he grabbed her and Dru by their collars and dragged them behind a rock. "Stay there, I'll yell at you later," he said before shooting a spell at an approaching Death Eater.

Dru was sitting against the rock and looked over to another rock, where Luna, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Neville were hiding behind. Harry was fighting along side of Sirius. Dru then watched in fear as Bellatrix was fighting Tonks.

Neville wanted more than anything to get to Dru and Rose, but Moody was fighting with a death eaters between the two rock that were used as shelters. He suddenly had a brief moment of eye contact with Dru and Rose. "It'll be okay. I'll get you safe." He mouthed to them.

Both Rose and Dru nodded. They had absolutely no idea what he had just said, but they knew him well enough it was probably something to comfort them, he had been trying to protect them from the moment they walked into the ministry, so they just nodded to ease his mind.

Rose suddenly caught a glimpse of the future and looked at Dru in shock, before hearing the killing curse coming out of Bellatrix' mouth, followed by Harry screaming 'no!'.

Neville peeked over the rock and saw Sirius fall into the Archway. Remus tried to hold Harry back from going after Bellatrix, and wasn't very successful. He then saw Harry take off after Bellatrix, followed suit by Dru? What the hell was she doing? When Rose took off too, probably to get Dru back, Neville felt how his stomach turned upside down. This could not be happening.

Tiny Luna had her hands wrapped around Neville's wrist. "You can't go after them, Neville," she said in her light voice.

Dru had felt hers, Rose's  _and_  Harry's anger race through her veins, when Bellatrix killed Sirius. She suddenly ran after Harry, not even realising what she was doing, until she ran into him in the hall of the ministry.

" _Crucio!_ " Harry had his wand pointed at Bellatrix but it wasn't doing anything to her, she, in turn, was playing with him.

Rose had bumped into Dru, who was standing nailed to the floor and managed to pull her away from the floor and against the wall next to one of the fireplaces. "Are you mad?" she hissed at her.

"I don't know what I did. I wasn't..." Dru gasped and grabbed Rose's arms and was holding on to her. "He's coming." She whispered.

Bellatrix giggled when Voldemort had appeared, and especially after he disarmed Harry. As Voldemort was now dealing with Harry, she got up and made her way to the girls, who were now both nailed to the floor as she saw Bellatrix approaching them. "You stupid filthy little monsters." She hissed at them.

Suddenly Harry saw Dumbledore walking out of one of the fireplaces.

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom. The aurors on are their way."

"By which time I shall be gone, and you, shall be dead."

Harry was knocked out of harms way by Dumbledore. He heard screams and he looked up just in time to see Bellatrix escaping through another fireplace. He watched in horror when he realized she had taken Dru and Rose, his friends, the girls he should have never brought with him, with them.

It had been three weeks since the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and they were sitting in the kitchen at the Burrows. The Adults were still rowing about what had happened and mourning Sirius, while making accusations towards the children, Snape and even Dru and Rose. Lupin and Tonks looked as if they both had lost a puppy (no pun intended) and when they all had quieted down again, the worst words ever were spoken by Moody.

"It's been three weeks. I think that we should assume that we didn't just lose Sirius in that battle, but the lives of Rose and Dru as well."

"No!" Ginny cried out.

"They found two burned and maimed bodies under the rubble."

"No!" Ginny said again. "They are not dead!"

"Oh sweetheart..." Mrs. Weasley put her arms around her daughter. "I know... I know... it's hard to understand and accept... it hurts, I know."

"I'll go and visit Fred and George then," Remus said with a sigh.

"I'll come with you," Tonks said.

"But they're not dead! I know it! I... I would... I think they're not dead!" Ginny had been buying gifts for the girls' birthdays and she had been secretly planning a big birthday party (with help from her mother's cooking). Everyone had had that idea of Dru and Rose being dead in their heads ever since the battle, but Ginny would not believe it. Nor Neville, but he was at his Gran's and not in a house filled with people who didn't believe in hope.

They were both WonderWitches, they could deal with everything, eventually. It took them a while to figure out what to do, and they  _would_  come back. Dru and Rose weren't dead. Ginny was sure of it. She wrestled herself out of her mother's hold and stomped off to her room, and she was going to try her best to focus, and think of Dru. Maybe, just maybe, Dru would hear her.

George listened when Lupin and Tonks told him and Fred what happened. His first thought was that Harry should never have allowed them to come because despite their bravery, they weren't ready for it all.

His second thought was that they (Lupin and Tonks) should have come sooner. He knew that school had been out for at least a week, but believed that they had taken the girls away for a week or so, to do Order stuff. At least, that's what they were told. Had they come sooner, then he and Fred would have looked for them, not that they would know where to start.

His third thought was that they were mad for thinking the girls were dead. If Bellatrix had taken them somewhere, then they surely must be alive still. He was just afraid that once the girls would manage to get away from their captors that they wouldn't be the same.

When Tonks and Lupin left again, Fred and George talked. And they realised they were thinking the exact same thing; they were not going to leave Diagon Alley and they'd stay put. They were going to look for signs the girls could send or for them to show up on their doorstep. They took turns in staying up during the night. During the first week, George was looking out of the window and he could have sworn he heard a lion roar in the street. During the second week, Fred heard it too. During the third week, they both stayed up every single night, waiting. Wishing that they had taught Rose how to apparate already, considering that it could have helped her and Dru in getting away sooner.

They were surprised that one night, on the eve of the fourth week, and the 7th week that the girls were gone, they showed up on the shop's doorstep.

George was sitting in the shop on the stairs alone, Fred had gone up and make them tea and something to eat. He was nodding off a little bit this was his second week of almost no sleep and he was getting tired, but he didn't want to give up. He leaned his head against the railing and closed his eyes for a second, but that was enough for him to fall asleep.

"Are you sure you know how to do this? I could just use my wand." Rose whispered.

"Fred taught me how to use this, just give me second." Dru was using two little pins to unlock the door of the shop. Fred had giving them to Dru last summer and taught her how to use them, while George and Rose were spending some time together. "Got it."

Dru quietly opened the door and walked in on her toes. She was still wearing the clothes she had on for the last two months, which included her high heeled boots. She nodded Rose to George, who was still on the stairs, ready to nod off.

She smiled as she saw George. "He looks adorable, doesn't he?" She whispered to Dru before softly making her way over to him. "Georgie, wake up." The moment she gently touched his hair, his eyes shot up to her and put his arms around her tightly. She tried not to wince as he did and just hugged him back while Dru made her way up the stairs.

"Rose, are you okay? Where have you been? I missed you so much. I knew you weren't dead. I knew it."

She softly kissed him. "I'm okay now," she assured him. "You look tired, Georgie, we should get you to bed," she quipped. Rose had adopted some sort of second persona to deal with the pain she (and Dru) had gone through just after the second week.

It was almost as if it was a second skin to her now and as long as she kept it up, she was okay. Death Eater bootcamp wasn't fun, the spells they used on them were awful and it was very hard to fool them when they forced her to tell them about future events.

George gave her a gentle kiss on her lips and hide his face in her hair. He knew she could probably tell that he was crying but he didn't care. "I...I love you so much."

"Shh..." she said and softly caressed his back. "I love you too, Georgie, I'd never leave you, I told you that." She took his hand and took him upstairs.

George took Rose to his bedroom and laid down on his bed. He had really missed her, but unlike Fred, he didn't do well without sleep. He pulled Rose into his arms. "You're never leaving my sight ever again."

She softly kissed him. "Sleep, we'll talk in the morning." Rose caressed his hair and watched him nod off within a few seconds. She took a deep breath and swallowed her tears. She was  _home_ , and everything was going to be alright, at least that's what she hoped. As long as she didn't have to give up her own protection, then she'd be okay and not fall apart.

Fred turned around when he heard a noise. He figured that George had become impatient waiting for his tea and had taken the stairs to make it himself. He was surprised to find Dru standing in the opening. "Is that you? Really you or am I just imagining things?"

"Fred, you are always imagining things." Dru smiled, before she jumped in his arms. She gave him a big hug. "Did you miss me?"

Fred put his arms around her and softly kissed her. "Of course I missed you, you silly... oh are you okay? I knew you weren't dead, George and I have been waiting for you to come back and show the Order wrong and are you still in one piece? Really?"

"Of course I am! I'm not letting them get to me that easily." Dru kissed him back before looking around her. "So this is the kitchen?"

"Yes, this is the kitchen, and this is me holding you, you've been gone for nearly 7 weeks, Dru. What happened to you?"

Dru waved her hand, like nothing happened. "Just my mother, it's no big deal. Is that the stove you got me?" She managed to get out of Fred's arms and walked towards the stove to check it out. "It's a really nice stove. I think I'm going to like cooking on this one."

"You don't understand, Dru. You've been gone for 7 weeks, everyone but me, George and Ginny thinks you're dead, you've had us worried!"

"I didn't do it on purpose. Jeez, Fred. But has it really been seven weeks?"

"That's not what I meant, and yes, it's been seven weeks. You're late for your own birthday." Fred gave up, deciding that she wasn't going to talk. Not that she could keep this up for long. Certainly not when he and George would take ... wait. "Is Rose with you?"

"Yeah, she's with George." She walked over to Fred and caressed his hair. "Where's your bedroom?"

He lifted her up, noticing how she had lost weight - again - and took her to his bedroom. He'd thoroughly check her over in the morning, and then take her to his mother. Fred gently put her down on the bed, pulled off her boots and pulled the blanket over her before joining her on the bed. "Now you go and sleep, I'm going to make sure you're not being taken again by watching you all night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not our best chapter, I know, but it had to be written and well... uhh... keep reading.


	27. Recovering

Rose woke up because someone was touching her. Gently, but still, someone was tugging and pulling on something. Her initial response was to hug her knees to her chest and make herself as small as a little ball, but almost immediately released her knees again when she realised that she wasn't  _there_  anymore, and that the person who had been touching her was none other than George.

It was light out, and looking at the way the light was coming into the bedroom she'd guessed around noon. "What are you doing?" she muttered as she sat up. She noticed that her pants were missing, and so was her shirt. Rose tried hard not to realise that she had lost weight, and that she was covered in bruises.

"Checking you over, to make sure that you don't have any broken bones," George replied with a serious tone in his voice. "If you're going to stop me, I'll take you to St. Mungo's."

"Sorry," she said softly and gave a small nod. "Please continue."

"Good, because Fred and Dru got into a row over it," he said and softly kissed her. "And Fred lost. I just want to make sure that you're okay, but when I see those bruises..."

"I'm fine. I'm hungry, but I'm fine, George," she kissed him back before smiling at him. "So, give me back my clothes, please."

"Got something better," he said and handed her a pile of clean clothing. Ginny had packed up the girl's trunks when she left Hogwarts for the summer and had given them to Fred and George so they at least have the girls belongings. "The best part about the apartment is that Fred and I wanted ensuite bathrooms, so we made them ourselves. Privacy issues and all that with you two around. We have a bathroom with a bath. You're going to love it."

"Okay." Rose had to admit, she loved soaking in the bath. It was warming up her entire body and the water just felt so nice. When the water was cooling off, and her skin all wrinkly, she got out, dried herself off and got dressed, before getting out of the bathroom and walked into the hall, where she could hear Fred and Dru still fighting in the sitting room.

"Fred, I told you a million times. I don't need to be checked over." Dru was standing in the corner of the room. She had her wand in her hand. She wasn't pointing it at Fred, but she would if he would try and force her to let him check her out for bruises.

"Dru, you've been gone for a while, I just want to make sure that you're okay. I've been telling you this for hours now, it's just me, please?"

"I told you I'm okay. Why don't you just believe me?" Dru was getting tired. She really wanted Fred to give up, because she had no idea how long she was going to keep this up.

"Alright, fine." Fred shrugged. "Georgie! We're good to go!" He turned around and smiled at Rose. "Rosie!" he hugged her.

"Hold on, where are you going? You're not going to leave, are you?" Dru was sounding a bit scared now.

"Well, since you insist on being fine, we thought we'd take you to the Burrows, to see your cats. Ginny's been taking care of them, jinxing anyone who dares to come even close to them." Fred shrugged. "Mum's cooking."

"I..I don't have to see Holly. I'm sure Ginny's doing a good job. and I'm not hungry either." Dru was nearly crying. It was hard enough trying to keep Fred at bay. But keeping Mrs. Weasley away, that was another thing.

"You'll be fine," He held out his hand for her. "Come on."

Dru shook her head and lowered herself to the floor.

Rose pulled Dru to her feet and protectively put her arms around her as she pulled her into one of the rooms on the floor, closing the door. "It's okay..." she said softly and caressed her friend's back.

"Not my back!" Dru whispered, the pain was killing her.

"Sorry," Rose winced and caressed her arm. "I woke up to George undressing me and looking me over, I couldn't stop him..."

"Yeah, Fred has been trying the same thing, but I don't want him to see me like this."

"I know..." she sighed. "But you know what? George told me to take a bath. Great bath. Good for the bones."

Dru shook her head. "No, I don't want it." She wrapped her arms around herself. She was still wearing the same clothes and she had even put her boots back on, while fighting with Fred. If they would continue pushing her, she was going to make a run for it.

"Okay, fine," Rose nodded. "But we're safe now, aren't we?"

Dru nodded and got up. She walked out of the room. "Rose doesn't think I need to be checked over either. So I'm not. Got it?" She said to Fred.

"It's either Fred, or St. Mungo's, Dru." George said, in the same tone of voice he had used on Rose.

"Try me." Dru turned her back to Fred and was pointing her wand at George.

Fred winked at his brother, grabbed hold of Dru and apparated to the Burrows.

_Crack!_

"What the hell, Fred?" Dru yelled at him, not even realizing where she now was. "You don't sneak up on me." She was now hitting his chest with her fist.

"I knew it!" Ginny's voice sounded. "I knew it! I knew it!"

"Well, this is one. George is still trying to get the other one, although she seems to be a bit more... cooperative." Fred grinned as he looked at the shocked faces of everyone in the kitchen.

Dru had stopped beating on Fred's chest as soon as she heard Ginny's voice. She was now standing close against Fred, trying to hide herself away from everybody.

Mrs. Weasley had made a noise between a gasp and a squeal of surprise and then quickly ushered Fred and Dru to the table to make them something to eat. "Dru honey, welcome home!"

_Crack!_

George appeared into the kitchen, holding Rose's hand.

"Yes!" Ginny squealed and ran up to Rose to hug her, she didn't seem to be as scared as Dru had seemed.

"Hey Ginny," Rose said with a small smile, giving her a little hug before making her way over to Dru.

Dru was clinging to Fred's chest. She didn't want anyone else near her. She could tolerate Rose, but no one else.

"Don't look so shocked," Rose said to everyone. "We're back, that's all that counts, doesn't it?"

Bill and Mr Weasley both hugged Rose, they wanted to hug Dru too, but Fred shook his head, telling them not to. He kept his arms around her, hoping that it would calm her down a little bit.

"Dru will be fine," Rose nodded. "Just... give her some time."

"I'm going to get Lupin and Tonks." Bill said and disapparated.

"Rose, Dru, please sit down and eat something?" Mrs Weasley put some food on the table and looked at Dru. Rose seemed clean and in fresh clothes, Dru did not. "Fred, couldn't you have let her take a bath?"

"Tried to, but she doesn't want to."

Mrs Weasley shook her head and walked to the laundry room, for some clean clothes. George followed her. "Mum, I checked Rose over, she's really badly bruised and she's got a few cuts, but other than that she's physically okay. But Dru won't let Fred come close. Could you check her out?"

"Of course, sweetheart," she smiled and gave her son a peck on the cheek. "I am sorry for having doubted you in the last few weeks, I should have known better."

"I'm sure if it had been Dad, you would have known it like we did. And then maybe we would have doubted you." George gave a weak smile. Rose might be safe, she wasn't okay. He made his way back over to Rose and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Do you want me to find Moggy for you?"

She shook her head as she buttered a toast and put it in front of Dru. "No, he'll find me when he's ready," she smiled at him.

George took a piece of toast, buttered it and put it in front of Rose. "Eat."

"George, I'm more than capable of buttering my own toast."

"Yes, you are, but you keep giving it to Dru."

"Food keeps her strength up, she needs her..." She swallowed her words. She had been giving Dru half, if not more, from the little food they had gotten during their time  _away_ , mostly because it always seemed as if she was gone longer. On top of that, Rose had her second self. Pain and hunger didn't phase her that much.

"Let Fred take care of Dru. You need to take care of yourself."

Dru was sitting on Fred's lap, eating the piece of toast Rose had given her. She was very hungry, but also very tired. She had been fighting with Fred all morning and it had exhausted her.

"Fred, give her some tea, would you please?" Rose asked, looking at George as she took a bite of her toast. If he wasn't allowing her to physically take care of Dru, then at least she could do it by ordering Dru's boyfriend around.

"I already did." Fred said and held up her mug. Rose hadn't noticed that Fred was making toast too, but Fred wasn't annoyed by it. He knew Rose was only looking out for her friend.

"See, Rose. Fred's taking care of Dru." George smiled as he caressed her arm.

She picked up a few pieces of toast and her own mug of tea and made her way outside. The kitchen was too crowded and any second now Bill was probably going to return with Tonks and Lupin and she didn't want to be around the kitchen when they arrived. If Dru needed her, then she'd give a shout. Rose sat down against the wall and started to eat her breakfast.

"Rose." Lupin ran over to her, kneeled down and hugged his goddaughter. "You're alive!"

Ah well, at least she tried. "I'm fine, professor," she smiled at him.

"Are you badly hurt? Don't lie!" he started to strap up her sleeves and she just pulled her arms away from him.

"George checked me over this morning. I took a bath, got into clean clothes." She answered as she nibbled on her toast. "I'm okay."

"Where have you been?" Lupin sat down next to her and leaned against the wall.

"I don't know. I think we were at the place where my father took me, but I can't be sure," she shrugged and started on another piece of toast. "I know it was foolish of us to join Harry and the others at the battle, and I shouldn't have allowed us to go, especially because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. We weren't ready."

"Let's not go into right now. I'm not in the mood to yell at you. I'm just so happy you're still alive." He put an arm around her and pulled her towards him to give her a kiss on her head. "I thought I lost you too."

"You need to be careful with Dru," Rose said as she took a sip of her tea. "She's a bit fragile at the moment, especially her back. I don't know what they did to her when she was away from me. But she shouldn't be pushed into doing things that she doesn't want to do. She needs some time."

"Yeah, that's why Tonks is going to let her stay here. Molly can take care of her. I want you to stay here too. My house isn't ready...well I think it's better you stay here."

"You don't have a house, Remus," she chuckled. "And I have a home, and it's not here."

"Really? Where then?" He asked surprised.

"My home is with George," she replied. "Well, and with Fred, but he asked me to move in with him, and I said yes."

"Rose, you're just 17. Aren't you a bit young to go live together with two boys?"

"And when Dru's 17, she's coming to live with us too."

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"No, that's what McGonagall said too. She has these great ideas of what Dru and I should become and that's not what we want. I want to stay with George. Help him and Fred out with his shop. I'll go to Hogwarts, but during the breaks I'm with him."

Lupin got up and walked back inside while belting. "George!"

"What did I do now?" George blinked at Lupin.

"You had the nerve to ask my 17 year old goddaughter to come live with you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that there was a rule where I had to ask a parental unit first," he said as he bit down on a piece of toast. "But yes, I did ask her to come live with me and she said yes."

"What!" Molly gasped.

"Oh come on, mum."

"Have you lost your mind? She's a kid, George. I know I should have never allowed you to date her." Lupin said.

"Now wait up. He asked her to move in with him. That's a grown up thing to do." Fred defended his twin, knowing he was going to be in even more trouble when they would find out he asked Dru the same thing.

"She's not a grown up!"

"She's of age," Fred pointed out. "That means she's a grown up, despite her having to endure two more years of Hogwarts."

Bill suddenly walked into the kitchen with Tonks. "There's your surprise." He pointed at Dru still crawled up on Fred's lap.

"Merlin!" Tonks exclaimed and made her way over to Dru, touching her face, caressing her hair, poking her everywhere. "Dru!"

"Stop that." Dru turned her face towards Fred's chest and tried to stay calm by concentrating on his heartbeat.

"She won't let anyone touch her." Hermione said. Her face was still pale. The shock of seeing her friends alive hadn't died down.

Lupin was still fuming. "Next thing you'll drop on me is saying that you and Rose have already had-"

"Hey!" Ginny shot at Lupin. "That's between George and Rose."

"And we haven't. I'm waiting for Rose to be ready." George's lie was very convincing.

Ron just snickered and shook his head.

"Ron?" Mr Weasley asked vey stern.

"Mortal Peril." Ron shrugged.

"GEORGE!" Mrs Weasley yelled at him.

"Can we go?" Rose's voice sounded from the entrance of the kitchen. "Please?"

"Sure." George made his way over to Rose. "Fred, are you two ready?"

"Oh no, she's staying here," Tonks said resolutely.

"What?" Dru asked as she looked shocked.

"Two reasons. One; you obviously need more care than Rose does, and I'm sure that Mrs. Weasley would love to help out with that and two; no way."

"But Fred can take care of me." Dru was clinging to Fred.

"Sorry sweetheart, but you need a proper mum this time, and not just a boyfriend." Tonks said as she sat down next to her.

"Please just take me." Dru asked Fred.

"Don't you dare, Fred Weasley!" Molly glared at her son. "She's staying here at least until she's checked out, cleaned up, rested, functioning normally and 17."

"I can't leave her here all by herself," Rose said, looking at George. "I can't."

"Maybe it's a good thing that you two are apart for a little while," Lupin said with a nod. "You've spent almost 7 weeks together, relying on each other."

"Rose, you go. I'll stay here." Dru let herself slide off Fred's lap and sat on her own chair.

"No..." she shook her head. "I need you, and you need me, I'm not leaving you here alone."

"Lupin is right, dear. You two need to be apart. We'll take care of her."

"Mum, I don't know if that's the right thing to do." Bill said

"George, Fred, take Rose back to your house. We'll take care of Dru." Mr Weasley spoke.

George took Rose's hand.

_crack_

Dru looked at Fred. "Will you come back tomorrow?" She whispered.

Fred softly kissed her. "Every day."

_crack_

"Now, Let's get you in a bath and clean you up. Tonks, would you take her?" Mrs Weasley said kindly.

"No!" Dru said. She looked around the room. "Ginny can take me."  _please_

"Oh don't worry, little Dru." Tonks smiled at her. "I've seen enough naked bodies to last me a lifetime."

"No, either Ginny, or I won't go." Dru crossed her arms.  _Ginny, please_

"I'll do it," Ginny said with a nod. "If we're going to share a room then I want her clean anyway and we don't want to stress her out even more."

Dru got up and walked behind Ginny to the bathroom. After Ginny closed the door. Dru sat down on the edge of the bath tub. "Ginny, you need to promise me something."

"Okay," she said as she started to run the water for the bath.

"Never, never tell anyone about what I'm going to show you. Rose doesn't even know yet and neither does Fred." Dru said slowly, making every word sink in.

"How bad is it?"

"Worse than any bruise or cut on my body and believe me, that's bad."

"Well, I'm not a blabber mouth, unlike my brother."

Dru slowly pulled up her right sleeve, showing Ginny the cruel punishment her mother had put on her. "This way she can keep me in check."

Ginny gasped and took a step back. "But that's a dark mark."

She pulled her sleeve back down. "She wants me to join them, and since I kept saying no, she thought this would just force me to be one."

"Dru, this is horrible! This means that whenever we do DA stuff or even when the Order... you can't be near them!" She hugged Dru gently.

"You can still trust me, Ginny. I'm still on your side." Dru started to regret telling Ginny.

"Of course you are," she nodded and poured soap into the tub. "But as a precaution, you need to stay away from meetings, please." she smiled at her. "I'm sorry she's doing this to you, Dru. It's not fair."

Dru slowly got undressed and sank into the tub. She closed her eyes and realised she had made a mistake. She should have asked Rose to help her at the apartment. She shouldn't have asked Ginny. "Ginny, about us sharing a room, if you don't mind I'm going to sleep in Fred's bed tonight." Her voice was distant, like she was talking to a stranger, not her friend.

"Yeah, I don't mind. I half expected Fred to be here the entire day, to be honest." She had her back turned towards Dru for decency. "How bad are your bruises and stuff? Does it hurt?"

"Like hell."

"Do you need me to get a spell book on healing and taking away pain or is it manageable for you? I mean..."

"I'll ask Rose to do it tomorrow."

"Or Hermione could do it?"

"I said, I'll ask Rose." Dru shot at her.

"Okay," Ginny said slowly. "I'm going to get you some clean clothes, and then I'm going to check if Fred's bed is made so you can rest some."

"Just get my jeans and one of fred's shirts."

Ginny took one look at the jeans and shook her head. "No way. Mum wants to burn these as soon as she lays eyes on them," she smiled at Dru. "I think I said something wrong and I don't know what and you hate me for it."

"That mark doesn't make me a traitor. I'll never spill any secrets." Dru angrily looked at Ginny. She felt betrayed.

"I don't think you're a traitor, but I think we should be extra careful now, that's all."

"Snape's a part of the order, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he can't get his mind controlled. You can."

"Fine, you can have your excuses, will you please get me some clean clothes?"

"You should be with Dru!" Rose yelled at Fred. "You! Or me! but you should have stayed!"

"Rose, stop yelling at Fred." George could see that his brother was just about to fall to pieces himself.

"You need to stay with Dru, she needs to stay safe and if they don't want me there then... you should! And... she pushes you away but you need to stay with her!"

"Rose, if Dru needs Fred, they come and get him. For now  _her_  caretakers thinks he should stay away."

"But  _I_  need her, George!"

"Rose, she'll be here tomorrow and trust me, then she can stay for the rest of the summer." Fred said tiredly. He didn't need to be a mind reader or a seer to know how this would play out. "I won't be surprised if she's back here before morning even."

She looked at him, confused. She had gone into panic mode and didn't quite understand what he was saying but she decided she liked it anyway. Rose took a deep breath and nodded. "Did you spell the apartment to ward off evil?"

"Of course we did," George said and tried not to sound too worried. One minute she was falling apart, the next she was collected again. He really hoped that she'd fight through this before the start of term, because an angry or scared Rose wasn't a good Rose to keep around at Hogwarts. She'd only get herself into trouble.

"Can I do them again?"

"Don't you trust me?"

"Don't you have a shop to open and run?"

"it's nearly 8 o'clock at night."

"Is it?" she looked at him and cocked her head. "I... lost track of time then."

"You girls slept for 3 days straight. We put Dru in your bed and kept turns in watching you and at night, Fred would put her back in his own bed. Well to be completely honest, Fred mostly stayed with you girls, because of Dru's nightmares. He's the only one that could get her calm again."

"Okay, she's coming back then," Rose replied, still a bit confused. She had not realised that three days had gone by after she and Dru had returned. "Good, she's coming back," she said as she started to pace around. "I'm sorry," she said as she saw the looks on the boys' faces and stopped pacing. "I'll just go to bed."

"I'll come with you." George said and followed Rose. While they were walking up the stairs, he got a brilliant idea. "Rosie?"

"Yeah?"

"We're a bit short handed in the shop tomorrow, would you mind helping out?"

"You don't trust me to be alone, do you?" she said, turning around and looked at him.

He took a deep breath. "I trust you, but I think you need to be around people and I think the happy vibe in the store might do you a lot of good." He confessed. He was standing on step lower than her which meant their heads were on the same length. "I want my Rosie back." He gently kissed her.

He was breaking her heart. Of course he had missed her, and the thought of him had kept her sane enough not to do anything stupid and create that big wall around her so that she felt impervious in some way. "Georgie... don't do this..." she said softly. "Because if you do... I won't be able to be Rose, me."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I just thought if I started to act like normal, you would be able to do the same and I'll get my Rosie back. But if you don't want me to, I won't."

She fumbled in her pocket and showed George a twig she had picked up from the Weasley garden. "This is me, if I... let go," she said softly and broke the twig in half. "It hurts too much."

George took the pieces of twigs and put them on his hands. "Well, if this is you if you break, let me show you something." He took his wand out with his other hand. "This is you after you let me help you." He muttered a spell and the two pieces of twig started to spin and spin and twirling around each other. George put his other hand over the piece for two seconds and when he removed his hand a beautiful deep red rose was now in his hand. "Let me help you, Rose."

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "George... that's beautiful, and I love you but... it hurts..."

"Rose, do you trust me?"

She slowly nodded.

"Then trust me now! Let go, Sweetie, let go and let me help you." He took her in his arms and lifted her of her feet and brought to his bedroom. He put her down on the bed and helped her out of her clothes and into pair of pajamas. "Go to sleep and come help me tomorrow. Trust me, it'll make you feel better. If not you can always go back upstairs." George laid down on the bed next to her and put his arms around her. He had his closed for a minute until. "Shit!"

"What?"

He sighed. "We forgot Moggy. She's still at mums."

" _He_  will be fine," she chuckled as she snuggled up against him. "There was this one day where they broke as many bones as possible with spells, we were like target practise before Narcissa had to heal us up..." she said softly as she closed her eyes.

"Was she good to you, Narcissa?" George asked.

"She's actually not that different from your mother, to be honest. She just loves people the wrong way. Loyalty first, feelings later. But she still loves Dru, very much," she replied and took a deep breath. "This one time Draco attacked the Death Eaters who... well... and he got punished, but we were left alone for the rest of that day."

"I'm almost ready to send that foul git a bunch of flowers to show him my appreciation." George said. "But i'm afraid he might think I'm in love with him and I don't want to encourage any of his hidden feelings towards me."

"No, we don't want that. I don't want to share you with peroxide boy," she smiled. "But I shall be easy on him next year, I will jinx him less."

"Just do make him bald. It's a good look on him." George yawned and had closed his eyes. He was getting tired.

"Go to sleep, George," she said softly and kissed his lips. "You need to be your hyper self tomorrow."

"If I have my wonder witch at my side, I'll be more hyper than you've ever seen me." He kissed her. He had missed kissing her. "Oh and you'll have to write two letters tomorrow saying you're alright. You still got two worried friends that don't know you're alright."

"Neville and Luna?" she guessed.

"Yeah, apart from Fred, Ginny and me, they were the only ones that believed you to be alive. I think Luna gave up two weeks ago, but Neville has been writing me every few days for clues he found in muggle newspapers. He never gave up on you two. He said he knew it if you either one of you were dead."

"He's sweet, I shall write them tomorrow, I promise." she kissed him again. "Go to sleep, Georgie, I'm not going anywhere."

George pulled her even closer to him. "You better not."

* * *

It was '3 o'clock at night when the everybody in the burrow got woken up by a horrific scream. Hermione was the first to locate the source as she knew the scream all too well.

"Dru, it's okay. You're safe." She sat down next Dru on Fred's bed and put an arm around her.

Dru was sitting up straight sobbing her eyes out.

Mrs. Weasley had made her way over to the room and looked at the girls in confusement. "Are you alright dear?"

Dru was shaking and couldn't answer.

"It's no use, mum. She won't respond to you." Ron said sleepy.

"Why not?" Mr Weasley said as he saw his wife sit down on the other side of Dru.

"Only Fred can calm her down after one of her nightmares." Harry said sleepily. "Not even Rose can do it."

Mr. Weasley looked at Bill. "Go."

"No!" Mrs. Weasley looked at her husband. "We're not going to wake Fred to calm her down, she can calm down on her own, can't you, sweetheart?"

"Mrs Weasley, only Neville or Fred have ever been able to calm her down. And Neville was never even half as good at it as Fred. Neville had to talk her into to calming down. Fred just put her head to his chest and she calms down."

"Molly, do you hear what Hermione is telling you?" Mr Weasley looked at Bill. "Just get him!"

_crack_

"Oh I can't believe you two."

"She's had nightmares all year long, we have experience with these kinds of things. Just trust us," Hermione smiled at Mrs. Weasley as she caressed Dru's hair, who was close to hyperventilation.

Dru noticed that Hermione was on her side and put her head on Hermione's shoulder. "Fred." She muttered.

"How many times does she have these nightmares?" Mr Weasley asked. "I never heard Tonks mention these."

"A few times a month, some even a few times a week." Ginny said, trying to stay out of Dru's sight, knowing Dru was still angry with her.

_Crack!_

"I'm here," Fred said, still half asleep but pulled Dru in his arms. "I'm here, it's okay."

Dru stopped sobbing the moment she felt his arms around her. "I'm sorry."

"Well, just get her to calm down and then you can go back home."Mrs Weasley said as she patted Fred on his back.

"Good luck with that. She's been having 6 or 7 nightmares a night the last 3 days." Fred said.

"What?"

"Well, she's traumatized, of course," he said simply.

"Can't you stay with me?" Dru asked

"Of course," Fred smiled at her.

"Oh no, you're not staying here. You are going back home." Mrs Weasley said.

"I don't want to be woken up by screams every night," Ginny said groaning. "I mean, I love Dru, but..."

"Fine, then you don't sleep. Fred is not staying here." Mrs Weasley said angrily.

"But, mum..."

"No, Fred!"

"Fred, do as your mother said. Go home, get her to sleep and we'll bring her stuff and the cats over tomorrow." Mr Weasley said.

"Thanks Dad," Fred smiled at him and disappeared with Dru before his mother could object.

_Crack!_

Dru was still holding on to Fred.

"Welcome home," He grinned and softly kissed her. "You're safe now. If George and Rose start to complain we'll just make our room soundproof."

"You bastard," Dru smiled.

"No, I know you. You'd just have given up on everything and not getting better. Do you honestly think that I will allow you to go back to Hogwarts while you're still not back to your old self?"

"Fred, I'm never going back to normal now." Dru said as she sat down on the bed. "Something's changed."

"Whatever it is, you can tell me in the morning," he smiled at her and softly kissed her. "Let's go back to sleep, I have all day tomorrow to pamper you. Rose is going to help out in the shop."

"But I have to tell you, if you know, you'll never want me in your bed."

Fred sighed and moved her sleeve up, revealing her dark mark. He then looked at her. "You've slept for three days, you kept tossing and turning and there was a point where your sleeve had gone up," he softly kissed her lips. "You're safe here. I know you haven't turned on us, because if you had, you would have given yourself away. Not intentionally of course, but I'd know. So whoever put it on your arm, wants you to piss your pants every time you see it." Fred kissed her again. "But you're safe here."

"She can hurt me with it. She makes it burn." Dru said.

"Well, then we'll put your arm under the cold tap to stop it from burning, and kick her ass when we get the chance."

"Do you still love me?"

"I will always love you, Dru. You're mine, no matter what people say. You and I against the... no wait, George and me against the world, you and I against the doubters."

Dru put her arms around his neck. "I love you so much. I was so scared you'd reject me if you knew. Even Ginny doesn't trust me anymore."

"Ginny is silly. Silly Ginny. She'll come round, don't worry," he kissed her again and pulled the covers over them. "Now, get some sleep, I'm going to give you a nice massage tomorrow if you want."

"Just keep holding me." Dru closed her eyes and felt safe when she felt Fred's warm breath on her neck.

* * *

When Rose woke up the next morning it was still early, George was still sleeping behind her. Rose suddenly realized what woke her up. The smell of pancakes. "Pancakes!" She squealed and nearly tumbled out of bed to see who was cooking. She made her way downstairs to the kitchen and smiled widely. "Dru! Pancakes!"

"Yeah, it's been awhile since we had them." Dru smiled and gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "Well, digg in. I'm making enough for all of us."

She hugged Dru (carefully avoiding putting pressure on her back). "When did you come back? Fred said you were coming back but I wasn't so sure, but I'm so glad you're back, you're safe here."

"I had a nightmare so Bill went to fetch Fred to calm me down and then Fred took me here." Dru put some pancakes on Rose's plates. She walked to the stairs. "George, Fred, Breakfast." She called upstairs. Dru then went back to the stove and started to make more pancakes. "How are you feeling today, Rose?"

"I... I don't really know," Rose said as she poured some syrup over her pancakes. "I told George something about what happened."

"Morning Dru." George smiled and gave Rose a kiss on her lips. "Morning, sweetie." He sat down and took a pancake of the pile.

"Morning George." Dru smiled and went to the fridge and poured some milk in two glasses. She knew both boys always drank milk with their pancakes. "Do you want tea or milk, Rose?"

"Tea, but I'll make some," she said with her mouthful and got off the chair. "You okay, Dru?"

"I'm getting there. I need to show you and George something though." She rolled up her sleeve and showed Rose the Dark Mark.

"I hate her," Rose grumbled and shivered at the thought of Bellatrix. She  _was_  an even bigger nutter than her father had been. She then hugged Dru. "Don't worry, you're still my Dru."

Dru turned her arm to George, but one look on his face made her smile. "Of course, he already told you." Dru rolled her sleeve down. "FRED! Breakfast." She yelled at the ceiling.

"Dru, your pancakes taste like mum's. I love them." George helped himself to another pancake.

"Of course, Your mother learned me how to cook last summer and christmas. She says I've got a talent for it."

"Good, because cooking is like potions to me and Fred, we suck at it."

"That's probably, why I'm so good at it." Dru smiled. "Is that brother of yours ever going to wake up." she said, before realising she had a better idea. "Watch the stove, Rose." Dru went upstairs and jumped on her bed, right on top of Fred.

"I'm a-way-ke!" Fred pulled Dru down and kissed her tenderly. "Morning."

"I've already called you two times. I made breakfast." Dru sat up straight again, sitting on top of Fred. "Are you hungry?" She bend down and kissed his lips.

"I am," he said as he returned her kiss.

"Hurry up then, I'll make you some fresh pancakes." Dru got off the bed and went back down stairs. "Did you two eat everything?" Dru laughed as she saw the empty plate. She started making more.

"Hungry," Rose nodded. "I ate most of them."

"Well, don't worry! This is a Weasley recipe. I've got enough batter to make plenty more." Dru smiled and was now working 4 frying pans at one time.

Rose frowned at Dru and shook her head as she sipped on her tea. Dru would calm down at some point, would she?

"Rose, I'm good. I really am." Dru smiled at her friend. "I've got Fred, I'm good." she put another pancake on George's plate and then one on Rose. "Eat up, before Fred's coming down and eats the rest." she put a third on fred's plate and the last one on her own.

Fred came downstairs, already fully dressed and smiling widely. "Yum, pancakes!" he kissed Dru on the top of her head before sitting down and digging in.

George looked around the table and smiled. "Look around guys, this is our future."

"Don't expect pancakes everyday." Dru smiled.

* * *

It was a busy morning in the shop. Dru had decided to come and help too. George had been right, being in the happy vibe of the shop was doing both girls a world of good. Rose had just refilled the stock of skiving snackboxes, when George sneaked up on her and put an arm around her. "Having fun?"

"What more needs to be stocked up?" She asked him as she looked at him with a smile. She figured that as long as she kept busy, she didn't have to interact with people too much and it would appear that she was having fun.

George looked behind her. "Well there's one customer I want you to help." He pointed at the door, where Neville and his grandmother had just walked in.

"Ah, but Neville is Dru's area," she said, following his gaze.

"He's been worried about both of you." George gave Rose a push in Neville's direction. "Wotcha, Neville."

Neville's head turned towards George and his eyes got big and his sad face was suddenly smiling. "Rose!" He made his way towards her as fast as he could to the busy shop. He lifted her up in a tight embrace. "I knew it." He muttered to her.

"Hey, Neville," she smiled and gently pat him on the back. "Please stop having growth spurts."

"You stop shrinking." Neville teased and put her down again. "Why didn't you write me to tell me you're ok? I've been worried sick about you."

"I was going to, today, really!" she smiled at him. "Dru and I have only been back for about four days, and we spent three of those asleep." She then greeted Mrs. Longbottom, before turning back to Neville.

"I'm so sorry, Rose. I should have never let you go with us."

"What's done is done, Neville, we wanted to come with you," she nodded. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Harry's doing it too and it's... no one's fault. But you're looking great. Did you manage to spend some time with Hannah?"

"Well,...no. We kinda broke up at the end of term." Neville scratched himself behind his ear. If Rose was going to ask, he was going to lie about the reason. That was best for everyone.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. But anyway, you and Dru, you're both alright?"

"Yeah, as good as," she smiled bravely. "Trying to work through it, you know... maybe it's a little too soon to tell."

Neville gave Rose another big hug. "I'm just so relieved to see you. When you see Dru, will you tell her I'm glad she okay too."

"Well, she must be around somewhere," Rose looked around and pointed at the back of the store, where Dru was talking to a group of kids. "See?"

Dru was standing with her back facing Rose and had started explaining some of the merchandise to a group of 11 years old, who were all going to start their first year hogwarts, so now she was telling them about the things they were going to see. "...And there's are a few big greenhouses, where one of my best friends spends a lot of time. He's always working on different amazing plants and he also helps students with special projects. You guys are probably going to meet him, he's the best tutor on Hogwarts."

"I think Hogwarts should hire you to do their Public Relations Stuff, should they have had it," Neville chuckled. "Hi Dru."

"Neville!" Dru flew her arms around his neck and gave him the biggest hug. "How are you?"

"Fine now that you're back," he smiled and put his arms around her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry for giving you all such a fright." She still kept her arms tightly around him. Besides Fred, she had missed him more than anyone else. "How's Hannah?"

Neville couldn't help but smell Dru's perfume, he had missed that smell. "Good, I guess. We broke up before the holidays."

"Oh no! I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"We grew apart," he said with a nod. "It's okay though. I hope we're still friends."

"But you guys were so cute together. well, we're just going to have to find you another girlfriend." Dru smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Fred and George already are calling me your and Rose's spare," he chuckled. "I can settle for being the spare for now, I'm not really looking for someone else at the moment."

"You are too good to be settling to be somebody's spare. Wait, I know, how about Luna?"

Neville started to blush furiously.

"Ah, you like Luna, don't you?" Dru giggled and looped her arms his arm. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can make your dream girl fall in love with you too."

"Nah, that's impossible," he smiled. "Come on, show me around this shop of yours then."

Dru showed Neville around the show and when it was lunch time, George invited Neville and his grandmother to stay over for lunch, but they were too busy and they had to leave again.

The afternoon was very slow, and so George took Rose back upstairs. He sat down on the sofa. "How are you feeling today?"

She cuddled up against him and kicked off her shoes. "Don't make me go back down..."

"You really hated it that much? Maybe McGonagall was right. Maybe you should find another career then." He put on arm around her.

"No, it's not that," she smiled at him. "You know me, I like people. But not now. I do like stacking the stocks though, but... I'm exhausted." She softly kissed him. "I do love what you and Fred have done with the place, the layout is incredible."

George shrugged his shoulders. "It's a bit different for us now. Getting this place running used to be my number one priority, but it's not anymore."

"No, now you have to make it prosper," she said as she put her head against his arm. "I'm so proud of you and Fred, I knew that it was going to look great, but the shop looks amazing."

George gave a weak smile. Now that he was upstairs, he didn't have to be hyper anymore. "Look, Rose, let it go. I'm just running a bit thin lately. You should be proud of Fred, he's been doing most of the work."

"You shouldn't worry so much, George," she said softly. "It's keeping you from your sleep."

"What am I supposed to do then? My girlfriend has been tortured for 7 weeks and she's a complete wreck. I just don't know what to anymore."

She shifted a little and put her arms around him. "It's okay, George..."

He pulled Rose close to him. "I just don't know anymore."

"That makes two of us then," she smiled. "Just be yourself George, and don't mind me, I just need a little time to deal with it all." Rose caressed his hair. "And if you need a shoulder to cry on, you can use mine and I won't judge you for it."

"I'm scared I'm not going to get you back." he whispered.

"Well, you already have me back," she started. "I mean, I'm slightly dented, but with the right equipment and the right way to handle things, I'll be back in shape in no time. Being with you is all I need... and to have Dru close by. She was amazing, she's the entire reason we were able to escape."

"How?"

"Well, she used her gift. At first it was just little things on those dumb Death Eaters. Like getting our wands back and I tried to send you a sign that we were still here, but I doubt that my lioness travelled this far..." she shrugged.

"I heard it roar, that was really you?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Anyway, it took her a little bit of practise to have them do her bidding, and in the end, she had Dolohov apparate us into London, we obliviated him and made our way here."

"Wow."

"Yeah, she was amazing," Rose smiled again and kept caressing George's hair. "I was too much of a coward to do anything but to try and stop myself from spilling my glimpses of the future to them."

"You need to practise more, Rose."

"I do, because those black spots that I couldn't get around on? That's  _him_  jamming the waves. I mean, like at the Ministry, I couldn't see a thing and still, I went because... I was stupid, and it turned out that  _he_  had been messing with Harry's head too."

"Rose, I'm tired. Would you mind if I'd just close my eyes for second?"

"Go to sleep George, I'm not going anywhere," she softly kissed him. "I'm staying right here."

George laid down on the sofa and pulled Rose on top of him. This way he could doze off and still know she was there. George wasn't like Fred, he couldn't bounce back from weeks for worry about losing someone and everything to be back to normal. Fred en Dru seem to do it perfectly, they were both almost like they were before Dru was taken, but George and Rose both seemed less fine, and less able to bounce back within a matter of days.

She looked at him as he was drifting off in a light sleep, holding her tightly while she was on top of him. Maybe she had been wrong in being willing to share some of the things that had happened to her (and Dru) over the last seven weeks, maybe she should have waited a little until she was sure that George was okay, even though that maybe if she shared things, they could both be okay in the end.

Eventually, Rose drifted off in a light sleep herself, only to be awakened by a loud  _crack!_  sound that made her look up and stare into the faces of Lupin and Tonks, holding the cats and some of Dru's things. She put her finger on her lips, telling them to be quiet and then pointed to the floor, indicating that Dru was downstairs.

Lupin was less than pleased to see her lying on top of George, but the boy looked exhausted and he had his arms around Rose almost as if he was trying to protect her in his sleep. "Get off him," he hissed.

"No!" she mouthed back.

"I need to talk to you."

Rose narrowed her eyes on Lupin before slowly caressing George's hair. "Georgie, Lupin's here," she said softly. "What do you want to do? Sleep or wake up?"

"Sleep," he muttered with a sigh.

"Okay, I'll be right back, I promise." She managed to get off of George without hurting him (much) and kissed the top of his head before summoning a blanket and put it over him. She then walked into the kitchen to make tea.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Lupin sat down at the kitchen table. "I mean, you're just 17. You're too young to set up house."

"I'm only going to be here during school breaks over the next two years, how's that setting up house?" She retorted as she took the teapot out of the kitchen cupboard.

"I've been thinking, maybe you and Dru could live together somewhere after you graduate. I'll be willing to help you girl out moneywise."

"I have enough money to support me and Dru if I have to, and we'll see." she shrugged. "I can't promise you anything." she then turned around to face Lupin. "I know that you're disagreeing with me for a reason, but seriously, I don't have the same issues you have."

"Rose, my issues with Tonks are not of your concern. I'm worried that you are moving too fast with George. He's only your first boyfriend."

"And he will be my only boyfriend," she said before turning around to pour the hot water into the pot. "And okay, I admit, it sounds a bit weird to say that  _right now_  but I can't see a future without him."

"Rose." Lupin sighed. "You don't know that. Or don't you remember the same words coming out of Dru's mouth a year ago? "

"I am  _not_  Dru!" Rose said furiously. "I wish I was, but I'm not. I'm me. Little old me, and I don't want anyone else than George, because I won't be comfortable around someone else. And like I said, I can't see a future without him." She then took a deep breath. "I can understand that you or Professor McGonagall think that I'm too complacent for my age. Well, maybe I am. But that doesn't mean that I haven't made the right decision. I  _love_  George."

Lupin wanted to say something, but decided not to. Clearly he couldn't change her mind. "Will you please sit down then, and tell me about happened while you were gone?"

"No, because you won't believe me anyway," she said, pouring Lupin a tea.

"Try me anyway." He gave her a small smile.

"Are you sure? Because I'm only 17 you know, everything I say could be total bollocks."

"Rose!"

"Don't worry, Harry and the Order are safe. I was able to divert the question or lie."

"Rose, you still don't understand, do you? I'm not here because of the order, but because of you. Because I  _care_  about you." He sighed, when was she ever going to learn?

"Dru and I got taken, we were used as target practise, they tried to get us on their side, blablabla, then she managed to get us out." She put some water with her tea, hoping it would cool off so she could finish it and be done with it all. "It's not important, we're back and I have a boyfriend I need to reassure that nothing like this will ever happen anymore."

"See, that's what I mean! You need to take care of yourself, not George."

"She's not." George was leaning against the post of the kitchen. "I'm just tired, because unlike  _you_  Fred and I have been awake for weeks, waiting for them to show us a sign to come and help them."

"I'm walking, I'm talking, I'm aware of everyone around me, I don't see what else you'd want at this point. I'm working on it, okay?"

"She just needs some time to feel safe again, can you blame her?" George smiled at Rose.

"George, I don't need you to tell me what my goddaughter needs." Lupin stood up and looked angry at George.

George took a few steps and was standing now in front of Lupin, his hands still in his pockets, but Rose could tell George was, if possible, even angrier than Lupin. "And I don't need for you to tell me how I need to take care of  _my_  Rosie."

"George, she's too young for this kind of commitment."

"Just because you're too scared to admit you want to return the feelings Tonks said you she had for you, does not mean Rosie is. She and I are together and neither you or mum can stop us from moving in together." He walked over to Rose and gave her a kiss on her head. "I'm going to help Fred close up and then the four of us are going to get a bite to eat at the leaky cauldron. We still have to celebrate that you girls are back." He smiled and gave her a kiss on her lips before turning around and going downstairs.

"I'm not rushing into things, professor," she said softly. "George and I are taking things very slow, and we're okay, because we talk a lot too. You don't know me very well and I'm not making it easy for you to get to know me, but trust me when I say that George is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I don't know where I would be or what I'd be doing now if it wasn't for him. You can always tell me 'I told you so' if things should go wrong."

"Fine." Lupin said. 'I will hold you to that."

"And Tonks isn't too young for you, she's a lot more mature than her age."

"Yeah, that seems to run in that family, doesn't it. Being more mature than good for them."

"Dru's fine," she chuckled. "She and Fred can get a little bit crazy at times, and at other times... well, Dru's fine. She makes great pancakes." She put her empty mug on the kitchen counter. "Give Tonks a chance, you won't regret it, stop being so responsible all the time."

Lupin smiled. "Why don't you go play with your cat. I'm going to check on Tonks." He got up and made his way downstairs.

Rose picked up Moggy from the floor and looked at him. "You'd better be on my side," she said to him as he pawed her in the face. "If not, I'm sure Dru could turn you into a tasty stew." Moggy started to headbutt her as he purred. "That's my boy." she chuckled.

Dru had gone to get some more ingredients for some new potion from the apothecary. She walked back in and closed the door behind her. "Fred? I think I got everything, hone. Where can I brew the potions?" She put everything on the counter, where Fred was busy writing down the winnings of today's sells. "Did we have a good day?" she looked over his shoulder on the papers.

"Yep, and we've got a work bench in the basement for potions, what are you going to make anyway?" he softly kissed her. "Oh and Tonks and Lupin dropped by, but I think you should be lucky that you were out."

"Maybe I should be." She gently kissed him back. "I locked the door again on my way back in." She put her arms around his neck.

Fred chuckled and caressed her hair. "Promise me though, that next time you ask me, or George or even Rose to come with you? Diagon Alley isn't like it was used to now the word is out that he's back."

"Fred! Honestly!. I can take care of myself. Haven't I proven that." She kissed him as she stood on the tip of her toes. "You are really too tall."

Fred chuckled, lifted her up and put her on the counter. "Better?"

"Better." Dru kissed him again.

"Now that's a pretty sight." Tonks smiled.

"Dora!" Dru hopped off the counter, ran over to her cousin and gave her a big hug. "I missed you."

Tonks was surprised, just a day ago she didn't want to have anything to do with her. "How are you doing? I think I overheard you saying something about making potions?" she said with a cheeky smile on her face.

"I'm good. Yeah, the boys are running low on the love potion, so I'm going to make then some new ones." Dru collected her ingredients. "Come on, let's go downstairs. " Dru said to Tonks. and took the stairs down to the basement. There was one office with two desks in it and one big work room. Dru started putting her ingredients away. She smiled. The boys had organised the the cupboard just the way they knew Dru would like it. "So, how have you been?" Dru asked Tonks.

"Ah, just about to curse Remus, that's all," she chuckled. "I'm sorry that I thought you were... you know... gone, but they found two burned bodies at the Ministry and Moody... well..."

"Those were two muggle girls. My uncle did that. They wanted you to think we were that."

"It was bad, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. I never realised how bad my father and his brother were. If it wasn't for Draco and Mother then... Let's just say I owe them a lot."

Tonks hugged Dru tightly. "I'm just glad that you're back and not dead."

"Dora, please can I stay with Fred for the rest of the summer. He's makes me feel safe."

"How are you going to feel safe when you're back at Hogwarts? He won't be there to help you out then."

"I've got Rose there and Neville. He really did everything he could to keep us from harm at the ministry. And I've got Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ron wouldn't let anything bad happen to his sisters in law."

"Alright, so you have no interest in trying to stand on your own two feet after you graduate? Like moving to a flat with Rose or something like that?"

Dru smiled. "Fred asked me to come to move with him. I know it's fast, Dora, but I really love him and he is a real gentleman.' Dru looked at her cousin. "Can I tell you something without you getting mad at me. I want you to understand how much he really loves me and wants us to do this right"

"I'm not Remus, I won't get mad... much." she smiled. "Oh go on, I promise."

Dru sat down on the counter that Tonks was sitting on. "Well, you know how I got with Neville. I wanted him and I wasn't going to let anything stop us. I really wanted to take things slow with Fred, but we both...well you...got really heated. So instead of taking it all the way, we found a way to...help each other...without actually having sex." Dru was blushing.

"Ohhh," Tonks chuckled. "That... wow. Good for you!"

"Yeah, it really was good." Dru had a devilish grin on her face. "I really love him."

"So you two are handling yourselves responsibly then?" Dora giggled. "I think it's great that you've found a way to... have fun without the poking."

Dru nodded. "To be honest I don't know how long we can keep it up, I mean not poking. But I waiting till I'm really ready for it."

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it? Not until you're ready and don't have him pressure you into things you don't feel comfortable doing."

"He won't. He cares more about my virtue than I do."

"Good," she nodded. "Older boys are so much better, aren't they?"

"Speaking of which. You told Lupin how you felt about him, didn't you." Dru frowned as she know caressed Tonks mousy grey hair. "He said no."

"He thinks he's too old for me," she said grumpily. "But he's not! But I'm not going to give up, you know. He and I  _will_  end up together, whether he likes it or not."

'That's the spirit. Well I'm really sorry to be rude, but the boys are taking us to dinner at the leaky cauldron. I really should be going."

"Alright," she nodded. "I released Holly upstairs, and the rest of your belongings are in the hallway there too. You can stay here for the rest of summer, but you're not going to forget buying your books and whatnot for the next term. A shopping list should arrive soon."

"Yeah, I will. With the shop running, I'm actually earning my own money now."

Tonks handed her a small pouch with some galleons in them. "Take this, keep the rest of your money to buy fun things for yourself."

"Dora, you don't need to buy me stuff."

"I have a document that says I have to at least until you leave school," she chuckled. "Take it, I don't need it."

Dru gave Tonks a hug. "Thank you."


	28. Damn those boys

It was september 1st, Fred and George found themselves once again on platform 9 ¾. only this time they weren't going to school, but they were dropping their girlfriends off.

"Sweetie, are you sure you're ready to go back yet?" George asked, he was still not confident that Rose was well enough to go back to Hogwarts, where he couldn't be there to protect her.

"Yes," she smiled up to him. "Don't worry, I'll write you every day, or every two days." She tiptoed and softly kissed his lips. "I'll be  _fine_ , trust me. And when I come home for Christmas, I'll be better."

"You better be, but I might come and see you sooner."

"Hogsmeade weekend!" she giggled.

George nodded, lifted Rose off her feet, whispered "I love you, Rosie." And kissed her,

"I love you too, Georgie," she kissed him back. "And I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too."

"I've put some extra whiz-bangs in your trunk," Fred said with a big smile on his face. "Just in case another old bat as Umbridge comes around."

Dru grinned and gave Fred a kiss on his cheek. "I rather wished you put yourself in the trunk."

"The first Hogsmeade weekend I'll be there."

"Good." Dru put her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss, which he happily returned before a family voice broke it off.

"Fred, Honestly." Mrs Weasley had came to drop Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Harry off.

"Hi Mum!" the twins chorused with big smiles on their faces.

Dru let Fred go so he could greet his mother, she then greeted Harry and Ron, she hugged Hermione, but when she came around to Ginny, she suddenly walked away from the group to go give Neville a hug, as he just arrived on the platform too.

Rose greeted the group and hugged Ginny tightly. "Hi!"

"She's still angry with me, isn't she." Ginny asked as she returned Rose's hug.

"Yeah, but she'll come round, don't worry. Just give her some time." Rose nodded.

"Hey, Rose." Neville had come over and gave her a hug. "How have you been, Ginny?"

"I'm alright." She looked at Dru. "I think I'm going to find Dean." She hugged the twin and her mother and boarded the train.

Du gave Fred one final kiss before she boarded the train with Neville and Harry. Ron and Hermione were already making their way to the Prefect coach.

"Write me if something's wrong." George gave Rose a kiss.

"Don't worry, and don't let me hear from Dru that Fred says you're not sleeping because you're worrying too much," she poked him in the ribs before kissing him back.

"I won't tell Dru." Fred grinned.

"Then you're in charge of making sure he gets his sleep, Fred." Rose told him.

"Bye Rosie." The boys chorused as Rose jumped on the train.

Harry had found an empty compartment and was putting his stuff on the racks. "How have you been, Neville?" He had hardly spoken to the girls. He still felt responsible for what happened to the girls.

"Good Harry, thanks," Neville replied. "You?"

"Alright. How's Hannah?"

"Ah we broke up, mate, it's alright," he shrugged.

"Really? What happened?" Harry sat by the window across from Neville.

"They grew apart, but I'm going to set him up with a much better girl." Dru smiled as she sat down next to him on the seat she had taken for 6 years now.

Harry looked at Neville's face and shook his head laughing. "Maybe you should let him be, Dru." It was the first time he had said anything to her for months.

"You spoke to me." Dru faked her surprise and looked at Rose, who was sitting next to Harry. "He suddenly remembered how to talk to us."

"Oh hi Harry! Nice to hear your voice," Rose smiled.

"Okay, I get the picture." Harry laughed. "Are you two okay?"

Dru nodded, looped her arm around Neville's arm and put her head on his shoulder, like she had done a million times before. She didn't notice that Neville wasn't really that comfortable with it this time around.

"I would be glad if people would stop asking me that," Rose said. "If we weren't okay, you'd know."

"I'm sorry for bringing you all into this." Harry sighed

"Don't, Harry. None of us was forced to go, we came 'cause we wanted to. It's my fault that Rose and I were taken."

"It's no one's fault, okay?" Rose said frustrated. "It happened. End of. No one's fault, and no one should be blamed for it either."

"Well, there is one person to blame." Neville said as he looked out of the window.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"You-know-who." Neville smiled. "It's his fault."

Dru smiled. "You're right, Neville. If we want to blame someone, let's blame him."

Ron and Hermione squeezed themselves into the small compartment. "You know, if we are going to sit together, at least get us a portion of the train without compartments."

"There's enough room for six." Dru said as she pulled her and Neville's bag of the seat next to her, to make room.

"Rose, you look a bit pale, do you want me to use the motion sickness spell?" Hermione asked as she sat down next to her.

"Rose is fine," Rose replied with a nod. "Can we please have a year that's not filled with complicated things? Harry could use a reprieve!"

"Thank you, Rose. I could do with a peaceful year." He grinned at her.

"What no DA classes then?" Dru smiled.

"What?" Neville had been looking forwards to DA.

"Well, there's no need now anymore." Hermione shrugged.

Dru could feel Neville's disappointment, she gently squeezed his arm, before patting on it. "Maybe you and Luna could start your own DA class." Dru teased him.

"Oh no, not me," Neville shook his head. "I just liked spending time with you all and doing spells and learning them."

"Well, then you could spend time with Luna too, by yourself." Dru teasingly poked him in his side. "You'd like that."

Hermione looked at Neville in surprise. "What? You and Luna?"

Dru looked at Neville and smiled at him

"I'm not interested in Luna," Neville rolled his eyes at Dru. "She's lovely, but she's not what I want."

"Well, what do you want?" Dru asked.

"Not to be bothered with who I should date, that's what."

Dru wanted to asked Neville who his dream girl then was, but Harry dedicated to distract Dru. "How was it spending the summer at the shop?"

Dru started talking about everything Rose and Dru had been doing over the summer.

Harry smiled at Neville, who gave him a very thankful look.

After an hour Dru and Rose decided to take a nap. When Neville woke them up, they were nearly at Hogwarts and Harry, Hermione and Ron were all gone. "Where are the others?" Dru asked as she ran her hands through her hair trying to make it look decent again.

"Hermione and Ron are doing their walks. and Harry disappeared after the two of us came back from the slug club."

"Slug club?" Rose asked confused and reached into her bag for something to drink, but ended up cursing George. "Oh for the..." she started to put whiz-bangs onto the seat next to her and had to keep digging for a bottle of cola, muggle juice. "I don't..." she pulled an extendable ear next to the whiz-bangs which was followed by other stuff that they sold at the shop. "What's slug club?" she asked again.

"Professor Slughorn had a few student gathered in his compartment for a lunch. I don't know why he invited me." Neville was blushing.

"Because you're special." Dru smiled at him.

"I must have missed something, because I have no idea who you're talking about," Rose shook her head and finally dug up her bottle of cola. "Please let this not be jinxed..." she said as she unscrewed the bottle. When she tried to take a sip, nothing came out of the bottle.

"He's our new teacher." Neville said. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I see." Rose put the cap back on, and unscrewed it again. She tried to take another sip and then grew frustrated. "I want to take a drink, that's all, and... George."

Dru smiled as she leaned against Neville again. She had forgotten how comfortable it was just sitting with him on the train.

"He didn't pack your trunk, did he?" Neville chuckled.

Rose found a straw and put it in the bottle and was suddenly able to take a sip. "Ha! Victory! And yes, he did."

"Oh no!" Dru closed her eyes. "Fred packed mine."

"We're doomed," Rose nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll shield you from Fred's jinks," Neville grinned at Dru.

She smiled back at him. "What about Rose?"

"Uhh...yeah...of course." He stammered and gave a weak smile at Rose, while blushing.

"How's Joey? Or didn't you write him a few letters over the summer?" Dru always loved teasing Neville. Fred always teased back, but nothing beat seeing Neville struggle not to let the girls get to him too much.

"Joey doesn't have opposable thumbs, he can't write back, unfortunately." Neville stuck his tongue out to her.

Dru giggled. "You must have been so lonely."

"I kept bugging Fred and George, to see if they were okay and to see if you two were back again," he shrugged. "They do have opposable thumbs," Neville pointed out.

"You really were worried about us." Dru looked at him.

"Yes. But it was fun hanging out with them too, you know. We actually painted half of the store by hand like regular muggles, before we realised it was a lot of work and used magic. They really really love you."

"Wait, you spent time at the store?" Dru looked at Rose, neither one of the boys had mentioned it.

"Well yeah," Neville shrugged. "I came by so often that they decided to put me to use."

"I think it's very sweet of you to check up on the boys like that, Neville, thank you." Rose said as she was stuffing the joke items back into the bag. She was going to hand them out to first years later.

"Did you know Fred and George are calling him our spare now? That's why I'm going to find him a nice girl. He's too good to anybody's spare." Dru took her bag and got out a nice notebook. "Alright so...Luna and Hannah are not your type."

"I don't want a nice girl," Neville protested. "I don't want a girl for now."

"Really? Well...that explains a lot." Dru started writing some more in her book. "So what are you looking for in a boy?"

Rose started to laugh. "Oh good one! Yes Neville, what are you looking for in a boy? Ron's practically taken by Hermione, Harry's practically taken by Ginny, who thinks she's in love with Dean at the moment..."

"Seamus!" Dru exclaimed while laughing.

"Would you stop?" Neville laughed. "You're mad!"

'We just want to see you happy with someone." Dru put the notebook back in her bag. "We liked seeing you with Hannah last year. That's when we got our friend back."

"Yeah well, I'm still your friend, and you'll just have to accept the fact that I'm going to be girlless, and certainly not go after a boy. Ew."

"Are you sure? We could ask Blaise."

"Dru!"

"Fine, I'll stop." She got up. The train had arrived.

* * *

That monday the all the sixth years had to pick their classed in with they wanted to graduate.  
Neville felt slighted embarrassed that he was not allowed to take transfiguration, but when McGonagall told him that his grandmother should be more proud of him and not tell him that charms was not a soft option, only because his Grandmother had failed the subject miserably, he felt a bit better.

Dru was next. She had picked Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, DADA and Herbology, and that last one was going to be a problem.

"Miss Malfoy, you seem to have been struggling with Herbology ever since you set foot into the class. Are you sure you won't take another subject?"

"No, I need it if I want to be a good potion maker."

McGonagall looked at Neville, who was sitting next to her. "Well, Professor Sprout and I thought you might felt this way, so we talked and Professor Sprout will allow you to follow her classes for your NEWT level, but only on one condition. And that one, will include you, Mr Longbottom."

"Of course I will help her," Neville said. "I've always helped her out in the past."

"Well, if she wants to pass, Professor Spout, wants Ms Malfoy to be your assistant on your tutoring classes and your special project."

Dru looked at Neville. His tutoring classes was one of the reason of their split last year, because she was getting on his back about it. Now McGonagall was asking him to let her be a part of the one thing he had that was really his own. "I don't think he-."

"Absolutely," Neville nodded.

Dru smiled at him. "Thank you."

McGonagall approved Dru's schedule and went on to Rose. "Miss Shepherd."

"Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense against the dark arts and uh... if I'm good enough Potions?" She blinked at her own list. She hadn't thought that it would be that much. "Uh... maybe it's a bit too much..."

'"Yes, you have an Exceeds Expectations and professor Slughorn accepts those OWL students, but are you sure you want 6 classes?"

"Yes," she answered quickly. "It'll keep me busy and focussed, and I need them so..."

"Alright, Miss Shepherd, you'd better hurry along with Miss Granger. Ancient Runes is going to start any minute. And so is Herbology." She spoke to Neville and Dru, who were still sitting next to Rose whispering about something.

Neville nearly jumped and started blushing even though he was only telling Dru what his special project was all about.

Dru looked sadly towards Rose. This would be the first time they wouldn't be following the same classes.

"Come on, Rose. We're gonna be late." Hermione said, and grabbed Rose's wrist.

 _Have fun_  Rose smiled at her.  _We can do this!_

"Make sure she pays attention, Hermione." Dru said smiling.

"Oh I'm wearing heels, so she will!" Hermione grinned and pulled Rose along.

"Ouch." Dru said to Neville. Hermione stomping on your toes wasn't nice.

"Let's go to the greenhouses," Neville said and started to walk towards them.

"Let's see who Joey missed more. Me or You?" Dru laughed as she walked alongside him.

"Hi Neville." Hannah had been waiting for him at the entrance of the greenhouses. "I..was wondering..if you wanted … to be my ...partner again...I mean...in class."

"Gee, Hannah, as much as I'd love to, I already have a partner for the greenhouses and she needs my help more than you do."

Hannah looked annoyed at Dru before she turned around and walked inside the greenhouse.

"Neville, it's okay if you wanted to partner with Hannah." Dru said.

"I only said that I'd love to because I don't want to hurt her feelings, she can find someone else to partner with."

"But, Neville..."Dru sat down next to him on their usual work table. "Clearly she still likes you."

"I know."

Suddenly a light bulb went up in Dru's head. "You two didn't grow apart, did you?"

"No."

Dru wanted to ask him why he broke up with her, but decided not to. If Neville lied about it, he didn't want Dru to know about it. "So, how's the Dru plant doing? I noticed you went to see her last night?"

"I'll take you to her after class, now, you need to listen to professor Sprout," he laughed.

Dru smiled and listen to every word the professor asked. class was done, Neville and Dru were having a free period, so Dru decided to let Neville explain more about the plants they were going to focus on the first few weeks.

"How was your summer, Neville?" Hannah was standing next to him. Clearly she wasn't going to give up easy.

"Alright, all things considered. Yours?" Neville asked.

"Bad." Hannah sat. "I stayed with Susan to try and help her." Susan Bones, Hannah's dear friend, is the niece of the murdered Amelia Bones, Head of the department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"I'm sorry. How's Susan doing?" Dru asked.

"Fine." Hannah didn't even look at Dru. "I've written you a few letters over the summer." she placed her hand on Neville's arm. "You never wrote me back."

_Neville, do you want me to make her go away._

Neville blinked at Dru. She'd never been inside his head like this.

_Well?_

"Alright," Neville nodded at Dru.

 _Don't freak out_  Dru leaned against him and wrapped her arm around his very close like she used to when she was still his girlfriend. "He's been kinda busy." She gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Neville?" Hannah asked shocked.

"Yeah, busy," he nodded. "And I wasn't at home a lot either."

"Are you back with-" Hannah asked, she was on the verge of tears.

"She's back," Neville nodded, not lying. Dru had been gone, hadn't she? And he hadn't been at home a lot either, had he?

_Put your arm around me, idiot and give me a kiss on my cheek._

He did as Dru told him to and looked at Hannah. "Sorry."

Hannah turned on her heel and quickly left the greenhouse.

Dru and Neville looked at each other and started laughing. "Okay, I think I'm starting to realise why you dumped her."

"She's a bit over dramatic, isn't she?" Neville said as he pulled Joey out of its soil. "Look, he's grown!"

"Joey!" Dru started tickling his stem. "I missed you. Neville is a bit mad at you though, you never wrote him back."

Neville laughed and sat down on the work table. "He and the Dru plant have been busy over the summer, I'll show you later, but you'll love it."

"Oh, Joey, have you been a naughty boy with the Dru plant?" Dru had taken over Neville's funny way of talking to the plants. It helped ease her around them, by they still made her nervous.

Joey had started to wrap its leaves all around Dru's wrist. "Not naughty, I had to slice off a piece of him and a piece of the Dru plant to make them compatible for each other. He wasn't pleased with me." Neville replied. "But, once I did that, they were unstoppable."

"Bad Neville." Dru said to the plant that was now starting to wrap his leaves tighter around her lower arm too. "Neville." Dru asked unsure of what Joey was doing.

"Hit him," he chuckled. "But my guess is that he just wants to be with you."

"Joey, let go or I'll hit you." Dru spoke sternly. Joey let her go. "Good boy." she turned to Neville. "So what's that monster?" she walked over to a big dark red spiky plant.

"No no... get away from that one!" Neville said.

"Why?" Dru turned around, but before she could walk away, the plant reached out of of his vines and bit her in her neck. "Ouch."

" _Diffindo!_ " Neville said, making sure that the plant let go of her. "Oh Fred's going to kill me," he groaned and looked at Dru. "You okay to walk?"

She nodded, but she felt very light headed. She could barely stand on her feet and tried to hold on to Neville. "I'm alright." She voice was shaking.

"Yeah, you're not," Neville picked her up and quickly made her way over to the infirmary. "You've been bitten by a poisonous plant, you're not alright. Fred's going to kill me."

"It's not your fault. I'll just ...I won't tell Fred." her voice was fading away.

"Oh yeah, how about Rose? She'll kill me for sure. Keep talking, Dru. We're nearly there."

"You're strong. I always loved being in your arms" Dru eyes were closed and she wasn't aware of her surroundings anymore. "Where are we?"

"At the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey!"

"Not you again. What is this time?"

"Venomous Tentacula bite." Neville replied as he put Dru down on the bed. "I came here as fast as I could."

"He's a good boy." Dru took Neville's hand. "He always looks out for me."

"Yes, He's a good boy." Madam Pomfrey said and gave a weak smile to Neville. "He's always bringing me students here."

"Yeah well, figured you got lonely up here," Neville smiled. "She will be alright, won't she?"

Madame Pomfrey looked at him. "You've brought me 6 students here last year with these bites, have they all been alright?" She then noticed that Dru was still holding his hand. "This one is different?"

"It's Dru, she's special, remember?" Neville looked at Madame Pomfrey. "She's been to your infirmary countless of times over the years."

"Yes, I know." Madame Pomfrey put a cold compress on Dru's wound as Madame Hooch came in with a first year.

"Poppy, this one fell off his broom."

"You, hold this to the wound and keep it clean and cold." Madame Pomfrey said to Neville before she made her way to Madame Hooch.

"Another one that set off too hard and get to ride a broom." Madame Hooch said. "They're always afraid to be only left on the ground."

"I didn't do anything to set me off." Neville responded as he kept the compress on Dru's wound. "Scary ride that was."

"Yes, you did." Dru said faintly. She put her hand on his wrist. "Thank you." her voice was barely heard.

"You're welcome, now just rest." He smiled at her. "You're going to be alright."

"Of course I am. I got you, don't I?" she smiled

"Yeah, you do." He softly caressed her hair. "Rest."

"I love you, you know that?" Her eyes were closed and she was almost asleep.

"Yeah... I do..." Neville said softly as he kept caressing her hair. "I love you too."

"I've always loved you." Her hand let his wrist go and she put her hand on her stomach. "I'll never stop loving you."

Neville waited till he was sure Dru was asleep before giving her a kiss on her forehead."Me neither, Dru, me neither."

* * *

Halfway through October, it was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year and Rose couldn't wait to go. She had been keeping up with her school work just fine, and she was even doing great in class. Whenever she had some free time, she sat down next to the bit of portable swamp that professor Flitwick had saved while he had to clean it the previous year and kept studying. Or she wrote letters to George. She had been focussed, and she felt that she had  _deserved_  this weekend.

"Hurry up!" Rose said as she jumped up and down on her bed, fully dressed and ready to go. Dru was taking her time. "Dru!"

"Yeah hold on," Dru had put on a black skirt, black tights with her thigh high boots. She wanted to dress up nice for Fred. She grabbed a pair of earrings and put them on. "Well, you think he'll approve?" she asked as she made a turn in the room.

"You haven't seen him in six weeks, even if you'd go in your jammies he'd approve." Rose rolled her eyes at Dru.

"Thanks." Dru grabbed her short jacket. It was still wasn't worm, but she rather wanted look good, then be warm "Let's go then."

Rose hopped off her bed and put an arm around Dru before walking out of the dormitory with her. "I can't wait, I need a day off from the books!"

"Or the greenhouses." Dru smiled.

"Oh come on, you're starting to love it there," she giggled.

"Well, Neville is the fun part. I'd forgotten how funny he is around plants." Dru explained. "But still, nobody beats my Fred."

"Plants should be the fun part," Rose pointed out.

Dru took a deep breath. "Rose, how many times do I have to tell you that Neville and I are just friends and we're not going to end up together in the future. I only love Fred. By Merlin, I've moved in with him. How much more proof do you need that I love Fred?"

"I meant, you should be focussing on the plants, and not depending on Neville to make it fun for you."

"I am focussing on the plants, but I still don't really care for them. I mean it's more fun than it used to be, but that's because of Neville. he makes working in the greenhouses more fun. He makes a great teacher, like Harry used to be in DA."

"You don't need to defend yourself to me," Rose said as she pulled a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. "Let's just drop it."

As soon as the girls approached Hogsmeade, they saw two very familiar figures waiting for them.

"Fred!" Dru ran straight at him and jumped in his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. "I missed you."

"And I missed you too! And wow, look at the shortness of that skirt! We shall have to buy you something longer that won't shrink in the laundry!" Fred laughed and kissed her.

"Oi! I wore this just for you." Dru said. "Besides it's not that short."

George pulled Rose in his arms. "I missed you." He kissed her.

"Hi," she smiled as she kissed him back. "I've missed you too." She giggled.

"Where's my skirt?" he chuckled.

"I was thinking about just coming to Hogsmeade in my jammies, you know," She put her arms around him and hugged him tight. "You didn't pack me any skirts, so I'm not wearing any skirts. Thanks for the charms on my shoes though, it took me half an hour of running around without being able to stop to realise that you'd done something to them."

"I didn't ….Fred!"

"What?" Fred stopped kissing Dru and looked at his brother. "What?"

"What did you do with Rose's shoes and those skirts that were next to her trunk?"

"Rosie never wears skirts, mate, I put them in Dru's trunk." Fred shrugged. "Did you like the cola bottle too, Rose?"

"I hate you," Rose laughed at Fred before burying her face into George's shirt. She had truly missed being in his arms, she had missed his smell too. "When you go home today, you're leaving your shirt with me."

"Alright!" George smiled. "Where do you want to go?"

"With you." she grinned.

"Well, you got me for the whole day. You can spend it any way you like." He kissed her.

A mischievous smile appeared on Rose's lips. "Any way?"

George's eyes started twinkling. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well... the last time we had some...  _private fun_  was right before you left Hogwarts and I miss having that kind of fun actually..." she said blushing.

George got a key from his jacket. "I was hoping you would say that."

Dru and Fred watched as Rose and George went to the Three Broomsticks. "And they call us bad." Dru smiled as she looped her arm around Fred's.

"Ah, who cares? George has his Rosie back," Fred kissed her softly. "And what do you want to do? Anything you need from here?"

"Hmm... I don't really need anything, but we could go for a walk."

"Then let's go for a walk, my beautiful princ- lady."

Dru growled a bit. "How's the store going?"

"Brilliant. We're sold out on the love potions though, but that's okay, it's pretty quiet in Diagon Alley these days anyway."

"Well I'll make some more love potion and send it your way as soon as I can."

"Don't rush," he chuckled. "It's weird enough that at this point, the only people who buy those things are old ladies."

"Well, rumors are going around that a lot of the girls here at school are interested in your love potions, so I'll try to get around to it in the next week. But how's George doing?"

"Back to his old self, as good as. He got in a big row with Lupin a couple of weeks ago about Rose though, but he's fine."

"Yeah, Rose told me about that row. Lupin is not that happy about them moving in together and from what I heard neither is your mum."

"Mum's just scared that they're too young for this kind of commitment, despite their utter devotion to each other. Dad had to remind her that they were that young too when they started with their own family by moving in together." He chuckled. "And Lupin is just too scared to admit his own feelings for Tonks and wants to deny Rose her own feelings."

"I thought your parents didn't move in with each other until they were married. That's what your mum told us. "

"Well dad told us a different story."

"Fred, if your mum thinks Rose's too young, what on earth is going to say if she found out i moved in too?"

"No idea. I actually think, well... George and I had this plan, to make the small bedroom at our flat into a guest room, we put your stuff in there, but you sleep in my bed with me. That way, if she comes to inspect us, we can show her that you're in the guest room. And, that it's safe for you to come over during breaks, because we have that guest room."

"Well, Tonks already know I moved in and she's okay with it. I'm more worried that you're mum isn't going to like me, like she doesn't Fleur. She loves Rose"

"Neither of you girls like Fleur because she's so pretty and part Veela, she knows what kind of effect she has on men and you girls don't like her for it," he laughed. "To be honest, you're prettier than Fleur."

"Liar."

"Me? A liar?" He stopped walking and pulled Dru closer to him. "I've been called all sorts of things, but never a liar," he said as he kissed her. "I conveniently forget to mention a few details here and there, but a liar? Nah."

"It's a shame you didn't get a room though." Dru greedily kissed him. "It's been a while since we..." she grinned.

"Well, I wanted to show you that I can truly control myself but..." he smirked as he took a key out of his pocket. "I'm a guy."

"Apparate us to the room, will you? I can't wait." Dru kissed him.

_crack_

Later that afternoon the girls and the twins joined Harry, Hermione and Ron for some butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks.

"I bet you glad too see that Dru's doing so well again, aren't you." Ron said.

Dru wanted to kick him in his shines, but he was too far away.

Rose slapped Ron up on the head and smiled at Dru. "You're welcome."

"I was just saying that it's good that she's better again. I mean, by merlin, she was in the infirmary on her first day back." Ron said while rubbing his head

"What?" Fred exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me? What happened?"

"It was nothing, honestly." Dru said trying to wave it away with her hand.

"Didn't you tell Fred what happened?" Harry asked surprised.

"No, she didn't, what happened?" Fred asked again.

"I got myself bitten by a plant that's all."

"What kind of plant, Dru?"

"A Venomous Tentacula.' Dru simply said as she took a sip from her butterbeer.

"You what?"

"Fred, honestly it was nothing. Neville took me up to the infirmary and I was out the next day."

"Neville." Fred said, trying to stay calm. "Neville took you to the infirmary?"

"Yes, Neville. He was there when it happened. He rescued me from the plant, brought me up to the infirmary and stayed with me."

"Neville stayed with you?"

"He thought you were going to kill him, so he wanted to make sure I was okay."

"Oh yes, I  _am_  going to kill him. I told him to stay away from you."

"You what?" She got up, shoved the chair she had been sitting on back and stared Fred down. She was angry alright. "You told Neville to stay away from me?"

"I know what kind of effect he has on you, and I told him that unless someone else is around to keep an eye on him when he's with you, he should stay away."

"Excuse me? The effect he has on me? Have I ever given you one reason to doubt how I feel about you?"

"No, you haven't. But I don't trust Neville around you. I trust you, but I don't trust him."

"He's my best friend, Fred. You better get used to having him around me. And don't ever let me hear you're telling him to stay away from me."

"I'm fine with him when there's someone else with you!" he said. "Not when you two are alone, I don't want him to get these funny ideas inside his head."

"I just spent 6 weeks being alone with him every day and he never did anything.

"You... what? Why didn't you say something? Are you keeping more things from me? Your infirmary visit, Neville... what's next?"

"He's my tutor, Fred. If he didn't tutor me, I had to drop Herbology. And I'm not keeping secrets from you."

Everybody was looking at them yelling at each other. But Fred and Dru didn't even seem to notice. For once in his life Ron knew he had said something he shouldn't have.

"You are being really unreasonable, Fred."

"I am not unreasonable, I've thought about it for a long time, and it's reasonable."

"It's reasonable to tell my best friend behind my back that he's not allowed to be alone with me?"

"Yeah, it is and you're not. You're gonna go to professor Sprout and tell her you need another tutor."

"I will not. You can't tell me what to do, Fred."

"The hell I can. You're mine."

Dru looked at him. "The hell I'm not."

"Fine then."

"Fine." Dru turned on her heels and walked to the door. She heard the sound of a crack behind her telling her that Fred had left too. But she really couldn't care right now.

"What just happened?" Ginny asked. She had been sitting at another table with Dean. "Did they just break up?"

"I don't know..." Rose said slowly.

"I didn't realise..." Ron said, everyone could tell he felt really bad.

"Ron, this is not your fault. Yes, you shouldn't have said anything, but Fred shouldn't have been  _that_  unreasonable." Hermione said.

"It think this is the backlash from Dru disappearing for seven weeks and then just going back to normal in four days." George said. "Unlike me, Fred's been keeping his feelings bottled up."

"He just doesn't want to lose her again," Rose sighed.

"Yeah, but taking it out on Neville is a bit harsh though." Dean said. "Sorry to say this, but Fred practically stole Dru away from Neville and Neville has been very forgiving towards Fred."

"He wasn't taking it out on Neville, he was taking it out on his girlfriend. Shut up Dean." Ron remarked.

"Rose, I think I better go and see how Fred's doing." George said.

"Yeah... I'm going after Dru." she softly kissed George. "Hand me that shirt before you go!" She held onto his jacket.

"Already in your bag." He grinned.

She kissed him again. "I love you."

"I love you too." He kissed her. "Stop making that face, Ron."

"You're gross." Ron shuddered.

"Just wait till you get a girlfriend. Bye Sweetie."

"Bye," she giggled and rose from her seat before George apparated.

_Crack_

"Right, I'm going to talk to Dru," she said resolutely after downing her butterbeer. "If I'm not in the common room by 9pm tonight, send a rescue team."

"I'll come with you." Ginny said

"Me too." Hermione said.

"Alright, let's all go and talk to Dru," she chuckled and headed out of the Three Broomsticks.

Neville had come back from Hogsmeade and decided to check out the Dru plant before returning to the castle, when he opened the secured door to the greenhouse that housed the Dru plant, he could hear someone crying. And since only he, Dru and professor Sprout had access to this greenhouse he didn't have to see her to know it was Dru. He looked around for her and found Dru in the far corner.

She was sitting on the ground with her knees to her chest, her arms hugging her legs and her face resting on her knees.

"Dru, what happened?" Neville asked concerned as he sat down next to her. "Are you hurt?"

Dru shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine to me," he said and put his arm around her. "Did something happen at Hogsmeade?"

Dru nodded and looked at him. her mascara had run down over her face. "Why didn't you tell me Fred told you to stay away from me?"

"Because he has no right to do so? And it's a bit weird, isn't it? I mean, we're classmates, it's not like I can ignore you."

"He told you we couldn't be alone together. He had no right to."

"I know," he smiled at her. "But I can understand though, I'm your ex-boyfriend, and he was beside himself when you weren't at home, when you were... well... taken. He probably thinks that I'm a threat and take you away from him."

"He's ridiculous...you don't love me anymore" Dru put her head again Neville's and started crying again. "It's all wrong now."

"I would have done the same," he said softly and caressed her back. "If I were in Fred's place, I mean."

"We ...had a fight...and I... I think we broke up."

"Well, if you  _think_  you broke up, I doubt you actually broke up," he chuckled. "You need to talk to him about it."

"I...he was so angry...I don't know what to do."

Neville kept rubbing her back and kept quiet for a moment. "What would you do if things were the other way around? Say that Fred has an ex girlfriend that he was really good with and that she's working at the shop. Would you like him to be alone with her?"

"I never gave him any trouble with him hanging around with Alicia or Patricia. And Angelina, well...he didn't want to be around her anymore."

"No, but what if... put yourself in his shoes for a bit. Even though he trusts you, he doesn't trust me."

"But Neville, you have always been my friend, you're my best friend. ….You know what, it doesn't matter anymore...god, I don't even have a place to live now."

"Don't be so dramatic. Just write him. I'm sure that it was all a bit of a misunderstanding."

"No it wasn't." Dru dried her eyes. She looked at her hands and saw the black smears of mascara on her hands. "God, I'm a mess." she chuckled.

"Yep," he chuckled. "You want me to write him?"

"No," Dru shook her head. "I want an apology from him, you and I didn't do anything wrong."

"Then write him."

Dru put her head on his shoulder again. "You're a good friend, Neville."

"I know," he smiled, still rubbing her back.

Dru looked at him, smiled and caressed his cheek. "I wish everybody could see how great you are."

"What? You want me to grow taller so they can see me?" he chuckled. "No thanks, gran already thinks I'm too tall."

"You're an idiot." Dru looked at Neville, she loved the way his eyes sparkled when he laughed. Dru planted a kiss on his cheek. "But you're the best idiot I've ever known."

He softly caressed her hair. "I'm your idiot, remember?"

Dru smiled. "Always, you know that."

Out of habit, or maybe more of  _want_ , Neville softly kissed her on the lips.

Dru backed away from him instantly. "Neville?"

"What? You didn't like it?"

"Neville, what?" Dru couldn't believe he just kissed her.

"Oh come on, Dru," he said as he shifted a little so he could look at her. "You can't deny that there's still something between  _us_ , something more than just friends and I... I want... well. You."

Dru shook her head in disbelief . "What are you...Neville...I'm confused." Her head was spinning a million directions. What started off as such a good morning turned into something dark and twisted and Dru couldn't think straight anymore.

"In the past, all it took to get you back was to kiss you," Neville said before kissing her again. "Come back to me, Dru."

Dru hadn't been able to shake off being confused, but after a few seconds, her mind cleared up and she realised it wasn't right. She pushed him away. "Neville, don't."

"It's not working, is it?" he sighed and moved away from her.

Dru had tears in her eyes. "Oh god, you dumped Hannah because of me, didn't you."

"Yeah... she's not you."

"Neville, you're confused. You're only feeling this because they took me and you felt responsible. You got over me, remember. You don't love me anymore." Dru didn't want this. She wanted Neville to her friend and having him be in love with her again, she feared she'd lose him again.

"I'm not confused, Dru. Yes, I've missed you, but I've never stopped loving you."

Dru started crying again. "No, you did, you have to. You can't be in love with me anymore. You just can't. I don't want to lose you again." she tried to scramble to her feet, but Neville was holding onto her arm.

"Dru, please."

"Neville, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to tell me you still love me. We both know you do."

"I do, I do love you." She whispered. "But I love Fred more."

"Fine, but I'm not giving up."

Dru scrambled to her feet and ran out of the greenhouse, straight up to the common room. Ginny was sitting on the sofa, waiting for Hermione and Rose to find Dru. "Oh! There you are!" Ginny greeted her. "Hermione and Rose are looking for you... are you okay? You look like a mess!"

Dru just collapsed to the floor. "No. everything is wrong. I don't know what to do anymore, Ginny."

"Oh come on, Fred's not angry with you," she said with a smile, happy that she seemed to be talking to her again. "He just misses you."

Dru started crying again. "Everything is ruined. I lost Fred and Neville and you."

"You haven't lost me, nor Fred... and Neville... well... I don't know about him," Ginny sat down on the floor next to Dru. "George had a perfectly clear explanation for what Fred did."

"But he was so mad at me. And I've been so mean to you." Dru put her head on Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny put her arms around Dru and smiled as she caressed her hair. "I haven't been particularly reasonable myself, and yes, Fred was mad, but not at you. More at the world. You see, he likes to bottle up his feelings whereas George... anyway, Fred's been so afraid of losing you again, that yes, he might have been unreasonable towards Neville, but he really doesn't want to lose you again."

"Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

"We're sisters now. Sisters fight, but we always forgive each other. Just like you and Rose."

Dru put her head on Ginny's lap. "Gin, would you help me make things right with Fred?"

"I think you should just write him a letter."

Dru nodded, she got up and took a piece of parchment and a quill from Ginny's stuff on the table.

_Dear sweet Fred,_

_I'm really sorry for not telling you about the Venomous Tentacula bite, but i didn't want you to get worried. By the time I could write to you about it, I was already fine. I wasn't lying about it to you, I just didn't tell you, because i know how worried you already are about me._

_But I am really angry with you for telling me and Neville that we can't be alone together. You might be right in thinking Neville still loves me, but he knows how much you love me and more important how much I love you. He would never try anything on me, because he knows it's useless. As much as I always love him, I love you more than I've ever loved him._

_I don't like that the nice day we were having, got ruined by our fight and I don't even know if we're still together, but I really hope so. I love you, Fred, and I want to stay with you for the rest from life. hopefully I'll see at the Christmas Break so we can spend our first Christmas as a couple._

_I LOVE YOU_

_Your Firecracker Dru._

_P.S. George gave Rose his shirt, so she could have his smell near her. Would you sent me one of yours?_

Dru gave to the letter to Ginny to read. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think you should add an 'are you alright' in there somewhere," she nodded.

Dru added the following.

_I hope that you are alright. I'm worried about you. If something is wrong or bothering you, you should just tell me and don't bottle things up. It makes you unhappy and I don't like seeing you unhappy._

"How about now?"

"Yep, good," she smiled.

"I'm going to find Ron or Harry, see if I can borrow Hedwig or Pig."

"I think that's a good idea, and when I see Rose and Hermione I tell them that all is well."


	29. Home for Christmas

Rose knew that it was all about maintaining the balance, when it came to her gift. Or curse. Most recently she had found it a curse, a trouble magnet. Everything she had said about it not working properly or whatever, had been a lie. It had never stopped working the way it did, and now that she knew that those dark things, those things she hadn't been able to break through or get around to figure out what it was, were deliberate attempts of Voldemort to see what his plans were, she found it was easier to ignore them and concentrate on the good side of the balance for the upcoming war, but it was all still a blurry mess.

She had a better way of dealing with it now. She meditated more often, and usually tried to find a quiet spot to do so (because the prefects' bathroom, even though it was roomy and beautiful for a bathroom, had Myrtle. And once Myrtle started talking, she didn't stop and that made it hard to meditate) or she'd do it late at night when everyone else was asleep, just so that she wouldn't be disturbed.

Meditation not only made her clear her mind, made her mind clearer and her focus sharper, it also helped her to calm down and keep her emotions in check. All in all, it had helped her to make her a better person, and realise that she was one  _very_  lucky girl.

She grew up with her workaholic grandfather who was a perfectionist and everything had to be proper and good. Then she had a house elf who was paying more attention to Rose's crazy father under the imperius curse, and a tutor who taught Rose everything she needed to know school wise. Her crazy father always encouraged her to do whatever she wanted, create mayhem or learn a lot about jinxes, curses and other spells and now she thought about it, she had never been properly been kept in check until she came to Hogwarts.

Rose had never meant for making friends, and now, in her sixth year, she was surrounded by people that she truly liked and would do anything for, especially for Dru. (Dru and Neville were still going to end up together in the future even though Rose didn't know how, but since Dru wasn't believing and kept denying it, Rose had never mentioned it again. She'd say 'I told you so' at the appropriate time) She of course had befriended the rest of the Weasley family at Hogwarts, and of course Hermione and even the boy who lived. Who would have thought?

She was still surprised that she had a boyfriend, and in effect had been assimilated into a huge, warm and amazing family who actually liked her and cared for her. And George... was a completely different person than she had thought he was. In her first few years at Hogwarts she thought that both Fred and George (she hadn't been able to tell them apart) were just the fun, popular Quidditch guys who liked to pull pranks.

It wasn't until George asked her to the yule ball that she realised that, especially George, had this whole different side to him and she had felt safe with him. Not over time, but instantaneously. It was funny that at the time of the ball, she was thinking about how her Father had looked at her in a disapproving way, and that she thought that George was 'just a boy who took her to the ball' and that 'it was not a life binding contract' but in a way, it was. George was not 'just a boy' and she wasn't going to leave him. Ever. And the funny thing was, in a way, she had to thank her father for George. Her father, who despised the Weasleys, had told her to find a friend to talk to while he was posing as Dumbledore to her. Her father had meant for her to go and see Draco, probably, but she ran to George.

George, much like herself, was not opposed to a little chaos and mayhem, but all in good fun. His influence made her stop hurting people when she created her own bit of chaos.  _He_ was her rock, her tether to the good side. If it hadn't been for him, she'd have stopped fighting while she and Dru had been taken. If it hadn't been for him, she'd have done stupid things after her grandfather and father were taken from her. Well, she did do stupid things whilst being with George, but all in all, she was doing better.

She had friends, a big family and one annoying werewolf who was her guardian and afraid to give in to his own feelings because he was 'dangerous'. Well basically, now that she was seventeen, his guardianship would have ended, but he was still butting into  _her_  affairs. Maybe it was time for him to stop.

She had been using the Room of Requirement quite often to meditate in, she had seen Draco come in and out of it as well, she knew that he had been fiddling with  _something_  but she wasn't sure what. And, because the room reset every time its previous occupant left, she hadn't figured it out yet.

It wasn't as if the Gryffindors or any of the DA members had the only right to use the Room of Requirement, Draco had found out about it during the previous year and he had every right to use it as she had. She usually was able to get out in time before he'd arrive, but he was now pounding on the door, disturbing the peace and quiet in the room. SIghing, she rose to her feet and made her way out, making eye contact with him and his lackeys Crabbe and Goyle, before making her way to the Gryffindor common room to write George a note, suddenly missing him terribly.  _Just a few more weeks,_  she told herself.  _A few more weeks until Christmas and George!_

She was on her way to the owlery to find an owl that could send her note over to George (she understood why Dru likened Hedwig or Pig over any of the Hogwarts owls, but the owls were there for a reason anyway) when she turned a corner and ran into Crabbe and Goyle and they were blocking her path. "Would you mind?"

"Well, what do we have here?" Goyle said smirking.

"What do you want?" Rose sighed, Draco's lackeys had never really been able to intimidate her.

"I think it's one one the weasels sluts." Crabbe was taking Rose in, as if he was looking at dinner.

"What do you want?" Rose asked again, staying calm. She could take them, easily.

"I want to find out what the weasel thinks is so special about you." Crabbe was now standing next to her, forcing her to either look a him or Goyle.

"You really want to know?" she said with a sweet smile on her face as she took hold of her wand. "Really?"

Goyle grabbed Rose's arms and turned them behind her back with force, making sure she could go anywhere or use her wand.

" _Locomotor Mortis_ "

"I really want to know." Crabbe had used the leg-locker-curse to make sure that Rose wasn't able to knee him, he had been planning this for a long time. He stroke Rose's hair out of her face. "So tell me what is it that weasel likes about you then?"

"Get your hands off me, you swine." She spat and realised that the two boys were smarter than anyone else had thought.

"But I'm just getting started." He let his hand slide down her neck.

"Get off!"

"I'm planning to," Crabbe grinned and then nodded to Goyle. "And he'll be next."

"Please, just... stop." Okay, so maybe the being calm and in control option in her head wasn't working. She had started to panic.

"No, and we're going to have a bit of fun, and you're not going to tell another soul about this. Do you wanna know why?" Crabbe moved his hand over her breast.

"If you don't I'm going to make another visit to Dru when she's in the astronomy tower again." Goyle whispered in her ear.

"If you don't stop  _right now_ , I'll make sure to make your life a living hell when you're through with me and you won't even be able to touch Dru ever again." She spat in a random surge of bravery.

"You're a feisty one, I like that. Feisty ones are so much more fun, aren't they." Crabbe smirked at Goyle.

"Yeah, I always loved it when Dru tried to fight me off, not that she could." Goyle's tone was nasty. Like he did something that he shouldn't have done.

Suddenly there were footsteps on the stairs. It startled Crabbe. He turned to Rose. "Just remember, one word and Dru gets another go at this."

Goyle pushed Rose to the ground and they quickly got out of there.

Rose could hear them talking to someone, before they went down. This could only mean one thing; there was another slytherin on his way. She didn't like this, at all. She was trying hard not to freak out and fight off the jinx on her own, but it wasn't working. "At least you could have released me!" She called out after the boys.

"Rose?" Draco walked into the owlery. "What happened to you?" He looked paler than usual and his face was thin. He reminded Rose of Dru when she had lost weight again.

"Oh don't pretend you don't know," she said shakily. "Please help me up, I'm not mad, I know you guys are just following orders."

Draco muttered the counter curse to set rose's leg free and helped her back on her feet. "Did Crabbe and Goyle do this to you?" His voice was angry and at the same time concerned. He put an arm around her and walked her to the window and sat her down. "Sit here, if you start walking too fast, you'll fall down."

"Thanks... and yeah..." Rose nodded with a sigh. "Didn't know he was that smart." She put away her wand and started to rub her legs. "So, what are you guys up to then?"

"I'm just here to send a letter." He showed her the letter in his hand. "Look, I'll take care of Crabbe and Goyle. They won't bother you again." He rubbed his eyes, he was tired and really couldn't use any more worries right now. "I promise."

"I'm not so worried about myself, more about Dru..." she sighed and looked at him. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about Dru. I'm already working on a way to help her." Draco sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I won't let anyone hurt her."

"Draco, are you okay? Is there anything I can help you with? I feel like I owe you, for just now and... well... this summer." She didn't like him very much, but in all honesty, he had always been somewhat nice to her  _and_  was one of the reasons that she and Dru had had something to eat during their stint with the Death Eaters.

"You're sweet, but you can't." He closed his eyes as he could feel the tears appear in his eyes. He didn't want to break down in front of her.

"Or I can, but you won't let me because I might foil some evil, dark plans?" She looked at him with a smile. "Harry saw you at Borgins. So my guess is that you've found something at Hogwarts that was there too, and you want to see if something works or not."

"You can't because I don't want you to get in trouble too." He looked at her, knowing his eyes were full of tears. He put his hand on her cheek. "I'll never forgive myself if something happened to you."

She felt sorry for him. Whatever he had been instructed to do, was weighing hard on him. He was responding the exact way Dru did whenever she was sad and it broke her heart. She knew that he was being forced to be on the bad side because of his father, unlike Dru, Draco didn't have anywhere else to go or turn to. "Draco," she sighed. "I'm offering you my help, what is it that has gotten you so worried?"

"They're so angry with her. First for running away, then for escaping. She was supposed to be on our side. the two of us together, that's how Father saw us, the next generation of leaders. But now...I'm so scared for her." He rested his forehead on Rose's shoulder. "I don't want her to get hurt."

"I think that's common knowledge these days," she smiled at him and gently pat him on his arm. "You do know that we're doing all we can to keep her safe, don't you?"

"You don't understand. They're beyond the point of trying to convince her to join our side. They...I'm scared that they don't want her to join us anymore." Draco lifted his head up and looked in her eyes. His pale, grey eyes were crying now.

"Well, that's a good thing then, isn't it?" she said and sighed. She didn't like seeing boys cry. It was weird. "Maybe they'll leave her alone now."

"They're angry. They want her to pay for betraying us." Draco moved his mouth to Rose's ear. "I'm scared they want her dead." He whispered.

She didn't quite like it that Draco was so close to her. "But she's safe here at Hogwarts, Draco."

"i don't think she is. I'm working on a way to get her out of the castle if danger comes. A vanishing cabinet. but I can't get it to work, will you help me fix it." His face was close to her, he was looking straight into her eyes. "Please, I don't want to see her killed."

"Alright..." she nodded slowly. "I suppose it's always good to have a backup plan..."

"Thank you." Draco leaned in and kissed her lips. It was very different from the last kiss she had gotten from him. That one was violent and forceful, this was desperate, almost a cry for help. He needed her.

She gently pushed him away from her. "Just... don't do that again, okay?" she warmly smiled at him. "I will help you out, but that's because it's in Dru's best interest and yours."

Draco hid his face in his hands. "Nothing's as it should have been, you were supposed to my girl, and we should have gotten married and have kids together and then our kid would be cousins with Dru's and we would have been so happy, all of us, now you two are still going to be sisters in law and I'm going to lose you both." He was sobbing.

She softly caressed his hair. "I'm sorry, Draco," she said. "But... hadn't it been for George, I wouldn't even have liked boys, or the idea of a future with... oh god, many kids."

Draco put his head on her shoulder again. "Nothing in my life is going as it should. Father is in prison, Mother is heartbroken over...well everything and I'm losing my sister. She means the world to me."

"It will all work out in the end," she said soothingly. "Don't worry, just do as you are told and you will be fine."

Draco said up straight again and dried his eyes. "Promise me you'll help me with the cabinet, for Dru?"

"I promise. I shall try and find books and see if I can help in any way."

Draco gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you." He walked to the exit, before turning around. "Please don't tell Dru about this. I don't want to worry her."

"Don't worry, Draco, it's not like I see a lot of her these days with our different schedules." She slowly got to her feet again, slightly wobbly but steady enough. "And thank you."

"For what?" He narrowed his eyes at her. He hadn't done anything.

"Getting me to my feet," she smiled, before making her way towards the owls.

He smiled. "I always got your back. You know that." he turned around and walked away.

* * *

Rose, Dru, Ginny and Hermione were sharing a compartment on the train back to London for the christmas break. Dru en Ginny were still trying to convince Hermione to come with them to the Burrows or to the Wizard Wheezes for the break, but Hermione didn't want to. Rose understood her, it was hard for Hermione to spend time near Ron, now he was dating the annoying Lavender Brown.

"Please, I'm not coming with you. I want to go see my parents." Hermione sighed.

"But.."

"Ginny, let it go." Rose sighed. "Family is important, you know that," she said with a smile.

"Fine." Dru was looking out of the window. It would be the first time she was going to see Fred since their fight. It had taken him three weeks before he finally answered her letter.

_Hey Dru,_

_I'm not angry, or maybe I am, but I don't think so. And maybe I reacted a little bit too explosive towards you but it's hard, you know. I already had to miss you for most of the summer, now you're at Hogwarts and I'm not there to be with you. To protect you, to... keep an eye on Neville._

_Don't get me wrong, he's a decent bloke, somewhat. He's not decent in the way he dumped you or whatever, but he truly cares for you and I realised that he still has feelings for you and that he wants you back. He thought I didn't notice, but I did._

_Forgive me for being jealous and afraid that I might lose you again. I should trust you, and I do, and I just forgot, I suppose._

_I'm doing okay, now. George knocked some sense into me and helped me see that I should be glad that you're safe and healthy and back, and not jealous because I can't be with you and Neville is._

_Sorry, no shirt. Those secrecy sensors are a pain in the ass, just come and get one when you get back during christmas break!_

_Love you,  
Fred_

Dru must have read the letter a hundred times now. As much as she hated the 'hey Dru'(it sounded like he could have written the letter to Ron or Ginny) , she loved the "love you" at the bottom.

She knew he was right about Neville. The week after he kissed her, he had tried several times to get her back, until she told Hannah that Neville still really liked her and asked Dru to act like his girlfriend to get Hannah jealous. This made Hannah resume her attempts to get Neville back, Neville on his turn was so pissed at Dru for this, he only spoke to her if it was necessary. Dru decided to let it stay that way for a while. She just wanted Neville to forget about her so they could just be friends again.

When Dru though the girls weren't looking, she got Fred's letter out of her bag and read it for the hundred and first time now.

Hermione tapped on Ginny's shoulder and looked in Dru direction.

"Oh to be in love," Ginny sighed happily. "Be careful now, next time you read that letter it could rip apart!"

Dru blushed and quickly put the letter bag in her bag, which had the other three girls in stitches. "Shut up." Dru smiled.

"I don't know which one of you is worse; you for reading that letter over and over again or Rose for studying next to the bit of swamp in the hall." Hermione grinned.

"Or Ginny for drooling over Harry, while she kissing Dean." Dru smirked. "Or Hermione for taking McCormac to Slug's Christmas Do."

"You guys are coming to our house for christmas and New years eve, aren't you?" Ginny asked.

Dru shrugged and looked at Rose, unlike Dru how only got the one letter from Fred, Rose got two letters a week from George.

"Of course!" Rose smiled. "George and Fred have bought your mum some fancy things for Christmas and they cannot wait to get new jumpers."

"Which reminds me." Dru searched in her bag. "Hermione, Rose and I bought you a gift together, but we didn't want to send it, because it's fragile.' She handed Hermione a gift box with a golden ribbon on it.

"Oh my god!" Hermione squealed as she opened the box. "This is... wow! You shouldn't have!" She lunged at the girls and flung her arms around them. "Thank you!"

"Well, you're going to be our sister in law one day, so we wanted to get you something nice. We bought Lavender a tiny, tiny bottle of bath pearls." Dru smirked, she hated the fact that Ron was dating Lavender.

"Jinxed, of course," Rose nodded. "The moment she uses them for a bath and gets in, it'll turn into slime."

"It's a Christmas gift for the boys, new products."

"Oh no," Ginny chuckled.

"I can't wait to see Fred again. I just want to hold him and then I know everything is okay again." Dru sighed. She closed her eyes, they would be there any minute and then she could hug Fred.

"Smitten Kitten," Rose chuckled and started to put her notebook back into her bag. She had been working on that cabinet with Draco for a while now, but she wasn't getting anywhere yet. Draco was no help either. It wasn't just a simple matter of using a hammer and bang it up to put it back together, it needed a spell of some sort to be activated and all the books at Hogwarts were useless. She might go to the bookstore in Diagon Alley to look for obscure books, but that was only if the situation hadn't changed in there. She just wanted to spend a nice few weeks with George and forget about school.

As the train rolled in the station, Hermione got up and gave all the girls a hug. "Merry Christmas, girls"

"Merry Christmas," Ginny got up and got her bag.

"Merry Christmas, Hermione."

"Merry Christmas."

Rose practically dived into George's arms as soon as she saw him on the platform. "George!"

"Hi Sweetie, I missed you." He gave her a kiss, before turning to Dru. "He's really, really sorry, but he mixed up the date on a meeting with the supplier. He had to go to the meeting, he'll be home as soon as he can."

Dru tried to smiled and gave George a hug. "Well, I'm glad you're here though."

"Come on, Let's go home." George took both the girl by their hands

_crack_

Dru gave a sigh of relief. She loved the smell of the apartment, it felt like home. "Home." she muttered. "I'm going to help out in the store." She threw her bag on the sofa and bounced of the stairs.

George pulled Rose in his arms. "Hm, I've got you all to myself now."

"Hmm, yes," she laughed. "But you have a shop to run with your brother away, and I shall do inventory of the kitchen before taking that bouncing ball of Dru for food shopping."

"They opened a muggle store on the muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron. Handy for getting you your muggle food." George smiled and kissed her.

"Hey, you eat muggle food too, just because it's being called differently doesn't mean it's not the same," she chuckled and kissed him back.

"I have to go downstairs." He broke off the kiss, groaned, gave her one more quick kiss and went downstairs.

Rose chuckled and went to the kitchen where she found it to be a disaster area. It was obvious that the boys  _tried_  to take the effort to clean up, but Dru would go mental if she'd see the state of it all. It was as easy as waving your wand for the boys and they hadn't done it. Poor Dru would get a heart attack and do it all by hand. Rose pulled out her wand and made the kitchen look spotless with everything in its right place and clean too, before opening the cupboards and checking up on the contents. She was fearing the laundry.

Dru came bouncing back upstairs again. "I love being home." She said happy and gave Rose a hug that lasted just second or two too long.

"Ah, yes..." she smiled and put her arms around Dru. "He'll be back soon, don't worry. We can go shopping in the meantime? We need a lot of food, and drinks and... well just a lot."

Dru smiled. "I just want to hold him. It's not like we had a happy goodbye the last time I saw him. It still feels a bit broken. Thats why I wanted to have him in my arms, so I know we're good again."

"I know, I know, and you will, but he's not here right now. So, we're going to do the food shopping and prepare our own welcome home meal for the boys, what do you say?"

"Yeah, I'll go shopping but then I have to go to the bank. I promised George I'd take the earnings to the bank, he wanted to help you do the cooking."

"Alright. Let's go to the new muggle supermarket outside the Leaky Cauldron on the other side," she smiled.

Dru nodded and grabbed her bag from the sofa. "Let's go."

They bought a lot of food, snacks and drinks before they went back to Diagon Alley. Dru headed straight for the bank, and Rose brought the stuff up herself. It was fun, the Leaky Cauldron had made a small area behind tall fences for wizards to unload their overflowing shopping carts into their own bags, and Rose and Dru had ended up with just one bag.

George was looking at her with a big smile as she unloaded the bag. "Oh, you sexy minx," he sighed happily. "I've missed that view," he cocked his head for a better view. "Oh and that one."

"Stop drooling and help," she chuckled.

"Undo you from the bag?"

"No, the groceries."

"But..." George took the bag from her and dropped it on the floor. Rose winced, it sounded as if all the eggs were broken now. He then put his arms around her and softly kissed her lips. "I've missed you, and the first thing you do is send me downstairs and go shopping for food."

"And I'm glad I did because there wasn't anything in the cupboards."

"But you just came home."

"And we're hungry." she laughed as she hopped on the kitchen counter to be able to kiss him better. "I've missed you too, very much," she smiled as she put her arms around his neck, and used her legs to pull him closer to her before she kissed him again.

George lifted her up from the counter and put her on the table instead. "I really, really, really missed you." He said huskily as he gently pushed her on her back while kissing her neck.

Rose giggled and dug her hands into his hair. "Ohh... I see..."

"So can I." Fred said. He was leaning against the doorpost of the kitchen.

"Fred!" She squeaked.

"Ah why did you return now? I was just having fun!" George complained and helped Rose off the table.

Fred grinned and looked around. "Just to two of you, ha?" Thinking Dru might have gone to the Burrows.

"No, I brought you a present," Rose chuckled. "She's at Gringotts right now."

"Wait..."George checked his watch. "Shouldn't she be back yet?"

"Relax, she's gone for maybe half an hour now, we went to the supermarket together." Rose said.

"Rose, you've already been back for more than an hour." George said concerned. "She should have been long back by now." He went upstairs to check the bedrooms, but quickly came down again. "Not upstairs either, was she in the store?" He asked Fred.

"No mate," Fred replied. "I'm going to the bank and see what's taking her so long."

Suddenly they heard someone walking on the stairs, Dru had come home and walked into the sitting room with a wooden box in her hands. It wasn't heavy, even though it looked like it was.

"And where have you been?" Fred, George and Rose chorused.

"Uh... sorry, they asked me if I needed to go my vault too, so I did, I had forgotten it's very deep down." Dru looked at the floor. It had been a spur of the moment thing and she shouldn't have done it without telling them where she was. "Sorry, I didn't think."

"What's that?" George asked as he pointed at the box.

Dru shrugged her shoulders. "It was in the vault and it had my name on it."

"Shouldn't be something bad, otherwise the sensors would have gone off," Fred replied, looking at George for a moment before putting his arms around Dru and softly kissed her. "Welcome home, my little firecracker."

"Hi." Dru smiled and put the box on the table so she could put her arms around him. "I missed you."

Rose then hit George on his butt and slapped Fred on his back.

"Why did you do that for?" the twins chorused, looking at her in shock.

"The kitchen was a mess!"

"What? What did you do with my kitchen." Dru put her hands on her hips and menacingly looked at the boys.

The boys shrugged.

"They were too lazy to wave their wands around, that's for sure, but don't worry, it's all beautiful again."

Dru shook her head, took the box from the table and sat down on the sofa.

George gently pushed Rose back into the kitchen, "Let's make a mess again."

Dru took the note that was on the box and looked at the back of it. It only said her name. "This wasn't in the vault before." she looked at the letter, like she was too scared to open it.

Fred sat down on the sofa with her and pulled her in his arms. "You can open it later," he said and softly kissed her. "I've missed you."

Dru smiled and put the box and the letter back on the table. She then put her head on his shoulder. "Why did it take you so long to write me back, are you still mad at me?"

"I had to think a lot about what happened, I'm sorry." Fred sighed and started to caress her hair. "I'm a jealous idiot, can you forgive me?"

"I already forgave you weeks ago, but when I didn't hear from you, I was scared you didn't want us back together anymore."

"Well, the shop has been busy and I've been too tired to think and write at the same time, but I also wasn't sure what happened between us, you know... But I'd never break up with you," he said and softly kissed her lips before kissing her neck. "That was foolish of me to say, sometimes I like to take the easy way out."

"What do you mean 'the easy way out'? Were you waiting for me to break up with you?" Dru push him away from her a bit. His last sentence had confused her a bit. "Did you think about breaking up with me?"

"No, but I don't like fights, and if I could break up with George I would have done so many many times. If I had broken up with you, if I had meant what I said, then I would have kicked myself later, because I don't want to lose you."

Dru put her hands around Fred's face and smiled. "Fred, we've been together almost a year now and we only had one big fight. Now I don't like to fight either, but father used to say, when a couple doesn't fight, a couple doesn't communicate. And he's right. We're going to have fight now and then. Just lets promise each other, no matter how big the fight, we always talk or write to each other within one week." She gently kissed him. "Hang on, aren't you supposed to be the adult around here? and me the horny teenager?"

"George's the sensible one, remember?" He pointed towards the kitchen and then grinned. "I call him 'dad' sometimes, it's hilarious."

"Should we call Rose mummy then?" Dru chuckled.

"I think she'll kill us."

"But Fred, that means that what I'm about to do is very wrong." She had devilish smile on her face as she sat on her knees. "And illegal."

He looked at her with big eyes. "What are you going to do?"

"If they're mom and dad, we're the kids." She pushed him on his back and sat on top of him. "And then this is very wrong." She smiled as she leaned over him and kissed him.

"Pff..." he chuckled and pulled her closer to him as he kissed her back.

"You guys, dinner." George said.

"Now?" Fred groaned. "It was just getting fun."

"What goes around, comes around, Fred." George chuckled. "Come on, we haven't made anything horrible."

"We hope!" Rose called from the kitchen.

"Í'm not hungry?" Dru asked Fred, she was scared to eat anything George made.

"Oh come on, I'm not that horrible," Rose chuckled and got out of the kitchen. "Up!"

"Yes, Mum." Dru growled and got of Fred and the sofa. "To be continued?" She grinned at Fred.

"'Mum'?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"I love you mummy." Dru said as she walked passed Rose into the dining room and gave Rose a kiss on her cheek.

"Fred, get up." George said as he took the bowl of boiled potatoes into the dining room.

"Oi! I'm not that old!" Rose called after Dru before bringing the meat in. "You're cooking tomorrow, just so you know."

Dru laughed. "Sweetheart, I've cooked nearly every meal in this house for the whole summer, but fine, I'll cook tomorrow." She helped herself to some spring beans. "But you're still mum."

"Yeah well, I'm not that creative with food the way you are, if I cook every day, it gets boring very quickly."

Dru blew Rose a kiss over the table. "I'll take that as a compliment. But you and George did a good job. It taste good."

"Thank Dru." George smiled. He then patted Fred on the back. "We've cooked, you clean."

"I've got my wand for that," He grinned.

"Oh no, as punishment for calling me mum, you're going to do it manually," Rose nodded.

"Oh, good one!" George grinned and quickly took Fred's wand away from him.

"He likes manual labour  _on_  his wand." Dru chuckled.

"Dru!" Rose and George said in disgust and shoved their plates aside.

"What? I didn't say anything about me doing the manual labour."

"Fred, tell her to button it." George said

"Wait, that from the two that were trying to have sex on  _our_  kitchen table?" Fred asked frowned.

"We weren't going to have sex," Rose rolled her eyes at Fred.

"Yeah, we were." George smirked

"Ew! I have to eat off that table." Dru laughed.

She sighed. "Let's drop the subject because I  _am_  hungry and I want to eat. One more word of... innuendo's and I'll be eating in the den."

Dru looked at Fred and laughed. "Innuendo."

"Funny little word, isn't it?" Rose said, trying to scoff down her food.

"Yeah In...nu..en...do...in and do" Dru smirked, leaving George and Fred in stitches.

Rose picked up her plate, got off her chair and walked to the den where she sat down on the sofa, to continue eating in peace.

"Oh come on back, Rose. Don't be such a baby, we're just having a laugh." Dru said.

"Rose, come back in here." Fred said.

"She's just tired, never mind," George said quietly, he had already faced the wrath of Rose in the kitchen when something he said didn't register quite right and she had been looking at him as if she could kill him. But then again, Rose was always a little off on train travel days, so it was alright. "She'll be fine tomorrow."

Dru threw her fork on the table. "Well, I'm not hungry now anymore either. I'm going to unpack my things." She got off her chair, got the wooden box and stormed up to her and Fred's bedroom.

Fred and George just looked at each other. "Go talk to her, I'll clean up." George said and gave Fred his wand back.

"Yes, talking," Fred sighed and skulked off to his bedroom to join Dru.

Dru was sitting in the middle of the bed with the box in front of her. she had her wand in her hand and she was tapping on the box with it, muttering little spells. When Fred got in the room, she gave him a sweet smile. "Sorry about storming off, but her bad days, always get me moody too, it's the empath thing."

Fred shrugged. "Soon she can apparate herself home, should work wonders," he chuckled and sat down on the bed with her. "So, what's with the box?"

"It was in the Lestrange safe, but the note's is fathers...I mean Lucius's handwriting. "Dru gave the note to Fred. "I haven't opened it yet."

"In the Lestrange safe? Is it safe to open?"

"Yes, see these markings? That's not Lestranges, those are Malfoy's family markings." she pointed at the markings on the box. "Could you open the note and read it first?"

Fred nodded, opened the note, read it and passed it to Dru. "It's okay."

_To my Princess,_

_Today is your sixteenth birthday. This box and its content has been in the Malfoy family for a hundred years now. Now it belongs to you. Happy Birthday._

_Your loving father_

Dru swallowed as she read the note. "He must have written this before he got arrested." She spoke softly.

Fred put his arms around her and softly kissed her cheek. Even though Malfoy was rightfully arrested, he still had been Dru's father for most of her life. "Sweet of him to think of you, still."

Dru nodded and and she opened the box with shaking hands. The box was no bigger than an ordinary shoe box, but it was a lot bigger on the inside. it contained an old fashioned dollhouse with furnishing. "Oh my!" Dru said as she reached in and got one the little chairs out. It was beautifully hand crafted.

Fred saw a spell carved into the bottom of the lid of the box. he got out his wand and cast the spell. The dollhouse fly out of the box and into the corner of the room, then the front opened itself nend and all the little furnishing flew into the dollhouse and within three minutes the doll house was complete.

Dru put her head on Fred's shoulder and just looked at the dollhouse. she couldn't help that there was a tear running down her cheek, but she wasn't sad. she knew that her father still loved her.

George was finished in the kitchen and sat down next to Rose on the sofa. "Are you feeling a bit better?" He lifted up her legs before sitting down and let them rest on his lap after he sat down.

She slowly nodded. "I'm sorry."

He smiled. "It's fine. you girls are both not good with the train rides, you get crabby and Dru's more sensitive to other people's mood." he kissed her. "No harm done." George then started to pull off her shoes. "I'm just glad you're home."

She smiled at him and wiggled her feet. "Me too, school's boring without you and studying for six subjects is really..."

"Six? You're going for six NEWTs?"

"Yes," she chuckled. "I have to keep up with you, learn more about my head things and of course, spells... defense... "

George shook his head laughing. "You're bonkers! You don't have to keep up with me. You're already better than me."

"Ha! No, I'm not, I'm an amateur compared to you!" She lifted her legs off his lap and shifted so that she was sitting against him with her arms around him. "Besides, all those books... the smell is just amazing when I'm in the library."

"Merlin, I'm dating Granger." George grinned and started kissing her neck. "Do books turn you on?"

She giggled. "No, but you just gave me an excellent idea to try and- You know that Ron's dating Lavender Brown, right? Dru and I gave her a mini bottle of bath salt. When she uses it and gets into the tub the water will turn into slime."

George frowned. "Although I  _love_  slime badsalt, I'm wondering why that turns you on. or are picturing a naked Lavender in the tub."

"It doesn't!" she laughed and softly kissed him. "You do."

"In that case." George grabbed her hips and within two seconds she was on her back on the sofa and he was lying on top of her. "Didn't we start something in the kitchen?" He started kissing her neck and unbuttoning her blouse at the same time.

She tugged on his vest. "I'm wearing less layers than you," she pointed out as she giggled.

He sat up and grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it off together with his vest, so that he was now bare chested. "Better?" he asked as he gently released her from her blouse. He leaned in on her again and caressed her stomach. "I still can't believe that my girlfriend is so beautiful." He whispered in her ear.

"Who's your girlfriend? I need to meet her so I can beat her up, don't want her to steal my man," she greedily kissed him as she put her arms around his neck.

George listened for a second, but from the laughing and noise from upstairs he could tell Fred and Dru were not going to come down anytime soon. He kissed her while her carefully started to unbuckle her belt, he wanted her out of her clothes.

"I don't think we should do this here," she chuckled as she kissed him again.

"Fred and Dru just have ended their first real fight. Trust me, they're not coming down anytime soon." He pulled her pants of her and was now busy taking his own pants off.

_Crack!_

"Merlin's beard!" Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded as Rose screamed.

"Mum!" George said annoyed as he quickly tried to find Rose's clothes again so he could cover her up.

"Where is your brother?" Mr. Weasley asked angrily. George's eyes only looked at the ceiling for a fraction of a second before pulling his shirt back on.

_Crack_

"FRED WEASLEY! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND! GO DOWNSTAIRS! NOW!"

Within 3 seconds A very red faced Dru came running down the stairs and looked terrified at equally terrified Rose that was butting her blouse back on.

Fred and his father came down a few seconds later. "Molly, that girl (pointing at Dru) is not staying here anymore."

"Mum, dad, not that we appreciate the surprise, but... what are you doing here? You knew they were coming back today." George said as he greeted his parents after he was sure that at least Rose was decent again, his parents had seen him in nothing already, and he was pulling on his pants anyway.

"Put your clothes back on and then all of you sit down." If Rose and Dru thought that an angry Mrs. Weasley was scary, they now found out an angry Mr. Weasley was possibly even scarier. Dru sat down next to Fred, but she was too terrified to look at him.

"What's going on, dad?" Fred managed to ask him casually. "Something wrong at the ministry?"

"No, we wanted to invite you all to come to dinner Christmas eve, but I think it's better that the girls come with us and stay at the Burrows for the rest of the vacation." Mrs Weasley said as she looked at the angry face of her husband. "What were Fred and Dru doing?"

"Something they shouldn't," Mr. Weasley replied and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We'd love to come to dinner on Christmas eve, mum, we'd already made plans to come and visit you over Christmas," George said and looked at Rose who was still processing what Mrs. Weasley had said, before he saw a light bulb switch on over her head.

"I'm staying here," she said before looking at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "I'd love to come over for Christmas, but I'm not going to stay at the Burrows for the rest of the vacation."

"Rose, wouldn't you like to reconsider that. I'm sure Dru would love for you to be there with her." Mr Weasley said.

"I'm staying here too." Dru said with a soft voice.

"Yeah, she's not staying either, with all due respect, it's Tonks who should decide whether or not Dru must spend her holiday over at your place, but as Tonks knows, Dru and Fred are taking things  _really_  slow and whatever you've caught them doing was probably very innocent. As for me, I'm of age, and I have a guardian who finally realised that he has feelings too." Rose said bravely.

Mr Weasley sighed, whispered something in his wife's ear, whose eyes were now shooting daggers at Fred. "Dru, you're coming with us, no discussing." She said.

"But-."

"No buts, go get your stuff." Mrs. Weasley said.

Dru looked at Fred. "Help me." She whispered.

"Mum, she's not coming." Fred said without looking at his mother, he knew very well that his father had told her the position he found his son and his under-aged girlfriend in.

"Fred, she's coming home with us, end of discussion."

"I am home, This is my home, Look I know... Tonks knows what I do when I'm alone with Fred and she's okay with it."

"I doubt that's true!"

"It was just a blowjob. It's not like I haven't gave him one before." Dru said, before she thought about  _what_  she was saying.

George and Rose both looked at Dru. "Did you just say blowjob?" George asked, trying not to smile, he was still trying to get Rose to give him one.

Dru looked at the floor, biting on her lip. She was embarrassed, but at the same time she wanted to laugh.

"How about this," Rose suggested and got to her feet. "Dru stays here, for now. The next time both Tonks and Remus are around, you all come over for dinner, and we'll have a nice talk about things to sort it out."

"Rosalie, sit down and stay out of this, young lady." Mrs Weasley said to her.

"She has a point, mum," George was proud of his Rose, standing up to his mum like that, and got to his feet as well.

"I don't care if she has ten points. SIT DOWN now both of you!" Mrs Weasley was getting even angrier now. "I don't care what Tonks or Remus have to say. You belong to me and your father and I will not have you talk to me like this. Now sit down." she looked Rose in her eyes, making sure that if Rose knew what was good for her, she sat down.

"Mum, she's not Fleur." Fred said, knowing how much she hated Fleur for taking Bill away from her. "You don't have to worry that me and Dru are doing things that we shouldn't be doing. It's not like we're having sex like George and Rose. You don't have to worry about that."

"Of course she's not Fleur and neither is Rose. I don't care what Bill and Fleur get up to, but these girls are different and I do not want you two boys to harm them."

"Mrs Weasley. When we were captured last summer, our feelings towards  _your_  boys was we had to hold on to. Without them, neither one of us would have had the strength to escape." Dru said and she took Fred's hand. "I love your son, and Rose loves George."

"They are the most patient and caring boys I've ever met, Mrs. Weasley, I'm more afraid of hurting George than I am of him hurting me, and that's saying something. You don't have to worry about anything, you've done an amazing job of raising them, and they are crazy enough to love us."

"Fred's more patient with me then I am with myself. If I want more, he stops me, because he knows I'm not ready. Trust your sons, we do." Dru said.

Mrs. Weasley was now sobbing. "You really think I've done an amazing job with them?"

"With all your children, Mrs. Weasley," Rose smiled at her, she hadn't sat back down. "You don't have to be afraid of anything, they are honorable."

Molly walked to Rose and hugged her tightly and held her hand out for Dru to join in on the hug.

Dru stood up and hugged Molly. "We never meant to be rude to you, but we just want you to know that we really love the boys and they us."

"I know that, dear, that why I said that you girls are mine."

Dru looked at Rose and smiled.  _Does she mean we're like her daughters?_

_I think she really wants us to be_

Mr Weasley sat down in one of the chairs. "Molly, let the girls breath and sit down for a second. Let's try and do this as a proper visit."

Dru smiled and wanted to go the kitchen for some tea, but George and Fred had already thought of it. Dru sat down next to Fred and leaned against him.

George pulled Rose on his lap. "So, how are you two doing?" He asked like nothing had happened.


	30. Merry Christmas

Rose and Dru had been helping Mrs. Weasley in the garden to get more vegetables out for Christmas dinner. Ron and Harry were already peeling the sprouts, but there was more to do and as Fred was bitten by a garden gnome, he decided he had enough and had disappeared inside to watch the two boys having fun with the sprouts.

Rose followed Mrs. Weasley back into the kitchen after a while and they arrived just in time to see Ron throw a knife at Fred, who lazily turned it into a paper aeroplane with his wand. Mrs. Weasley was furious. She then started to sort out the rooms out loud. Fred and George were going to share their room with Bill because Remus would stay over. Ron and Harry were in the attic, and Fleur, Rose, Dru and Ginny would be in Ginny's room.

While she understood that Mrs. Weasley didn't want girls sharing their beds with boys (Bill and Fleur were engaged and Mrs. Weasley kept them apart!), it was also a little sad. But probably necessary otherwise no one would get sleep or it'd be a mess.

Dru tried to convince Ginny that it wasn't going to be that bad sharing her room with Fleur, but that was a had job to do. "Come on, Gin, Rose and I are going to be there too."

"But...  _phlegm_..."

"Bill loves her," Rose pointed out. "She's going to be your sister in law."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Ginny sulked as she got something to drink.

"We can make sure she doesn't get any sleep," Rose grinned as Fred and George walked out of the kitchen into the yard, leaving Harry and Ron complaining about how they could have helped the boys out with one flick of their wands and they didn't. Rose got out her wand and made the sprouts bounce, just for fun.

"Gin, can we talk alone for a second?" Dru asked Ginny, when Rose wasn't looking.

"Yep," Ginny nodded, took Dru's hand and pulled her upstairs with her.

"Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, do you know what means?" Dru whispered.

"More Warbeck?" Ginny groaned.

"Do you remember what we did two years ago on Christmas Eve?"

"The Yule Ball?" Ginny guessed as she sat down on her bed. "And?"

"That means that tomorrow it's two years since...?"

Her eyes grew big in surprise. "George and Rose kissed!" She squealed. "It's been only two years?"

"I know! Last year I forgot about it, because of ….But this year I want to do something special for them, but I don't know what, so I came to you. My sweet little sister in law that's always full of good ideas."

"Oh, I don't know... make a banner saying 'marry her already'?" she joked. "I usually need a month or two to think of something!"

"Well, I think the banner is brilliant, but I'm afraid your mother might not take it as a joke." Dru laughed.

"I wasn't joking, I mean... they're perfect for each other. Bill and Fleur only know each other for a year and they're getting married!"

"Yeah, but you don't want Rose to think he just asked her, because we pushed him. Besides George is not ready to ask her yet. He wants to someday, but he likes taking it slow." Dru sat down next to Ginny. "So no banner, even though it would be hilarious."

"We could poke fun of it though."

Dru laughed. "Ginny, I don't think you should tease George with that. You might scare him out of asking her forever and then they'll never marry." She took a deep breath and smiled. "Ginny, would you like having Rose as sister in law?"

"The both of you are already my sisters in law. Have you heard my mum talk about you two? She's so fond of the both of you."

"She called us hers, the other day when she came to the flat." Dru grinned. "Your parents apparated in the living room, where George and Rose were just done undressing each other."

"Ohh that's embarrassing!" Ginny laughed. "Mum and Dad usually pop in to the flat at least once a week to make sure the boys are alright, they told me. And they usually eat over here too."

"Yeah, I noticed your dad know his way around the flat pretty well." Dru scratched behind her ear and got a little flustered. "Fred's locking the bedroom door from now on."

"Dad walked in on you?"

"Well, at least George and Rose hadn't begun yet, I was in the middle of giving Fred a blowjob, when your dad walked in." Dru laughed.

"That mental image is... disturbing!" she shrieked. "Ew!"

"Just, you wait... talking about that. When are you going to tell Dean you're in love with Harry? It's not fair on Dean to keep stringing him along"

"When Harry opens his eyes, then I'm going to tell Dean."

"Harry did open his eyes, Gin. But he's just a bit unsure yet. Maybe you should let him know you like him. Just...I don't know...you could feed him some food." Dru said.

Ginny sighed. "I've waited a long time for him to even notice me, he can wait a little longer."

"Ginny, if you wait too long, somebody else might get his attention, that happened to me and Fred."

"Well, you didn't wait too long with Fred, or well he with you."

"Ginny, I had a crush on Fred when I was a first year, when I met him on the train to Hogwarts, but he never seem to notice me and Neville did. Do you wanna know what I found out after 4 and half years? Fred has been in love me since he first met me on the train, more than 4 years before he finally kissed me. If we would have told each sooner, we would have been together for years. You don't have to  _tell_  Harry you're in love with him, just do little things that makes his head spin and letting him know you like him the way he likes you." Dru patted Ginny on her knee. "Come on, sis, Let's go help your mother finish dinner."

* * *

It was Christmas Eve and they were all exchanging Christmas gifts. Rose was sitting on the floor against George's legs, near the fire, and she couldn't really see what was going on. But she had a nice spot nonetheless.

Mrs. Weasley had packed knitted jumpers for everyone (except for Fleur) and smiled when she handed a package to Rose. "Rose dear, George told me that you broke into hives last year when I gave you your sweater. I've made you something different from a different type of wool so that it won't happen again."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," she smiled at her, before looking at Dru. She and Dru had made something for her during study times at Hogwarts and it was time that Dru gave it to Mrs. Weasley.

Dru got the gift box and turned to Molly. "We wanted to give you something. We noticed that you always make jumpers for everyone and that means 13 jumpers this Christmas, but nobody ever makes you one. But Rose and I can't knit jumpers so we made this instead." Dru handed Molly the box and leaned back against Fred, who was sitting behind her on the floor.

"Actually, we couldn't knit at all before we started that." Rose laughed.

"No, Hermione has taught us how to do it, she even helped a bit with putting it together." Dru smiled.

"Oh girls, you didn't have to make me something!" Mrs. Weasley smiled and opened the box. "Oh my!" she pulled out the knitted quilt. It had all kinds of different patches and colors and it was just perfect. "This is beautiful!" she started to sob and pulled up and bear hugged Dru at first, before pulling Rose to her feet and pulling her into the hug as well. "Thank you!"

"That's really sweet of you girls." Fred whispered in Dru's ear, as she sat back down again.

She looked behind her at Fred. "She called us ''hers'. She deserves it." She smiled as Fred gave her kiss on her cheek. He was clearly touched that the girls loved his mother so much.

George smiled and pulled Rose on his lap. "You two are already her favorite daughter in laws, you didn't have to suck up to her."

"We didn't do it because we want her to like us," she chuckled and playfully hit George in the chest. "Your mother deserves it." Rose then reached underneath George's chair and pulled out two shoebox sized boxes. She handed one to Fred, and the other one to George.

"You're going to be the best daughter in law to her one day." George looked at Dru for a second, before they both looked away from each other smiling.

"That's from me and Dru, for the both of you," she grinned as she looked at Dru. "Well, actually for the shop, I have another present for you when we get back home."

Fred and George opened the box at the same time and chorused; "Oh joke stuff!" George kissed Rose on the cheek. "Best girlfriend ever!"

"Who wants eggnog?" Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded before she pulled Tonks to her feet to help her in the kitchen.

Dru got up and made her way over to Harry. "Harry, do you still have your liquid luck?" she asked him quietly, so nobody else could hear them.

"Yeah, upstairs. Why?" Harry asked surprised.

"Can I borrow a drop of two, please? I want to help Lupin get the courage to kiss Tonks."

"No!" Harry laughed. "Are you mad? He'll kill us."

"He did it to Neville. That's how Neville gave me my first kiss. He did it to help, let's help him. I've read his mind, he's in love with her, all he need is a nudge in the back."

"Not with liquid luck, he's an adult."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"No, but he just spent months with werewolves, I don't think he even...-"

"I wasn't going to give it to him, to Tonks. If she gets the confidence to kiss him, really kiss  
him, he can't resist her."

"Alright, I'll get it," Harry sighed and shook his head as he went upstairs to get the little bottle.

Dru made her way over to Tonks. "Hi Dora, having fun?" She smiled. She waited for Harry to come back down and as he passed Dru, he unseeingly put the bottle in her hands.

"Yes, you?" she smiled as she was holding a tray filled with glasses of eggnog in her hands. "Molly, there's not enough room on this one!"

"Dora, pass them out and I'll leave ours here for when you done." Dru smiled as she took the remaining two glasses from Molly.

As Tonks handed out the glasses of eggnog, Dru dropped two drops of liquid luck in Tonks' glass. She quickly put the bottle in her pocket as Tonks was on her way back. "Here you go, Dora, Merry Christmas." Dru smiled as she handed Tonks her glass.

"Thanks cousin of mine, Merry Christmas to you too," Tonks smiled widely and took a sip of her drink. "Come on, let's go back to everyone."

"Yeah, I still need to give Fred his present." Dru said. She made her way back to Fred, while unseeingly handing the bottle back to Harry. "I have one more present for you." Dru smiled at Fred as she at down in front of him again and handed him a tiny box.

"What is it?" Fred smiled at her.

"Open it." Dru smiled back. "I hope you like it."

Fred started to open the little box and just stared at its contents. "Wow."

"Do you like it?" Dru bit her lip, she really hoped he liked it.

He softly kissed her on her lips. "I love it, thank you!"

"What did she give you?" Bill asked.

"Cuff links," Fred grinned and showed them to Bill.

"Wow, they look really expensive." Bill said and smiled as he looked at Fred's happy face. "I knew I was right when I asked you if she was yours. I saw it the first time I saw her." Bill grinned. "What did Fred give to you?"

Dru leaned against Fred. "Himself." She gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Cheap." Ron coughed and Harry, Bill and George all laughed.

"No mate," Fred grinned. "I have the best present ever, but she's getting it when she's going back to Hogwarts."

They spent some time playing board games that evening and it started to get warmer and warmer inside. Rose eventually had to go outside for a little while to get a few breaths of fresh air and cool down somewhat. Not long after, she was joined by Lupin who had this weird sort of grin on his face. "What happened to you?" Rose asked surprised.

"Tonks kissed me."

"Wow, congratulations," she chuckled. "What did you do?"

"I... I kissed her back," he said confused.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" she pushed her hands in her pockets and kicked a gnome out of the way.

"Yes it does. Now, I wanted to talk to you about George and you..."

"Remus, I'm 17."

"I know that, but you're... special."

"Oh come on, if it's not one thing, it's the other." she rolled his eyes at him.

"No, but it's okay. I think that you and George should just continue with what you've been doing all this time. If Molly and Arthur trust you two together, then it's alright."

"Thank you," she said with a breath of relief. "Best Christmas present ever," she laughed and hugged him, glad that she didn't have the feeling that she should fight him all the time about what she wanted.

"I think I was just a bit scared that you were too much like your mother, or father, and that with my own-."

"It's fine, thank you." she smiled.

"Hey Rose, could you come back inside?" Ginny peeked her head out of the door. "George wants to give you his present."

"Yeah, I'm coming," she smiled and pulled Lupin back inside as well. She narrowed her eyes on her boyfriend when she saw that he was nervous about something. He wasn't really showing it, but she could tell.

"Rosie!" He said with a big smile on his face, before making his way over to her and softly kissed her lips before taking her hand and fell down to one knee.

"George...what..." she said confused and started to blush because  _everyone_  was looking at them all of a sudden.

"Before you came into my life I just liked to have fun, pull jokes on everyone and hang out with my brother. I didn't really think of consequences or being responsible. Having fun and playing Quidditch was everything. And then there was you, you managed to show me a side of myself that I hadn't even thought I had. I'm sure you surprised my parents with that too."

Molly hung onto Arthur, not believing what she was seeing, but probably secretly liking it.

Dru was grinning widely as she put her arms around a smiling Fred, they both had known what was coming.

"I love the way you're stubborn and giving at the same time, I love how you make me feel whenever I'm around you, even if I'm having a bad day, you always make it right again. Your creativity never ceases to amaze me, and you even fuel my own. You don't see it, but I think you're brilliant, besides being beautiful, elegant and wonderful. I love it how we can just sit on the sofa in each other's arms and just talk. I never had that with a girl before," George continued and then chuckled when he saw the look on her face. "Rosie, please don't cry because then I'll start and I want to do this right!"

"Sorry," she sniffed with a small smile on her lips.

"I promise you that I will continue to be the person I've been in the past two years. I will kiss you every day when you're home, and when you're not at home, I will write you every day, or every other day. I promise you that from now on, things will only get better for us. I promise that I will always let you be who you are, and not try to change a thing. I promise that I will be more open to you about what I think and I want, so that we can communicate a little better. I promise that I will always be here for you, no matter what and that I will love you forever.

Because I do, you know. Love you. To bits. When I'm without you I feel incomplete. I feel like I've lost my left arm when you're not around. I'm sorry, but Fred's my right arm and he'll always stay that way. I will continue to love you, and I will love you more with each day that passes. I promise you that I will love you forever and then some." George fumbled a small box out of his pocket and opened it for her. "Rosalie Crouch, would you please do me the honor of marrying me?"

Ginny shrieked, but Harry shushed her.

"You..." Rose blinked at him. She had not seen this coming, how was that possible? "Just the question was enough, silly," she smiled as she felt tears roll down her cheeks. "Yes! Of course!"

George stood up, kissed Rose and wrapped her in his arms, as he lifted her off her feet. "I love you." He muttered through the kiss, only Rose could hear it, because the rest of the room was cheering, telling them good luck and congratulations at the same time. He put her down on her feet, got the ring out of its box and put it's on her finger. "Thank Merlin, it's fits." He chuckled and wiped a tear from his eye.

Rose kissed him tenderly before being pulled away from George and into an armload of Fred, while Dru hugged George. "Told you she'd say yes." Dru said as she let him go and pulled Rose out of Fred's arms and in her own. "Congratulations."

"You knew," Rose chuckled as she wiped her tears out of her eyes. "You knew!"

"Of course, I knew. I helped him pick out the ring." Dru grinned as hugged her friend even tighter to her. "I'm so happy for you." Dru wanted to hold Rose longer, but there were also other people waiting.

Lupin was next to lifted Rose off her feet and in his arms. "My little girl is getting married." He sounded happy, but also emotional.

She chuckled. "Breathe, Remus. The world will not end, I promise."

He smiled and wanted to say something, but got pushed aside by Ginny. "You're getting married." She hugged Rose, before suddenly letting her go and looking at Dru with open mouth. "You know. this afternoon..when we talking about them...you knew." Ginny turned back to Rose. "I wanted to hang up a banner saying 'marry her already', but she told me not to, because George wasn't ready yet, but she knew." She then let Rose go and jumped in George's arms.

"Oh I think that if you had done that banner that I wouldn't have done it," George laughed and hugged his little sister.

"Why do you think I talked her out of it." Dru laughed and put her arms around Fred.

Rose and George then received hugs from Mr and Mrs Weasley and everyone else present. Finally after everybody gave the two their congratulations, George took Rose's hand and took her outside. They just walked together silently to the frog pond. Together they sat down on the edge of the pond. George looked at Rose and smiled. "Are you happy?"

"I'm always happy," she smiled as she scooted up and leaned into him. "I just never thought you'd..."

"Well, after our conversation last year, the day before I left Hogwarts, I have been thinking about it every day." He put his arm around her and looked at the sky. "I just knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. So just before Fred and Dru had their fight in the three broomsticks I asked Dru to help me find a ring."

She laughed and shook her head. "I can't believe you fooled me." She looked at him and softly kissed his lips. "I love you, so much."

"You better, that ring cost me a fortune.' He chuckled as he returned her kiss.

"Then maybe we should take it back, I'm not going anywhere anyway." she grinned.

"Never, even If I starve to death, you'll never be bringing that ring back." He pulled her on his lap. "I'm going to be so happy spending every day of my life being your husband."

"You know..." she said softly as she caressed his hair and looked at him. "My present for you is nothing compared to this," she said slightly embarrassed. "Or even in comparison to your mum's jumpers."

"I've already had my present." He kissed her. "You said yes, that's all I wanted."

She smiled and answered his kiss while she played with his hair. After a while, she gently broke it off. "I think we should go back inside and get some tea, I'm turning into a pop sickle."

George smiled, got to his feet and helped her up too. He put his arms around her as they walked back to the house. "I can't believe I asked you...and you said yes." he smiled.

"I can't believe you asked me," she laughed. "I was actually quite happy already."

" _Quite_  happy?" George smirked with one eyebrow frowned as he opened the door for her.

"Very?" she chuckled.

"I'll settle for euphorically happy, right now." George kissed her and walked into the kitchen with her.

"Yes, right now it's euphoric," she nodded and ducked because someone had de-petrified the garden gnome in the Christmas tree and he was jumping around like crazy. George held the door open long enough for the thing to escape.

"We'll get him tomorrow," he chuckled.

Dru was sitting curled up on Fred's lap in one of the chairs. She smiled at Rose when she saw her friend come back in. "Nice walk?"

George sat on the right side on the sofa next to the chair and pulled Rose next to him. "Yeah, we wanted to clear our head for a minute."

Dru smiled at Rose. She was so glad to see Rose so happy. Rose deserved a happy ending in her life. "Do you like your ring?"

"I do, it's so pretty," she smiled and put her arms around George as she put her head against his arm.

George looked at the ring and smiled. "That firecracker of you has a good taste, Freddie."

"Of course mate, she has me as her boyfriend!"

"Well, that was my one bad choice." Dru grinned, as she held his hands so he couldn't tickle her.

"You little minx," Fred snorted and playfully bit her nose.

Dru laughed, let his hands go and put her head against his, as she looked at Rose. "I'm glad your brother asked Rose to marry her. I've never seen her so happy in my life."

"I actually thought he'd never dare to ask her." Fred grinned. "Since they're taking things so slowly."

"Well, he's just been planning it for a long time. That's George and Rose, they're sensible and think things over. We just hop on the train and see where it takes us." Dru gave Fred a kiss on his cheek. "But I'll never change us for all the magic in the world. I Love us." She put her arms around his neck. "Thank you, Fred."

"For what?" he chuckled and kissed her.

"I had the best Christmas ever, because of you." She wiped a tear out of her eye. "You and your family." she looked shyly down.

" _Our_  family. You're a part of it now too, you know."

"I know." She kissed him and suddenly she knew it. "When we get home on boxing day, I'll have one more surprise for you."

"Ohh I can't wait," he smiled.

Dru folded her arms back to her chest and put her head on his shoulder. She looked at Rose, who was looking at her.  _Rosie_

_Dru_

_I'm ready_

_Ready for what?_

_Fred_

_Good for you_ , Rose smiled at her and snuggled up against George before turning her gaze towards the fireplace. She was still processing the fact that George had asked her to marry him and that she had said yes, and how perversely happy it made her feel. It was also a little unnecessary as she would never leave him, but this would make it more permanent.

She could feel her eyelids getting heavy as she was staring at the dancing flames, and listening to the voices close to her and in the distance.

"I see someones about to nod off," Tonks' hushed voice sounded as if she was smiling.

"Recharging her battery for Christmas Day tomorrow," George chuckled. Rose could feel how he was playing with her hair, and she just loved the feeling. "Oh don't look at me like that, Lupin. It's not like we're going to get married straight away. She still has school, I'm not an idiot."

Rose could hear the sound of someone hitting someone repeatedly in the arm. "Don't spoil this, Remus," Tonks' voice sounded before Rose truly drifted off in sleep.

* * *

The following morning, Rose woke up because both Ginny and Dru were jumping up and down on her bed. "Merry Christmas!" They yelled.

"Good morning!" Rose groaned and sat up. "And Christmas, merry."

Ginny giggled. "I don't think she's awake yet."

"I doubt it," Dru nodded and continued to jump on the bed, before lunging at her friend and pushing her down to the mattress and hugged her tightly. "Merry Christmas!" Ginny soon joined the two girls and Rose ended up beating them off of her with her pillow.

"Pillow fight!" Ginny started and hopped off the bed to get her own pillow before beating Rose over the head with it and then Dru. "It's a brand new day, it's Christmas and mum made so many snacks! And we're going to play games and..." Ginny kept hitting both girls while she spoke. "Get frustrated with Ron for being such a disruptive person whenever I get some alone time with Harry..."

Rose and Dru laughed. "Alright! I'm getting up! And get dressed. Stop hitting me."

"We will make sure to try hard to keep Ron away from you and Harry, just give us a heads up." Dru nodded before getting off Rose's bed. "Now, I think..." she started with a sly smile on her face while looking at Rose. "That Miss Rose should wear a pretty dress today."

"Rose plans to take many walks outside today when things get too crowded in the house, so Rose is going to dress sensibly," Rose replied before pulling a fresh pair of trousers out of her bag, a long sleeved t-shirt and a cardigan. She had dreamt about fire, or something being set on fire and it wasn't clear what, even now, while she was clearly not sleeping, the smell of burning wood lingered in her nose.

When she actively tried to see what was going to happen, it still wasn't clear and it was frustrating. She didn't want the Weasleys to lose their home, even though it could be easily rebuilt with magic. A home was a home. Well,  _their_  home was a home, and all the things, all the stuff that made it a home would be lost if there would be a fire.

"Spoil sport," Dru chuckled.

Rose stuck out her tongue to her friend and got dressed. Not soon after, the three girls made their way downstairs for Christmas Breakfast.

Dru decided not to be sensible had had put on a pretty black dress with her black high boots and a tick leotard. She always loved putting on a new dress with Christmas, it was the one tradition she had kept from her Christmases at Malfoy Manor, while Dru was eating her breakfast she couldn't help wondering how Draco was doing. Dru had noticed he wasn't doing so great lately. At the same time she was worried about the fact that she saw him hanging around the the seventh floor with Rose, and she couldn't help wondering what they were up to, but she didn't feel like asking., Rose would find a way to turn it around and be mad at Dru and Draco would just lie. Dru was so busy with her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed the boys coming downstairs too.

"Merry Christmas, my beautiful Fiance." George gave Rose a kiss as he sat down next to her.

She chuckled as she kissed him back. "Merry Christmas."

"In a few years, I'll be saying Merry Christmas, Mrs Weasley to you." He chuckled.

"Oh gross," Bill said as he came down the stairs. "George doesn't need cheese for breakfast, he  _is_  the cheese!"

"I heard you say my future Mrs Weasley to Fleur just two days ago." George grinned at Bill.

"Yes, but that future is much much closer than yours," Bill countered with a wide smile.

"You'll never know who might beat you to it." George said with a grin to Rose.

"Ha! Who?"

"Me and Remus, but we're not Weasleys," Tonks said.

"No, you're honorary Weasleys," Mrs. Weasley smiled as she finished setting up the table. "Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy your breakfast!"

"Wait, are you and Lupin getting married?" Harry asked.

"We might, you'll never know." Lupin smiled as he gave Tonks a kiss, before frowning at Dru. "Ah, I remember that face, you can say whatever you want to her now, she won't hear a word. She used to have that face in my classroom room at times, didn't you Dru?" Lupin smiled.

But like he said, Dru wasn't listening, she didn't even notice that the food was now on the table. She had zoned out and was staring into nothingness.

"Morning beautiful," Fred greeted her with a kiss before sitting down. "Dru?" he playfully poked her in her side.

"Huh?" Dru looked at Fred. "Sorry, what?"

Everyone at the table burst out in laughter.

"Where did you go?" he chuckled.

"Oh nowhere." She gave a weak smile. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," he kissed her again.

"You guys, really? I have to eat." Ron sulked with his mouth filled with food.

Harry, Rose, Ginny and Dru all frowned at him. "Have you ever watched yourself with Lavender?" Harry asked.

"Oh gross!" Rose said and glared at Harry. "I was so glad that I had that image out of my head!"

"Chew, Ron, chew." Fred and George chorused.

"Who's Lavender?" Bill asked.

"Bad with presents," Ron muttered and then decided to ignore them all. "Don't you dare tell them, Harry."

"Oh do tell!"

"You don't have to  _tell_  anything, Harry." Dru smirked as she reached out her hand to him.

Harry laughed but shook his head. "Sorry, I really want to, but I can't."

"Must be something embarrassing," Bill chuckled. "Poor little Ron."

"Poor Wonwon." Ginny giggled and looked at Dru, who was trying to hide her laughing, by putting her face on Fred's arm.

"Poor Wonwon." Dru muttered.

"Wonwon?" The twin chorused with an amused smile on their faces.

"Oh yes, but when he calls her LavLav he gets smacked," Rose giggled and quickly took a bite out of her toast to stop herself from laughing.

"Who's Wonwon?" Fleur asked as she sat down at the table too. She looked a bit messy as the other girls didn't let her get much sleep last night, Rose, miraculously had slept through it all for some reason.

"Wonwon, could you pass me the butter?" Harry asked.

"Stop it," Ron said, blushing furiously while handing Harry the butter.

"Bill, what's a wonwon?" Fleur asked again, she didn't get why everyone else was laughing.

"Apparently it's a nickname for Ron that his girlfriend has picked out for him," Bill smiled at Fleur. "He doesn't like it much."

"Oh," Fleur said, before turning to Rose. "Rose, now that you and I are going to be sisters in law, I want you to be my bridesmaid, like Gabrielle and Ginny."

Rose nearly choked on her piece of toast.

Dru grinned at Fred, before looking at her plate. Rose would hate being Fleur's brides maid, Du was glad she didn't had to be one.

"I euh..." Rose started after she had collected herself. "It'd be an honor, Fleur, but seeing as Ginny and Gabrielle are  _very elegant_  and I'm far from it, I'll just stick to being a regular guest at your wedding."

"Don't worry, I know you're not now, but I'll teach you to be elegant." Fleur patted Rose's hand and gave her a smile, that said that Fleur just gave Rose this biggest honour she could ever receive. "Bill, I'm going to have three bridesmaids now."

 _Help_  Rose looked at Dru.

"Whatever you want, Fleur," Bill said and softly kissed her. "I'm sure George will appreciate seeing his girl in a dress again."

_Sorry, you wanted to be a Weasley, I suppose this comes with it_

"Hey, what about Dru then?" Rose smiled at Fleur. "She's elegant,  _and_  looks pretty in a dress."

"Yes...but...well...she's not going to be my sister. I just want to ask sisters, else my friends will feel left out. If she would be my sister, then she can be one too. Sorry Dru." Fleur gave Dru a polite smile.

"That's okay, Fleur. I understand." Dru smiled back, before getting up from the table to help Mrs Weasley clean up in the kitchen.

Ginny looked at Rose  _At least I don't have to be one by myself anymore_.

Dru tried to suppress a giggle, while clearing hers and Ginny's plate.  _Thank Merlin, I'm not your sister yet._

 _You could turn George down and get out from under it._  Ginny took a sip from her tea.

 _Nope,_  Rose reacted smugly. With Dru around keeping the link between the girls open, for now, it was a lot easier to talk about stuff.  _Just give me some time and she'll have no choice but to ask you_.

 _She'll never ask Dru even if she was Fleur's own sister. She sees Dru as a treat._ Molly smiled at the three girls, who were all looking shocked.  _Did you really think I wouldn't figure out what you girls were doing?_

"Mum!" Ginny whined as she took a sip of her tea. "That was a private conversation."

Rose chuckled and shook her head.

"Did mum just barge into your conversation?" George chuckled. "Mum, you make me so proud today."

"Oh it is very easy once you figure out what's going on, dear." She smiled and planted a kiss on Dru's cheek. "You need to close more doors inside your head if you want to have things all to yourself, but you're doing great."

"I'll work on that, thanks." Dru smiled shyly. She watched Molly go back into the kitchen. She suddenly started to realize why she missed her parents less when she was at the Burrow. She was becoming part of a new family.

"You two must have a lot fun with a gift like that." Lupin suggestively smiled at Fred.

Tonks gasped and hit Lupin's arm.

"Oh, I didn't go there, but apparently, you did," he laughed at the girl.

"Nah, she's keeping me out of her tricks." Fred replied.

"Really? That's a shame. It's sort of mental, but still wicked when she plants stuff in your head." Ron said. "Why don't you ask her?"

"Because she doesn't want to influence Fred in  _any_  way," Rose nodded.

"Yeah, but he's her boyfriend. You showed George more of your gift then you showed anyone else." Harry pointed out. "I think she should at least try to show Fred something."

"Exactly," Rose pointed out. "It's gone wrong before."

"What? She did do it with Neville?" Harry asked.

"Not purposely."

"If I had a girlfriend, I'd want her to show me her gift."

Rose chuckled. "That sounds dirty."

Harry grinned. "You know what I mean."

"Wait, didn't Neville say something about Dru using her gift to get Hannah off his back at the start of term?" Ron had yet again put his foot in his mouth.

"Oh Ron," Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother before getting away from the table. "You never learn, do you?"

"Fred, have you ever asked Dru to do it?" Bill asked.

"No, he hasn't." Dru replied for Fred.

"And I'm not going to," Fred replied as he finished his cup of tea. "Because certain things shouldn't be spoiled for her, and I don't want to become this predictable bloke."

"Spoiled? What do you mean?" George asked. "And you're never predictable."

"That's because you can't see in my head, mate," he laughed.

"See, he doesn't want to, so I'm not going to force it on him.' Dru said.

"It's actually a wise decision," Tonks said as she was still glaring at Lupin. "I can't imagine what it's like to have your head filled with thoughts or other people talking inside your head, it's probably something like living in a sewage pipe and a lot of things get flushed down the drain at the same time. Although, I can imagine it could be a tempting thing to do when the object of your affection is a closed book."

"Not closed," Fred pointed at himself.

"I've been inside his head before. He just doesn't want any of my thoughts in his head." Dru looked at the floor. She didn't like this conversation very much, she always found it a bit weird that Fred never wanted her to use her gift with him. Like he was scared of her in that way.

Rose decided to flee while she still could and went outside. She liked the way the snow was covering most of the garden, you could still see where they had picked vegetables the day before and there were trails of little gnome feet for them to seek other places to hide now that most of the carrots were gone. The smell of fire was stronger outside, but she decided that it was just the fireplace getting started by Mr. Weasley.

Whereas Dru's gift had gotten stronger, Rose felt that hers was becoming something different to make sense of, despite her frequent meditation sessions. Or maybe that was the entire problem. She rarely got angry now, and she realised that most of her clearest peeks into the future were either fuelled by rage or any other extreme emotion.

"Are you okay?" George had followed Rose outside and brought her coat with him. He helped her in her coat before putting his arms around her. "You seem... You were thinking about something and I interrupted your thoughts, didn't I?" He put his head on her shoulder. "Sorry."

She chuckled and put her arms around him before putting her head against his chest. "Don't be sorry, you can always interrupt my thoughts because they seem to be a bit useless these days." She looked up to him with a smile. "I just wanted to get out of the kitchen before Lupin would take advantage of the fact that we were discussing special things."

"Hm, maybe we should hide ourselves somewhere, before Lupin finds us." He suggestively proposed and started moving her towards the shed, kissing her along the way. "I never had sex as an engaged man before."

Rose giggled. "We have something in common then," she said as she put her arms around his neck and jumped into his arms. "I've never done it with an engaged man before."

George closed the door of the shed behind him and lowered her to the ground before he pushed Rose with her back against the wall. "Let's change both of those facts, shall we?" he kissed her hard as he placed his hands on her butt.

She eagerly answered his kiss and at the same time started to fiddle with the button on his trousers. She wanted them off.

"Shame you didn't wear a skirt today. That would have made this so much easier." George helped Rose open his trousers before shrugging off his coat. He kissed her again and pulled off her coat. He gently tugged on her belt to get it to open, but it didn't cooperate. "You need to stop wearing belts too."

"Uhuh..." she giggled and opened her belt and swatted his hand away so she could open her trousers too. "It's cold out, there's no way I'm wearing a skirt when it's cold."

"Let's warm you up then." George helped Rose out of her trousers and her underwear and lowered his own, before pushing her back against the wall. He lifted her up and wrapped her legs around him. "You good?" He asked.

She put her arms around his neck and nodded, wondering what he was up to now.

"No, wait," he chuckled and put her feet back down on the floor before kissing her greedily. He then used his fingers to open her up for him. Even though they had had sex over the last few days before coming to the Burrows, today was not the time to try something  _completely_  different and just plunge himself into her. Especially since they were in dad's shed and she  _would_  cry out in surprise.

George was desperate for release, and he could tell that she was too, so he was just a little bit impatient and as soon as he could feel her becoming wet from his attentions (there was this spot right below her earlobe that drove her wild if he'd nuzzle there), he lifted her up again and gently lowered her down on to his cock. He put her back against the wall and slowly started to thrust inside of her.

She kept one arm on his shoulder and tried to steady herself with the other, trying to hold on to something. She couldn't quite reach the floor anymore and even though it was  _weird_ she found herself really liking this.

George was starting to thrust faster, while he wrapped Rose's leg around his waist again and held her up by placing his hands on her butt. "Don't worry. I won't let you fall." he whispered with a low voice in her ear, before kissing her neck.

"Oh God, George!" she breathed as he kept pushing into her while she also slid a little up and down the wall. She was feeling heavenly and quite floaty already. It seemed that her words set off something inside of him and he moved even faster, and she had to remind herself to keep on breathing.

He could feel how her body tensed around him and released again and let her ride out her own orgasm before he came inside of her. It was hard not to fall against her or topple backwards when he felt his knees buckle a bit and slowly lowered the both of them down to the floor.

George was sitting on his coat with his bare ass and he was still buried inside of her as she sat on his lap. She shifted a little and he slid out of her, but he was so proud of his Rosie. "You look so beautiful," he said huskily and softly kissed her lips. "You were so amazing."

"Wow," she managed to say as she was still catching her breath.

"This feels so much better being engaged, definitely." George sighed happily.

She softly kissed him and smiled. "I love you, George."

"And I love you, soon to be Mrs George Weasley." he chuckled as he caressed her hair.

Rose kissed him again. "Not before I graduate from Hogwarts, unless something will mess with that idea."

"What could mess with that idea? Please tell me so I can make it happen."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I mean, there's still a war coming, last time I checked, just don't know when, really."

"Rose, I promise you, we'll get through this war. Remember what you told me a year ago; We're Weasleys, we can survive anything." he kissed her as he caressed her back. "We're all going to be fine."

"That's not-," she wanted to say something and then shrugged. "Yeah, you're right," she softly kissed him. "Let's get dressed because we're about to be found."

George quickly got up, he didn't want to that to happen again.

She pulled on her underwear and pants and chuckled. "Relax, not yet. We can make it out to the garden before someone comes to the shed." Soon after the both of them were wearing their pants, shoes and coats again, the door of the shed opened and Mr. Weasley entered.

"Oh, there you are, we wondered where you'd gone off to," he said.

"She'd never seen the inside of the shed before, so I showed her."

"Okay George," he chuckled and shook his head.

George pulled Rose out of the shed and started to walk back towards the house.

"No, I win!" Ginny grinned and showed her the cards she was holding.

"I'm done. I suck at this." Dru put her cards down on the table and leaned back while rubbing her eyes. She didn't really get much sleep last night.

"Someone should take a nap," Fred chuckled as he pulled Dru onto his lap. "You can use me to nap on."

Dru smiled. "I like that idea." she curled up against him. "Sleeping and you in the same sentence." She whispered.

"We'll be home tomorrow," he chuckled and softly kissed her lips. "I don't want to face the wrath of  _almost_  everyone here should we get caught."

"Dirty." she grinned as she kissed him back. "You, Fred, have a very dirty mind."

"I'm a guy, of course I have a dirty mind," he shrugged. "Why do you think I suggested that dad had to go to his shed? My brother has a dirty mind too."

"Fred! You're trying to let them be caught? That's not nice."

"Hey, it's only fair, even Bill doesn't get the chance with Fleur, why should they?"

"Well, you're out of luck. They got away with it." Dru smiled.

"How do you know?"

"Your brother's thinking very loud right now."

"Oh ew, get out of George's head."

Dru narrowed her eyes on him. "Am I now not allowed to look inside of anybody's head anymore?"

"You are, but just to think that you're picking up thoughts about my brother having  _fun_  with Rose..."

"It's not my fault he's loud." Dru got up from Fred's lap, walked over to the sofa and sat down there. She was having difficulty closing her mind lately, but hadn't told anyone about it yet. Probably because she didn't want to close herself of, she was scared she might not hear Draco if he suddenly needed her.

Fred sighed, got up and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry, I'm a complete tosser."

"No, you're not." Dru let her fingers run down his cheek. "I'm just a bit sensitive about my thing lately. It's not your fault." She softly kissed him.

"I'm worried that you'll over do it or something and burn yourself out with it."

"I'm stronger than you think. You don't have to worry so much about me. If something was really wrong, I'd tell you."

"Alright," he said softly and kissed her back. Ginny had already gone to the kitchen to find something to snack on.

Dru put her head on his shoulder while she was playing with his fingers. "Fred, is there a reason why you don't want to see what's in my head?"

"Yes," he smiled and softly kissed her again. "As much as I love it that you're this wonderful, powerful little witch, I think that certain things, like your thoughts, should stay just that. Yours. I want you to surprise me."

"You're not scared of me then?"

"No," he chuckled. "You'd never hurt me."

"Never." Dru crawled onto Fred's lap. "I'll never do anything to hurt you."

* * *

Lunch was delicious, but it ended in disaster. Percy showed up with Rufus Scrimegour, the new minster of magic. While the minster went to have a talk in private with Harry. Ginny, Fred and George had a row with Percy, about him bring their mother to tears with his behavior. One of them threw a spoonful of parsnip mash at him and all of them wanted to take the blame.

Fred stormed out of the kitchen fuming with anger, went up to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

Dru followed him and knocked on the door before opening it just a little so Fred could see it was just her. "Can I come in?"

"He's a knob," Fred muttered. "It breaks mum's heart you know, his behavior."

Dru sighed, came into the room and closed the door behind her. "Yeah, I hate seeing your mum upset too, but he'll come round one day. He just don't know what to do, how to make it right again."

"No, he just blindly follows the minister and the ministry's stupid ideas. He's an idiot."

Dru sat down on Fred's bed and looked at her boyfriend pacing the room. "Come on, love, don't let this ruin your day." She patted on bed next to her, suggesting he should sit down next to her.

He sighed and sat down next to her on his bed. "I'll just have to send him a package filled with dungbombs."

"Tomorrow. Today no more Percy."

He put his arms around her and pulled her back to the bed with him. "Okay, no more big headed wanker."

Dru laughed and laid down on the bed and caressed Fred's cheek as she looked at him. "I really love you, you know."

"Well, that's good, because I really love you too," He planted a kiss on top of her head. "What were you girls doing last night anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"I heard you and Ginny giggle all night, and I think Fleur was shrieking a lot."

"Gin and I had another pillow fight." Dru gave Fred a kiss and suddenly she felt a bit nervous. She knew she wanted him and that she was ready, but she hadn't told him yet and she had know idea how to. "Fred, lock the door." She whispered in his ear before giving him another kiss.

He chuckled. "Yes, your magical hand on my cock will work miracles," he kissed her greedily before taking his wand and locked the door with one swing of it.

Dru gently began unbuttoning his shirt, but it wasn't going smooth as she was getting more nervous by the second, she suddenly felt like the day she gave him a hand job for the first time.

Fred took her hands and kissed them. "Relax, I don't think we'll get caught right now. Mum is too upset and Dad is too busy comforting mum." He then kissed her and rolled them over so that he was sitting on his knees over her. "Let's get you out of your clothes," he said huskily, suddenly realizing that she was wearing a dress and that it was easier to take her clothes off.

Fred first took off Dru's boots, as he did that, Dru kept growing even more nervous, Rose had told her about her first time with George and that it initially really hurt and Dru was fearing it a bit.

When Fred was done taking of her tights and hovered over her again, he kissed her greedily, before chuckling. "Dru, the door's locked, no one will get in. I promise." He said as he gently caressed her hair.

"I know." She bit her lip for a second before kissing him, this wasn't going as planned. She didn't want him to find out that she was feeling nervous, or he might think she wasn't ready yet.

He helped her out of her dress and sighed happily; he really loved the sight of her flawless body with her soft skin. Fred started to kiss her neck and caressed her stomach for a while before paying attention to her breasts. She was a very sensitive and responsive person and he liked it that he didn't have to spend too much time to take her to the edge, although maybe it would be a fun thing to explore too; his own patience and drive her completely mad with sensations.

Fred started to kiss his way down her body and at the same time allowed his hand to wander off towards her center, cursing himself for not having helped her out of her underwear just yet, but he could feel that her body had already started to respond to him. He playfully bit her stomach a little as he removed the offensive piece of clothing from the feast that was lying underneath him before kissing her greedily as his hand squeezed her inner thigh.

It had become easier for him to control himself, sure, there was nothing that he wanted more than wanting to feel himself inside of her, but he was able to keep those thoughts buried deep now, he wasn't as desperate as he had been in the past (although it was certainly a year since he had  _real_  sex. Not that getting his rocks off and getting her off too wasn't real sex. He just  _craved_  the full thing, sometimes. Most of the time.

She stopped him just about as she'd topple over the edge and come. "Stop..." She moaned and then slapped herself in the face for telling him to stop. Fred was making her feel  _so good_  and she was barely coherent, so she was going to have a hard time in telling him that she was ready for more.

"Are you okay?" Fred asked worried and softly caressed her hair. It was weird for her to tell him to stop, she had never done so.

She looked at him while she was trying to get her breathing under control, and yet hold on to the butterflies in her stomach. Dru gave a nod and smiled. "I want all of you."

Fred looked puzzled at her for a second or two, before he started to realize what it was she meant. "Are you sure?"

She nodded and softly kissed him. "I love you." She tugged on his shirt, it had to come off, and the buttons frustrated her a bit. He wore a button down shirt all the time for work, but on Christmas? What was wrong with the Mum Weasley jumper? She was still very nervous and a bit frightened of the pain Rose told she had felt but Dru really, really wanted all of him.

Fred wasn't sure if he should take Dru's word for this. He could tell she was scared. "I love you too, Dru. And we have plenty of time, we don't have to rush anything."

Dru shook her head. "I'm ready, I want you." She kissed him needily before he helped her with the buttons on his shirt and got rid of it."I'm just a bit nervous, because Rose told me it hurt." She confessed with a small voice.

"Well, it  _can_  hurt, but everyone experiences pain in a different way," he softly kissed her again. "But we don't have to do this."

"I want to, stop asking me." she said as she pulled him down for another kiss.

Fred chuckled and started to loosen his trousers while they kissed, keeping his balance perfectly and not toppling all over her. He gently broke off the kiss to get fully rid of his underwear and planted a kiss on her stomach before kissing his way up again. "Do you want me to tell you what I'm going to do or do you want to be surprised and shall we just keep it to the word 'stop' if things get too much?"

"You know me, I love surprises." Dru felt the butterflies in her stomach increase again. She was used to seeing Fred naked, but this time it felt different. A bit scary and at the same time excited, but she knew Fred would do what ever he could not hurt her too much.

He kissed her again and moved his hand back to her center, and for a while, he wasn't doing anything that he hadn't done with her before. And Dru was loving it before she found herself looking at him in shock when she felt his finger wiggle around in her vagina.

"Relax," Fred chuckled and planted a kiss between her breasts before starting to pay attention to one of them. His one finger was soon followed by another, and then yet another and it wasn't uncomfortable, in fact, Dru found herself liking it  _a lot_ , and wondered what it would feel like if he'd fill her up with his cock. He was a tease, he kept rubbing her pleasure center with his thumb as he opened her up for him and he kept her far enough from climaxing. It was so frustrating!

She whined when he removed his fingers from her. Not that she had to miss having something inside of her for long, Fred was moving on the bed and reaching for something in his nightstand. It didn't take him long to put a condom on himself and started to gently push himself inside of her.

It felt a bit uncomfortable, and it hurted a bit, but nothing like she feared. She tried to relax like Fred had said and closed her eyes trying to enjoy it. It didn't take her long to do so and she was now letting her body follow the movements Fred's hips were making. "Oh Fred." She moaned quietly

Fred hear Dru gashed, before giving a giggle as he came inside of her, making him chuckle. "Merlin, you're adorable." he gave her a kiss on her shoulder as he slid out of her and laid down behind her, pulling her in a close hug. "I love you, Dru." he whispered in her ear.

Dru looked behind her and gently kissed Fred. "I love you too." She smiled as she put her head back on the pillow and wiggled a little bit, so she was lying even closer to Fred. She closed her her eyes, trying to hold on as long as she could to the amazing feeling she was feeling right now.


	31. Fire in the sky

Christmas supper was delicious, Molly had made a real feast out of things and Dru and Rose had both offered to help with the dishes. Molly loved the fact that the two girls were always more than happy to help her with these kinds of little things. Although she suspected that the girls had an alternative reason for helping around the house.

Both girls were missing the mother-daughter bond in her life, as as a mother of 7 children, from which she only had one daughter, she knew how important that bond was. She felt sorry for the two girls who both had to miss that bond, each for their own different reason.

Dru had grown up with a mother, well two actually. Bellatrix had never been much of a mother and Dru never had any feelings for her besides fear, but Narcissa had loved Dru like she was her own and Molly knew that Dru really missed her. Tonks was sweet and kind to her and loved Dru to pieces, but she was no mother.

In contrast to Dru, poor Rose had not have a mother since she was one or two years old, well she never really had any real parents. It was a miracle she had turned out as well grounded as she did, if you imagine that she basically had raised herself.

But Molly felt more than just pity for the two girls. Out of her 7 children, she had always wondered how her twin boys would ever find love. The boys were almost inseparable and Molly could not imagine any woman loving the fact that she would have to share her husband with someone else. Secretly, she always hoped that he boys would find a set of girl twins that would understand them, but she knew that would be very unlikely.

When George wrote her a letter two years ago that he had found himself a girlfriend, Molly was more than trilled. Even more so, when Lupin had told her Rose was his goddaughter.

"Rose, have you and George discussed when you two want to get married?" Molly asked.

"Not until I graduate," Rose smiled as she looked at her ring.

Dru and Molly looked at each others and both smiled. it was just adorable to see Rose like that.

"Well, when you do, I'm going to trow you two the biggest party you'll ever have," Molly gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "I'm really glad to get such a beautiful daughter in law."

Rose felt herself blush and looked at Dru, who was smiling, but then she had been smiling ever since she and Fred had left his bedroom.

"I think Rose will make a beautiful bride," Dru smiled as she sat on the kitchen counter. Although Dru normally had the tendency to get jealous very quickly, she wasn't this time. She loved to see Rose, and George, so happy and she really wanted them to be.

"You know, I always wondered how Fred and George would ever have real relationships and start their own families." Molly smiled.

Rose sat down on the counter next to Dru. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the boys are always together and they have their own world, their own language. Finding a wife is hard when the wife always has to share her husband with someone else. So when George wrote me had a girlfriend two years ago, I was trilled and happy, but I also worried a bit about Fred."

"Well, Fred was seeing Angelina at the time," Dru pointed out as she was peeling a mandarin and giving Rose half of it.

"Yes, but that was never really serious. And I had to admit I could see that Fred was struggling with it at first."

Dru and Rose both looked at each other, neither one of them had noticed that.

"Oh, he's very good at hiding it. He didn't want George to know he was jealous that George had the girlfriend he wanted, but Fred didn't. I didn't even know who Fred wanted until the day that Neville came to visit. When you were all sitting by the fire, I watched you and then I suddenly realised that Fred kept looking at you and Neville and he wasn't pleased.

Dru looked at Rose. "Did you know that?"

Rose shook her head. "George told only told me about it after the Hogsmeade visit that he thought Fred was in love with you."

"Well, I think George has known it for years, but he was never going to tell on Fred. But in the weeks after Neville's visit, I saw how much Fred loved spending time with you. Teaching you how to open lock with those pin thingies of him, and making he was always trying to make you laugh." Molly smiled. "That's when I knew."

"That Fred was in love with Dru?" Rose asked.

"No, that you two were perfect for my boys. The two of you are just as close as twins, or maybe even closer. I mean just look at you. One of you eats something and automatically shares it with the other. The four of you were made for each other."

Dru and Rose looked at the mandarin they were eating and both laughed. "We are, aren't we?" Dru smiled.

"And I love you two for it," Molly gave both girls a kiss on their forehead before leaving to the sitting room, leaving the two girls still sitting on the counter.

"Wow!" Dru muttered.

"Uhuh." Rose nodded.

"I never had a mother-daughter talk before."

"me neither."

* * *

It was nearly bedtime when Lupin and Tonks were leaving. Dru, Rose, Fred and George were outside the kitchen door with their parents (in-law) saying goodnight.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Molly asked.

"No, the first night of the cycle is aways the worst." Tonks replied and gave Dru a hug. "Behave yourself."

"I will, you be careful." Dru said.

"Nah, that's no fun," Tonks disagreed and they both laughed.

Rose was giving Lupin a hug, when she noticed there was something changing in the air, suddenly she knew what was coming; the fire. Oh how she had wished that it hadn't been true, how the smell of fire had been just her mind playing tricks all day but it wasn't, and had she acted upon her feeling instead of just letting it happen, then the Weasley family didn't have to rebuild their home.

Lupin noticed it too and stared into the sky, like he was waiting for something, for someone.

"Sweetheart?" Tonks asked Lupin.

All of a sudden Bellatrix appeared on the edge of the open field, creating a wall of fire around the house as she laughed, locking everyone inside the fiery circle before she turned around and ran into the corn field.

Dru wanted to go after her, but George, who was standing next to her, grabbed her around her waist and pulled her of the ground, so she couldn't go anywhere.

George looked at Rose, who was visibly upset and was being held back by Fred. He wanted to tell Rose to calm down, but he was distracted when suddenly Harry and Ginny did go after Bellatrix, followed by Arthur, Lupin and Tonks.

George was still holding Dru in his arms, but she wouldn't calm down. He walked over to Fred and let Fred take Dru in his arms, while George pulled Rose closer to him. "You're not going over there. I'm not letting her take you again." He whispered in her ear, thinking that she was afraid that Bellatrix would take her again.

She shook her head as she looked at him with tears in her eyes. "George...the house."

"She's not in the house, she's in the field." George was confused.

Rose looked around her. George was holding her, Dru had calmed down and had an arm around the shocked Molly, that was staring at the corn field, where her husband and daughter were. Harry, Lupin and Tonks were there too. And Fred was standing near Bill and Fleur, who had walked outside too. Rose looked around again, she knew she couldn't stop it, but at least nobody was in the house. They would all be safe, but why did Rose feel like she was missing something.

They could spells being cased in the distance, near the frog pond, but Rose was still looking at the house and suddenly she saw the light in the attic. She suddenly realised there was still one person unaccounted for. She wrestled herself out of George's hold and ran inside. "RON!" She called out. "Get out of the house! Now!"

"Why?" A sleepy Ron was standing on the landing.

"Just get out! Now!" Rose was near tears, she knew they were running out of time.

Ron heard Rose's tears and did think twice about it. He quickly ran down the stairs and followed Rose outside. They were barely through the door before Bellatrix and at least another death eater flew through the house, setting the Burrows on fire.

George pulled Rose in his arms, while Fred and Dru pulled Ron away from the house. They all stood there watching the house while Tonks, Lupin, Arthur, Harry and Ginny came running back.

Everyone was frozen on the spot, and it took a minute for Rose to clear her head and took out her wand and pointed it at the burning house. " _Aguamenti_." A wave of water came flushing out of her wand, and she directed it onto the flames. This action seemed to unfreeze the rest of the people who were of age, and they followed her example. It took five minutes to extinguish the fire and Rose found herself staring at the house in shock.

This shouldn't have happened.

Dru had put her arms around a shaking Ginny and looked at Ron.

His face was looking ashen. If Rose had not gotten him when she did, he would have been burned.

* * *

It was a few days after Christmas and Dru and Rose had been spending the entire day at the store, helping the boys out. It had been a very busy day and the boys were now closing up, while Dru was cooking supper and Rose was folding up laundry.

Rose could easily do it with her wand, but she liked doing it the muggle way. She found it relaxing.

"Well, how does it feel?" Dru asked while she was making a salad.

"How does what feel?"

"Being engaged. How does it feel?"

Rose shrugged. "Not really different to be honest. I already knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with George. This just makes it official."

"Well, I thinks being engaged suits you. You're practically glowing." Dru smiled.

Rose giggled "No, I'm not."

"Look at you. You so are." Dru put the salad on the kitchen table and checked on her Shepherd's pie, that was already in the oven. "You're going to be the envy of the entire school, when they hear of your engagement."

Rose was mortified. "No, only Hermione can know. I am not willing to share this with anyone else just yet, I'd be a walking target for just more trouble."

"Fine, just Hermione and Neville, then." Dru wave her hands in the air as a sign of surrender.

She groaned as she looked at the folds in one of the pants the twins wore when at work, she needed to iron it. "Neville's going to kill George."

"Don't be so dramatic. He's not going to kill George. He loves you and George." Dru smiled. "Mind you, he'd kill Fred if he ever asked me, but not George."

"Oh true," she chuckled. "Yeah, we could tell Neville too then."

"I hope he made up with Hannah over the holidays. He really should get himself a girlfriend." Dru sighed. She hated not being on speaking terms with Neville.

"Neville is fine on his own, not everyone is ready to have someone yet, or over someone..." Rose replied and tossed another pair of trousers on the 'to iron' pile. "What happened, anyway? I thought you two were on the mend as friends."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too, but he...I don't know. He's just confused at the moment...I think." Dru started setting the kitchen table for supper. She didn't feel like eating in the dining room today.

"Well, maybe you should try to let him go a bit more, you know, keep more distance and not go running to him when there's something? That way he'll start to continue with his own life. I mean, I love him for still looking out for us but..." she shook her head. " _We_  have to be able to stand on our own two feet as well, even with those two love-able goofballs downstairs."

"I know and I have been trying to keep my distance. I mean I've hardly spoken to him, since …. well, that doesn't matter, but... I just don't know anymore." Dru sighed. "I don't want to lose him completely. I just wished he would realise already that I'm with Fred now and not him."

"He broke up with  _you_  and not the other way around." Rose pointed out. "He should stop being a baby."

"Who?" Fred peeked his head into the kitchen with a big smile on his face. "Oh! Georgie, we're eating in the kitchen and your fiance is dancing on our trousers!"

"They need to be ironed anyway," Rose laughed.

"Supper will be ready 15 minutes." Dru said. "Maybe you guys should do some of your own laundry."

"Why are we eating in the kitchen, we have a dining room, you know." George remarked as he walked into the kitchen. "Rose, please don't stand on my trousers, they're expensive."

"I'm not, they're on the floor because I still need to iron them," she rolled her eyes at George.

"But they're clean." George whined. "And why didn't Dru set the dining room table?"

"Yeah, why are we eating in the kitchen?" Fred asked as he leaned against the counter.

"Because I didn't feel like it and if you want to eat in the dining room, you set the table." Dru shot at them. "Honestly, and they call me spoiled." she muttered under her breath.

"Your mum is just an apparate away, we're not stopping you," Rose shrugged and pulled the clean trousers out of George's hands. "You want more folds in them? Stop tugging!"

"What's gotten in to you?" George looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"Nothing," she said as she felt victorious over gaining possession of the pants again. "I'm just tired of feeling as if I'm not good enough. Ever since we've returned from the Burrows, the both of you have been saying 'oh, that's not how mum does it' or 'mum does it differently' or 'mum can do that and do that and something else added to it' or even this morning's 'Rose, mum never lets the toast burn'." Rose tossed the trousers on top of the folded laundry in her basket. "And I know these things are expensive, I've been treating them with kid gloves and they were on the floor in a clean spot because I didn't have any place to put them. The point is, if you don't like the way Dru and I do things around the house, then you should do it yourself." She lifted the basket off the chair and set it on the stairs.

"Well..." George said. "I... look, if you girls rather want to eat in the kitchen it's fine."

"Yes, there's enough room," Fred nodded.

"If I were you I'd choose my words very carefully now, George. Rose can still decide not to marry you." Dru warned him.

"What are you talking about?"

"You boys are giving us a glimpse of what marriage is like, and we don't like it."

Fred and George looked at each other, they were confused. "What?"

Rose came back into the kitchen carrying her book on Ancient Ruins. "We are not your mother and we will never be your mother, the sooner you come to terms with that, the better it will be."

"I don't want you to be my mother. But I'm confused. Dru said you might back out of the wedding." George sat down next to Rose. "Look if you want me to do more around the house, just ask me to do something, I'll do it."

"Sweetie, I don't mind doing things around the house, and neither does Dru, we actually find it relaxing. If I wanted to do things quickly I would have used my wand," she smiled sweetly at him. "What I  _do_  mind is that you, and Fred, don't think it's good enough, and that your mum does things better."

"You are good enough. You just do things different I suppose. I never meant to be ungrateful, I'm sorry." George kissed Rose's cheek. "Does this mean you still want to marry me?"

"Just stop comparing me and Dru with your mum, okay? She's like... this super witch mum who can juggle everything at the same time and we both are in awe of her and we will never be as great as she is, but you have to face it, you, me, Dru and Fred have our own family unit now and I know it takes time to adjust to, but sometimes it just hurts."

"Rose, I'm sorry. Look I'll do the dishes tonight and I'll cook tomorrow and I won't complain anymore, okay?"

The oven started making noise and Dru grabbed her oven mitts and got the Shepherd's pie out. "Let's just eat." she sighed, before sitting down. Something Rose said, made her think.

George took the water carafe and poured water for everyone. "It's looks great, Dru. Much better than mums."

Dru gave a weak smile and was just pricking her fork in her food, without eating anything.

George kicked Fred in his shines and nodded towards Dru.

"Dru?" Fred said as he caressed her back. "Are you angry with us?"

Dru shook her head and took a bite of her food, still looking down at her plate.

"If you want to yell at Fred, you can go ahead. it made Rose feel better, yelling at me."

"I didn't yell, I was  _talking_." Rose pointed out before putting some salad on her plate.

"I don't want to yell at Fred. it's just...never mind." Dru took another bite, before pushing her plate away from her.

"Dru, eat." George said stern and pushed Dru's plate back towards her.

"George!" Rose smacked him in the arm. "She's not a child, if she doesn't want to eat she doesn't want to eat."

"What? She needs to eat and she can't just not eat, because Fred here is to afraid she's mad at him and won't ask her what's wrong."

Dru took another bite. "Fine, I'll eat."

George looked smug at Rose.

"No, you don't have to eat if you don't want to," Rose rolled her eyes at George. "There's obviously something percolating in that brain of yours and I know that eventually, it'll come out on its own," she told Dru before smacking George in his arm again. "She's not a kid."

"No, she's a bad eater and she already is too thin." George gave Fred a stern look that reminded Fred of his mother.

"She's right, Georgie," Fred told his brother. "She'll eat if she wants to and if you don't drop it right now, I will kick your ass."

"Actually, George has a bit of a point. I do need to eat." Dru said, making George look even smugger.

"Now all you need to do, is tell us why you're mad at Fred." George said

"I'm not mad at Fred, I just realized something, that's all." She took the water carafe and poured more water in her glass, "Anyone else?"

George hold up his glass and looked at Fred, wondering why Fred wasn't asking anything.

"Okay, fine," Fred shot a look at George. "Honey, George wants to know what's going on inside that pretty little head of yours," he chuckled at her. He knew that if Dru wanted to talk about whatever was going on inside her head that she would, eventually, without the constant badgering of his brother or himself.

"Well, George..." Dru looked at Fred. "Rose and George are going to start their own family soon and well...that complicates things, doesn't it?"

"Woah," Rose said, looking up from her plate. "What?"

Fred pointed at Rose and nodded. "I agree, why would it complicate things?"

"Well, they're gonna be husband and wife, that will change things, won't it? They're gonna want a house of their own, so where am I supposed to go?"

"Dru, we're not going to kick either you or Fred out." George laughed.

"Mate, you can't kick me out! I own half of this place!" Fred shot at his brother with a smile on his face.

"We're not going anywhere," Rose said at the same time. "And neither are you."

"But what if you have kids? This place isn't big enough for you two, a bunch of kids and Fred and me."

"We'll see when the time comes," George laughed. "But I think that right now, you're spooking Rose."

"I just... I already lost on roof over my head."

"Dru, if the time comes that this place will become to small for us, we'll find another solution, but we'll do that with the four of us." Fred said and pulled Dru against him.

"We, the four of us, are a family now." George said. "Like Rose said, it takes a bit of adjusting for all of us, but she's right, we are a family and do you honestly think that I could live without Fred?"

Dru smiled and crawled on Fred's lap. "Well, you're going to have to one day. When you guys have kids, Fred and I are going to live somewhere else."

"No way," Fred and George shook their heads.

"Well, Dru looked around the room. "Then we're going to have to remodel this place. Or buy a bigger house."

"Yes, when the time comes," George nodded. "Not now."

"I still can't believe you guys are getting married." Dru smiled. "I'm not even used to us all living together yet. You know what that means, don't you Fred?"

"Um...no?"

"That's we are a young happy couple are going to be living with an old married couple."

"Oi!" George scoffed. "I promised Rose we wouldn't get married until she graduates so a lot can happen in the next year and a half or so."

"Yeah, she might change her mind." Dru stuck her tongue out at George. She liked teasing George.

"You're unbelievable. First you help me to ask her and now you're threatening that she changes her mind." George smiled."You're a nightmare."

Dru put her arms around Fred's neck. "Your bother is mean to me." She giggled. "Tell him off."

"George, consider yourself to be told off, now finish eating your supper, George." Fred said before kissing Dru on the lips. "Oh and George, as you've volunteered to cook tomorrow, I'm requesting a lot of gravy."

"Dry meat and beans on toast, that's all you're getting." George said as he finished his plate.

"Don't worry, I was planning on making reservations at the leaky cauldron anyway." Dru smiled.

"No, you're going to cook," Rose laughed at George. "I love the Leaky Cauldron but we're eating there a lot..."

"Well, what do you want me to make, Rose? I'll make beans on toast for those two, but I'll make you whatever you want." George put his arm around Rose.

"If you're going to be this silly about it, I'll make us all some lasagna tomorrow."

"Well, I never made lasagna. What if you teach me how to make it?" George smiled.

Dru laughed. "Well, that's a good idea. You teach George how to cook and then I'll give Fred a helping hand at the store."

"I could do that," she chuckled, and finished up the salad on her plate.

"Hmm... I'm not sure if that's a good idea." George chuckled. "Dru giving Fred a helping  _hand_  at the store."

"Oh you're..." Rose rolled her eyes at him and grabbed her Ancient Runes book off the floor. "This is my date tonight," she said as she hugged it.

George looked at Rose, as if she just killed his pet, which had Fred and Dru in stitches. George grabbed the book out of Rose's hands, stood up and put the book in the cupboard, on the highest shelf at the back. He then put something in front of it. "So, no date."

" _Accio Ancient Runes book_." she said, and with a wave of her wand, the book landed in her lap while the thing that blocked its exit fell onto the floor.

"Oh, you're playing it like this?" George smiled and looked at Fred. He took the book and put it back at the same spot he did before, but this time he had his wand ready. " _Expelliarmus_." George was now holding Rose's wand and put it on the book. He turned to Rose. "Alright smarty pants. Now what?"

Rose shrugged. "I could do Ancient Runes tomorrow. I might get my Arithmacy book."

George growled. "Can't you study me tonight?"

"What?" she smiled coyly. "Like last night? And the night before?"

"Practise makes perfect." He grinned

"Yes, and if you want me to graduate next year, you have to allow me to practise," she nodded and softly kissed him. "Besides, you were going to do the dishes."

Dru broke off her kiss with Fred. "I'd better hit the books too."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Fred whined.

"I don't know. What do you do when I'm at school?"

"Stock up the shop, improve some charms... annoy George."

"Well, George's free tonight." Dru smiled. "Or...you can help me get my homework done quicker."

"Can we be naked?" Fred waggled his eyebrows at her.

"After my homework is done." Dru giggled, before she looked at Rose. "Is this normal?"

"Grandfather used to say that all boys like girls for just one thing." Rose shrugged as she climbed onto the chair and managed to get her wand and book back.

"I'm going to get my books." Dru said as she tried to get up from Fred's lap, but he didn't want to let her go. "Fred?"

"You can study another day."

"Seriously, for two guys who have been telling us to study, or in my case actually stay at Hogwarts, you make it really hard for us to actually graduate if you don't let us study when we want to," Rose chuckled. "Just give us tonight, please?"

"Do you want me to check some of your essays?" George asked as he started on the dishes.

"Nah, they're good," she smiled. "Thanks though. It's the ruins and arithmacy that are killing me but I need them."

"Yeah, I never took those subjects." George confessed, as he finished the dishes.

Dru got off Fred's chair and got her school books from the living room. She sat down on her own chair again and opened her transfiguration book.

"Oh, transfiguration!" Fred grinned and with a wave of his wand, the book turned into a paper swan. "You want some help with that?"

"How about my book back?" Dru smiled. "I just need to read this chapter, and then walk through my potion and my charms essays, before the nightmare begins."

"I'll look over your charms essay." George offered and took the papers and sat down next to Rose. "Don't you have an essay on Charms?" George looked through Rose's school stuff and found her paper.

Fred turned the book back into its former state and started the kettle for some tea. If they were going to help the girls with their school work, they had to be prepared.

"Already done," she muttered as she opened her book and started to read.

"Good Girl." George said and started on Dru's paper, while gently caressing Rose's back. "By the way, what is your nightmare subject, Dru?"

"Herbology, Neville gave a bunch of notes to work out." Dru growled.

"Why did you take Herbology anyway? Mum has a great garden with a lot of herbs in them and she wouldn't mind telling you which one is which to make sure you can make brilliant potions." Fred asked as he put mugs on the table.

"Because if I ever, for whatever reason, need to show that I'm qualified as a potion maker, I need a good Herbology NEWT. " Dru smiled at Fred. "Thanks for the tea. But to be honest, I'm getting better at it. Assisting Neville on his project and his tutoring classes is teaching me a lot. Besides Joey loves me and he sulks if he doesn't see me often." she giggled.

"Well, Joey's harmless, Longbottom...well we see." George muttered, while exchanging a look with Fred. They both didn't really trust Neville. They loved him, but they knew he was still in love with Dru. "How is Hannah Abbot?"

"Well, sulking, to be honest. Neville doesn't want her back and she doesn't like that." Dru said. How did this conversation turn to be about Neville again? "But I think Neville has a bit of a crush on Luna Lovegood."

"That's not what he said when he was helping us out."

Dru looked at Fred. "What did he say then?"

"I dunno, something about having broken up with her because she wasn't his type."

Dru looked at her book. "Well, Luna is nothing like Hannah." She didn't want to tell Fred that Neville did tried to kiss him, but she didn't like lying to him either.

"I just got a vibe off of him telling me that he's not over you."

"Well, no...maybe, but I love you, no matter what he tried." Dru could feel her cheeks blush, she shouldn't have said that.

George looked at Fred's face, put Rose book on a pile, took them in one hand and his other hand on Rose's hand.

_crack_

Fred and Dru were now alone in the kitchen.

"Where did they go?" Dru asked.

"To give us some space. What did Neville do?" Fred looked worryingly at Dru. "Do I need to kill him?"

"No, technically, he didn't do anything wrong."

"I don't believe this guy, you know." He said with a sigh. "He broke up with  _you_  and not the other way around. He should leave you alone."

"Fred, I though we had broken up and he tried to comfort me. He told me to write you and make it right with you, but I was angry and … I'm afraid it's a bit my fault too. I told him he was very nice and great guy and then suddenly he kissed me, but I turned him down, Really I did, Fred. And to be fair, it's not like you didn't do the same to him." Dru took a deep breath. "Are you mad?"

"We didn't break up, we had an argument and said things we didn't mean, the way you describe how Neville broke up with you, that was a permanent thing."

"I thought we'd broken up. Our fight reminded me of the fight I had with Neville when we broke up in our fourth year. I really thought you and I were over. But I still didn't let him kiss me, I wanted you back and I wasn't going to let one stupid moment ruin that."

Fred sighed. "I understand, I am not mad, I understand and I'm sorry, but are you  _absolutely_  certain that you want to stay with me and not him?"

"Are you serious? I love you, Fred." she gently gave him a kiss. "Alright you want to know the full truth I told Neville?"

"I'm always honest to you, I think I deserve it when you are."

"Neville told me he knew a part of me still loved him, so I told him the truth. That I do still love him, but I love you more. and I do, Fred. I love you more then I've ever loved him. Please believe me. Look if wanted to get back together with Neville, I'd be back with him right now. But I'm here with you, aren't I? I didn't want to tell you sooner, because I want Neville to get over me, so we can all be friends again, like we used to be. I miss my friend, sometimes."

"Okay, fine," Fred said. "But I still don't like him around you."

"I know, but he's mad at me right now and hardly talking to any way. So don't worry, he won't try anything." Dru crawled in Fred's lap.

"Why is he mad at you?"

"I told Hannah he wanted her back and now she wouldn't leave him alone. He wasn't pleased with that." Dru caressed Fred's hair. "You still don't get it, do you?"

"I do," he said as he softly kissed her. "You're trying to get him a girlfriend so that he leaves you alone, but what if he doesn't need that and just needs to be alone? I understand that you want to be friends with him again, but what if it's simply not possible?"

"Then that will break my heart." Dru confessed. "But you still don't get it."

"I don't?"

"You still don't get that there are still a lot of boys, besides Neville, that want me and do anything to have me, but all I want is you. Nobody but you, Fred Weasely."

"Well, that's good," he chuckled. "Because all I want is you too."

"Alright, so help me finish me homework then you can have me."

"You need to invent anti-love potions. Potions that can work the other way around, like turn someone completely off from someone. That would certainly sell!"

"I'm never going to make those." Dru said shocked.

"You could use it on Neville and all those other boys."

"Yeah, or somebody like Blaise or Draco could get their hands on it and use it on me to forget you." Dru said.

"Yeah... not going to work," he chuckled and softly kissed her. "Alright, homework."

* * *

Rose and Dru had made little snacks for everyone at New Years Eve, which delighted Mrs. Weasley (and Mr. Weasley as Rose had made some 'muggle snacks' too) and the entire evening was spent playing games, listening to the radio and playing even more games. It was fun, and Rose really liked the atmosphere that was going on. Warm and cosy. You couldn't really tell that there had been a fire, apart from a few bits and pieces missing such as furniture and a part of the stairs, but Rose could tell that magical repairs were also a bit reshaping the house itself.

"Dru, come outside with me!" Fred whispered in her ear.

"Now? It's nearly twelve!" Dru looked at him.

"I know." Fred grinned, took her hands and pulled her with him to the open field outside the Burrows.

"I have a surprise for you," Fred placed Dru in the middle of the field, far away from the house as possible before while he walked to edge of the field and lit a fuse on a big box that was standing there. He walked back to Dru, stood behind her and out his arms around her waist. "This is the Christmas present I still owe you."

When the fuse reached the box, it nearly exploded and a range of different kinds of firework shot into the air. It started making all kinds of beautiful shapes in different colours and sizes.

Dru was loving the entire spectacle, while nestled in Fred's arms. "I love it." She said and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Just wait! There's more to come." Fred grinned.

The rest of the house had come outside to admire the firework too, but George and Rose made sure everybody stayed near the house. They wanted Fred and Dru to be somewhat alone for his.

Dru was still watching the fireworks, when she felt Fred letting her go and removing his arms from her waist. Dru was watching the stars that the fireworks were casting slowly changing their shapes.

They were now becoming letters that were rearranging themselves to spell out a sentence in the air.

_Turn around, I need to ask you something_

Dru turned around and felt how her lungs drew in some air, but refused to let it out. Much to her surprise, Fred was sitting down on one knee, holding a ring in his hand.

"Marry me, Dru." He smiled. He wanted to asked it seriously, but behind him, he could hear gasps and muttering. Making it impossible for him to keep a straight face.

Dru was shocked and nailed to the floor. Her head didn't seem to process what was going on. She just stared at Fred with big eyes.

"Molly, do we seriously now have three engaged sons?" Arthur seemed a bit shocked, but he was smiling.

Molly just nodded, she was as lost for words as Dru was.

"Uh...Dru?" Fred was getting a bit insecure. Why wasn't she responding?

Dru dropped to her knees, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Fred gently broke off the kiss. "Is that a yes?"

Dru nodded. "Yes." she smiled as she kissed him again.

Fred pulled Dru towards him which such force that they both fell over. They were both laughing.

Rose giggled as she put her arms around George, watching Dru and Fred laugh in the grass. "Happy New Year everyone!"

"Happy new year, but I hate you." Ginny said with a smile to Rose.

"Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to keep my mouth shut," she grinned and hugged Ginny. "Relax, now we can share the burden of being Fleur's brides maid with her!" she whispered in her ear.

Ginny smiled, before she ran at Fred, who had just gotten up, and jumped into his arms. "I can't believe you're getting married."

Dru walked towards Rose. "I'm going to kill you." She said with a smile.

"Oh no you're not," George chuckled. "Don't want to leave me alone now, would you?"

"No, I'm going to kill you after I kill her." Dru gave Rose a hug. "How long did you know?"

"I went with Fred to get you that ring, so quite some time," Rose smirked and hugged her friend.

"Fred started on the firework after your letter, that's why he only wrote you one letter, he was too afraid he would mention something that would spoil his surprise for you." George smiled and gave Dru a hug.

Dru bit on her lip as she looked behind her at Fred hugging his parents. "I'm not dreaming, aren't I?"

Rose pinched a part of Dru's arm, making her yelp. "Nope, I'd say you're not."

"Ouch." Dru rubbed her arm, before slapping Rose on hers.

"Oh, come here you!" Mrs. Weasley said before enveloping Dru into one of her famous bear hugs.

Dru hugged Mrs. Weasley back. "Your son is bonkers. I can't believe he asked me to marry him."

"Well you should," Molly replied, clearly sobbing now. "Oh it just hit me; my sons are growing up!" Mrs Weasely was hugging Dru so tightly the poor girl could hardly breathe anymore.

"Hm, Mom, if you want Fred to marry her, you have to let her go, before she chokes." Bill laughed.

"Oh, Fleur, but now that Dru is marrying Fred, she's going to be your sister too. So now she can be your bridesmaid too, right?" Rose said with a wide smile

Dru and Fleur were just staring at each other, neither one off them liking that idea very much.

"Absolutely," Bill grinned, he loved Fleur, but he thought the animosity between her and Dru was a little bit silly.

Fleur nodded polite. "Of course, she must."

Rose and Ginny grinned widely at Dru before Rose smiled up to George. "I love you."

"I love you too." George smiled at Rose before he finally got the chance to give Fred a hug. "I told you she said yes." He whispered.

"For a second there I wasn't so sure." Fred grinned.

"Yeah, well only you can bring make that girl speechless." George said.

Dru was done with hugging everyone and she put her arms around Fred's waist. "Can I see my ring now?" With the two of them falling over and then being congratulated by everyone, Fred was still holding the ring in his hand.

Fred smiled as he took Dru's hand and slipped the ring on her finger. "Promise me you'll never take it off."

"Never," Dru softly kissed him, "I love you so much."

"I love you too, my little firecracker."


	32. Stop it

Dru and Rose had spent the remainder their vacation at the flat and helping out at Wizards Wheezes. In the very early hours of January 5th, Dru was in the kitchen making her pancakes. Fred was leaning with his back against the kitchen counter, right next to the stove. He just wanted to be as close to her as he could, since she would be leaving in about an hour.

Dru put a couple pancakes on a plate an gave it to Fred so he could put it on the table. She then got her bowl of pancake batter and poured some more in her pans. She could feel Fred wrapping his arms around her waist. Dru leaned against him, tilting her head bit back to rest it against his chest as she kept an eye on her pancakes. "It's only for two months. Our next Hogsmeade weekend is march 1st."

"That's too long." Fred kissed her neck. "I'm going to miss you." He pulled her a little closer to him.

Dru caressed his cheek with her hand, while keeping her eyes on the stove. "I'm going to miss you too. Now call George and Rose and tell them breakfast is ready."

Fred sighed, let Dru go and walked to the bottom of the stairs. "George, Rose, breakfast." he waited until to make sure he could hear movement coming out of their bedroom, before walking back into the kitchen and sitting down next to Dru.

Dru put her hand on Fred's arm. "Fred, I've been thinking, don't be mad, but I kinda want to keep our engagement quiet for a bit."

"What? You're ashamed of me?" he chuckled as he took a sip of his tea.

"Of course not, but I don't wanna hear, oh is she pregnant? Is she after his money? I'm still only 16 remember, besides Rose's not telling everyone either."

"Rose isn't telling what either?" George asked as he and Rose entered the kitchen. "Hmmm pancake Sunday, I'm going to miss this."

"I've already told George that the only two people who are privileged to know are Hermione and Neville," Rose smiled as she sat down. "It's not of anyone's business anyway, and I just pray that Ron can keep his mouth shut to the rest of them all."

"Yeah, she did." George said as he helped himself to a pancake.

"I just hope Ron doesn't tell Lavender, else the entire school will know within two hours." Dru said as she gave Fred the syrup. "Eat."

"We're proud to be Weasleys-in-waiting," Rose grinned as she took a pancake. "But we're still in school, so it would be a little bit awkward."

"I understand," Fred sighed. "I'd rather shout it from the rooftops but..."

"We will, but not just now okay. Rose is only telling two other people and I'm only telling three. For now." Dru gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I don't want to give others to spoil this for us. My uncle and aunt weren't too pleased either. But I want to enjoy this time."

"Freddie, give the girls a few months to get used to the idea and then they can't wait to tell everyone. Don't forget we are already used to the idea for months now." George said as he got up to make some tea.

"I know, I know," Fred sighed.

"I personally can't wait for the Apparition classes." Rose grinned. "It'd make travel so much easier!"

"I'm not going to be able to take the exam till summer anyway." Dru said as she finished her second pancake. "Maybe I go and try to take the exam on my birthday."

"Oh, that would be a great idea," Fred grinned. "And in the meantime, when Rose gets her licence, she can take the both of you home!"

"Fred, you know we're supposed to take the train back."

"A guy can dream, right?" He shrugged.

Dru crawled on his lap. "Honey, cheer up a bit. You'll see me again soon." She softly kissed him.

George was gently caressing Rose's back. "Did you girls pack everything yet?"

"Yes," she nodded. "And I made sure we both packed our own stuff, I don't want to find more charmed stuff by Fred in my trunk." she eyed Fred who looked at her impishly.

"Don't worry, I took my revenge on Dru's stuff for you." George chuckled as he kissed Rose.

"Oi!" Dru said. "I'm an innocent bystander. Why take out our revenge on me?"

"Cause your fiance jinxed my fiance's stuff at the beginning of the year." George pulled Rose on his lap and kissed her. "Don't put on any of her shoes." he whispered in Rose's ear.

Rose giggled and softly kissed him on his lips. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, sweetie." George kissed Rose back and pulled her a little closer to him.

Dru had gotten off Fred's lap, much to his irritation, and was clearing the table again.

"Dru, I can do that later."

"It's fine, I always clean up." Dru shrugged.

Fred took hold of the hem of Dru's skirt and pulled her back in his lap. "I'll clean up later, I just want to hold you for as long as I can."

Dru played with his hair. "I'm coming back, Fred, don't worry."

George looked at his watch. "We better get you girls to mums."

* * *

Dru and Rose brought the stuff to the room and unpacked. They waited for Hermione to come back too. They couldn't wait to tell her their good news. It would be a lot easier than telling Neville.

But they had to wait quite a while before she came up to the dormitory. "Hi, you two." Hermione smiled.

"Finally!" Dru exclaimed and gave Hermione a big hug. "Did you have a nice holiday with your parents?"

"Yeah, good." Hermione gave Rose a hug and sat down on Rose's bed. "How was yours? Harry told me about the attack. I'm glad you got Ron out."

"Yeah, that's was scary." Dru said

Hermione looked surprised at the two girls, they looked surprisingly happy and cheerful for two girls whose family's home was attacked by death eaters over Christmas. "I'm taking the rest of your holiday was a good one?"

"Magical." Dru grinned

"Amazing," Rose had almost a bigger grin on her face, if that was even possible.

Hermione looked from one girl to the other. "Okay, what did I miss? You two are even bouncier than usual, it's scaring me."

"Should we tell her?" Dru teased.

"Maybe...or maybe not." Rose grinned

"Fine, then don't." Hermione crossed her arms, looking from Dru to Rose waiting who was going to give in first.

"Dru?" Rose smiled.

"You first." Dru grinned and laid down on her side, petting Holly who had jumped on the bed.

Hermione looked at Rose and raised one eyebrow. "Rose?"

"George asked me to marry him." she giggled.

Hermione's eyes grew as big as saucers. "Oh my god, that's so wonderful...you did say yes, didn't you?"

"It's really hard not to say 'no' to a Weasley boy," she laughed. "Of course I said yes!"

"Let me see your ring." Hermione said after hugging Rose.

Rose gave Hermione her hand. "It was so... over the top and wonderful, he had this big speech and it just..." she sighed happily. "The downside to being engaged to him is having to be Fleur's brides maid."

"I wish I could have been there." Hermione giggled. "Well, the ring is beautiful! George has good taste. And being Fleur's bridesmaid is only one day and you got to do it with Ginny."

"And with someone else," she grinned and threw her pillow at Dru, making Holly jump off the bed in fright.

"Oi, watch it." Dru said.

"Really, she asked Dru too?" Hermione asked.

"Well, she didn't want to, but after Fred and I got engaged too, she had no other choice." Dru giggled and held up her hand, so Hermione saw that Dru was wearing a ring too.

"Oh good lord! The twins have completely lost their minds!" Hermione giggled. "Wow, that is beautiful! Congratulations!"

"Just one thing, Mione. We don't want everybody to know yet. Just the family, you, Harry and Neville." Dru said.

Hermione looked at Dru. "Are you sure you should tell Neville?"

Dru nodded. "I have to. It'd be cruel to let him find out from someone else."

"So, when are you girls getting married? You are going to do it on different dates or are you going to do a twin wedding too." she laughed.

"Oi, the boys did completely different kinds of proposal and on different dates too." Rose said offended. "And George and I are not going to get married until I graduate, not sure what she and Fred have discussed though," she chuckled.

"End of July, this year," Dru smiled.

"What? After your birthday?" Hermione laughed. "That is brilliant!"

"Yeah, but we don't know how we're going do it, so don't tell anyone yet." Dru was cuddling Holly, who had came back on the bed.

"Rose, we better go and tell Neville." Dru said as she got of her bed.

"I think he's in his dormitory." Hermione said. "I think that you two... well the four of you are mad for being engaged, but I can't help but being so incredibly happy!"

"Well one day, Hermione, we'll be congratulating  _you_  on becoming a Weasley, just you wait." Dru gave Hermione a kiss on her forehead as she and Rose walked to the boys dormitories.

Neville was unpacking his stuff and so were Dean and Seamus.

"Boys, would you mind if we talked to Neville alone?" Dru asked.

"Ohhhhh," the boys cooed with big goofy grins on their faces. "Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Seamus added before they left the dormitory.

"Hi girls," Neville smiled. "How was your holiday?"

"Good, how was yours?" Dru sat down on Harry's bed with Holly still in her arms.

"Fine, what did you wanna talk to me about?" Neville was used to Dru coming to his bedroom, but Rose never really came up there.

"Rose has something she wants to tell you."

"It's a secret, and I don't want you to tell anyone," Rose smiled. "Only Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry and Dru know."

"What is it? You're not in trouble, are you?" Neville asked a bit concerned, he never really liked Rose's secrets.

"Don't worry, you'll like this secret." Dru smiled. "Tell him, Rose."

"I'm going to be married to George in the future," she said with a nod.

"Well, obviously, I already knew that. What's so secret about that?" Neville rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not that thick."

Rose giggled. "He asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve!"

"Rose!" Neville gave Rose a big hug. "That's so... I can't believe this. Our little Rose is getting married." He laughed. "That's amazing."

"I'm not little!" she laughed.

"You're always tiny, short and little." He smiled.

She stuck out her tongue to him. "Just don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Well, I'll tell Joey, but he can keep his mouth shut." he chuckled.

"Just make sure you're alone with Joey when you do!"

"Don't worry." Neville gave Rose a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm really happy for you two."

"See, I told you he wouldn't want to kill George." Dru smiled.

"Of course not. Rose and George belong together." Neville grinned. "Shame that he's part of a twin, otherwise I would have demanded the best man spot."

"Well, we could put you in a dress and then you could be Rose's bridesmaid." Dru giggled.

"Yes! Deal!" Rose laughed.

"You girls are really trying to kill me." Neville shook his head. "First you call me gay and now you want to put me in dress."

"Dresses are cool, Neville. You'd look marvellous in a dress."

"'You girls really don't like me, do you?"

Rose smirked. "You know... I  _could_  transfigure your clothes right now and..."

"I hate you." Neville hit Rose with his pillow. "But if you don't watch it, I could make sure you get some very bad itches on your private places."

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots," she grinned. "Plants are horrible."

"Yeah, well Dru's still scared of them after 6 years."

"You should woo her with Joey," Rose nodded. "Anyway, I think it's time for lunch, are you two coming?"

"Yeah." Dru looked angrily at Rose, why had she given Neville the idea to keep wooing her?

"You know I'm just joking about the whole 'wooing' thing, don't you?" She looped her arm through Dru's and started to walk out of the dormitory with her.

"Yeah, but you probably got him thinking about it again." Dru said on a low voice, hoping that Neville, who was walking behind her, couldn't hear her.

Rose shrugged. "You're with Fred now, his loss."

"She is now." Neville said simply.

"Neville, Dru's with Fred now. No matter what I said, you should back off."

"Yeah, but if I do, you'll be wrong. Don't you remember telling me that you still see Dru ending up with me in the end?"

Dru pulled her arm away from Rose. "You are unbelievable."

"It's nowhere near the end! My God!" she cried out. "Get it out of your thick skull that it's anywhere close, Neville! I'm  _glad_  she's with Fred."

"You told me that too, but you also said that you know Dru will end up with me in the future." He smiled.

"Not in the near future," Rose muttered. "Now drop it, you're creating too much stress."

"I can't believe you." Dru said and walked away from the two and sat down between Ginny and Ron. Why did Rose always have to complicate things with her stupid gift?

She glared at Neville before sitting down next to Hermione. Why wasn't Neville giving up? She knew what she said, but that boy was so impatient it was annoying her. He needed to learn to be patient.

Neville sat down on the other side of Hermione. He looked at Dru, when Rose had told him a few weeks ago, that she knew Neville and Dru would end up together in the future, he had become determined to make the future happen as soon as possible.

"Uhoh, the other trio has some relationship troubles," Ginny muttered.

"Shut up." Dru shot at Ginny.

* * *

The book that mentioned the Vanishing Cabinet weighed heavy in her bag and she couldn't wait to beat Draco over the head with it. When she was looking for it, she saw that its original purpose was not to get someone  _out_  of Hogwarts and safe, but for it to bring a bunch of someone's  _in_  to Hogwarts, and it wasn't good news.

Of course, she should have  _known_  that Draco had been up to something, especially after what she had witnessed during the beginning of summer after the Department of Mysteries battle, but in a way, she half expected him to tell the truth after all he did for Rose and Dru (and to the girls under duress) and she felt betrayed.

She arrived on the seventh floor in time for her scheduled meeting with the rat and waited somewhat impatiently for him. To see that he was accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle wasn't her idea of fun either. " _Petrificus Totalus_ " she cursed his lackeys, no way that they were going to get close to her anymore.

"Oi!" they cried out.

"What are you doing?" Draco acted surprised. She had to give him that, he was a good actor. "Are you okay?"

"No," she said curtly and pulled the book out of her bag before hitting Draco with it. "Twisting the truth so you can tap into my feelings for Dru and make me offer you to help you is just heartless!" she kept hitting him with the book.

"Would you stop?" He took hold of her wrists and stopped her from hitting him with the book. Draco knew that she could have done much worse, and he was just glad that it was a _book_. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't  _lie_ , Draco," she spat at him. "You know very well what I'm talking about."

"Release them, I'll dismiss them," his pretense was faltering as he gave a nod towards Crabbe and Goyle.

"No, I'm not that stupid."

"Fine," he sighed and pushed her towards the other end of the corridor, but not far away enough so that she could still keep an eye on Crabbe and Goyle. But they were out of earshot anyway. "You're right, it's not to bring Dru to safety, but could be used to bring her to safety."

"All the while where a bunch of Death Eaters will wait for her on the other end and take her away again," she rolled her eyes at him. "And, or, or maybe both, for those Death Eaters to come here and kill everyone on sight." she saw how his demeanor changed even more. She was right, and he knew it. In fact, it couldn't be clearer to her that the original plan was to get Death Eaters on Hogwarts. "Yeah... thought so," she managed to get her wrists free from his grasp and hit him again with the book before handing it to him. "You're on your own. This book should give you more clues about how it works and how to repair it, but I'm not helping you anymore."

"But..."

"If you start crying  _again_ , I will announce it to the entire school how the mighty Draco Malfoy is a big wuss," she glared at him. "I'm done."

She stomped off to another corridor, and just about as she was getting too far away from Crabbe and Goyle, she muttered  _Finite Incantatem_  to release them from the body bind curse.

* * *

Dru had put the Christmas present she had gotten for Neville in her bag. Monday morning they first had two hours of Herbology and then they had two hours where she would help him with his projects. She had thought long and hard about how she was going to tell him.

He reacted really happy when Rose had told him about her and George getting engaged, but Dru knew that he wouldn't never reacted the same way to hearing that about her and Fred's plans to get married.

They spent the first 15 minutes after class going over the notes that Dru had writing out over the holidays. Neville was impressed about Dru's progress, she was showing improvement.

"So, how is your grandmother?" Dru decided to start with small talk.

"Yeah, she's fine, complaining about how everything is changing right now and not letting me walk the streets on my own but she's fine."

"Yeah, Fred and George got really angry when I went for a little stroll through Diagon Alley by myself."

"Yeah, you're at a bigger risk. They do have the shop and apartment well protected, don't they?"

"Of course they do."

"Good," Neville nodded and finished looking over Dru's notes. "And see? You know what you're doing, this is good stuff."

"Really?" Dru was nearly jumping with joy. "I worked really hard on it."

"Yeah, it shows," he smiled at her. "You should be a bit more patient when doing Herbology stuff, or dealing with plants, take your time, and you'll sure get your NEWT for it next year."

"Thank you," without thinking about it, she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. "I couldn't have done it without you. You're a brilliant teacher."

"Professor Sprout says so too," he chuckled and returned her hug, hugging her a little longer than what friends did. "But we shouldn't stop studying the way we do, I mean, I  _know_  you and you get bored easily."

Dru let Neville go and turned back to her homework. "You're right, we shouldn't. But I can't wait to write to Fred and tell him even you think I'm improving." She smiled widely

Neville chuckled. "You've seen him yesterday, I doubt that he already missed you."

"I already miss him." Dru said and took a deep breath. She didn't know how to tell him. "It's wonderful isn't it, that George and Rose are getting married?"

"To be honest? I think it's ridiculous that George asked her while she's still at Hogwarts. I mean, she still has a year and a half to go, a lot can happen in that time," Neville said as he looked at one of the plants near by.

"Really?" Dru was shocked. "But you said you were happy for her?"

"It's a typical George thing to do, but yeah... it's what friends do, isn't it? Be happy for each other despite thinking it's a bad idea?"

"But it's romantic! Besides they're both of age." Dru looked at her engagement ring. Maybe she shouldn't tell him, but she didn't want to risk him finding out by somebody else.

"Oh sure, maybe it is romantic, and they're both of age but she's still a student. Is she pregnant or something? I thought she was more level headed than that."

"Of course she's not pregnant. Neville how can you think that of us?" Dru shot at him.

"Well not of you two, it's  _them_ , isn't it? They're great guys but..." Neville sighed. Maybe he shouldn't be venting his frustrations towards the twins towards the one person he tried to get away from the redheads. "And I know that I've helped them out but I did that because of you, and they don't like me very much. Neither of them. I mean, I could understand Fred doesn't like me, but George? What have I done to him? Besides, have you seen them when they're without you? They aren't the gentlemen you think they are."

"What have you done? Neville, Fred and George both know you think you want me back and Fred's jealous and George doesn't like to see his brother upset. But Rose and I want this just as much as they do. If we didn't we would have never said yes to them"

"What?" Neville blinked at her. "Fred asked you to marry him too? Are you insane?"

Dru swallowed. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell like this, but yeah, Fred and I are getting married."

"You're not serious."

Dru nodded. "Yes, I am. I told you I love Fred."

"You've only been going out for a year!"

"Why does that matter? I love him and he loves me and we want to spend the rest of our lives together."

"You're 16, he's 18... you're still ..." Neville sighed, he was about to say the same thing he had said about Rose and George being engaged. "I'm happy for you, but I'm not going to stop trying to win you back."

"Neville, come on. You don't love me. Your body wants me, but you don't love me, there are so many girls that could make you happy." Dru took a step closer to him.

"Oh no, it's definitely not my body that wants you. Well not just my body. I miss you, I miss you in my arms, I miss our talks, I miss calling you my girlfriend. And I hate myself for giving you up."

"Look, we can still talk and you can still call me your friend and one day you'll find a girl that you can hold in your arms. You just worried about me getting hurt and you're confusing that with loving me." Why couldn't she make him see that he didn't love her?

"Whatever," he muttered and shrugged.

"Neville, I promise you, one day you'll get the girl you really want." She took another step closer to him and put her hands on his upper arms. "You deserve the right girl."

He sighed and nodded as he caressed a strand of hair out of her face. "I suppose I should be more patient."

"Yeah, patient will get your dream girl, you'll and then we can all be happy. I want to see you happy, it hurts seeing you so lonely."

"I'm not that lonely, I have Joey. And the Dru plant. And... their offspring."

Dru put her arms around his neck again and gave him a big hug. "Can we please just be friends again. No more you thinking you're in love with me."

"We can try, but I'm not sure," he admitted. "I really don't mind helping you with Herbology, I like it, in fact, but friends? I'm not sure."

Dru could feel her eyes filling with tears, Fred had warned her for this. "But you're my best friend. I don't want to lose you." She tightened her grip on him.

"Dru, it hurts to much. I can't." He gave her a kiss on her head, while he pried her arms away from him. "I'm sorry."

Dru started crying. "But you're my friend, I love you."

"I love you too, that's the problem." Neville walked out of the greenhouse.

* * *

"Rose, wait up." Draco hurried to catch up with her.

"I'm still mad at you," Rose growled and kept walking. "I don't want to talk to you."

"You little hypocritical little bitch." Draco shot at her.

"Me? A hypocrite? Sorry?" she turned around and wished she could shoot daggers at him. "What do you want?"

"How about a fair chance to explain what's going on."

"I've seen enough."

"Oh, right. Perfect little Rosalie Crouch. She sees a tiny part of a complicated story and then she knows enough. Forget everybody else involved. Only what she know matters, doesn't it?" Draco turned around and walked away. "And me thinking you actually cared about my sister."

"I explained myself very well, Draco," Rose said, walking after him. "Sure, it can be used to bring her into safety, and even though I believe that you want to do that, it's not the original plan, is it? You can't be sure that there won't be any Death Eaters waiting for her on the other side of that thing."

Draco turned around and looked into Rose's eyes. "Has it ever crossed that  _brilliant_  mind of yours that it wasn't my plan to begin with?"

"Yes," she said simply. "That's the only reason why I haven't gone to Dumbledore."

"I'm trying to do everything to keep Dru from harm." Draco already pale face was getting wet from his tears. "You know what...never mind...I'll get her out myself..somehow." He started to walk away from her again.

"It won't work," Rose sighed.

"It has to. I don't have another idea." Draco closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. "You don't get it, you don't have siblings. You don't get how people can …"

"Oh, that is  _low_ , even for you," she glared at him. "You don't think that I know that you love Dru still? That you want her safe? Get in line, Draco."

"Then stop fighting me every step of the way and help me." He shot at her. "I'm doing everything I can, but you...look I can't tell you everything I need to do to save her, or he'll..." Draco sat down on the floor of the corridor and leaned against the wall.

"Read the book. As I said, whatever you want to try, it won't work. You don't need my help. I'll just keep her as far away from the astronomy tower as I can when the time comes."

"No, Rose, She's coming with me. Only then I can protect her. I'll tell him she helped me then he will let her live."

"She's not coming back with you to  _him_ , what do you think I am? Stupid?"

"They kill her if I don't. I'm going to everything I can to keep her alive and Rose, I'm really, really sorry for this." Draco slowly got up, holding his wand ready behind his back.

"I know," she said with a warm smile. "Do what you have to do." She put her wand down on the floor.

Draco raised his wand and at Rose. "I'm really sorry, Rosalie. I should have never gotten you involved.  _Obliviate_."

Rose blinked for a moment and smiled when she saw Draco. "Hey!"

Draco walked to her, gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Bye." He walked to the great hall.

She looked at him confused and then to her feet. What was her wand doing on the floor? Shrugging, she picked it up from the floor and headed towards the common room, but wished she rather hadn't as Neville was sitting alone in front of the fireplace and she could hear soft sobs coming from him. "Hey Neville," she said softly. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "I'm not friends with Dru anymore."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said as she sat down next to him. "What happened?"

"Fred Weasley, what else?"

"Yeah, those Weasley boys are nasty, aren't they?" she sighed. "They strike when you least expect it."

"Yeah, you could have warned me, Rose."

She chuckled and pat Neville on the back. "It came as a surprise to me as well, Neville. But when I found out... it's actually not that bad. Well, for you, maybe, but for Dru... not so much, I mean, look at her, our little Dru is growing up! And oh, she makes the best pancakes ever."

"And getting married to Fred."

"Yes," she nodded. "It's not that bad."

"She should be marring me, not him." Neville put his hands in front of his face. "She's supposed to be my true love."

"She's yours, but that doesn't mean that your hers... well not right now anyway."

"What the hell does that mean?" He shot at her. "First you tell me, I'm supposed to with her, then Fred, then you tell she will come back to me and now you're telling me..what ...she's suppose to marry Fred."

"Yeah..." she sighed and stared into the fire. "The Weasleys are a little bit in my blind spot... I shouldn't have said anything about you and Dru in the first place, and I'm sorry for giving you false hope, if it is false hope. I can't explain it, but I do see you and Dru together in the future, just not the near future."

"Well, I guess your gift is off then." he snarled.

"Yeah, I keep wondering that myself," she said softly. "And I hate it that people rely on me because of it. All I know is that something will happen that will cause Dru to turn to you, when and what, I don't know."

"Do you mind if I don't believe you anymore?"

"I am begging you not to believe me anymore, all those hopeful faces make me feel sorry for them all."

Neville looked at her. "Can I be honest with you?"

"You've always been honest with me, what's stopping you?"

"Why are you getting married?"

"Because I love George, we are made for each other."

"But you're just 17, who knows what will happen. I mean look at me and Dru, everybody said we were made for each other too."

"I see your point," she sighed. "But what if both you and Fred are made for Dru and the other way around? You broke it off with her, and Fred took his chance. She's happy, isn't that what counts?"

"Well, she's not  _that_  happy, she just told me. But you're just a kid and so is George."

"Sometimes you just know, Neville. George would never be so stupid to break up with me, or I with him."

"Yeah, well everybody is allowed one mistake, right, before some tosser moves in on your girl after only 6 days."

"Actually... he waited for four years."

"See, I knew it. He told me it was just a spur of the moment thing, kissing her, but I knew it. He wanted her for more than four years."

"Yeah well, he kicked himself for waiting too long to even talk to her properly and probably felt the same way as you're feeling now when you swept her off her feet in the first place, you and Fred have a lot more in common than you think."

"Except for Fred, the popular guy, with the good looks and great family, gets Dru and me? I guess I should have known that a loser like me would never be able to hold on to a girl like Dru. I mean everybody said I was a nutter for thinking I could."

"Neville, you're not a loser," she chuckled. "And she didn't leave you, you left her. This is all your fault."

"I told her I needed some alone time and that I was scared she wouldn't come back to me. I never wanted to break it off permanently, just to get a little bit less intense, like  _they_ suggested I should."

"Who?"

Neville gave Rose a smile as he shook his head. "Who do you think, Rose? They've planned this."

"What? Fred and George? Wow, that's mean." Rose was stunned. "But you know... you two were kinda a little bit too over the top very much really intense for your own good."

"So, Fred and Dru are getting over the tp right now. She's a 16, a child and he wants her to get married already."

"They have a completely different relationship, Neville. Fred knows how to handle Dru, to keep her grounded, and stop her if she goes too far. You were never really able to say no to her because she wouldn't listen."

"I didn't say no, because I didn't want to. I just told her that to make her feel better."

"Yeah, and that's where you went wrong. Fred gives Dru a sense of reality that you couldn't give her."

"What reality, that I wanted to have sex with her. I stopped the minute she told me no."

"That the spoiled little princess can't have everything she wants. Fred wanted to have sex with her too, but he told her no, because she was too young. Well, that and some brotherly pressure." She sighed and rubbed her head. "You should talk to her about this, I..."

"She's not a spoiled Princess. She was just confused, because she lost her home. Did you think I ever would have let her go through with it when I realized she wasn't ready. I'm not a idiot. I realised she wasn't ready the moment we were on the bed, but she wanted to try, so I let her figure out she wasn't ready."

"Neville, I'm done. Talk to her about this, okay? Right now, Fred is the right person for her. You should be happy that she's happy and that she's getting married. Don't know when or how or whatever, but please stop."

"I can't tell her. I just wanted you to know, what miserable gits you and Dru are marring. They manipulate to get their way and I was just the usual; collateral damage." Neville went up to his dormitory.

Rose groaned and fell back to the floor, staring at the ceiling. "If there's someone out there who can get this stuff out of my head or erase me from existence, please do. I'm not cut out for this!" she narrowed her eyes on a speck of old pudding. "And don't you dare drop down on me," she threatened.

* * *

Dru was sitting in the corridor, near the potions classroom. The smell of brewing potions always helped her to think straight. And right now she had a lot of thinking to do.

"You shouldn't sit on the floor," Draco's voice sounded before his hand appeared to pull her up. "You're a lady, you should sit in the sill or on a bench."

"Since when do you care?" Dru raised her eyebrow at him, before taking his hand.

"I've always cared," he shrugged. "At least they're taking care of you, you don't have fleas, do you?"

"Of course I don't," she countered and pat the dust of her skirt, before making her way to a empty sill.

"I'm just checking," he shrugged. "What's with the ring? That's a new one, isn't it?" he asked, pointing at her hand. "Is that Weasley flaunting that he finally struck it rich?"

"Fred got me this ring, yes." She shot him a angry look, before looking at her ring and smiling. "And I love it."

"I think it's pathetic."

"It's not pathetic, you're just jealous, because I've got the man I want and you can't get Rose."

"Oh, I can get her," he nodded. "She just doesn't know how easy it is to get to her. And you don't want Fred. You'd want someone who appreciates being a pure blood and not meddle with mudbloods and half bloods."

"Well, if I don't want Fred, I wouldn't have taken his ring, now would I?"

"It's just a ring, Dru. Not a marriage proposal."

"Well, actually the proposal came with the ring."

"What?"

"Fred asked me to marry him and I said yes."

"How dare you betray your own family like that!" Draco breezed. "Wait until fa- mother hears of this!"

"Which one?" Dru snarled at him. "I don't care what either of them say. I'm going to marry Fred this summer and you can't stop me."

"Oh, that's just brilliant, he knocked you up, didn't he?"

"No, Draco. He asked me to marry him because believe it or not, he loves me and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. And if you were really my brother you'd be congratulating me."

"Dru, he's not... you shouldn't. And you're too young. This is exactly why..." he glared at her. "You're coming back home this summer."

"See, that's how much you love me. All you do is want to change who I am." Dru's eyes were filled with tears. "I'm going home, to my home, with Fred and George and Rose."

"I don't want to change you, I want you to be safe and I want you to marry the right person. A Weasley isn't the right person for you."

"Fred's right for me. He makes me happy, but you don't care about that, do you?"

"Yeah, you said that about Longbottom too, and look how that turned out!"

"Neville is..." Dru clasped her hands in front of her eyes, pulled her knees to her chest and started sobbing. "I just wished somebody in this damn school would give one crap about how I feel. I've never said anything to you with Pansy of you flirting with that Daphne. Because what mattered to me is that they make you happy. I wished you loved me enough to want the same for me."

"And you honestly believe that  _he_  can make you happy? I thought my mother and father raised you better than that."

"Your mother and father!" Dru shook her head. "Well that answers my question, you don't love me at all, do you?"

"I do, but you've turned your back on us."

Dru looked at him and raised her sleeve. "I think you've turned your backs on me when I needed you."

"Mother and I did the best we could for you!" he spat at her. "And yet, you were being your stubborn self and ran away. Again."

"They were torturing me, Draco, and torturing Rose."

"Yes, and if you would have just pledged your allegiance to  _him_  they would have stopped! It's that easy."

"What so your little friends can have their way with me.  _He_  wouldn't have mind that, in fact he told them  _he_  was proud for having those plans with me. But I guess you didn't care! As long as you could have the chance to get Rose all to yourself, it doesn't matter who gets to screw me over."

Draco blinked at her. "What?"

"Don't act like you don't know. Those little friends of you always tell you everything."

"They went after you too?"

"What do you mean  _too_?"

"Well, I suppose Rose  _does_  know how to keep a secret..." Draco muttered as he stared a hole in the floor.

"Did they try to rape Rose?" Dru asked shocked.

"They did?" he asked and balled his fists. "So  _that_ 's why they had used the leg locker curse on her..." He then looked at Dru. "Wait, they got to you?"

"Don't act so surprised." Dru said as she got up from the sill and walked away.

"Dru I didn't know!"

"Really? Cause it happened right under your nose."

"Look inside my head, I honestly didn't know!"

"Why did you think I was screaming that summer I was still living in your house? You never did anything to help me."

"I tried, but couldn't... I thought they were ordered to practise curses on you, and I honestly... if I had known I would have tried harder!"

"Just forget it." Dru shook her head and went up the Gryffindor common room. She wanted to find Rose.

"Hi!" Rose waved as she kept staring at the ceiling. "Have you come to take this stupid thing away from me?"

"What stupid thing?" Dru asked annoyed. "Rose get up!"

"Oh you know, the thing that makes people look to me as if I know everything."

"Did Draco's friends try to rape you?"

Rose looked at Dru from her spot on the floor. "I can neither confirm or deny that, because if I do, they'll come after you again."

"Yeah, well they will go after me if you listen to them or not. Trust me, I know." Dru pulled Rose off the floor on onto the sofa. "Did they...were you able to stop them in time?"

"They took my wand, made sure I couldn't walk..." Rose winced, not wanting to think about what had happened. She hadn't even told George, but occasionally she could still feel unfamiliar hands touching her breasts. "Then they got spooked by something so they just left me before they could do anything bad."

"Good, that's good." Dru muttered as she gently pat on Rose's arm, while looking in the fire. "At least you were able to stop them before..."

"Did they? With you?"

"Well, you know what happened on the train." Dru said without looking at Rose. Rose didn't have to know the whole truth.

"And in the tower, they said."

"Yeah, but those were unsuccessful." Dru got up and walked to the notice board. "When is the next Hogsmeade visit?"

"Not in a very long time," Rose sighed before resuming her spot on the floor, staring at the old pudding blob. It hadn't moved. Good. "I expect there's more to the story, and just so you know, if you want to talk about it, I have a very good ear."

"There's nothing I want to talk about." Dru said.

"Okay, then let us device of a plan to get rid of my curse, please."

"Why, whose hopes did you shatter this time?" Dru said bitterly.

"Oh same old, same old... And I'm tired of it. And I feel that there's something missing, but I don't know what. I don't want this. I never wanted it. I just want to be... normal. Maybe I could go to Dumbledore, maybe he's powerful enough to take it away from me."

"Yeah, maybe you should."


	33. All the girls want to kiss Neville

It was the last day of February and Ginny, Hermione, Dru and Rose had been busy trying to find a perfect gift for Ron and wrap it up for him, for weeks. Now that Hogsmeade weekend was cancelled (much to the disappointment of Dru and Rose, who missed their guys terribly), they were out of luck and were relying on some of the old stuff that Luna had managed to find in various nooks and crannies.

Rose enjoyed taking the apparition classes every weekend, but she had truly wished that the Hogsmeade weekend hadn't been cancelled. She wanted to be in George's arms and be cuddled and cuddle.

"Ugh," Rose said as she sat down at the breakfast table. "And I thought it was hard to find something for George!"

"Shhhh he's coming," Hermione shushed her and put a piece of toast on her plate. "Morning Harry, Ronald."

Dru put her head on Ginny's shoulder. "Now I have to wait another few weeks to be able to snog my favourite Weasley."

"As long as you don't want to snog me, you can use my shoulder," Ginny said, tapping Dru gently on the head. "Same goes for you, Rose. Don't snog me, but you can use my shoulder."

"It's not the same," Rose sighed as she stabbed her boiled egg to death.

"I am a very good snogger, are you sure you don't wanna give it a try?" Dru teased Ginny, making Harry look at the girls with big eyes.

"Shush, not here, maybe later." Ginny teased back. She was kinda enjoying Harry's shocked face.

Rose snorted and took a sip of her tea. "You could always drag her off to the grandstand," she pointed out.

"Ah, yeah, Ginny, come on. Let's make out underneath the bleachers." Dru said as she drank a big sip of her tea.

"Yes!" she giggled and took a bite off her toast. She was enjoying the mixture of shock and lust on Harry's face even more. "Maybe Harry can watch," she whispered playfully.

Dru caressed Ginny's hair off her shoulder and whispered in her ear. "Try to blush, like I'm saying really dirty."

Rose drank some more of her tea and kept stabbing her egg. "I want someone to hold me," she pouted.

Ginny looked at Dru in shock and then, right on command, blushed furiously. She had always been a good actress.

"I'm going to talk to Draco," Rose sighed, picking up her tea and made her way over to the Slytherin table.

"What is she doing?" Hermione hissed.

"I don't know," Ron shrugged.

"Who cares! I've got Ginny, that's all I need." Dru was playing with the end of Ginny's hair.

Harry couldn't take their eyes off them and neither could Neville, or actually all the Gryffindor boys.

"Hello boys," Rose smiled as she took a sip of her tea. "Mind if I join you?" she asked, looking at Draco.

"Of course not." Draco smiled. "Move." he said to Pansy, making sure Rose had enough room to sit next to him.

"Always the gentleman," she smiled and sat down, nursing her tea. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well, seeing as my dreams are coming true at the moment, I think I did."

"What is she doing here?" Crabbe hissed at Draco.

"Go away, you half blood." Goyle shot at Rose.

"Shut up, you two. If she wants to sit here, she can sit here." Draco looked at them angrily. "Just ignore them."

Rose shrugged and twirled her wand around in her fingers, as she held her tea with her other hand. "I'm lonely, Draco," she sighed as she put her head on his shoulder.

"I'll be more than happy to take away your loneliness, just say the word." he put an arm around her.

She giggled. "That's a good start," she said as she managed to take a sip of her tea while still keeping her head on his shoulder. "I like tea, did you know that? It's a shame that we can't go to Hogsmeade, otherwise you and I could have gone to Madame Puddifoot's."

This made the whole Slytherin table snicker.

"Well, we could go for a walk around the grounds together, but first just finish your tea." Draco smiled.

She nodded and smiled widely. Rose sat back up and finished her tea, just as he had told her to. "Aw, look! Dru and Ginny! They are  _so_  cute!"

"Yes...right." Draco said as he looked behind him and watched in horror how Ginny and Dru were sitting very close and playing with each others hair. "Let's go for that walk then."

~~~~  
"Ginny, come on, let's go to the bleachers." Dru said as she batted her eyelashes at Ginny.

"Yeah... okay." Ginny finished the rest of Dru's tea and got up. "Shouldn't we save Rose from Draco though?"

"Nah, she's a big girl, she can take care of herself," Dru looped her arm through Ginny's and headed out of the great hall, leaving all the boys at the Gryffindor table staring as they walked away.

"Wow," Harry managed to say.

"Is my sister for real?" Ron cocked his head. "But yeah... wow..."

"You disgust me," Hermione sighed as she took a bite of her toast.

"Oh, fantasies do come true," Neville sighed happily. "Well, either Ginny or Luna with Dru... but... wow."

"I know." Dean grinned. "That's my girl!"

"Ron, I'm so going to make a move on your sister," Seamus said with a big smile on his face. "If she's this adventurous... I can't imagine what my life will be like!"

"Shut up, Seamus!" Dean shot at him. "She's mine."

"Oh, right," Seamus sighed. "You lucky bastard."

Dru sat down on a bench on the empty grandstand. Ginny and Dru had decided they were going to sit at the grandstand normally reserved for the teachers.

"It's not fair, they do have the best view!" Ginny moaned. "This is the best place to spot me, you know," she playfully winked at Dru.

"I can see that. I'm spotting you right now." Dru giggled.

"You're seriously being Fred-washed," Ginny nodded. "You just need a bit more sugar coating!"

"Well, you're sweet as sugar."

"Want my coat? Then you have the coating!" Ginny laughed.

"You're a silly little girl." Dru laughed and playfully pushed Ginny's face away. "You tease me."

"No no, you started it." she chuckled. "I'm just playing along."

"Does that mean you don't like me?" Dru asked with a sad face.

"I do like you! I like you very much! You're like... this magical being."

Dru giggled. "I'm a witch, of course I'm magical."

"No no, you're like... a beautiful fairy, like muggle magic."

"Ah, Ginny." Dru took Ginny's face in her hands, and place Ginny's head on her chest. "That's so sweet.

"Nice firm breasts," Ginny noted.

"Yes, they are, aren't they. You can rest your pretty little head on it for a while if you want?" Dru smiled as she caressed Ginný red locks.

~~~~  
"I like this tree," Rose stated as she put one arm around Draco. It was a beautiful day out and walking around with Draco was like the best thing that had ever happened to her. "It's so big and strong."

"I like you." Draco smiled and gave Rose a kiss on her cheek.

"Oh, I like you too!" she smiled up to him. "I think you're very handsome."

"Really now?' Draco grinned. "You do know what a Gryffindor girl has to do if they say that to a Slytherin boy, don't you?"

"No, I never had the pleasure to say that to a Slytherin boy."

Draco leaned against the tree Rose seemed to like and looked at her. "If a Gryffindor girl says to a Slytherin boy she thinks he's handsome, she has to kiss him."

"Ha, I haven't heard of that before and just because I think you're handsome and that I enjoy your company, doesn't mean that I have to kiss you."

"It's the rules, Rose. I didn't make them up. But seeing as I am a prefect I'm going to have to report that you, missy, are disrespecting the rules. And that means losing points." He smirked at her.

"Oh," she said saddened. "I wouldn't want to do that, would I? I mean, well, I would, I've done it before, disrespecting rules, haven't I? Oh I'm so stupid!" she pulled away from him and started to pace around, thinking about what she could do. "I'm so stupid!"

"Rose, you're not stupid, in fact you're so smart, you're overthinking this. Let's make this simpler, do you want to lose points?"

"No."

"Do you want to break rules?"

Rose smirked at him. "I've broken a lot of rules, Draco, I've been a  _very_  bad girl."

"Oh, you really shouldn't have said that." He grinned. He gently took hold of her arms and placed her with her back against the tree trunk. "Let's try again, do you want to lose points?"

"No."

"If you don't want to lose points, you shouldn't break the rules, you understand?"

Rose shrugged, tiptoed and kissed Draco full on. It wasn't as if she hadn't done it before, although this time it was... different.

"I like your hair," Ginny said, finishing a braid in Dru's hair. "It's so shiny."

"I like your hands in my hair." Dru smiled with her eyes closed. "They're so soft."

"They are, aren't they?" Ginny softly caressed Dru's cheek. "How does that feel?"

"Like a muggle fairy just touched my cheek." Dru grinned and moved a bit closer to Ginny. "You're a very pretty girl, Ginny. I can get why so many boys in this school like you so much. They all want to kiss you."

"Noo, they all want to kiss you," she giggled.

"True they do, but you have a lot of people wanting to kiss you too." Dru smiled as she gently caressed a lock of hair out of Ginny's face. "Dean, Harry, Neville, Seamus, Cormac, Ernie, Michael, Blaise, Colin, Nigel, even some of the girls have thought about kissing you."

"What about you?"

"Never really." Dru smiled and looked at the open field.

"Oh..." Ginny sighed and stared at her feet. "Shame."

"Well I said never, but that was until this morning." Dru looked at Ginny again. "Now I can't stop thinking about kissing you."

"Really?" her face lit up again. "Do you honestly think that? You want to kiss me?"

"Yes, I do." Dru looked at her feet. "But you probably don't want to kiss me."

"I do!"

Dru's eyes lit up as she looked into Ginny's eyes. "Then kiss me!"

Draco was sitting in the grass, with Rose on his lap. "I like this." he smiled at her.

"Me too," she sighed happily as she put her head against his shoulder. "I like your arms around me, makes me feel safe... or not, or maybe a bit... you're frustrating."

"I'm sorry, babe." Draco gave Rose a kiss on her lips. "How can I be less frustrating to you?"

"I don't know... convince your family to switch teams?"

"Or you could switch teams. I can make you very happy and you would be safe. No one will harm you, if you were my girl." He gently kissed her neck. "I promise."

"Tempting," she sighed as she closed her eyes. "Very tempting but I don't want a repeat of last summer..."

"I could take you away. We could go abroad." Draco let his fingers slide between hers and then noticed something that made his heart stop. He took a deep breath. "I love you, Rose, let's just run away from this. Let's run away from my family, together."

"There's a war coming, Draco. It would be cowardice to let our friends battle it out by themselves."

"We're still children, let the adults fight this war. I just want to be happy." Draco pushed Rose on her back. "With you."

She smiled up to him and pulled him into a deep kiss. "We'd have to take Dru with us."

"I'll never leave my sister behind." Draco said as he greedily kissed her back. "Never." After a while he broke off the kiss. He looked around him and saw a lot of people watching them. "Babe, let's find us somewhere a little more private."

"No... I need to study Ancient Runes, but I'll sit with you during supper, is that okay?" she smiled at him. "I really have to study."

"Supper it is then." Draco gave her one more deep kiss and pulled her up her feet. "I love you Rose."

She giggled. "And you're silly," she looped her arm around his as they walked back to the castle.

"Rose, tell me you love me." he whispered in her ear.

"I love you, Draco," she smiled at him.

Draco gave her one more kiss, before leaving her at the bottom of the stairs to go to his own common room.

Neville had watched Ginny and Dru from a safe distance and was wondering what they were doing. He figured that once they were out of Harry's sight that they would have stopped, but things had just started, from the looks of it. Not that he mind, if Dru would really go for Ginny, it meant that he still had a chance.

He had to admit, seeing the girls kiss and touch each other and caressing each other's hair was a major turn on for him. He was still worried that there had been something in the water, but then again, he had seen Dru on a love potion before and she reacted totally different to it so maybe his head was just playing tricks on him (unless you'd count the fact that Rose went with Draco, but she wasn't his concern right now).

"Ginny?" Dru whispered in Ginny's ear as she took a break from kissing Ginny's neck.

"Yeah?"

"Don't look behind you, but we've got an audience."

"Is it Harry?" she giggled.

"No, Neville." Dru giggled back.

"OH!" Ginny let out. "What does the look on his face say? Are we in trouble?"

"Too soon to tell. I think he likes it, but with him you'll never know what he might do."

She planted a kiss on Dru's mouth before smiling widely over her shoulder. "Neville? You want to join us?"

Dru was shocked at Ginny's request, but then did look at Neville to see his reaction.

Neville swallowed hard. His body was screaming  _YES!_  but that would be very very  _wrong_. "No, I'm good," he said huskily. "Just wondering if you girls were uhm... good..."

"We're a bit cold. We're going down to the changing rooms." Dru said as she pulled Ginny on her feet. "Want to watch us from there?"

He decided to let his moral code go (What about Fred, Dru? What are you doing with Ginny and why is Rose running off with Draco? What about George? Dean?), because two hot girls fooling around  _and_  getting an invitation to watch? It was an opportunity he couldn't pass on. "Yeah, sure," he nodded.

Ginny and Dru giggled as they walked passed him and headed down the stairs to the changing room.

"Were you serious about letting Neville join us?" Dru whispered.

"I want to test the theory you have about his magical hands!"

Dru glanced over her shoulder to Neville and then looked at Ginny again. "Okay, let's do this." Dru would do anything right now to make Ginny happy.

Ginny opened the changing room and let Neville and Dru enter first. As Ginny closed the door behind her, she was turned around and Dru pushed her back against the door, followed by a deep kiss.

Neville's jaw dropped to the floor.

Dru broke off the kiss. "You first." she whispered in Ginny ear.

"What?" she giggled and placed her hands on Dru's waist before moving them over her stomach. "Like that? Or do you want me to kiss Neville?" she teased.

Dru gave a little moan and smiled. "Kiss him."

"Aw," she smiled and kissed Dru before turning around and walking towards Neville. "My pretty friend here wants me to kiss you, what do you think, Neville? Want me to kiss you?"

Neville was sitting on a bench looking at Ginny. "what...are...no...but...you...she..." He was at a loss for words, did Ginny just asked if she could kiss him?

Ginny turned around and pouted. "He said no, I'm not pretty enough."

"You are pretty." Neville blushed.

Dru smiled at Ginny, walked over to Neville and sat down next to him. "Then why don't you want to kiss her?"

"I...No...Do...but...she...you...ah..." Neville's eyes were lost in Dru for a few seconds but then Ginny sat down on his lap, making Neville look at Ginny. He couldn't believe this was really happening to him.

"Kiss her and maybe I'll let you kiss me too." Dru whispered huskily in Neville's ear.

"Kiss me, Neville." Ginny batted her eyelashes at him, and shifted in his lap. "Oh, he really likes this!" she giggled.

Dru put one hand on his shoulder and one on his biceps. "Go on, then. She's a good kisser. I can vouch for that." Dru whispered in his ear, before gently blowing in his neck.

Neville caressed Ginny's hair. "I'm going to hell," he muttered and softly kissed Ginny on her lips, but Ginny grabbed his head and answered his kiss eagerly, and much to his surprise, he didn't even struggle.

Dru was giggling and gently pried Ginny's hand away from one side of Neville's head so Dru could kiss him along the thick vein in his neck. she still remember that drove him wild.

He groaned and gently broke off the kiss. "This is so wrong..."

"But it feels right." Dru said as she turned his face towards her. "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah," he swallowed hard. "Can I kiss you now?" Dru's face was so close to his.

"I told you could if you kissed Ginny and you did kiss her."

"But I want more!" Ginny pouted. "Kiss me again after you kissed her!"

"You can kiss his neck, while he kisses me." Dru smiled and gave Ginny a quick kiss on her lips.

"Oh, yes, Neville likes that  _very_  much," Ginny giggled and softly started to kiss Neville's neck as Neville started to caress Dru's hair before kissing her sweetly on her lips.

Dru kissed him back eagerly, wanting more and wanting him to herself. She pushed Ginny off his lap and pulled Neville against her.

"Hey!" Ginny pouted.

Dru broke of the kiss and sat down on the floor next to Ginny. "I'm sorry." and she kissed Ginny again.

"You'd better be," Ginny muttered and greedily answered Dru's kiss. "Boys are stupid."

"I know, you should know, you have 6 of them as your brother." Dru giggled. "Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Fred..." Dru suddenly broke off the kiss, clasped her hand in front of her mouth and looked shocked at Ginny and Neville.

"Yes, Fred." Ginny nodded and played with a strand of Dru's hair. "I can see now what he sees in you, you're one hell of a kisser! Kiss me again!"

"No." Dru tried to get away from Ginny.

Neville quickly got up and pulled Dru to her feet. "Are you okay?" He gently caressed her back.

Dru took a step away from Neville. "No, I'm not."

"Rose, wake up," Dru's voice sounded somewhere in the distance. "Breakfast."

Rose opened one eye and then blinked with two. She had a massive headache and she was thirsty. "Tea!"

"We need to talk after breakfast." She replied as she pulled the sheets off her friend.

"Why not now?"

"It's..."

"What?"

Dru sighed and shook her head. "I kissed Neville yesterday and I liked it... a little bit too much."

Rose giggled and started to get dressed. "I thought you were with Ginny?"

"Oh I kissed her too!" She groaned. "I don't know what came over me... it was..."

"You were teasing Harry?"

"I kissed Ginny!" Dru was frustrated. "Fred's going to kill me."

"You don't have to tell him," Rose shrugged. "Let's go, I am thirsty and I have a huge headache."

"So, what's up with you and Draco?" Dru realised that Rose really wasn't up for talking about things right now.

"I like him," Rose shrugged as they made their way through the common room towards the great hall. "He gives good hugs."

"You're mad!"

"No, I'm not, you always wanted me to spend more time with him."

"Yeah but..."

"And what's not to like? He's hands- cute."

"Rose!" Dru said in surprise. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Hey, where are Ron and Harry?" Rose asked as she sat down at the breakfast table.

"I don't know," Hermione shrugged.

"It's his birthday, isn't it?" Dru asked. "Did we even settle on a birthday present for him? Because we couldn't go to Hogsmeade? I mean, I could make him a potion of some sort or..."

"No, I don't think Ron would like a potion unless it's the felix elixir," she chuckled. "We'll just have to be a bit more creative."

"Good morning," Draco's voice sounded. Rose beamed up to him. "Got you some tea."

"Oh thanks!" Rose giggled and eagerly took the cup of tea. "Are we still on for later?"

"Of course," he smiled at her and gave Dru a cup of tea as well. He then walked back to the Slytherin table.

"Such a gentleman," Rose sighed happily as she sipped her tea.

"Honestly, Rose, what's gotten into you?" Hermione rolled her eyes at her.

"Draco's just lonely and he, unlike Neville or someone else, actually likes to hear what I have to say." she replied and took a bite out of her toast. "But really, all those rules you prefects have... it's ridiculous."

"Well you have to follow the rules," Hermione shrugged. "I just can't help but being a little lenient towards you and Dru, neither can Ron. And what do you mean we don't like what you have to say? You're my friend, Rose."

Rose shrugged and looked at Draco. "I just think we should be a little bit nicer for Draco."

"Are you serious?"

"He doesn't want to do the things he does, you know," she sighed. "He's this frightened little boy whose loyalty to his family is magnificent and slightly scary."

"He's a Malfoy!" Ginny said, twirling a strand of Dru's hair around her finger.

"So?" Rose finished drinking her tea and sighed happily. "I can't wait to spend the rest of the day with Draco."

"You need to get your head checked out."

"Neville!" Dru called out to him. She had been looking all over the castle for him. Finally she found him walking in a empty corridor.

"Uh..." Neville stopped and turned around to face her. "Look, about yesterday..."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about it too." Dru's eyes sparkled. "That was really...something, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," he smiled at her. "But uh... weird too."

"Yes, weird. It's a shame Ginny had to be there too."

"Ginny was ..." Neville sighed happily. "She was great, and you... well you were... that was something alright and as much as I loved it, and stuff..."

"I loved it too...well, the you part." Dru removed some fluff from his sweater. "I forgot how good of a kisser you are."

He chuckled. "You used to say that, but Dru... you're not going to give me false hope, are you? Because all the time you've been trying to avoid me and..."

Dru stood on the tip of her toes and softly kissed his lips. "I don't want to avoid you anymore."

"You're so sexy, the way you work on that cabinet..." Draco's voice sounded. They were in the Room of Requirement and he had asked her to work on the cabinet with him, no questions asked, and she thought it was  _fun_  to do something with Draco.

Rose giggled and climbed out of the cabinet before getting the book that Draco had provided for her. "You're a big flirt."

"Well yes, but this time I'm telling the truth. Watching you do your thing, really turns me on." He gave her a kiss on her neck and let his hands wander to her hips.

She smiled and moved so that she was sitting in his lap with the book in hers. "Where did you get this book anyway? It's brilliant."

Draco smiled. "A very pretty girl gave it to me once."

"Who is she? I have to beat her up. Was it Pansy?" She glared at him. "Are you fooling around with Pansy? Or is it that Daphne?"

"Neither, but don't worry. I only have eyes for you." he softly kissed her lips, loving the fact he finally had her for himself, he'd continue to slip her love potion for the rest of the year for sure, the rest of her life if he had to. And to be honest, she genuinely seemed happy like this.

"Okay, good, because you know, I have a vast array of spells I could do to dispose of everyone else," she kissed him back and then focused on the book again. "Great book."

Draco pulled Rose a bit closer to himself. "Rose, promise me when we get this to work, you'll leave with me and Dru. We'll run away together."

"As much as I want to, I can't leave everyone else behind, Draco. I've been a coward once, I won't do it again."

"They don't care about you." Draco kissed her shoulder. "They let you girls be taken by my aunt. I would have never let you out of my sight, let alone be taken."

"I know," She smiled at him. He was finally speaking the truth to her, she wondered what had changed. "They don't care, and they probably only like me for what I can do, but even though that I'm tired of their hopeful looks, I don't want them to fight alone. It's the wrong thing to do, running away."

"Let's decide with the time comes." Draco sighed. Maybe he could use a spell to make her come with him, he needed to figure that one out. "Let's just enjoy each other for now." He took the book out of her hands and threw it on the floor. He wanted her to pay attention to him now.

"What did you have in mind?" she smiled coyly as she turned around on his lap, straddling his hips and putting her arms around his neck.

"Are you sure? Are you coming back to me then?" Neville asked, hesitating.

"You asked too many questions!" Dru smiled and tried to kiss him again. She didn't like he kept pushing her away.

"Sorry," he sighed and softly kissed her. "I just don't want someone to kill me for kissing you."

"If you don't kiss me, I'm going to kill you." She pulled him with her into an empty classroom.

"Yeah, okay," Neville nodded and pulled her closer to him. "I just wanted to be sure."

"Neville, you talk too much." Dru said down on the teacher's desk. "I'm starting to think you don't want me anymore."

"Oh, I do!" he kissed her. "I do!" he kissed her again, more desperate this time. Even if Dru had a blow to the head to make her act like this, this was just too good to pass up on.

Dru's finger ran through his hair. There was something familiar about this, but then also Dru felt like she was missing something, something that should tell her not to do this. But as she couldn't remember it, she was going to go ahead with Neville.

He put his arms back around her and continued to kiss her as he caressed her back. It felt so good!

After a while Dru broke off the kiss. "I missed this."

"Me too, I've missed you," he smiled at her. "So you're sure that Fred won't kill me?"

"I don't care. I just want you...bad." Her smile was devilish as she let her hand run down his chest.

"Wait... you don't care that Fred will kill me?" Neville said confused.

"Neville, stop! Don't do this. I missed you, I love you, I want you, isn't that enough for you?"

"Well yeah, but I value my life too!" he laughed.

"Fine, If you're going to be like that." Dru pulled her hands of him and got off the table. "I guess you don't love me like I love you."

"I love you, Dru. I've never stopped loving you." he pulled her back to him and kissed her tenderly. "But I don't fancy Fred killing me, or you killing me."

"Stop talking about Fred, or I'll go to him to get me off."

"He's not here," Neville pointed out. "I am."

"Yeah, then do something with that." Dru let her hand gently touch the bulge in his pants. "Or do  _you_  rather have Fred do this to you?" she teased.

"Ew, no," he laughed and moaned at the same time. For some reason it felt wrong. He kissed her hard and moved his hands underneath her shirt.

She gasped and smiled. "Your hands are cold."

"Bit nervous, that's all," he chuckled and caressed her back. "They'll warm up soon enough."

"I hope not." Dru kissed him greedily. "I love your cold hands on my warm skin. It turns me on."

"Oh, good," he kissed her back and moved his hands to the front of her body, caressing her stomach.

"I want you." She said huskily. "God, I want you."

Neville started to fumble with the buttons on her shirt. "You shall have me," he swallowed hard as he continued to kiss her and try to open up her shirt.

Dru was pulled his sweater off and the shirt underneath it. She then took out her wand and locked the door. She didn't want to be disturbed this time. "You do want me too, don't you? You're not just saying this, because I say I want you, do you?"

"No, I want you," he said huskily. "I really want you."

Dru sat down on the desk again and took off her shirt and started fumbling with his belt, while kissing his neck. How could she have ever forgotten how good he was? How good it felt to have him touch her.

He gently started to caress her breasts. "You feel so good," he said as he softly started to kiss her neck.

Dru gave a soft moan as she tilted her head back. "Oh god, Neville."

His hands caressed her torso and then started to push her skirt up before caressing her inner thighs. She felt so good and he hoped he wasn't dreaming. "You're so beautiful!"

Dru gave a little giggle as she gently laid down on the desk, pulling Neville on top of her. She looked into his eyes. "You're so... you're my Neville, that's all I want you to be." she pulled him into a deep kiss.

He undid his trousers and dropped them to the floor as he answered her kiss. "Always."

Dru unbuttoned her skirt and pulled it out from under her. She then let her fingernails ran over his arms. She had been wanting this for so long, she couldn't remember why it didn't happen before.

He pulled down her underwear and planted a kiss between her breasts. "I love how you taste too," he said, kissing her on the same spot again and then moved his way back up, kissing her neck and lined himself up to enter her. "Are you really really sure?" he asked huskily.

"Neville!" She said frustrated. "You're spoiling this right now." She smiled before kissing him and wrapping her legs around him.

"Sorry." He smiled and kissed her. "I won't spoil the rest. I promise."

Draco had gently pushed Rose on her back and was kissing her neck, while hovering over her. "God, you smell good."

"Didn't know you believed in God, it's a muggle thing to do," she chuckled.

Draco rested his head on her shoulder and laughed. "You're the most silly girl I've ever met, Rose, but I love you for it."

"There's nothing wrong with being silly," she caressed his hair.

Draco kissed her, while smiling. "No, there's not."

"Why haven't we done this before?" she asked as she looked at him. He looked happier than ever, even though he still looked awful. But he hadn't looked this happy in a very long time.

"You didn't want me. You told me you never would." Draco closed his eyes. The thought of all those years they could have had this sooner, was heavy on his heart.

"Because I'm not the right person for you," she blinked at him. "Because... it's not right, I love you, I think but I feel like I'm missing something."

He softly kissed her. "I have some butterbeer you want some?"

"Oh, yes, I'm thirsty, thanks."

Draco got off her and got the bottle of butterbeer out of his bag. He handed her the bottle and watched her drink the whole thing in one go. He caressed her back and wondered how long it would take before Rose would love him on her own, without him helping her. He knew he could make her happy, happier than George Weasley ever could. But she never gave Draco the chance to prove this, so now he creating his own chance. "I love you, Rosalie."

"Me too," she smiled and set down the empty bottle. "Now, have you seen Neville?"

"Neville?" Draco looked puzzled.

"Oh God, Draco, Neville is a GOD. Have you seen his hands?"

Draco looked at his bag and sighed. "Oh." he groaned. he had given Rose the bottle that was meant for Dru. "Do you want another butterbeer?"

"NO, I want Neville." she looked at her dishevelled clothes and then in shock at Draco. "You know I love Neville and you... we... we kissed! Neville will kill you!"

"Rose, Neville wants Dru. I want you and you want me, remember?" Draco knew it was useless, but he had to try.

"No," she laughed. "I must have been under the influence of a potion of some sort, but I'm sorry Draco, Neville is my guy." she got to her feet. "Good luck with the cabinet, I'm going to look for Neville and I'll get rid of Dru if she's snogging my man."

Draco watched Rose leave and rested his head on his hands. "I'm screwed." he muttered to himself.

"Rose, have you seen Dru?" Ginny ran towards Rose. "I've been looking for her all over."

"Ginny!" she smiled. "Have you seen Neville?"

"Not, since yesterday, when I kissed him and Dru. Why?" Ginny smiled widely. Neville had proved to be a good kisser.

"You kissed Neville? You bitch! He's mine!"

"What? You're engaged to my brother!" Ginny said shocked.

Rose started to walk down the corridor. "I  _will_  find him, and if Dru is with him she'll be sorry!"

"I'm coming with you. You'll get Neville and I'll get Dru."

"Oh, that's an idea," Rose nodded and looped her arm around Ginny's. "But isn't Dru engaged to your brother? And aren't you with Dean?"

"Dru's engaged to wrong Weasley. Luckily we're easily exchangeable."

"Yeah, you lot are all the same," she nodded. "I'm fortunate that Neville is different."

"Wait isn't that them?" Ginny said as she pointed to the other end of the corridor, where Neville and Dru were coming out of a classroom, still kissing each other.

"Oi! Dru! Stop kissing my boy!" Rose called out.

"What?" Neville broke off the kiss and looked surprised at Rose. "Your boy?"

Rose ran towards Neville and Dru, and pushed Dru away from Neville before jumping in his arms. "I love you, Neville!"

"Oi! Leave Neville alone." Dru pulled Rose off Neville and pushed her to the ground. "He's mine."

Neville was just standing there nailed to the ground. He could not believe what was happening to him now.

"No, you're mine," Ginny nodded and pulled Dru to her. "Leave Rosie alone."

"Ginny?" Dru said surprised just before Ginny grabbed Dru's head and kissed her and Rose scrambled to her feet and threw her arms around Neville's neck again.

"Girl on girl..." Fred's voice sounded. "If Ginny wasn't my sister... that would have been hot."

"I thought that Neville was your problem, Freddie." George deadpanned. "Oi!" he called out to the group.

Neville was mortified and trying frantically to get Rose off him. "Help me." his voice was strained, because Rose was nearly strangling him.

"Oh, I dunno mate," Fred said, crossing his arms over his chest. "If she gets rid of you, that would make my life a lot easier," he chuckled and looked at Dru. "Dru, honey, you're kissing my sister."

Dru was trying to get Ginny to let her go, but the little redhead was stronger than her.

"I dunno what's worse, Ron in the infirmary or seeing this trainwreck," George added.

Ginny suddenly broke off the kiss and turned to her brother. "Ron?" she asked shocked.

"Yeah, he's been in the infirmary all day, poisoned beer or something. Thought we'd find our girls first before seeing him but ahh..."

"Guys!" Neville whined as Rose had pushed him to the ground and was now sitting on top of him. He tried to get her of him, but he was afraid of hurting her.

"Oh!" George rolled his eyes at Neville. "She's a lightweight, mate, you can push her off."

"What? And hurt her again? Help me?"

Ginny turned to Dru and let her go with a shock. "What the hell?" she clasped her hands in front of her mouth.

"I forgive you for hurting me a while back," Rose said as she kissed Neville on the cheek. "Kiss me, Neville."

"Oh no you don't!" George lifted Rose off Neville and set her on her feet, but she was struggling against his hold and glaring at him. "What's wrong with you?"

"I love Neville, I actually loved Draco, but that's wrong, because I love Neville so loving Draco probably meant that I had a potion or something." Rose rambled. "Let me go, George."

Dru was sitting on her knees and helped Neville to sit up. "Are you okay?"

Neville looked at Dru and smiled. "Yeah." He caressed a lock of hair out of her face, leaning in to give her a kiss.

"Oi!" Fred looked at Neville. "My fiance."

Rose managed to get away from George and lunged herself at Neville again, pushing Dru away from him.

"Sneaky!" George thought it was funny at first, but now it wasn't funny anymore. Something smelled fishy.

"Bitch, he's mine." Dru pulled Rose's hair to get her away from Neville.

"No! He's mine!"

"You're ours!" George and Fred chorused and pulled their girl away from Neville.

"I think they're under the influence of a potion." Ginny said with a small voice, trying her best not to look at Fred. She had kissed her brother's fiance.

With their girlfriends struggling in their arms to get to Neville, George looked at Fred. "Try holding her against your chest." He said, knowing that that usually calmed Dru down.

"Rose is most definitely under the influence of a potion. She has been for ... well all day yesterday and today. Running off with Malfoy," Neville said, blushing, scrambling to his feet and putting a few more metres between the girls and himself, and out of swinging range from the twins.

"Let me go." Fred was holding Dru's wrist, trying to get his arms around her, but she was fighting him off because she wanted to get to Neville. "What do you care anyway?"

"Honey, you're my firecracker, my fiance, remember?" Fred looked her in the eyes. "You can't go off and kiss my sister, or Neville."

"But..." Dru stopped trying to get away from him. "But I loved Ginny yesterday and then she wanted to kiss Neville, so we.."

"Still, I want you to go downstairs with me to whip up an antidote for a love potion. To humor me, and Neville." He was calm, but underneath it all he was furious. Whoever had been slipping a potion to his girl, was going to pay for it.

"If that's true, then I can understand why our stuff got banned from Hogwarts," George nodded and tried not to hurt Rose who was now glaring at him. "Sweetie, you don't love Neville. You don't even really like him. And you certainly don't love Draco."

"I do! How do you know what's going on inside my head?"

Dru was still staring at Fred. "I can't make an antidote if I don't know which potion is used. Besides I'm not under a potion, I think." Dru finally got her wrist out of Fred's hold and walked over to Neville, who immediately put his arms around her.

"Neville, don't." Fred glared at him.

"Alright, desperate measures then," George said and lifted Rose off her feet and flung her over his shoulder. "Infirmary it is."

"Let me go!"

"Rose, stop struggling, you're hurting me."

"Neville, take me back to the common room, will you." She put her right hand on his chest, the one with her engagement ring on it.

"Neville, if you know what's healthy for you, you don't and you'll follow George," Fred said, pointing at his brother who was walking away with a kicking Rose.

"Neville, do it." Ginny said. "You both need to know if she's under a potion or not."

"She says she's not, and Rose obviously is." Neville said.

"Neville, don't be stupid. Don't you remember yesterday? She and I were both under a potion that time." Ginny yelled at him, while tears were starting to fill her eyes. "Just take her up there."

"I kinda like her this way." Neville said stubbornly.

Fred rolled his eyes at Neville and pulled Dru out of his arms before swinging her over his shoulder like George had done to Dru. "Whoever is responsible for this will  _pay_."

"Let me go." Dru said and started to kick Fred violently.

"Fred, just try holding her head to your chest." Ginny repeated George's words.

Fred sighed, put Dru on her feet and pulled her close against him. "You need to stop being such an unruly little firecracker," he told Dru. "You know you love me."

Dru immediately calmed down and grabbed his shirt. "Oh god, what have I done?" she muttered and started sobbing.

"See? If only Rose was that easy to snap her out of things," Ginny said and blushed as she looked at Neville.

"It wasn't you," Fred said softly and caressed her hair. "You were under the influence."

Dru buried her face in his shirt. She couldn't look at Ginny or at Neville anymore. "I'm so sorry."

Neville watched as Dru calmed down and suddenly it hit him. Fred and Ginny were right, she had been under the influence of a potion. He leaned against the wall and collapsed to the ground. "This isn't happening." he muttered as he felt his heart break.

"It's okay," Fred continued to speak softly. "It's a good thing that we came to see you before we went to see Ron now, did we?" he planted a kiss on her head. "I've missed you."

Dru was just sobbing. How was she ever going to explain what happened to Fred? "I have to go." she said and tried to get away from Fred.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her, not letting her go anywhere, "I know that you remember everything that has happened and you know what? You don't have to tell me. It's okay."

"What's wrong with her?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she saw one of the twins walk in with a frustrated Rose. The boy must be George then. "A case of hilarity?"

"I wish." George said. "Love potion. Not sure if it's one of ours."

"What?" Hermione made her way over from Ron's bed to George and Rose. "Love potion? Oh god, that explains a lot!"

"Yeah it does." Harry smirked. "Let me guess, Ginny too?"

"And Dru," George nodded. "If Fred can't get her to snap out of it on her own, you'll see her soon too."

"George, let go of me, I want to go to Neville."

"Oh, it's Neville now?" Harry laughed. "She was all over Malfoy yesterday and today!"

"I did not want to know that, thanks, Harry." George shot at him.

"Well, there are various antidotes I could try on her," Madame Pomfrey said. "However, if it's not one of yours, it might be a bit trickier."

"Hold her here. I'll find out which potions were used." Snape said, turned around and walked out of the infirmary.

Dru walked in, not being able to look at Fred or Ginny. Her face was ashen and as soon as she saw her friends, she turned around and wanted to leave again, but Fred stopped her.

"Yep, Fred managed to snap her out of it," Harry nodded.

"George, get me Neville," Rose was tired of fighting him. She was just about to just start crying. It hurt being away from Neville, and her headache was getting worse too. "Oh my head..." she groaned and hit him on his back with her fist. "George!" She whined.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Weasley asked confused after walking in just after Dru, Fred and Ginny walked into the infirmary.

Dru tried to wrestle her way out of Fred's arms, before he pulled her tightly against him, calming her down again. "Honey, it's okay, just relax."

"Some git thought it was funny to play with love potions."

"Yeah... and you're lucky you didn't bring them to Professor Slughorn or they would have ended up like your brother." Harry still felt guilty. He should have gone to Snape or Madame Pomfrey instead of trying to suck up to the Professor.

"Ron's a strong boy, he'll be fine." Mrs. Weasley smiled bravely before she sat down at her son's bedside, realizing that Rose was being a little too much of a fighter to hang around with.

"George..." Rose started to sob. "Put me down? My head..."

"You're not going to run off, are you?"

"Maybe..."

George chuckled and maneuvered her so that she was comfortable in his arms, with her arms around his neck, but still safe and secure about the ground. "So, did you snog Draco then?"

"I was under the influence."

"You still are."

"No, I'm not." She put her head against his shoulder. "Take me to Neville."

"No, look at your right hand, Rose."

She sighed and looked at her hand, noticing the ring. "Oh that's pretty."

"That's your engagement ring."

"I'm engaged to Neville?" she said surprised.

George was so shocked by that one that he dropped her. "Rose, I'm your fiance." he said in shock.

"George!" Mr Weasley shot at him as he helped Rose to her feet. "Now, be a good girl and sit down on the bed. Neville will come to see you soon."

"Ow..." she hopped to the bed and sat down. "Do you promise, Mr. Weasley?"

"I promise your true love will be here sooner than you think." he smiled at her, trying to ignore Harry and Fred snickering.

She nodded and started to rub her ankle. "How's Ron?" All of a sudden she received so many flashes of the future that it hurt her head even more. "Ugh," she shuddered, laid down on the bed and pulled the pillow over her head.

George walked over to her. "Glimpses of the future?" He asked rhetorically and pulled the blanket over her.

"Too many... at the same time... can't control the input, oh it hurts." she curled up in a ball. "Make it stop... make it stop..." she sobbed. "I don't want to be Draco's corpse... uh... bride thingy."

George laid down next to her and put his arms around her. "Close your eyes and try to focus on my breathing." he said soothingly.

She tried to pull the pillow into her head, but kind of hated it that it was impossible. "Oh, pregnant werewolf," she giggled. "And it's pink."

"Mum, I think you need to give Lupin and Tonks the talk." George chuckled, while he remove the pillow from Rose's head and held her head to his chest. "Just listen to my heartbeat, try to calm down."

"Bill looks great in a dress... Dru," she laughed. "falls in love... no wait. Uhm... Dru's pregnant and Ron falls in love with Harry... no... that's not it..." Rose tried to focus and sighed. "I don't see any noses."

"Fred, just a heads up, get Dru on birthcontrol. Rose thinks she'll be pregnant, while Bill wears Fleurs wedding dress and our little Harry is going to be a Mrs Ron Weasley." George chuckled.

"Yeah, right mate," Fred laughed. "Your girlfriend is bonkers."

"The tower comes down." Rose sighed and put her arms around George. "I sound like Professor Trelawney, yikes."

"Hmm, Professor Trelawney and Neville Longbottom, what a great pair you two make." George smiled at Rose.

"He has a great sword... uhm.. what?"

"What?" George sat up in shock.

"No, not that kind of sword!" she laughed. "Big sword. Not a big wand. I don't know what size his wand is, ew!" she pulled George down to the bed.

"Really? But I thought you were engaged to him?"

"Huh?" She looked up to him, thought for a second and then everything came rushing back to her. "Oh my god... I think I'm going to be sick..."

"Alright, take long deep breaths." George said and pulled Rose to his chest again. "Try not to think about it."

Fred had let Dru go so that he could go and look at Ron, which Dru used to get out of the infirmary. Her head was spinning, she had ruined her entire life within two days. She walked to the common room and sat down in her favorite window seat, looking out of the window. she knew she had to tell Fred the truth, she couldn't lie to him, but he would never forgive her for what she had done.

Fred had seen Dru sneak off, he knew that she was probably embarrassed and thought that he would be mad about it all but he wasn't. It hadn't been her fault and love potions were _very_  tricky. He made his way over to the common room five minutes after Dru had left and sat down in the window sill opposite of her. "Honey, you don't have to feel guilty about the last two days," he smiled at her and softly caressed her leg.

"You don't understand."

"I understand that you've been under the influence of a love potion and that at least one of your  _obsessions_  should have known better, but whatever happened, it's not your fault."

Yes it is. It is my fault." Dru snapped at him. "God, Fred, you're so quick to judge Neville, but he got hurt more than Rose and I did. You don't get it, because you hate Neville."

"I don't hate Neville, I normally like him, but..."

"But, what? You're afraid he might one day tell me that you and George told him to dump me in the first place, so you could try and win me over?"

"No... who told you?" Fred said surprised.

"Does it matter?" Dru said. "You two need to give Neville a break. He has a harder time with this than you do. You got me, he don't."

"He broke up with you, he could have always chosen not to listen to me, to be honest, George and I didn't even think he'd listen to a word we say."

"Of course he did, he looks up to you two. He always has, but that's not the point. It's my fault what happened, not his."

"So, now what? You hate me now?"

"Hate you? Why?"

"Well, for telling Neville that he should break up with you so I could make my move on you?"

"Fred, I found out about what you did almost a year ago." She smiled. "No, it's you who's going to hate me."

"Dru, you can't do anything that will make me hate you." he smiled at her. "I love you."

"I had sex with Neville." She said softly before she started crying again.

"Oh," Fred took a deep breath. "Okay." He shifted so that he could take her in his arms and softly caressed her back. "It's okay," he said softly. "It had to happen some day."

"No!" Dru sat up. "I never wanted to cheat on you. I'd never do that to you. I love you. But it was that stupid potion, I didn't want this." She had started to hit his chest. "How could you think I would want to cheat on you."

"No, not cheat," he chuckled. "And I know it was the potion and in a way, I'm glad it was the stupid potion and not your sane head, but honey, you don't see it, do you? You and Neville have this kind of magnetic pull towards each other and I told myself that I wouldn't be angry with you should something happen between you two, I'm not as uptight as George."

"No, you have to. You have to care. I didn't want this. I hurt the both of you. Please, you can't just say it's nothing." she was pounding on his chest again. "Please, you have to be mad."

Fred sighed. "Alright. I'm very very cross with you, Dru. Please don't ever do something stupid like that again."

Dru bit her lip very hard, but she couldn't help laughing. "Fred, you're impossible." She put her head against his chest and sighed. "Fred, I'm worried about Neville."

"Why?"

"Cause he just found out his first time was with a girl that didn't want to have sex with him and he's devastated. He kept asking me if I was sure about this, about wanting him instead of you, he must have asked me a million times, but I kept saying yes."

"Well, the way I see it, you have two choices," he softly kissed her lips. "Either talk to him about it, or make him forget."

"I don't know. I think he was right. We can't be friends anymore." Dru closed her eyes, she thought it was wrong to cry over Neville's friendship in front of Fred right now.

"Yeah... I know..." he said soothingly and softly caressed her back. "It's going to be really hard for you, isn't it?"

Dru nodded and bit her lip, trying not to cry. "I screwed everything up."

"Did you? It may look like that right now, but maybe it's the beginning of something new."

"Fred." Dru smiled. "It's not the time for cheesy."

"It's not that cheesy, and you know I'm right."

Dru looked at Fred and let her finger ran down his cheek. "You're really not going to hate me for this?"

"I love you, Dru," he said. "You were under the influence of the potion and I can't hate you for something that was out of your control. That would be weird wouldn't it?"

"Well, it's the weekend of weird." Dru chuckled. "You want to know a secret?"

"Yes, I can handle more."

"Ginny made out with Neville."

"GROSS!" Fred cried out. "No, I didn't want to know that!"

"It's even worse. I was in love with Ginny and she wanted to make out with Neville. So we kissed him both."

"Yeah I saw a bit of that action today, you and Ginny... and... oh gross Dru, I really don't want to know."

"Neville had no idea what came over him. Having two girls wanting to make with him at the same time."

"How does Neville Longbottom have all the hot girls falling for him and almost a treesome. He's the Gryffindor loser!" Fred chuckled.

Dru straddled Fred's waist. "But you have me, for the rest of your life."

"Yes." he laughed and kissed her. "Shame that you weren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade this weekend, I had plans with you."

"Really, what kind of plans?" she asked as she kissed his neck, giving him an occasional bite between the kisses.

"Adult plans!" he chuckled.

"George?" Rose asked with a small voice.

"Yeah?"

"I'm so sorry," she said as she looked at him. Madame Pomfrey wasn't allowing her to leave the bed just yet and all she wanted was to take a long hot shower to wash off the day and the day before. "I never meant to kiss Draco..."

"It's okay." he said as he smiled at her. He was sitting in the chair next to the bed, holding her hand. "I know you aren't to blame."

"I didn't kiss Neville, but... George, you should be angry with me."

George shrugged. "I know you don't like Malfoy, and you don't like Neville in that way. I was just a bit hurt you forgot I gave you this ring." he teased her.

"I'm sorry I forgot... I really am." she sighed. "I want to go home, I'm done."

"You can't go home, you have school," he laughed and caressed her hair. "And I think that in the next few months, you're going to have a lot of fun with jinxing Malfoy in revenge."

"I'm not that cruel."

"He deserves it."

"I'm not that cruel," she repeated. Despite her being influenced by the love potion, she realised that Draco was just lonely and that he really wanted to be loved by someone.

"Rose, you have slept for the last two hours. Draco gave you and Dru different love potions." He pointed at the bed opposite of Rose. "Dru has to stay in here too. Draco used an untested potion on her, so they want to keep an eye on her. He tried to hurt his sister, just so she wouldn't marry Fred. And you...I... well if you're not going to give him what he deserves, I will. For you, Dru and Neville."

"And Ginny," Rose sighed. Had she really slept? It didn't feel like that. She sat up and looked at Dru, before looking over to Ron and back at George.

"What?"

"You'd think that Hogwarts was a safe place," Rose remarked. "A third of your family is currently on infirmary beds while the rest of you is sitting around beds."

"You know us, we'll use any excuse for a family reunion." George chuckled. "Don't worry, just lie down. Fred and I are going to have a little chat with Neville." he kissed her and got off his chair.

"George, don't do anything stupid, he didn't know, or was just desperate."

George sat down on the bed and put an arm around Rose. "Fred and I had a talk when you two girls slept. We haven't been fair on Neville for over a year now. We're going to make it up to him and give him a piece of his life back." he gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"Okay," she nodded and smiled at him. "Good. Just come back to say goodbye when you leave again, please?"

"Try and stop me." He smiled and kissed her before getting up. "I'll only be ten minutes."


	34. Goodbye Professor

A few weeks after Ron got out of the hospital, Katie Bell was back in school after landing in 's by touching a cursed necklace in the fall. Dru was walking into the great hall, when she saw Harry and Katie looking at Draco, before Draco started making his way out of the great hall, with Harry on his tall. "Draco?" Dru asked as he passed her.

Draco didn't say a word, but grabbed her hand pulled her with him. She followed him into a bathroom, where he let go of her hand and walked over to a sink.

"Draco?" She tried again and put her hands on his shoulder, when he began to cry. "Draco, please talk to me."

"I know you hexed her, Malfoy." Harry spoke.

Before Dru knew what was going on, Draco had pushed her into a corner of the bathroom and Harry and Draco were dueling and destroyed half the bathroom. Dru had pulled her knees to her chest and shielded her head with her arms.

Draco was standing with his back towards Dru when Harry yelled. " _sectumsempra_!"

Dru saw Draco hit the floor and blood was gushing out of him.

"No, Draco." she cried and made her way over to him on her hand and knees. She pulled his head on her knees. "What did you do to him?" Dru yelled at Harry.

Snape entered as Harry fled the scene. Snape kneeled down next to Draco and used the healing spell to heal him.

"Draco." Dru whispered to him, while she was caressing his hair out of his face.

"Do you still think that you're on the right side?" Draco said to her, between coughs.

"Draco." Dru shook her head. She wanted to tell him that he started it, but she didn't think this was the right time. "Just relax, try to breathe slowly."

"Draco, I'm going to bring you to the infirmary." Snape spoke and used a levitation spell to lift Draco up, like he was on an invisible gurney.

Dru stood up and stood against the wall, so Snape could move Draco out of the bathroom.

"Would you like to accompany him, Miss Malfoy?" Snape asked.

"No," Draco sighed. "No."

"I'll go with him." Dru said and took his hand. "He's my brother."

* * *

It was near the end of the school year. Neville had given up on getting back together with Dru. They both knew they were missing a few hours of the Sunday that Dru was under influence of the love potion, but somehow Neville knew he wasn't getting Dru back. That did mean they were now slowly trying to rebuild their friendship.

Draco was now avoiding Rose instead of the other way around. Every time he saw her, he turned a corner or blasted right passed her. He had sent her away at his hospital bed, when she came with Dru to come and see him. He even started to avoid Dru now. Dru had finally found out Draco was indeed responsible for the love potion incident. She had been furious, he tried to explain he wanted her to see she was just too young to settle down, but she wouldn't listen. So now Draco had lost both Rose and Dru. They had made their choice to start a family with the Weasley twins and that meant there was no more room for him.

Rose was very proud of herself that she had gotten her license to apparate legally. She had loved the lessons, but she was afraid that every time she'd apparate she'd get spliced or something worse. But she had her license, and that was really, really neat.

Rose had been dreaming weird for a few nights in a row. She had been dreaming that something was going to happen on Hogwarts and something with closets and wands and it were random images that didn't make any sense, it was almost as if someone was messing with her head or that she was unfocused, but she had never felt more clear-headed.

She had gone to Dumbledore to talk about her dreams and he just smiled at her, he seemed to know something and wanted to keep it a secret. It wasn't really any news, Dumbledore liked having secrets. All he said was that everything was going to be alright and that she shouldn't worry, but that didn't stop her from worrying.

A couple of days later, she had noticed that the energy in the castle had changed, there was trouble on its way and she didn't like it.

Dru was walking back from the greenhouse, when suddenly Draco was walking next to her, grabbed her elbow and pulled her into a corner on the courtyard. "Draco, what are you doing?"

"They're coming for you. I need to get you out of castle tonight." He said.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I need to get you to safety, they can't possibly be there already, you need to go."

"Okay," Dru ran her hand through her hair. "I need to get to Diagon Alley."

"You will, the Vanishing Cabinet is at Borgins, come."

"Right, I've got to get my key." Dru said, "If the shop's closed, I can't get in."

"There's no time for that, come on." Draco took her hand and started to walk towards the tower.

"Wait, what about Rose? George's going to kill me, if I come back without her."

"I'll keep her safe, I promise."

Dru looked at Draco's pale face. "You will let me go to Fred, won't you?"

"I can't come with you I'm afraid, so whatever happens if you step through the cabinet, you'll be on your own. You can go to Fred or to Spain for all I care, as long as you're safe."

"Why aren't you coming with me. If I tell him you saved me, Fred will find you a safe place to stay, I'm sure he will. Draco, you're just 16."

"I know, but I have my orders, please let me fight them a little by getting you to safety," he gave her a small smile and tugged on her arm. "Come."

"Draco, you don't have to listen to them. Don't follow orders, come with me. Fred can get you somewhere safe, and if he can't, Tonks will do it. She's part of the Order."

"Order?"

"They're protecting the innocent from  _him_. They're on my side, your side, if you let them. please Draco, come with me. I need you."

"I'm not coming with you, because I need to stay here to make sure Rose will be okay."

"But if you don't come, who's going to give me away at my wedding?"

"I am, I promise."

"Draco, I don't believe you. You're hiding something from me. Please, let's just go to the cabinet now."

He took her to the Room of Requirement first, laying down a distraction with Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder so that Ron, Ginny and Neville couldn't see the Death Eaters leaving the room and held on tightly to Dru as he lead the way towards the next corridor. Of course, the powder was of no use because Ginny was a smart girl and soon the corridor was crowded with other people than teachers,  _The Order_ , Dru had spoken off. She was struggling to get away from him now, wanting to help her friends, but he dragged her with him to the astronomy tower. If he was going to do this, she had to watch.

"Draco, please stop. This isn't you. Please." she begged him. Tears were rolling down her face. She knew Harry had been right all year. Draco was in deeper then anyone, including Rose or Dru, had known.

"It is," Draco snapped. "And Rose came too close to actually spoil this moment, so that's why she's not here. You're going to be with me when I do this."

"Do what?" Dru asked scared.

"You'll see."

Draco dragged Dru up the stairs. When they almost had reached the top, dru heard her name being called and turned around just in time to see Neville running up the stairs, but being blasted back down half up. "No!" She screamed and wanted to run back down to help him.

"Dru!" Rose called out as she heard her friend scream, and jumped out of the way when she saw someone fall down the stairs. "Neville!"

It was a huge chaos. Death eaters were everywhere. The order was fighting them and so were some of the members of the DA. Rose, at one point, saw that Bellatrix made her way up the same stairs Rose had seen Draco drag his sister up. "Lupin, Dru is up there!" She called out to her godfather.

Lupin didn't hesitate for a second. He ran up the stairs, but just like Neville, he too got blasted back halfway up the stairs.

Rose wanted to make her way up to him, but then shrieked as somebody was shooting curses at her. She was shooting hex after hex back, until a scream startled her. That was Dru's voice, there was no doubt about that. She froze, realizing what just had happened, but the Death Eaters weren't giving up.

"Oi, leave her." Bill said as he came running up to Rose and pushed her out of the way, into safety. Rose quickly got out of the way and wanted to go over to help Ginny, who was being attacked by Amycus, who was trying to hex her.

Dru was being pulled down the stairs by Snape, who had taken hold of the back of her shirt. He was also dragging Draco along by the collar as he barked orders to the Death Eaters to retreat.

Suddenly they had to nearly jump over somebody that was lying on the ground. Dru looked behind her and screamed. "Neville!" She managed to pull herself away from Snape and wanted to go to Neville, but Draco had put his arms around her waist and hoisted her up as he dragged her along.

"No, I can't leave him." She cried.

"You have to, it's too late. You're one of us now." Draco said as he put her down, grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

Dru looked behind her in horror. He was right, they all must think now that she had been part of it. There was no way back.

She saw how two figures came running after the group of retreating death eaters. One was Harry, but Dru couldn't make out who the other one was. Suddenly Dru bumped into Draco and was looking in Horror as Bellatrix had set fire to Hagrid's house with poor Fang still inside. "No." Dru yelled and raced to the door, to release the creature.

While Snape and the death eaters were concentrating on Harry, Draco ran after his sister, closely followed by the person that came with Harry out of the castle. When Dru finally got the door open and released Fang, she turned around. "Rose."

Rose had her wand trained on Draco. "Who else?" she grinned. She had a bloody gash along side of her head from debris and her hand felt quite broken, but she wasn't going to leave Dru in the hands of Draco.

"Come with us, Rose." Draco asked almost desperate. He was terrified.

"Rose, he didn't do it." Dru said.

"I know," she replied. "But Draco has a bigger part in all of this then you and I can imagine."

"No, he can come with us. Fred can find him a safe place. Come with us, Draco." Dru tried as she now grabbed hold of his wrist.

"He still has a part to play, his part to play, don't you, Draco? You never wanted to get her to safety, only to the manor so that  _he_  would be happy."

"No, don't listen her. You don't! Come with me. You promised you'll give me away, remember?" Dru was crying,

Draco had tears streaming down his face and slowly nodded. "Rose is right, Dru. If you come with me, you're not going to Fred. You're safer with  _me_."

"No, Draco. Don't! I love you, you're my brother. Please come with us. Fred will help you."

"No he won't." Draco said.

"Yes, he will. If I asked him to, he will. He'll do anything for me. Please, don't go with them."

"Draco, you can't." Rose said calmly. "I know it's really tempting to just give up and go into hiding, but you're not done."

"Rose shut up! He's my brother. He needs to be safe."

"I know he's your brother, Dru. Don't you know how hard this is? He won't be safe, even if Fred would find him a safe place. They will track him down and kill him. Do you want that? It's safer for  _Draco_  to return to the Manor and sit this one out. He will be fine."

Dru threw her arms around Draco. "I don't want you to go. I need you." she whispered.

"Everything happens for a reason, Draco. I know that Dumbledore got to you in the end, but you need to understand that now is not a good time to run away. It's tempting, but the best thing you can do for  _all of us_ , you, me and Dru, is to go back." It was painful, Rose knew that, but she realised that Draco was one of the key players in the upcoming war and that he would be okay. "He's at the gates, waiting for you."

"Will you look out for her?" Draco asked as he hugged Dru.

"Always," Rose nodded. "You know that."

Draco nodded to Rose. "I have to go, Dru."

"NO, not you too." she was clinging to him for dear life. "I love you."

"Yeah... I love you too," he planted a kiss on Dru's forehead before he pushed her into Rose's arms and ran away towards the Hogwarts school gates, where Snape was waiting for him.

"NO!" Dru screamed.

Rose had her arms around Dru and softly caressed her back. "Come on, you're going to see him again, I promise. Right now, we need to go back to the castle."

Harry walked towards them and put his arm around Dru. He could see Rose was too tired to drag the sobbing Dru along by herself.

"I didn't know. I really didn't." Dru said softly.

"I know, I know." Harry said.

As they walked back into the courtyard. Harry gently pushed Dru towards Neville, figuring he was the best chance of calming her down. He put his arm around her and Dru sobbed into his shoulder.

Hermione took Rose's non-injured hand and squeezed it. They watched as Harry kneeled down by Dumbledore and Ginny walked over to comfort him.

McGonagall raised her wand to the sky and all the teachers followed. Then the students followed to. It had a calming effect on everyone.

After a while McGonagall send the students back to their house, but when Dru took Rose hand to leave too, she stopped them. "You two need to go to the infirmary."

"It's just a gash," Rose waved at her head. "I'm sure it'll clean up when I put a cloth on it." She was tired, all she wanted to do was take a shower, go to bed and cry herself to sleep.

"I know, but Bill is injured."

"We'll do our Weasley duty then," Rose nodded.

"Take Mr Longbottom up there too. He needs to be check out."

She nodded again and started to walk into the castle. "Neville! You'd better be able to walk because you're too heavy to carry."

"I'm here." He said from behind her.

"Oh yes, sorry," she looped her arm through his and they started to walk towards the infirmary where, much to Rose's surprise, the Order was gathered around Bill's bed.

"Dora." Dru ran towards Tonks and threw her arms her. "I begged Draco to stay, but he wouldn't stay." she sobbed.

"I'm sorry," she shushed her as she caressed Dru's back.

Rose pushed Neville into the direction of Madame Pomfrey and sat down on a chair. Bill looked horrible.

Lupin sat down next to her and took her hand. "You did great. I'm proud of you and don't start by saying I should have seen this one coming, just don't."

"I did see it coming." Rose said softly. "And I told Dumbledore and he told me not to worry, that everything happened for a reason and that we're well taken care of."

Lupin squeezed her hand. "I love you, kid."

She winced. "What is it with you people and holding my hand? This one hurts."

"Sorry." Lupin grinned and let go of her hand. "I still love you though."

"Love... such a silly little thing. On top of it all, I broke not one, but two hearts tonight," Rose sighed. "I hate being the voice of reason."

The doors opened and Mr and Mrs Weasley entered the infirmary followed closely by a very scared looking Fleur.

Dru let go of Tonks and stood next to Fleur. She hesitated for a second but then took Fleur's hand.

Fleur looked at Dru for a second and then pulled her into a bear hug.

"He's going to be okay." Dru whispered. "I'm sure of it."

"He'd better, I'm still going to marry him!" Fleur replied.

"Greyback wasn't transformed, he'll be alright," Lupin spoke up.

"Of course, it doesn't matter how he looks...it's not r...really important...but he was a very handsome little b...boy...always very handsome...and he was g...going to be married!" Mrs Weasley was sobbing on the mutilated face of her eldest son.

"And what do you mean by that." Fleur said very loudly as she let Dru go. "What do you mean  _was_  going to be married.

"Well...only that..."

"You think Bill will now wish to not marry me any more? Fleur demanded. "You think, because of these scratches he will not love me?"

"No that's not what I-"

"Because he will." Fleur said as she stood next to Molly, pushing her out of the way. "Ït would take more than a werewolf to stop Bill loving me."

"well, yes, I'm sure." Said Mrs Weasley. "But I thought perhaps...given how..how he.."

"You thought I would not wish to marry him. Or perhaps you hoped. What do I care how he looks?"

"Pretty girls can love boys even if they're not handsome." Dru added, feeling slightly offended herself, by Mrs. Weasley's remarks. She too had been called a pretty and spoiled princess her entry life.

Mrs Weasley looked at Dru, and then at Fleur, who was now using a wet washcloth to put ointment on Bill's wounds. Mrs. Weasley pulled Fleur into a big hug.

Dru smiled at Rose. Fleur might not be as bad as they had thought.

Madame Pomfrey was now annoying Rose by checking out her head wound and fixing her hand. "What happened to those times where ladies weren't allowed to battle?"

"Oh thank god those times are over!" Professor McGonagall replied. "I'm wondering, miss Malfoy, how did you get through the barrier while Lupin and mr Longbottom did not?"

Dru bit on the inside of her lip. Only Rose, Fred, George, Ginny and Neville knew. She took a deep breath and pulled up her sleeve. "My mother's birthday present for my 16th birthday."

"Well, that explains a lot," the Professor said and hugged the girl. "I'm sorry."

Dru's eyes were staring in shock, as she received the hug.

"That's why you didn't let me bathe you." Tonks said.

Dru nodded. "I didn't want you guys to know. I was afraid you might have thought I...ah." Dru suddenly clenched her arm, "Mummy's not happy with me right now." she said, grinding her teeth.

"Quick, hold it underneath a ray of cold water," Rose said with a smile. "That's what Fred does."

"What?" Lupin asked Rose.

"He always does that to make her feel better, a symbolical way to drown her mum, to tell her that nobody messes with Dru."

"It's fine. It stopped again." Dru lied, convincing everybody, but Rose and Mr and Mrs Weasley.

Rose got her wand out and pointed it at Dru's arm. " _Aguamenti_ " she spoke softly, controlling the amount of water coming out of her wand, so that she didn't flood the entire infirmary, but it was enough to make a point. Rose was tired anyway and all she wanted was sleep.

"I think it's time for everybody not in a hospital bed, which mean not you, mr longbottom, (Neville was trying to get up from the bed) to go back to your own beds. Harry if you would come with me please." McGonagall said.

Rose stuck out her tongue to Neville as she rose from her chair, slightly wobbly on her feet and hugged Lupin and mum and dad Weasley. "See you in a couple of days," she smiled bravely.

"Hold on," Ron said, quickly making his way over to Rose. He put an arm around her and held out his other arm for Dru to hold on to. "There."

"Oh Ronald, you're such a gentleman." Rose pretended to swoon.

"Finally!" Dru chuckled.

"Oi, I could leave you two here, you know."

"Take us away." Rose nodded.

"Yeah.. Hold on." Dru let Ron's arm go and planted a still very upset Hermione on his arm. "She needs you more than I do." Dru gave mum and Dad Weasley and Tonks a hug, before turning to Fleur. "Don't worry, Madame Pomfrey is very good. She fixed me up loads of time." Dru then took Ginny's hand and walked behind Ron, Rose and Hermione.

* * *

Dru and Rose were sitting next to the twin at the funeral. It was one of the saddest things they had ever witnessed, but at the same time, one of the most beautiful things too. Dru had wrapped her hands around Fred's arm and had her head on his shoulder, while she couldn't stop crying. She had never been really fond of Dumbledore, but she felt guilty over his death. She should have kept a closer eye on her brother. She should have stopped Draco sooner.

Even though she had gone to Dumbledore to warn him that something bad was going to happen, and he had told her not to worry and that everything was going to be alright, she wondered how it would be with him gone. She felt there was more to the story, mostly because Dumbledore had dodged her questions with either a smile or another question. She felt guilty because she should have seen that Draco was going to try and take Dru away, well she actually saw it until it was too late, until they were up in the tower.

Rose knew, that the next school year was going to be a tough one. She looked at George, who had put his arm around her. He looked at her and when their eyes met, they both thought the same thing. Life was short. Maybe they shouldn't wait with their wedding.


	35. Inappropriate discussions and some birthdays

Fred and George took Rose and Dru straight home after the funeral . Dru went up to her and Fred's room and started unpacking her stuff. She put all of her clothes in a pile in a corner of the room. She put the books on another pile. She sighed deep and sat down. She knew she was safe safe here, but something was bothering her. Like something was changing.

Fred stood in doorway. He had his hands in his pockets and looked at Dru. "Is everything okay?"

Dru smiled at Fred. "Not really."

"What's wrong?" He walked towards her, sat down next to her and put an arm around her.

"I'm worried about Draco." She put her head on his shoulder.

He planted a kiss on her head. "He can take care of himself."

"He's just a kid, Fred. He's not that much older than me."

"Yeah, I know..." he sighed. "And it's not right, but I'm sure that your mum is looking out for him too."

"I've begged him to come with me. To come and stay with us, that you would help keep him safe. Maybe he wouldn't come because he was afraid you would turn him away."

Fred pulled her closer to him and caressed her hair. "I think... he's right where he belongs. I mean, they would have tracked him down, wouldn't they? No matter what we tried. And they'd kill him. And us."

Dru sighed. "Maybe, I just want to protect him, he's changed. He's not the same as he used to be." She put her arms around his neck and softly kissed him on the lips. "He's still my brother."

"Oh if there's anything I understand it's the love for a sibling, but also the hard decisions you have to make... I mean... look at Perce. He's a knob."

Dru giggled. "Yeah, but he's always been a knob."

"Nah, uptight, maybe. But not a knob. He became one when he started to be this Ministry puppet," he softly kissed her lips. "It's in his best interest to change his mind, but he won't do it." He shrugged and then kissed her again.

"He did, he just too ashamed to come back. He thinks you all hate him, but don't worry he'll come back." Dru caressed Fred's cheek. "You miss him a bit, don't you?"

Fred sighed and nodded. "Of course, he's my annoying older brother. But you know, Draco will be alright." He pulled Dru on his lap.

"Fred?"

"Yeah?"

"We still need to pick a date."

"Well, after your birthday, how about the 17th? You're 17 and you'll marry on the 17th," he chuckled.

Dru smiled and gave Fred a kiss. "Are you still sure, you want to do it like this? I mean with only Rose and George there."

"Yes," Fred nodded. "I don't want to take the spotlight away from Bill. He's the oldest and I don't think he will love the fact that his younger brother will marry before him."

"So, we'll get married and tell them a few days later?"

"Yep, and then run like hell because Mum will lose her mind."

Dru laughed. "I think your mum will kill us. Come on, let's go and tell Rose and George...or do you want to celebrate us picking a date in private?"

"Yeah." Fred pushed her on the bed with so much enthusiasm that Dru shrieked.

"Well, at least they're having fun." George smiled as he looked up at the ceiling. He was sitting on the sofa in the sitting room, watching Rose put her books in the new bookcase which the boys bought for the girls. "Like your new bookcase?"

"Love it," she smiled and kissed him before sitting down on the sofa next to him. "It's perfect."

"Yeah, well. You have so many books, our bedroom is getting too full."

"I don't have that many books," she chuckled and put her feet on his lap. "I barely took anything from the library at grandfather's home."

"Yeah..." George smiled. Tonks and Lupin had all the books taken out of Rose's house. Lupin knew that one day Rose would want her books back, so last spring Lupin helped Fred and George and they had put four bookcases in the office downstairs and filled them with her books. "Well  _you_  didn't." he smirked.

"You did, didn't you?" she chuckled.

"I asked Lupin and Tonks to do it. Lupin helped us put them in the office downstairs. Those books are part of the few good memories you have of your youth, I want you to have some good things to remember your past." He softly kissed her.

"George Weasley," she chuckled and shook her head as she moved so that she could sit on his lap, facing him. "I think I want to marry you," she smiled at him.

"Good, then I didn't buy you that expensive ring for nothing." he chuckled and winced as she softly tapped him on his head.

Rose softly kissed him. "You know... I think we should do some smart shopping for groceries..."

"Stop being so practical right now," George groaned and kissed her back.

"No, I'm serious. It's good to be prepared."

"Rose," he chuckled and shook his head. "Fred and I have done groceries. We bought a lot of stuff in jars, the freezer is topped off and you really don't have to worry about anything."

"Oh," she smiled and kissed him again. "Smart."

"Rosie, I have been thinking...I don't want to wait to marry you. Life's too short. I want to marry you now."

She slowly nodded. "Me too, like you said, life is too short, anything can happen and ..."

Fred and Dru came down the stairs. "Rose, we need to go shopping." Dru smiled.

Rose narrowed her eyes on Fred and Dru. "Great timing."

"Sitting room, remember, not your bedroom." Fred chuckled as he sat down in one of the chairs.

Dru sat down on the armrest and smiled at Rose. "Rosie, we need to go shopping," she said again.

"For what?"

Dru smiled and glanced at Fred, before looking at Rose again. "My wedding dress. Fred and I are getting married on the 17th."

"Oh that is brilliant," George smiled widely.

"Yeah mate, she'll be 17 and we'll marry on the 17th." Fred grinned.

"Good thinking, then Rose, how about we marry on the 18th then?"

She looked at George with a big smile on her face. "Yes, great idea."

"Wait, I thought you wanted to wait till Rose was done with school?" Fred asked surprised.

"In an ideal world, yes," George nodded. "But the world is not ideal and life is too short. Anything could happen."

"Then we really need to go shopping, we're going to need to wedding dresses." Dru was bouncing on the armrest, making her almost fall.

Fred laughed as he pulled Dru on his lap. "How will mum get your wedding done in time?"

"She won't," George replied. "I'm taking a leaf out of your book, mum can kill us later."

Dru laughed. "Rose, maybe we should go to the muggle world for dresses."

Rose looked at George. "You're not going to make me wear a dress, are you?"

"How about you wear the dress you wore to the yule ball? That blue one, I always loved you in that."

Rose smiled and kissed him. "I love you."

Dru looked at Fred. "What do you want?"

"You in a white dress." Fred smiled.

"You can go to the muggle world to buy a dress with Dru but I want you to be extremely careful," George said to Rose. "It's not safe, maybe take Tonks with you."

"I'm taking my wand with me too I might not be of age, yet, but I don't care." Dru said as she got off Fred's lap and took her purse. "Rose, how much muggle money do I need?" Rose handled the Muggle money for the groceries shopping she and Dru did in the muggle stores. But Dru was still struggling with the 'pounds' and 'pennies'.

"Let's go shopping next week, in a couple of days, okay? I'm tired." Rose chuckled as she put her head on George's shoulder.

Dru groaned a bit but put her purse back in her bag. "Spoilsport." she muttered.

"Spoiled brat," Rose said playfully and threw a pillow at her.

"Oi!" Dru picked up the pillow and launched it at Rose and George. "I'm not spoiled, I just like buying new clothes." She sat down on the armrest of Fred's chair and crossed her arms.

Fred chuckled and pulled Dru on his lap. "You just came back from Hogwarts. I'm sure that you can wait a couple more days to actually buy something."

"But what if I don't find the right dress in time. I only have a fortnight to get everything sorted. It's my wedding." she sulked.

"You will," he softly kissed her. "I have absolute faith in you and your shopping skills."

Dru put her head against his chest. "Are we going to eat at the Leaky Cauldron tonight?"

"Of course! We need to celebrate that you girls are back." George smiled and caressed Rose's hair. "Welcome home, girls."

* * *

Rose loved the weekend, she had missed being at home. She had never been homesick really, but she had had various moments during the last school year that she truly felt home sick. On Sunday they had a relaxed pancake breakfast together and then Fred and George announced that they had invited Tonks and Lupin over for a proper dinner, and Dru's face just lit up. She was fooling around in the kitchen for the rest of the day while Fred kept her company in there and Rose and George were just relaxing on the sofa together.

Rose also couldn't wait to go into muggle London the next day, mostly to look for more books, and a dress for Dru. It was possible it wasn't safe, but she didn't allow herself to think that way. She and Dru were going to have fun.

George smiled as he heard the clicking of Dru's new shoes. "She's just like a little girl, isn't she? Over the moon that she has new shoes." He chuckled while caressing Rose's back.

"How many pairs does she have?" Rose was laying on her stomach on the sofa, with her upper body in George's lap, while she read a book that was resting against the armrest. "I lost count, I think she had like five pairs with her to school."

"I don't have more shoes than that book collection of yours, Rose." Dru's voice came from the kitchen, while Fred laughed.

"Books make Rose smart." George replied to the kitchen.

"High heels make Dru sexy." Fred laughed back.

"Wait, did you just insult my intelligence?" Dru asked.

"And I'm not sexy?" Rose frowned. "I fall over when I walk on heels."

"No you don't." George chuckled. "And you're sexier than what's good for you."

She turned to her back and looked up to him as she had her head in his lap. "If you have a problem with the way that I dress, then I'm sorry but jeans and a t-shirt just rock."

"Women!" George sighed. "Can't they just say thank you, when you give them a compliment?"

"Oh you know, Rose doesn't take them very well," Fred chuckled.

"Thank you George," Rose chuckled.

"Maybe you men should work on  _how_  to give a compliment. I swear sometimes you two remind me of Ron." Dru said while stirring in her soup.

"Yeah, getting to the point is very hard for Ron," Rose nodded. "You always have to find a way around to understand what he actually meant, but I'm getting better in understanding Weasley speak after two and a half years of intensive training."

Dru chuckled as she tasted her soup. "I think that's okay." She muttered to herself, before looking at the cake she was baking.

"You're so sexy while cooking," Fred sighed happily.

"Idiot." Dru giggled as she looked at him.

"Compliment!" Fred laughed.

"So was me saying 'idiot'."

He pulled her towards him and kissed her tenderly.

"Hm.. Fred, I'm trying to cook here." She smiled as Fred started kissing her neck.

"You need a bit more salt, you taste a bit bland." Fred deadpanned and reached for the salt.

Dru hit him on the head as she turned back to her stove to check on the soup again.

Fred grinned, got to his feet and sprinkled a bit of salt on Dru's shoulder, before licking it off again. "That's better."

"Fred!" Dru laughed and gave him a gentle push. "You're terrible."

"As I said," he whispered in her ear as his hand snuck underneath her shirt. "You're so sexy when cooking, it turns me on."

Dru closed her eyes. "Fred, we're in the kitchen." She said, trying not to sound too huskily.

"Yes, and if you weren't busy checking multiple things at once, I so would have put you down on that table and made love to you," he whispered before removing his hand from underneath her shirt. "I'll just go and see if I can do something downstairs before I start to ravage you."

Dru grabbed his arms, just before he left. "Don't go." She said as she turned around and kissed him.

"Oi!" Rose called out. "If you two don't stop now, the food will burn and we end up taking Lupin and Tonks to the Leaky Cauldron!"

"I've got all the cooking under control." Dru replied before she whispered; "Except for the fact that i'm boiling over on the inside."

"You'll lose sight of it!"

"Bah, I hate living with a seer." Fred groaned.

"Love you too, Fred," Rose laughed.

Dru gave Fred one more kiss, before turning to the stove again. "Wanna taste the soup?"

"I do!" Fred smiled widely. "Cauliflower soup, sounds exotic."

Dru got a spoonful and held it above her hand, so he could taste it. "Tell me if it needs more salt." she teased him.

"Hmm..." he said as he tasted the soup. "Maybe a little pepper to spice things up a little."

"GUYS!" Rose looked at George. "Say something, it's like listening to a bad romance novel."

"Honestly, do you two need to make everything into a dirty conversation?" George smiled.

"Don't worry, Georgie, I'll teach you how to do it." Fred laughed.

"Finally." George muttered as he kissed Rose.

"Are you two lazy tossers going to set the table?" Dru asked as she took the cake out of the oven to put the frosting on it.

Rose slowly sat up and kissed George as she got off the sofa. "I'll do it." She then made her way to the dining room and started to set the table for six.

Fred came in and helped Rose with the table linen and as Fred set the plates and glasses, George did the cutlery and Rose made beautiful swans out of the linen napkins by hand.

"Beautiful work of art," George said as he planted a kiss on Rose's cheek.

She smiled as she finished the last swan and put it on the plate. "Now all that's missing is our dinner guests."

Dru had checked the turkey in the oven and put the fire low under the soup. She looked around the kitchen. Everything was prepared, all it had do now was simmer for half an hour. She took off her apron and walked into the dining room. "Nicely done." She smiled.

The doorbell of the store rang. Fred went downstairs to open the door and George went into the kitchen to make tea. Dru smiled at Rose. "Our first parental dinner party."

"I'm terrified," she chuckled.

"You go up against Death Eaters but this terrifies you?" Dru laughed and walked into the den to greet Tonks and Lupin. "Hello." she first gave Tonks a big hug. "How are you?"

"She's having a good day today, aren't you Dora?" Lupin smiled at Tonks as he hugged Rose.

"Yes," Tonks giggled girlishly. "We did something very sneaky, but very good today."

"What?" Fred asked with a wide grin, he liked sneaky things.

"Well, today we made Dru and Rose technically real sisters," Remus smiled as he hugged Dru while Tonks hugged Rose.

"You got married?" George asked as he carried in a tray with 6 steaming cups of tea. "That's brilliant!" He then looked at Fred. If Tonks and Lupin got married without telling the girls, they couldn't get mad at the girls for doing the same.

"That's great!" Rose squealed and hugged Lupin again. "Congratulations! Finally!"

"Dora, you're married!" Dru squealed as she bear hugged Tonks. "Oh god, this is such good news."

George gave Lupin a hug. "Good on you, mate."

"Thank you." Lupin gave George a pat on his back.

Tonks gave Fred a hug. "Well, that makes us family now, doesn't it."

"I'm shaking in my shoes," Fred grinned.

"Fred!" Dru gave him a playful slap on his upper arm. "Honestly, what's with you today?" Dru smiled.

"Me? I'm just extremely happy, because I've got you home for the entire summer!"

"They're a little bit weird today," George nodded. "So you've decided to sneak off, did you? Tut tut, wait until mother hears about that!"

"Well, we're old. Don't you two get the same idea." Lupin warned Fred and George.

"Us? Never!" the boys chorused with big smiles on their faces.

"Well, sit down." Dru said as she sat on the armrest of the chair Fred usually sat in.

Remus and Tonks sat down on the sofa together. "We realised at Dumbledore's funeral that life is just too short to wait or to be stubborn. Life should be celebrated."

"Yes, that's a wonderful thought," Rose smiled as she sat down in one of the other chairs.

"We went to the registrar's office and signed a paper and well, here we are."

"I'm really happy for you. And thank you for doing it this way, I really don't think I could be a bridesmaid twice in a month!" she chuckled.

"Silly Rose." Dru giggled.

"I really really like your shoes," Dora said, pointing at Dru's bright pink shoes.

"Me too! Fred bought them for me. It gets a bit boring to wear boots underneath a summer dress, doesn't it? I am just walking around on them to make sure that I can actually walk on them properly."

"That's my girl, always planning ahead." Fred nodded.

"I want to wear them at the wedding." Dru smiled as she played with Fred's hair.

"Nice." George chuckled and looked at Rose.

"Heels? No!" Rose said mortified.

"I bought Rose a pair of shoes without so much height. That way you'll both be happy." Dru smiled as she got off the chair and went back into the kitchen.

"Fred, I love your fiance." George smiled as he finished his tea.

"Fred, I'm going to kill your fiance in her sleep," Rose glared at Fred, which made Lupin and Tonks laugh.

"Don't worry Fred, she'll be sleeping while under the influence of a full body bind for the next few days."

"Oi!" Rose smacked George on his head.

"Fred, could you help me get everything to the dining room?" Dru asked from the kitchen.

"The Missus calls you." Lupin smiled. He like seeing the way the four, in his eyes still kids, were working as a real family.

"Woman!" Fred grumbled and got up. "It's not that heavy," he said as he walked to the kitchen.

"No, but's a lot. Stop whining."

"It could use some salt," Rose snickered.

"Good idea." Fred laughed.

"Fred, stop it!" Dru laughed even harder.

"Did you have to say that, Rose?" George said. "Oi! Not above our food."

"Excuse me," Rose said with a smile as she rose from her chair. "I'm going to make sure that those two keep the food inside the pans as they bring it to the dining room."

Dru was putting everything on nice platters and gave them to Fred to bring to the dining room table.

Lupin watched as Rose walked off towards the kitchen and smiled at George. "How are they doing?"

"They're handling it, both in their own special way I suppose," he replied. "I think the whole battle was harder on Dru than on Rose, because of Draco, but I think that Rose will certainly miss having enlightening talks with Dumbledore. He was just about the only one on Hogwarts who understood her gift."

"What about Snape? Has Dru mentioned him? I remember he used to be her favorite teacher." Lupin asked Fred as he came out of the dining room.

"Not at all," Fred answered. "But it's been only a couple of days, we'll see."

"We will see what?" Dru asked as she and Rose brought the last platters out of the kitchen.

"If you can walk in those shoes before the wedding." Tonks smiled as she got up. "It smells good in here, I'm hungry."

"Oh you know, Dru likes cooking up a storm," Fred chuckled. "She's been camping out in the kitchen all afternoon."

"Yeah, and Fred with her." George smiled as he pointed Lupin to his seat.

"Well, Rose, have you used your apparition licence yet?" Tonks asked as Dru poured soup in everyone's bowls.

"No," she shook her head. "No need to, is there?"

"I remember two summers ago when those two finally got their licence. They apperated every few feet." Lupin pointed at Fred and George.

"I like using the stairs," Rose grinned.

"Yes, Rose likes doing things the muggle way. Even folding laundry or ironing, she's allowed to use magic freely and she..."

Rose shot George a warning look.

"Is great at what she does," he swallowed hard.

Dru and Fred snickered. "She doesn't like to be commented on." Dru said as she saw Tonks's puzzled face.

"I don't mind comments, as long as it's constructive. I don't like it that doing things the muggle way seems alien to you."

"I like the muggle way sometimes." Dru said as she let her fingernails run up and down Fred's lower arm.

"This soup tastes great!" Tonks said surprised. "Wow, Dru, this is amazing!"

"It's not that special." Dru blushed. "It's just soup."

"Dru, compliment." George smiled

"Thank you, Dora." Dru said with a soft voice, making George, Fred and Rose laugh.

Lupin looked at Tonks. "Do you feel like we keep missing something?" he grinned.

"Remus, you're a teacher... well, you were. How do you teach someone to deal with compliments?" George asked. "I've been trying to teach it to this one for two years now and she still thinks that I'm lying."

Rose growled and smacked George on his arm.

"Patience, George! Patience! And then after a few years you just give up, because it's never going to happen." Lupin chuckled, making Fred and George laugh.

Tonks poked Lupin in his side with her fork and glared at him.

Dru got up and took the bowls to the kitchen, so everyone could start on the main course.

"Try that one, every time you say one nice thing to her, she starts giggling." Fred smiled.

"I heard that." Dru voice came from the kitchen.

"Well, it  _is_  adorable." Fred laughed as Dru came back into the dining room.

"Shut up." Dru blushed.

"See?" Fred laughed and avoided Dru's hand just in time, as she tried to slap him on his head.

"Well I think that the four of you are adorable," Tonks smiled.

"Ew," Fred and George chorused. "We're not adorable."

"Compliment, George," Rose deadpanned.

Lupin and Tonks laughed. "Well, I'm glad to see how well the four of you work." Lupin smiled.

"Fred likes working hard." Dru muttered under her breath as she squeezed Fred's leg.

"Dru!" George smiled.

"Oh God, don't start, carve up the turkey, George." Rose sighed.

Dru gave Fred a quick kiss and smiled at him, before she took the plate with asparagus and put some on her plate. "Do you want some?" She passed the plate to Fred.

"Yep," he nodded and took the plate from Dru, he put some on his own plate and handed it to Tonks.

"So, where are you going to stay tonight?" George asked Lupin and Tonks. "You two are going to celebrate your union, aren't you?"

"We booked a room at the Leaky Cauldron," Tonks blushed, and her hair color changed too.

"Don't worry, Dora. There have been worse things said or seen in this house." Dru smiled.

"Yeah." Fred grinned. "At least my dad learned how to knock."

"I'm sure that once Dru turns seventeen that their unexpected inspections masked as visitations will either increase or decrease." Tonks snickered.

"Yeah, it's a good thing she pays less attention to us when we're at the Burrows." Fred smiled.

Lupin stared at him with his mouth open. "You didn't?"

"Did," Fred nodded.

"We still have to send Percy a thank you note for distracting mum." Dru giggled.

"Yes, he gives a good distraction," Fred nodded again. "He's a tosser, but he knows how to distract people better than anyone."

"Wait, but you two were in his bedroom." Tonks said, like she was just figuring out what Fred meant. "Where did you two than...oh...oh my god."

"See? Talking about stuff like that is pretty common in this hormone infested house," Rose said calmly. "Even over dinner."

"Yeah, you must excuse Rose, she prefers sheds instead." George smiled.

"What? Where I found Dru and Neville?"

"I wasn't having sex with him there. We were just kissing." Dru defended herself

"I didn't have to find you a few minutes later," Tonks laughed.

"I...I.." Dru looked at Fred, expecting to see a bit of anger, but Fred was laughing.

"It was fun to send dad over to the shed when I knew that George was in there." Fred hiccuped.

"It would have been funnier if my girlfriend wasn't a seer. We're always done or still have to start, unlike you two." George laughed.

"What happened?" Lupin smiled and looked at Fred.

"Oh please," Rose groaned. "Just stop this already, I'm trying to eat here and my  _godfather_  does not need to hear these things!"

Dru smiled and leaned back in her chair as she ran her fingers up and down Fred's back. "It's just talk, I have to see it all too, remember." Dru looked disgusted and shuddered.

"Anyway," Rose smiled at Lupin and Tonks. "I want to thank you for saving my books, I didn't want them at the time but..."

"It wasn't our idea." Tonks said

Lupin smiled at George before looking at Rose. "You're welcome, but it was George's idea."

"Yeah, but you two did it," George pointed out.

"Well it was a good idea allround." Fred said as he gave an involuntary shudder. Dru's fingers were giving him the good kind of goosebumps. He smiled at Dru as he placed his hand on her leg.

"I was wondering, you two know better than anyone, how's muggle London? Is it still safe?" Rose asked Lupin and Tonks.

"It's reasonably safe, but you still have to really look out." Tonks said. She didn't like the idea of the girls running around in London, but she knew better than to stop them.

"Always," Rose smiled. "We were planning on going tomorrow, Dru and I."

"I need a dress for the wedding. Thank god, Fleur didn't have anymore fabric for matching dresses for Rose and me. She's letting us pick our own dresses."

"She frightens me sometimes," Tonks laughed. "The way she has Bill under her control."

"It takes some practise, but it's worth it." Dru smiled as she gently scratched Fred's back. "Right, Honey?"

"You're not the boss of me," Fred laughed.

"Fine, then you're sleeping on the sofa tonight."

"You've got me under your spell, there's a difference." he softly kissed her cheek.

"See what I mean." Dru smiled at her cousin.

"Hmm... interesting," Tonks had her arm on Lupin's shoulder and smirked at him. "Remus dear, you still need to ask Rose something."

"Ask what?"

"We've talked about this," she smiled sweetly at him.

"Oh!" he nodded. "Rose, what would you like for your birthday next week?"

"To be left alone?" Rose shrugged.

"You're turning 18, I don't think so."

"Books, she doesn't have enough of them." Dru chuckled.

"I think I'm going to ask Harry to borrow his invisibility cloak next week," Rose sighed. "Hide out somewhere for the day."

"Rose!" George sighed. "If you're gonna be a Weasley, you better get used to birthdays." He was a bit fed up, with her trying to avoid her birthday.

"We'll celebrate Dru's birthday, it's easier to have our birthdays at the same time?" she suggested with a slight smile.

"No." George shook his head. "Mum and Ginny are planning both your parties already."

"What?" Dru asked shocked. She hadn't had a real birthday since she was 14 and those birthdays she never liked.

Fred nodded. "Thanks George, I didn't tell her yet. And it was supposed to be a surprise, so thanks for ruining it, Remus," he chuckled.

"Rose, take me into hiding with you, please." Dru asked.

"You don't mind Christmas," George said, looking at Rose. "So why do you mind your birthday?"

Rose shrugged.

"Christmas is about family and being together, birthdays are about one person." Dru said.

"What she said," Rose pointed at Dru. In all fairness, she was sort of glad that they weren't home for their birthdays last year.

"I like celebrating other people's birthdays, just not my own."

"Yes, but you two missed your birthdays last year, so, this year we're going to celebrate your life." Fred nodded. "It's going to be fun!"

"No, it won't." Rose and Dru chorused.

"Trust us, you're going to love your birthdays," George grinned. "And I think that Rose would just be happy with you showing up on her birthday, Remus. You won't have to buy her a gift. She's not really interested in  _stuff_."

"I'll figure something out." Lupin looked at Tonks.

"I'm not even going to ask," she shook her head and looked at Dru. "I'll just buy something."

Dru looked at Rose. "I hate birthdays." she muttered.

* * *

The next day, Dru and Rose left Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron and took the underground towards Oxford Street. "Unless you want something... more different, we could always go to Camden Town," Rose said as they got out of the underground.

"I need a wedding dress."

"Right, let's go to Regent Street and take the little side streets instead of the big one," Rose nodded. "If we can't find one, we'll go to another part of London."

"How's the work on your dress going?" Dru asked as she looked at the shop windows.

"I'll use my wand to make it a bit bigger," she chuckled. "I really have two left hands when it comes to stuff like taking out seams and what not."

"I've offered you to let me help you, but you didn't want it."

"Yeah but you already do so much, I don't want to burden you more."

"But, Rose, it's is going to be your wedding dres. You only marry once, I mean, unless you're Zambini's mum."

Rose snickered. "Maybe I should do something extra for George," she said and looked at the windows.

"I think we have to go get something special for under the dress. The boys will like that."

"I know, I... wish I was more like you in that way, you know. I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time."

"What do you mean? From what Fred and I hear last night, you and George had a lot of fun."

"Oh... oh..." Rose started to blush. "Forgot to silence the room, didn't we?"

Dru snickered. "Okay, let's be serious, what do mean you want to be more like me?"

"Well, you know, be a bit more adventurous clothing wise, or...  _underwear_  wise. I mean, whenever I do the laundry it's very easy to see which panties are yours and which ones are mine, I just don't have the confidence for it I think."

"Well that's easily fixed. We'll throw away the stuff you have now and I pick out new stuff for you."

Rose laughed and looped her arm through Dru's. "Let's just find you a dress first. Then we'll go to another shop to get me non-wedding dress but still classy thing that fits and see if we have time for something else."

"Okay, so let review, I need two dresses, one for my wedding and one for your and Fleurs. You need a dress to wear at my and Fleur's wedding, because I'll fix your blue dress and then presents for the boys."

"Yes, I think?" she laughed. "We need more time, but you know, it feels great that we don't have the feeling that we have to run through London because we've snuck out."

"Well, let's get to shop then." Dru said and pulled Rose into a shop.

Rose had forgotten was shopping with Dru was like, that girl had a knack for being in a shop for no more than five minutes and pick out everything that was right or not. She found herself a beautiful black clock dress, with purple and Blue flowers on it and a blue hem sticking out of the bottom. and she found Rose a purple dress with silver trimming that looked perfect on Rose. "Well, that's a bride's maid dress." Dru smiled.

"One down, more to go," she laughed.

"Just my wedding dress and then lingerie." Dru said as she walked around the street looking for a shop where she could find a wedding dress for herself. It was strange how she was more girly than anybody she knew, but Dru had never pictured herself in a wedding dress, she never really thought she would ever get married, so dreaming about something that wasn't going to happen had been foolish. But now that she  _was_  getting married, it was a bit surreal.

Rose pulled Dru into a wedding boutique. "Let's get help from the professionals," she smiled. "Good morning!" Rose greeted the person in the shop.

"Good morning," the woman greeted them politely, yet eyeing them a little bit suspiciously. Young girls in a wedding boutique usually equalled trouble and no sale. "Can I help you?"

"I'm getting married." Dru said shy.

"Yes? Do your parents know?"

Dru looked at Rose. "Is she for real? I'm trying to buy a dress and she doesn't want my business."

 _Muggles don't marry early in their lives, patience._ , Rose smiled and gently pat Dru on the arm. "I assure you, she's old enough to get married and yes, her parents have given their blessings. I understand that you must get a lot of young girls in your shop who just want to try on a dress for play, but we're willing to pay. We have money. If you help us right, we will even give you a royal tip."

"Oh, you're one of those, are you?"

"Yes. Our parents are very rich and influential. So, you're going to help her find her dream dress now, aren't you?"

"Of course, would you like a cup of tea while we go over your wishes?"

"Yes, please." Dru smiled.

"Please, have a seat, I'll be right back!" the woman smiled and disappeared to the back of the shop.

"Muggles," Rose muttered and rolled her eyes at Dru as she pulled her down to the white sofa.

"Rose, I'm not sure this is the right shop." Dru looked around and saw a lot of princess dresses.

"If it's not, we'll find another one," Rose smiled.

"I want something pretty, but simple."

"These shops usually have their worst stuff in front, don't worry, I bet she has pretty dresses at the back."

"But I don't have a lot of muggle money on me." She whispered.

"Don't worry," she whispered back. "I have a substantial amount of muggle money on my muggle bankcard, had a large portion of my own galleons changed into pounds because we do so much shopping at the supermarket."

"Rose, I don't want you paying for my dress, no way."

She sighed. "It's not my money, not technically. It's yours. After you told Draco that you were going to get married, he gave me enough galleons to transfer into muggle money and pay for your dress."

"He did?" Dru with a small smile.

"He loves you, and he knows that I'll look after you no matter what, so he knew that I wasn't going to keep the money to myself."

Dru took a deep breath and nodded. This way maybe she could have a litle part of Draco at her wedding after all.

The woman returned with a tray of expensive looking cups with hot water in them and a few tea bags with various tastes. "I'm sorry," she smiled as she set it down on the table. "My name is Jessica."

"I'm Rose, and this lucky lady is Dru."

"So, when's the big day? In the winter?" Jessica smiled at Dru as she handed her a basket filled with tea bags.

"The 17th." Dru picked out a bag and put it in her cup of hot water.

"Of what month, luv?" she smiled.

"Hm..." Dru and Rose looked at each other confused. "This month." Dru said unsure.

"Oh," the woman's smile didn't falter, but Rose could see that the woman was thinking. "Well, I have a handful of dresses in back that I could show you, we usually need a little bit more time for wedding dresses."

"Really, how much time?" Dru asked.

"Depending on the dress, how it fits the bride, if the color is alright... it could take up months."

"Right...well I don't have months. I'm in boarding school." Dru scratched behind her ear.

"I thought you said you were old enough to get married?" the woman looked at Rose.

"I am, well." Dru glanced at Rose. "My parents are gone and my guardian gave me permission to get married."

 _You shouldn't have said that, Muggles are a bit weird when it comes to that kind of stuff_  Rose smiled. "Go on, tell her what kind of dress you had in mind," Rose encouraged Dru.

"Well, white and not too puffy. Not short, but not to the floor either, like halfway to my shins." Dru said.

Jessica nodded. "And what kind of style do you want to go for? Classic? Modern?" She handed Dru a magazine with various dresses in it. "Let me tell you what, you look into this one, and I'll leave you alone for a little bit."

Dru looked at Rose, she felt a bit uncomfortable. "Rose, I don't know what to choose. How did you picture your wedding when you were young?"

Rose blinked at Dru. "You honestly never thought about your wedding dress? I mean, I always thought I was going to end up alone, you know, with my grandfather and father and all... but I thought that you would have dreamed about your perfect dress every night!"

"I always thought that nobody would be crazy enough to want to marry me, so I didn't want to dream about something that would never happen." Dru looked through the magazines.

"I think that you'd look absolutely gorgeous in a classic dress, with your hair pinned up. I mean, not all buttoned up, a bit of skin never hurt anyone." she giggled. She had already spotted the perfect dress for Dru, and it was in plain sight too. "Look," she smiled as she walked towards the mannequin wearing a knee length petticoat dress with lace on the bottom and showing a bit more skin on top. "This is pretty."

Dru walked to the mannequin. "Yeah, it is." She said softly. Suddenly it was sinking in that she was really getting married and it was a bit overwhelming. "Do you think I should try it on?"

"Hey, Jessica?" Rose called out. "I think we have found something she wants to try on, could you help us please?"

"Oh! Of course! What is it?" she smiled widely as she peeked her head from round the corner.

"This one," Rose pointed at the dress.

Jessica, eager for a good tip, made her way over to the girls and started to undress the mannequin. "Go on, luv," she smiled as she carefully laid the dress into a dressing room.

Jessica help Dru put on the dress and walked out of the dressing room, there was a round platform where Jessica pointed to for Dru to stand on. Dru did what she wanted and looked at the mirror. She clasped her hand in front of her mouth. "Oh god!"

"Oh wow, you look amazing, Dru," Rose smiled widely.

"I'm getting married." Dru muttered in awe.

"I know," she grinned.

Jessica was tugging on the dress a little. "It's a little too big on you, but it's easily fixed. I could set some pins and have this dress ready for you next week, unless you think you want to look for another dress?"

"No, that's okay. I'll take it right now. I can fix it easily myself." Dru said.

"Are you sure?" Jessica asked, a bit unsure. "I mean, in the days before your wedding, I'm sure you'll have other things to think about."

"No, I'm sure. I can do it tonight. I'm good with this stuff." Dru said as she turned her body a little bit to look at the dress from different angles.

Rose nodded at Jessica. "She can, she's going to fix my dress for me too."

"Do you want me to deliver your dress to your house?" Jessica asked, unsure what to do next. These girls were different alright.

"No, can we take it right now?" Dru asked as she walked to the dressing room and changed back into her own clothes.

"Uhm, sure?" she replied. "I just have to say... no one has ever picked out a dress this fast and demands on taking it with them the same day."

"Well, now you have." Rose chuckled and took out her purse. "Can we pay?"

"Yes, alright. That dress is 7500 pounds."

Rose blinked. "Wow," she said, looking at Jessica. "But I'm sure that you can lower the price a little bit, considering it was on a mannequin and not on a clothing peg, and you don't have to do the resizing as she's going to do it on her own."

"Are you seriously trying to barter about a dress?"

"Yes." she replied curtly. "I mean, we could easily reproduce that dress, but due to time constraints we want to buy one, and we came to your store."

"Wait, Rose, I think I saw lace like this in that store a few streets back." Dru said as she joined her friend and smiled at Jessica. "Maybe we should try and reproduce the dress."

"It's your choice, Jessica. Either we pay for this dress and help you with a sale, or we go to that other store, get the fabric and help that store."

"What did you have in mind?" Jessica couldn't believe that she was being cornered by two teenagers, barely legal to be able to buy alcohol.

"4000 pounds." Rose replied. She was great at bartering.

"Yeah, I don't think so. 6000 was what I had in mind."

 _You could always use a spell and take the dress for 4000,_  Dru giggled.

"Nah... maybe 5000 then?" Rose shrugged.

"6."

"Dru, how sure are you about being able to reproduce that dress?"

"It'll be a close call, but if I pull a few all nighter, I should be able to do it and then it would cost less than 1000 pounds."

"Alright, 5500, but that's as low as I can go," Jessica sighed.

"Sold," Rose smiled widely. "See? That wasn't so hard." she handed Jessica her card so she could swipe it and pulled 500 pounds out of her purse which she handed to Jessica. "That's for being such a good sport about this all."

Jessica blinked at the girls. "You just..." She smiled. "If you ever get married again, please come back."

"Sorry, I already have my dress," Rose giggled and watched Jessica carefully put the dress in a clothing sack to protect the fabric. "And yes, I tipped you about 10% of the dress, don't look so surprised."

"Right, well, here you go," she smiled as she handed Dru the dress. "Careful now, and have a nice day, enjoy your wedding."

"I'll will. Come on Rose, we need to get the grooms their presents." Dru giggled.

Rose took the dress and put it in her enchanted purse as they left the store.

"Rose, I need one of those bags too." Dru smiled.

"Yeah, I'll make you one," she chuckled. "I've already given one to Hermione."

Dru took Rose to a lingerie shop next and helped her get nice and sexy bras and panties. She picked out some stuff for herself to. When Dru went to pay she saw display with lace bridal garters. "Rose?" Dru smiled and took a white and a blue bridal garter from the display.

"Yeah, why not," she chuckled. "We can throw it at each other!"

"No, this is for the boys to play with." Dru grinned widely. "We're going to need stockings and garter belts too." She took three more different garters from the display.

"Hey, easy, I don't want to give George a heart attack," she laughed.

"He'll like this heart attack." Dru smiled and got the stuff she needed and went to counter to pay.

"Hmm," Rose said, noticing some movement outside the store that she didn't really trust. She walked towards the window and looked to see if she was worried for nothing. "Did you pay?"

"Yeah," Dru gave Rose her bank card back and held three bags in her hands. She looked at Rose. "There's a restaurant next door, how about we go to the loo and apparate home?"

"Yeah, exactly my thought," Rose nodded, muttering a shielding charm for the both of them while waving her wand inconspicuously. "Let's go," she took Dru's hand and pulled her out of the store.

Dru was holding her wand in her other hand, it was concealed by the bags, but Dru was getting worried, she could hear thoughts she didn't like. "Hurry, Rose." she muttered.

She pulled the both of them into a very crowded McDonalds and downstairs towards the loo, where they found it empty, thankfully. "Forgive me if one of us gets hurt, never done it with two people before," she chuckled.

"Trust me, I have faith in you." Dru squeezed Rose's hand and closed her eyes.

"Home, I want to go home." Rose said and squeezed her eyes shut as they apparated. Rose fell onto the floor when they got home, and Dru had fallen on top of her. "Ow, you in one piece?"

"Yeah, you?" Dru asked as she got off Rose and held out her hand to pull Rose up too.

"Yep, in one piece," she laughed. "We're home!"

"Yeah, let's get this stuff into the spare room, before the boys come back upstairs." Dru took the three bags and walked to the upper floor. Fred had made room in the spare room for Dru to have some room to work on some sewing work. She was making some formal dress shirts for the boys for Bill and Fleur's wedding.

"So, you sure that the boys won't come up here? Considering there's a ton of groceries here too?" Rose said as she reached into her purse to pull out Dru's dress. Even though it was safely tucked away into a clothes sack to keep the fabric clean, she knew that the boys, both of them, were nosy.

"No, Fred doesn't want to see the dress before the wedding and George won't spoil that for him." Dru said as she hung the clothes sack on the rack in the corner of the room.

"Good," she grinned. "Because it's the most perfect dress ever."

"Well, I'm going to start mending the dresses tonight. I'm going to need your help, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, I can sure try to help."

"Don't worry. You only have to pin up my dress were I'll tell you to and wear yours so I can pin you." Dru smiled and handed Rose two bags with lingerie. "These are yours."

"Oh god," she chuckled and hugged Dru before taking the bags to her and George's bedroom and walked out again. "I'm going to make some tea, shall we take the tea down to the store for them?"

"Good idea." Dru said and walked with Rose to the kitchen. "I still can't really believe it."

"Dru, you're going to get married in less than two weeks," Rose giggled as she put the kettle on and started to set four mugs on a serving tray and gathered the tea bags and sugar.

"I know, it's starting to sink in, it's just...I never thought this would happen to me?"

"Oh I know," Rose nodded and filled the cat bowls with cat food. "It's weird."

"Yeah I know." Dru smiled.

"But, Dru, did you really never think about your wedding?" Rose asked, still wondering how a girl like Dru never thought she was getting married.

"Well a little, but not too much. I didn't want to disappoint myself. I mean, who would wanna marry me?"

"Half of the student population on Hogwarts."

"No, Rose, they want to shag me, not marry me. I've never been the kind of girl people want to bring home to their parents. I'm fun for a while, not for forever."

"Well, apparently you are," Rose nodded. "We've both changed a lot, Dru. For the better too, I like to believe."

Dru nodded and took two mugs. "I'm going to find Fred." she smiled and walked downstairs. It was getting late and George was in the store with an assistant, Dru took another set of stairs down and went to the office. Fred was going over the books again. "I've got you some tea." Dru put the mug down and leaned against his desk.

"Hey, when did you get back?" Fred smiled at her.

"A few minutes ago."

"Really? Didn't hear you come in did you have fun?"

Dru nodded and gave Fred a kiss on his cheek. "I love you."

He pulled her into his lap and kissed her. "And I love you," he chuckled. "Did you manage to find a dress?"

Dru nodded and rested her head against his. "Yeah, Rose found me one."

He softly kissed her again. "Do you actually like the dress?" she wasn't as enthusiastic as he had thought she would be.

"It's...my wedding dress." She gave a small smile.

"Ohhh," he chuckled. "You're actually nervous!"

"I think it just hit me that I'm really getting married."

"Yes, you're going to be stuck with me for the rest of your life, you still have time to run away from me, although that would really really hurt."

Dru looked at him. "Do you want to run away." She asked with a small voice.

"Oh no, I am ready. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He put his arms around her and softly kissed her again. "I'm a bit nervous too, you know. I might forget how to sign my own name."

"That's easy mr. Dru Lestrange." Dru grinned as she kissed him back.

He laughed. "I kinda like my own name, how about I become Mr. Dru Weasley?"

She shook her head. "You're Fred, my Fred." She moved in his lap, so she was now straddling his waist. "I want to be your wife, your mrs. Weasley."

"Good, because you know, I'd love to be your wife but I'd have to collect all the girl parts first." he grinned and kissed her again.

"Fred!" She groaned through the kiss. "I'm trying to be romantic, you're spoiling it."

"Am I?" he asked as he pulled her closer and snuck his hands underneath her shirt, caressing her back. "I'm truly sorry, Future Mrs. Weasley."

"Well, you're too late now."

He softly kissed her neck. "Well, that's a shame, we haven't done it in the office yet."

Dru gave a small moan and closed her eyes, biting her lip not to give in to him yet. She wanted to tease him a bit, but he was making it very hard on her. "I had gotten you a present, but you can't have it now."

"Such a shame," he moved his hands so that they were caressing her stomach now, and nibbled on her earlobe. "But I already have a present right here on my lap that I can't wait to unwrap."

"Where's my present?" Dru asked as she had on hand in his hair and one in his shoulder, trying not to let him win this so easily.

"In my pants," he whispered in her ear.

Dru moaned again and tilted her head back slightly, his lips were driving her crazy. "You're bad."

Rose took two mugs of tea downstairs and watched how Verity left for the day and George locked the doors. "Hello lover," she smiled at him and held up a cup of tea. "I bring you the nectar of the gods."

"In a cup? I've never had it like that before." George said as he gave her a kiss.

"Yeah, I decided to try something new, bring you tea in a cup instead of a mug." Rose chuckled and kissed him back.

"Oh, you brought me tea." George sounded a little disappointed as he took some stuff off the counter and brought it to the storage room. "How was your shopping trip?" He asked while he was putting the stuff away.

She put the two mugs on the counter and walked after him. "Good, it really helps to shop with a shopaholic," she nodded. "I bought some new stuff to wear."

"That's good." George said as he smiled at her. "Any nice short dresses?"

"Well, Dru did find me a bridesmaid dress for Fleur's wedding," she said as she walked to him and softly kissed him after pulling his head closer to hers. "But no clothes."

"Well what did you buy then?"

She smiled innocently. "You'll find out," she kissed him again.

"How?" George put his arms around her as he kissed her back.

She started to open his vest and helped him out of it before slowly unbuttoning his shirt. "You just have to get rid of the wrapping paper."

George pulled down a bit of the collar of her shirt and it revealed a red lace bra strap. "Oh Rosie." He sighed happily and started kissing her shoulder. He pulled her shirt a little bit forward so he could peek inside of her shirt. "Nice bra." He grinned.

"Dru suggested I should burn my old ones," she smiled up to him, victorious in unbuttoning his shirt.

"How bad am I if I said I really really love Dru right now?" he started to pull up her shirt so he could caress her stomach. "Best sister in law ever." He lifted Rose up and sat her down on a small table.

"Hmm," she smiled and ran her fingers up and down his chest. "Trust Dru with clothes," she nodded and kissed him again. "Trust me to barter with the muggles." she chuckled.

George pulled Rose's shirt off and let his finger trace the edge of the lace red bra. "I like red."  
He kissed her again, harder and deeper this time. "Do you want to do this here or take it upstairs?"

"Upstairs," she giggled and started to draw circles on his chest with her index finger as she kept her eyes on him. "Much more comfortable."

_crack_

George was lying on top of Rose on their bed. "Sorry, muggle way takes too long this time." He said as he kissed her neck. He started to open her trousers. "I think I need to thank you properly for my present." his smile was devilish.

"You like it, then?" she smiled as she pulled him back up to him, kissing him greedily.

* * *

"Are you insane?" Rose was fuming at George. She was mad at Fred too, but more with George. Or maybe the both of them. They had had this secret Order meeting and the boys had decided to join. Rose wasn't allowed because even though she was of age, she was still at Hogwarts. It was discrimination really, but that wasn't what made her angry. "You _volunteered_  to drink Polyjuice Potion, turn into Harry and fly to the Burrows? With all those Death Eaters around? To keep him safe? Are you insane?"

"Would you please stop pacing?" They were outside in the cornfield at the Burrows and even though he liked seeing Rose a little bit angry (the sex was always amazing when they made up), she was being unreasonable. "I would do the same for you, or Dru or anyone else for that matter."

"Rose, we need to do something. There's a war going on." Fred tried to help his brother, hoping he would do the same, when Dru would get angry at him. The girl had been studying in his old room and had no idea what had just been discussed at the meeting.

"Don't you think I know that, Fred?" Rose shot at him. "No, this is totally irresponsible."

"It's needed! And don't say that you wouldn't do the same if you were in our shoes." George said. "Stop pacing!"

"No!" she growled. "Yes, I would probably do the same, but I wouldn't leave behind a big family if something would go wrong!"

"Oh now look who's being unfair. So I can't help because my parents have more than one child?" George shot at her. "Everyone's life is valuable."

"I understand that you want to help with the war, George. I understand that something crazy as Moody's plan is right up your alley, but..." She finally stopped pacing and looked at him.

"You're being unreasonable. There are 6 members of this family doing this and you're just getting mad at me." George said as Fred took a few steps back. "You're just mad that  _I'm_ doing this too."

"No, I'm angry with all of you, there must be an easier way... I am just..." she sighed.

"Really, I don't see you shouting at dad, Bill or Fleur. Or even at Ron, who's younger than I am." Now he was yelling at her. "Í can take care of myself."

"I... I just..."

George sighed and pulled Rose into his arms. "You're scared, I understand, but we have to do this." he gave her a kiss on her head.

"I know, but I don't want to risk losing you." Rose put her arms around him. "I know that this has been a long time coming, but now that the everything is happening... I'm really scared that something happens to you or to someone else, we're right in the middle of things."

"Rose, we'll be okay, we're Weasleys remember, we might lose an arm or a leg, but otherwise we'll be alright. I have to admit I'm a bit scared too, there's one thing about this mission I really hate."

Rose looked up to him. "What, leaving me behind?" Hoping that he would say yes and that she could try and join, even though she was scared of flying.

"No, what if the potion goes wrong and I looking like Harry for the rest of my life."

"Oh gross," she chuckled.

"Thanks a lot, mate, I hadn't thought about that yet!" Fred sighed.

"What are you three doing out here?" Dru had come outside, rubbing her arms. She had heard George and Rose yelling and walked outside without putting her cardigan on. "Why were you yelling?"

"No reason," George and Fred chorused.

Dru narrowed her eyes at Fred, she didn't trust them. "Honey?" she asked friendly but stern.

"Nothing, it's an order thing."

"Fred?" Her voice was losing its friendly sound.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "George and I are going to help save Harry when we go and pick him up."

Dru looked at Rose and George for a second. There was more to this story, else Rose wouldn't have gotten mad. "How?"

"Six of us are going to drink polyjuice potion and turn into Harry, and then we fly."

"No, you're not." Dru said resolutely. "No way."

"We volunteered, we are going to do this." Fred said, looking at George for backup. "Nothing will happen, I promise."

"Of course nothing will happen, cause you're not doing this." Dru glanced at George and Rose, making sure that they knew if either one of them opened their mouth, she was going to kill them both.

"Dru, I'm doing this. George is doing this. Fleur, Ron, Hermione are doing it too. Dad and Bill will be one of the escorts, we'll be okay."

"No, you're not. You can't do this." Dru took a step closer to Fred and looked up at him. "They can find someone else. Maybe Rose can do this."

"Well we've discussed that, actually, considering she's of age and all that, but she's too valuable."

"Oi!" Rose called out and then hit George in the arm.

"Ouch!" George looked at her. "Why did you have to say that, Fred?"

"Well, then they can find someone else, you're not doing this, I'm not letting you."

"Dru, I'm doing this."

"We're getting married in three days and you're going to risk your life!" She started to hit his chest. "You stupid git, how can you do this?"

"It's important we do this, so Harry stays safe, you and Rose are not going to do this, Lupin wouldn't allow it and neither did Moody, and since this is his plan, it's what we are going to do. We'll be okay, Dru, I promise."

Dru kept pounding on his chest. "No, you can't!" She had started to cry. "Please!"

He put his arms around her and softly caressed her back. "George and I are great at flying, we will be okay, I promise."

'I don't want you to do this!" She sobbed. "I can't lose you."

"You won't, I promise," he chuckled and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Don't worry, at least we give you two a heads-up before we do something reckless."

"What's that suppose to mean? Are you planning something else too?" Dru looked up to him.

"It means we don't run off to the ministry with a bunch of 15 and 14 year olds, without telling anyone or having adults with you." Fred caressed a strand of hair out of her face. "I know you're scared, but there's a war, we need to get Harry here safe."

Dru shook her head and wanted to say something, but Fred gave her a kiss on her lips, to shush her. "Dru, I promise, I'll come back in one piece."

Dru nodded slightly and put her head against his chest. "When?"

"The 27th." George said as he and Rose came and stand with them.

"You girls need to help us with something that night." Fred said as he still Dru as close to him as he could.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Stay here at the Burrows with mum and Ginny. Mum will be a nervous wreck and she could use you two to keep her calmer and help her take care of the people coming back." George said.

"As if I'm going to wait for you at home," she looked at him. "No, I want to know you're safe, the minute you arrive."

George smiled. "I figured you would say that."

"I still don't want you to go." Dru said softly, she was not giving up on trying to convince him to stay.

"I know," Fred chuckled and softly kissed her. "But I promise that I'll come back in one piece."

"Are you lot coming back in? It's cold outside!" Mr. Weasley called out. "Your mum made some tea!"

"I'm going to talk to your mum.' Dru said as she walked back towards the house. "If I tell her you're about the get married, she'll never let you do this."

"You could," Fred countered. "But then you'll be forced to have a big wedding like Bill and Fleur."

Dru turned around and crossed her arms. "If that the price I'll have to pay to keep you safe, I will pay it gladly."

"Bill and Fleur are coming with us as well, and they're about to get married."

"But they're not just 19 years old."

"Hey mum!" Fred called out and hugged his mother. "Dru and I have something to tell you."

Dru looked at Fred in shock, before she decided to play it really unfair. She used her old trick and started sobbing.

Fred chuckled. "Dru and I love you, mum." He said with a wide smile before placing a big wet kiss on his mother's cheek.

"Fred, what did you say to her?" Mrs Weasley pulled the sobbing girl in her arms.

"He's going to help Harry, but he can't! What if he gets hurt." Dru sobbed.

"Oh dear child," she chuckled and caressed her hair. "I know, I know, imagine how I feel, four... seven of my children, almost children and almost in law children are going to participate in this, and there's Lupin and Tonks, and my husband... but this has to happen, and it's times like these where we have to be strong." she said bravely.

Dru looked at Mrs. Weasley, before sobbing even harder. "No, but I don't want him to get hurt."

Fred took Dru into his arms. "I know."

* * *

Dru woke up, but couldn't move. She smiled as she turned her head back. She had another nightmare last night and had woken up screaming. After Fred had calmed her down, he had pulled her as tight as he could in his arms.

Dru blew softly in his face, that usually resulted in him losing his grip, so that she could move again.

"Morning," Fred muttered sleepily, pulling her even closer to him.

"Hon, I can't breathe." She smiled.

He grumbled and loosened his hold. "Better?" he was still half asleep, and was planning on going back to sleep soon.

She turned around so she could face him. "Yes." she smiled and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"Good, let's fall back asleep and enjoy the quiet time. George can open the shop."

Dru giggled and softly kissed him again. "Sleepy head. It's not sunday, no national sleep-in day today."

"I don't care," he pulled the sheets back over them. "Georgie! You open the store!" he called out.

"Of course, giving Dru her first present?" George called back.

"George!" Rose voice was heard. "God, like they don't do it nearly every day already."

Dru giggled and hoped Fred hadn't hear George's comment about a presents and remember what day it was.

"No mate," Fred retorted. "I want to be lazy."

"Fine fine," some stumbling could be heard and things falling to the floor. "Rose, you're in my way."

"You're in mine!"

Dru giggled and blew in Fred's face again, she loved it when he was sleepy, it made him so adorable.

Fred groaned a little, making Dru giggle even more.

She lifted up her head and blew in his ear.

"Watch it, or I'll drop the b-word." He warned her and crossed his arms over his chest.

"George! That...- Ugh!" Rose's voice could be heard, followed by a door opening and some stomping down the stairs.

Dru softly kissed his lips and decided to make him suffer, the one thing he always hated more than her teasing him if he was sleepy, was her getting out of the bed. She sat up and pulled the sheets off her. "Fine, I'll let you sleep."

"You're staying," he said, pulling her back to the bed. "Nice, fluffy and warm."

"Well, you want to sleep, you can do that without me." Dru teased and pulled the covers of her again and tried to pry Fred's arm of her waist.

"Oh come on, you don't have to leave the bed, George and Rose are opening up. Enjoy a nice, lazy morning on un-national sleep-in day."

"I don't know. What's in it for me?"

"Me not using the b-word."

"I don't mind the word, I just hate the big party. I don't mind you and me celebrating it, just the two of us." She pulled the sheets back over her, since Fred wasn't letting her go.

"Oh no, no celebrating," he chuckled and softly kissed her.

Suddenly, the building shook, as if an explosion had happened nearby.

Dru sat up straight. "What's that?"

"Let's see," Fred said quickly, jumped out of bed and peered out of the window, seeing if there was any smoke coming from the alley, and then made his way downstairs, seeing smoke coming up from the stairs to the basement.

"Rose, what are you doing?" George asked as he and Fred got into the basement.

"I was just... moving stuff so I could have a little bit of space to work on some charms, but..." she looked at the boys, feeling dazed.

"Dru told her to leave that cauldron alone." Fred sighed. "She's working on some new stuff."

"She did not! She may have told you, but she hasn't told me and I needed room!" She looked down to her clothes and sighed.

"No, sweetie, she told all of us during dinner and there's more than enough room on that counter." George pointed at Rose's counter, before he saw that unlike Dru, Rose hadn't kept her counter clean and tidy. "Rosie." George shook his head.

"No, those are papers that I still need to sort through, I found them in the books you saved and I don't..." she pouted. "I shouldn't have come down here, I'm still too sleepy."

"Fred, go back to bed, I'll take care of that." George pointed to Rose. "Work in the office or clean up, but leave Dru's space alone. Or come help me open the store."

"I'm going to wake up first," she muttered and hugged George. "Sorry..."

Fred went back upstairs and chuckled as he came back into the bedroom. "Rose wasn't awake," he told Dru.

Dru smiled as she was still sitting in the bed, wearing one of Fred's shirt. It was too big, so it was slipping of one of her shoulders.

"But eh, you weren't working on something potentially harmful, were you?" He looked at her with a big smile. "Damn, you look hot in my shirt."

"It smells like you." Dru smiled. "But the potion wasn't harmful...yet." he giggled. "I don't let anything harmful stand during the night, Rose is always stealing my workspace lately."

"Yeah, her desk is a mess."

"So are you going out of bed or coming back in?" Dru smiled. "You never even given me my birthday kiss yet."

Fred smirked and pushed her down to the bed before pulling his shirt up a little and kissed Dru's stomach. "Happy Birthday."

"hmm...that wasn't what I had in mind, but I guess it will work." she giggled as she buried her hands in his hair.

"No?" Fred grinned and started to remove her underwear. "Down here, maybe?"

Dru gasped, he'd never suggested that before, but she nodded. "I think I'm going to like my birthday."

"Oh, me too!" he smirked and caressed her legs after discarding her underwear. "I'm  _really_  going to like your birthday present."

Dru smiled and looked up the ceiling, wondering what Fred was going to be up to.

He started kissing her inner thigh, occasionally giving her a playful bite. "Hmm... you don't need more salt, you taste just perfect."

Dru giggled as she closed her eyes. Fred's lips on her skin could drive her wild, but she was trying to control herself, making him work harder.

He then gave her thigh a lick before started to nuzzle her clit.

"Damm, Fred, that's so..." She moaned.

Half an hour later, Rose had managed to wake up properly and had changed into a clean set of clothes. She was now stocking the shelves of the store, it wasn't that crowded anymore these days because almost everyone stayed indoors, but the shelves hadn't been stocked for a week.

"How about you look through those papers? If it's our inventory stuff, I'll kill you."

Rose laughed at George and shook her head. "No, it's just stuff. Spells, curses, charms," she shrugged. "Mostly in my father's handwriting. Found them in the books."

"Ah, the books, the gift that keeps giving."

"I just haven't gotten round to getting boxes for them and throw them in there."

"We've got boxes, come on, let's do it."

"But the store?"

"We'll hear if someone comes in." George took her hand. "Verity can look after the shop while we're downstairs, can't you, Verity?"

"Of course, Mr. Weasley," she smiled.

"See, Rosie?" He gently started to pull her towards the basement. "Maybe your father has written down something useful that we can use for the store!"

"Ah!" she laughed. "Alterior motive for helping me!"

"Well, no, because I love you and Dru wants to keep the basement tidy, and..."

"You should clean your office then."

"It's not in the workshop." He grinned.

She and George spent an hour in the basement, making neat piles of the papers, sorting everything and putting them into boxes. Rose then went to the kitchen to make lunch for everyone. She and Dru had plans for the afternoon, so Rose hoped that Dru and Fred would be done with their birthday sex soon.

Dru walked into the kitchen. "Good morning, Rose, did you clean up my workspace yet?" Dru asked smiling as she took two glasses and poured some orange juice in them. "Do you want some too?"

"I'm making lunch for everyone," she replied. "And yes, George and I cleaned up."

"That's about time." Fred smiled as he walked in the kitchen too and took one of the glasses out of Drus hand. "Thanks."

Dru smiled at him and she gently patted on his abs before she walked to another part of the kitchen. "What are we going to eat tonight?" Dru asked Rose.

"I was thinking some potatoes and salad or something." Rose shrugged. "Something easy, something that's unpossible to screw up or something that won't explode in my face when I want to move it."

"Well, it's just you and George tonight. I'm taking my girl out." Fred smiled, put the glass in the sink and gave Dru a kiss. "I'm going to help George."

"Bread it is," Rose nodded.

"There's some left over lasagna from last night, if you make a salad, it should be enough for two." Dru smiled.

Rose cut the sandwiches in half and put them all on a big platter. They were like little pyramids, easy to eat. She then started the kettle. "Yeah, that's a good idea. So, we're all set for this afternoon then?"

"Yeah." Dru smiled and wondered if George and Rose had forgotten it was her birthday. Dru knew that she said she didn't want a party but to be honest, the fact that everybody seem to forget her birthday was hurting a little bit too. Only Fred seem to remember it.

"Good," Rose smiled. "I was thinking that before we'd go to the ministry to get your licence, we could go and grab a coffee somewhere."

"Yeah, fine." Dru said, "My dress is ready and everything is set for tomorrow anyway."

"Oh! I got you something!" Rose smiled widely. "Wait here!" she giggled and skipped to the den to fetch the envelope and handed it to Dru. "Your Hogwarts letter came."

Dru took the letter. "Thanks." she muttered disappointed. "I'll open it tonight. "I'll get the boys for lunch."

"No, I'll do it, you finish the tea." Rose smiled and quickly made her way downstairs.

"Oi! Does she suspect anything yet?" George asked Fred.

"No, I've kept her occupied enough... it's up to Rose to keep distracting her." Fred replied.

"So mum's coming at two, right?"

"I still can't believe that we're fooling Rose too. She's completely oblivious."

"I know, I've got hell to pay tonight." George chuckled as he took the key from the Gringotts safe and put it in his packet. "I'll get Dru's present from the safe later on."

"What's this thing about fooling me? What are you up to?" Rose's voice sounded.

"Uhm... huh? What?" George smiled at her.

"Uhuh..." she put her arms in her waist. "Lunch is ready."

"Sorry, George," Fred grimaced. "I guess the girl found the wedding suits as well."

Rose knew that Dru found Fred's new suit for the wedding two nights ago by accident. It was supposed to be surprise. "Actually, no." she said, shaking her head. "Come on, before Dru has eaten it all or eats herself up out of frustration."

George grinned at the sight of a very frustrated and disappointed Dru sitting at the kitchen table. "Morning Dru."

"Morning." She muttered.

Fred kissed the top of her head. "Oh, look at those little cut up sandwiches! I feel like I'm five years old again!"

"Yeah, couldn't you have cut the crusts off, Rose?" George whined.

Dru got out her wand and with one flick all the crusts were off the sandwiches. It was the first day she was allowed to use magic outside of school.

George cheered as he picked up a sandwich and took a bite. "Rose, these are really good."

"Taste the tea, Dru made it." she giggled and ruffled George's hair as she moved about through the kitchen. "So, we're having leftover lasagna tonight, George."

"Why? Can't Dru cook us something?" George whined again.

"I'm taking her out, mate."

"Well she could make us something before she goes."

"Well, maybe she could." Rose smiled at George.

Dru looked around the table with her mouth wide open. "Are you guys for real?"

"Well, cooking is sort of your job around here." Fred said.

"It's not her job," Rose glared at Fred. "It's just that whenever I cook, you lot complain that it needs more salt or other spices."

"And she doesn't do a lot of other stuff around the flat." George said as he helped himself to another sandwich.

"True, she doesn't." Fred pointed out.

Dru crossed her arms and looked down. Where they really having a go at her today? It was her birthday.

"Pigs," Rose commented, grabbed her bag, put her hand on Dru's shoulder and apparated the both of them into a quiet part of London.

_Crack!_

Dru walked towards the bathroom stalls that would take her into the ministry. She was getting really ticked off.

"No, not yet, let's have coffee first," Rose smiled and pulled Dru towards the nearest coffee shop. "And have some cake, we're going to celebrate the fact that you'll be getting your licence today."

"No, I want to get my license and go home." Dru sulked.

"Okay, so we'll get your license first, then have coffee and cake to celebrate and then we'll head home." Rose turned around and walked back to the toilets again.

When they walked into the ministry they ran into Mr. Weasley. "What are you two doing here?"

"Hi Mr. Weasley," Rose smiled to him. "So good to see you again."

"Well, it's always good to see you girls too." He gave both\girls a kiss on their cheeks. "I hope you're not here because my boys are making trouble?"

"No, I have my apparition exam today?" Dru smiled. "I'm 17 now."

"Really, I didn't know that. Well good luck, Dru. If you will excuse me I have to go. I'm in a hurry." He walked to the nearest elevator and winked for Kingsley to come with him. It was hard to look at Dru's sad face.

"Does nobody remember?" Dru muttered.

Rose pretended not to hear it and pulled Dru with her to the exam room.

An hour later Rose and Dru walked out of the ministry with Dru's licence. Passing her exam seem to have cheered Dru up a bit.

"Coffee! Cake! Let's celebrate!" Rose said, skipping around Dru.

"Yeah, let's at least celebrate something." Dru said smiling, but still a little bitter.

"And tomorrow, we'll celebrate your wedding," she giggled.

This made Dru smile. "I can't wait to see Fred's face when he sees the dress."

"You did a great job with it," she giggled. "And I love what you've done to my prom dress too." she hugged Dru. "At least one of us is good with a needle."

Dru smiled. "Can you believe in two days we'll both be a Mrs. Weasley?"

"Scary, isn't it?" Rose ordered coffee for the both of them and a big piece of apple pie before sitting down near a window. Not in front of it, but in the right place so they could keep an eye out, just in case.

"No, it's not scary. I'll finally have a last name not to be ashamed of." Dru giggled.

"Oh, so true!" Rose took a bite of her pie and smiled. "Oh this is so good."

"Yeah, it's not mum's but it's still good."

"Well Mrs Weasley's is better but-"

"I just said that."

Rose looked at her and smiled. "The hardest part to come to terms with is that not only we have these amazing  _husbands_  in two days, but also brothers and sisters, and a mum and dad who are just..."

"Incredible?" Dru finished Rose sentence for her.

"Yes. And it's not like they are now, but then it's for real..."

"I know, I'm even feeling a bit guilty for eloping. She'll be so mad at us."

"We'll just hide behind Fred and George," she nodded.

"Yeah, they're tall enough and very..." Dru blushed as she remembered that morning.

"Ohh, what did he do? Something new?" Rose's eyes sparkled as she took a sip of her coffee.

"He gave me a birthday kiss." Dru smiled

Rose looked confused. "You two kiss a million times a day. Why is that special?"

"Because he didn't kiss these lips." Dru smirked as she pointed at her lips.

"Ohhh," she giggled.

"You should ask George to do that. It's the best thing ever." Dru smiled. "Better than his hand or his wand."

Rose pointed at herself. "Not really that adventurous."

Dru crossed her arms and put them on the table as she leaned forwards a bit. "Look, I know it's scary, but you should give it a try, there's something about knowing you're doing what's making him get off that's ...empowering. Have you ever given him a handjob?"

She shook her head. "I give him a nice massage every week though, paying attention to every limb... except for  _that_."

It's not that difficult." Dru took the coffee cup. "Look, you hold it with your hand like this and just move it up and down. It's no big deal, don't freak out when the skin moves and he'll let you know if you need to move faster or slower. If done it lots on Fred. It's a nice thing to share together."

"I know how to give one, Dru," Rose chuckled. "I just don't like... the thing."

"Get over it." Dru said simply. "Sometimes you need to do that to help him. Besides you might surprise yourself."

"We'll see," she smiled and took another sip of her coffee. "He did say that my hands are magical," she giggled.

"Yeah, Fred says the same thing" Dru smirked. "It's getting late. Let's go home."

They went to the public bathrooms to apparate back home. "Fred's in the office, go surprise him," she giggled.

_crack_

"Hi honey."

"Holy...!" Fred nearly fell off his chair when Dru apparated into the office. "You got your license!"

Dru nodded and smiled. "I wanted to get it as soon as possible."

"I am so proud of you!" he smiled at her and got up to kiss her.

Dru took hold of his shirt and pushed him against the door before kissing him greedily. "This is our last day as an unmarried couple." she giggled, she still couldn't really believe that he was actually marrying her. "No seconds thoughts yet?" she had asked him that question for ten days straight now.

"Hell no," he laughed and kissed her back. "You? No cold feet?"

"Of course not. I'm the lucky one here." She laughed. "I'm marrying you, you get stuck with me." She wanted to bite her tongue, she didn't want to say that last bit out loud.

Fred grinned. "You silly, silly, silly girl," he said and kissed her lips softly. "You truly have no idea what you're doing to me, do you? Besides George, you'd be my top choice to be stuck with for the rest of my life in a small room. I love  _you_ , Dru. By marrying me, with me marrying you, there's no way you'll ever leave me again."

Dru looked down and rested her forehead against his chest "But you could do so much better than me."

"I don't want better, I want you."

"You do now, but what if you meet someone that more right for you?"

"Dru, stop this!" He lifted her chin. "You're more right for me than anybody could ever be. Stop thinking so little of yourself."

Dru smiled at him and put her hands on his wrist. "I still just can't believe that this wonderful guy wants to spend the rest of his life with me."

"Well, you'd better start believing it, because tomorrow you'll be stuck with me forever," he grinned. "For. Ever."

"Promise me that?" She smiled as she softly kissed him again.

"I promise," he smiled and answered her kiss. "Come on, let's go upstairs and get a little bit dolled up for our dinner. It's your birthday after all."

"Dolled up? Does that mean I can put you in a dress?"

"Yes."

Dru laughed as she put her arms around his waist. "I love you Fred Weasley."

"And I love you, almost Mrs. Fred Weasley." he laughed.

She grinned and took Fred's hand and she appreciated them to their bedroom.

"DRUUUU!" Rose's voice sounded. "I need your help! NOW!"

"One second." Dru called back. "Fred, do up my zipper." Dru pulled away her hair and turned her back to Fred.

"NOOO NOW!" Rose's voice sounded. "There's smoke and George is unconscious on the sofa because he slipped over a piece of lettuce and... HELP!" Unfortunately George's chuckle could be heard too.

"What a drama queen." Dru said and waited for Fred to zip up her dress. "Fred, help me so I can save our house from burning down." she said calmly

Fred chuckled and zipped her up. "You look great." He gave her a kiss in her neck.

"We could stay here." She smiled as she turned around and kissed him.

"There's smoke, I think we should go downstairs and at least assess the damage."

"Fine," Dru put on her new black pumps and walked down the stairs. "Where's the fire?"

"Surprise!" Everyone chorused as they walked into the den.

"What?" Dru blushed and looked behind her at Fred, who came the stairs smiling too. "You!"

"Not just me, it's Rose and George too." he laughed.

"Happy Birthday Dru," Rose smiled widely.

"Happy birthday Dru." George put his arm around Rose and was holding his wand ready. "Ready for the decorations, Freddie?"

"Ready, Georgie," Fred said twirling his wand in his fingers.

With a few flick of their wands suddenly the room was full with balloons, streamers and banners that said:

_Happy birthday Dru and Rose_

"Oi!" Rose looked at the boys in shock. "This was not part of the plan!"

"Well actually it was." Mrs Weasley said and gave Rose a kiss and a hug. "Happy 18th birthday Rose."

"Sorry, for this afternoon, Dru, but I had orders. Did you pass your exam?" Mr. Weasley smiled.

"Yeah!" Dru gave him a big hug.

Rose strategically retreated to the kitchen to get the snacks out, and the drinks.

"Happy Birthday, Dru." Tonks smiled and hugged her cousin tightly. "Remus and I brought you this." She handed Dru a small package which contained a beautiful antique hairpin.

"Oh, that's beautiful." Dru gave Tonks another hug and then hugged Lupin as well. "You really shouldn't have."

"It's your birthday, of course we should have. We got you something too, Rose." Lupin handed Rose a package as well.

Rose's attempt to hide in the kitchen wasn't working. Fleur, Hermione and Mrs Weasley had taken over and sent Rose back into the sitting room.

Rose opened the package and soon she was holding an old silver antique bookmarker. "Oh wow, thank you, you shouldn't have!" she smiled at them before giving them a hug.

The girls were showered with gifts. Kingsley had bought them some nice quills and Moody gave them both a book, Dru on mind reading and Rose on seers. Hermione and Ginny got them both a pair of bracelets, Ron had gotten them nice new collars for the cats and Bill and Fleur had gotten them some silver picture frames. "So you can start putting up some family pictures." Bill had said.

Both girls had gotten their own handmade quilt for on their beds from Mr and Mrs Weasley. Both different and adjusted to Rose and George's taste and to Dru and Fred's taste.

"OH!" Rose giggled and handed Dru a black purse. "This is from me and George. Duly enchanted. It's like a bottomless pit in there, seeing you do like to carry around more stuff than I do."

"Thank you." she smiled. "Well, I don't have anything for you."

"You already did, on my birthday." she laughed.

"Right."

"And this is for you." George said and gave Rose a small box. "Happy birthday."

"George..."

"What?" he smiled widely. "You honestly didn't think I was that boring did you? A book? Who gives a book for a birthday? No offense, Moody."

"None taken," the man said. Rose still couldn't hear his voice without thinking about her father.

Rose carefully opened the small box and blinked. It contained a beautiful, elegant necklace with a pretty delicate rose dangling from it. "George, this is beautiful!"

"It reminded me of you." He whispered in her ear.

She softly kissed him. "Thank you."

After the party was full on it's way, Dru finally got a chance to talk to Fred again. "Thank you for the party." she said and gave him a kiss.

"See? Parties are not that bad," he laughed. "Wait until  _you_  turn 18."

"Well as long as you're there, I will love every party." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I love you."

"I love you too," he smiled and managed to put a box in her hand. "I think you should look at that."

Dru removed her arms from his waist and looked at the tiny jewelry box. She opened it and was a pair of beautiful diamond earrings. "Fred." She said in awe. "They're so perfect." She put of hand behind his head, pulled him down and kissed him full on his lips, which caused a stream of oh's and ah's from the room.

"Yes, they're definitely the cuter couple," Tonks nodded.

"You're just biased, Dora. Rose and George are." Remus said

"Who's biased?" she laughed.

"They're twins, if those girls kissed the wrong one, I still couldn't tell." Kingsley said to Moody.

Dru finally broke off the kiss with Fred and put her arms tightly around him again. "Best birthday ever." she said smiling.


	36. Fred and Dru become one

Fred woke up first that morning, Dru was lying next to him, still sleeping and in one of his shirts again. She was lying facing him with one hand under her face and the other near his face. Fred loved it when he was the first one to wake up, it didn't happen that often, because Dru had never been a fast or long sleeper, so those few mornings he would wake up first, he tried to store every second of it in his brain. and this morning was even more special than any other. He was marrying her today.

Dru sighed a little and moved her right hand even a bit closer to his face. He could almost feel it against his skin. He reached for her face and gently caressed her cheek with his finger tips.

Dru opened her eyes and looked into the light brown with a touch of green eyes she loved more than any other eyes in the world. "Hi." she smiled and moved her right hand a little, so she was touching his lips.

"Good morning," he chuckled. "Did you sleep well?"

She nodded. "You?" her fingers were still tracing the contours of his lips.

Fred softly kissed her fingertips. "Brilliantly," he chuckled. He looked up when there was a knock on the door. "What?" he groaned.

"Is it safe to open the door?" Rose's voice sounded.

"Yes..." Fred said hesitating.

The door opened and Rose walked into the bedroom with a tray of breakfast food. "Breakfast in bed for the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," she smiled widely.

George followed Rose in with two mugs of tea. "Sorry, mate. Couldn't stop her."

"Thank you." Dru smiled and move so she could put her head on the side of his chest. She loved Rose for creating a romantic vibe, but she hated her for interrupting her moment with Fred.

"Don't worry, we'll be out of your hair soon, just let me set this down for you," she giggled. "Finger food." she said, placing the tray on the side table. "Enjoy your morning," she smiled and pulled George with her.

Dru pulled Fred's face towards her. "I love you." she softly kissed him.

"I love you," he smiled and returned her kiss, before pulling her towards him, into his arms. "I like this, just lazing about."

Dru giggled and was making circles on his bare chest with her fingertips. "I could stay in bed like this forever."

"Well... I suppose that's possible, I doubt that George will love it though, he'd have to run the store by himself, and with Rose, who has a knack to make things explode."

"I don't care." Dru crawled on top of him. "I want you for myself."

"But you have me all to yourself, in here anyway. Out there you'll have to share me with George... By Merlin, he's my mistress!" he chuckled.

Dru growled. "Okay, Fred, you've really ruined the mood right now." She got of him and laid on her back next to him.

"Really?" he smiled and softly kissed her, moving his hands underneath the shirt she was wearing, caressing her breasts.

"Yep, I'm not in the mood anymore. No pre-wedding sex for you."

"Hmm..." Fred moved so that he was a bit more comfortable and lifted up her shirt so that he could start kissing her torso. "That's okay, I'll entertain myself. Just you lay still."

Dru gasped and with a smile on her face pulled the shirt back down. "No, Fred. No entertaining yourself either." she teased him.

"Fine, in that case, give me shirt back." Fred smiled. "We're not married yet, it's still my property."

Dru bit on her lip, trying not to smile. "Fine." She pulled off the shirt and cover herself with the sheets. "Happy?"

"Oh yes," he smirked and ducked underneath the covers. He playfully bit her leg and then started to kiss his way up her leg, stomach and decided to completely focus on her beautiful breasts.

By the time Fred was kissing her breast, Dru was squirming in the bed. She grabbed his hair and tugged on it to bring his face to hers so she could kiss him.

Fred kissed her tenderly on her lips. "You can't distract me from entertaining myself," he said huskily.

"Entertain me." She kissed him greedily as her hands started to remove his boxers. She then moved her hands so that she could let her fingernails run over his back.

"Hmm..." he groaned and broke off the kiss to get out of his boxers and pulled her panties off as well. "What would you like me to do then? Since I'm going to entertain you now."

Dru rolled them over so she was on top now. She straddled his waist and looked down at him. "I want you inside of me." She ran her fingers over his chest, letting her fingernails dug a little deeper into his skin.

"Yep, that can happen," he nodded feverishly. She looked glorious on top of him, her beautiful breasts were looking at him and tempting him. Fred softly caressed her stomach before moving his hands up to her breasts. "You're so beautiful."

Dru giggled and bent forward to kiss him. "You're the most handsome man I've ever seen in my life." she whispered and let her teeth run down his ear lobe. She then sat up and moved a little so she was right on top of his cock. She wanted him more then ever.

Fred took her hips and lifted them a little so he could enter her, before slowly sinking himself into her. Once he was fully inside of her, she carefully started to move. She looked so hot as she had started to ride him, he thought he had died and gone to heaven.

Dru closed her eyes as her fingers dug into his chest. She could hear him moan, but not in a painful way. He liked it when she was a bit rough with him. Hearing him groan and seeing the satisfied and blissful look on his face, started making her move faster.

They came within seconds of each other, with Dru coming first. After Fred had ride out his orgasm, Dru moved so Fred slide out of her and Dru lay down on top of him. She put her head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat still going fast.

"Oh, that was..." Fred took a deep breath.

"Hot." Dru giggled and tried to hide her face in his chest, which made Fred laugh.

"Merlin, I love it when you're so adorable."

"You can still make me feel like that 15 year old girl, giving her boyfriend a hand job for the first time." Dru smiled as she kissed his chest.

He chuckled. "That was only two years ago."

Dru looked up to him. "It was only a little more than a year ago, honey."

"See? The passing of time is different with you. It feels like a lifetime."

Dru smiled. "Well, starting this afternoon, we're officially going to spend our lives together." she softly kissed his lips.

"I love that." he kissed her. "I love  _you_."

"You're my everything, you're all that matters to me." Dru said, before getting off him and walking to the side table to get the breakfast tray. "Now we need to eat, because I'm kicking you out of this room in fifteen minutes." She put the tray on the bed, got the shirt of the floor and sat down as she put the shirt back on.

"Wait, you're kicking me out?"

"Yes, I need to get ready.' Dru smiled as she took a strawberry and put it in his mouth. "It takes a lot of effort to make me look good."

Half an hour later Fred had taken a shower in George's bedroom and was putting on his suit. He looked around his stuff that Dru had put in George's room, and suddenly panicked. "Where are they?" he muttered, while frantically looking through the stuff.

"You alright, Freddie?" George said, looking at his brother from the doorway.

"No, I can't find them."

"Find what?" he laughed.

"The cufflinks Dru got me last Christmas." Fred said as he ran his hand through his hair. "And stop laughing."

"What? I'm just entertaining myself with the idea that by tomorrow, you'll be an old married man."

"Yeah, and I'll be laughing at watching you get nervous, mate." Fred grinned.

"I don't get nervous," George shrugged.

"You nearly started crying when you proposed, mate. You're the nervous wreck of us. Now could you please ask Dru if they're still in the room?"

George pointed his wand just somewhere. "Accio Cufflinks." A box shot up from underneath the messy pile of Fred's clothes, missing hitting Fred in the head by just an inch and right into George's hand. "Let me help you, Mr. Nervous Wreck."

Fred took a deep breath and held out his arms while George put the cufflinks on. "You don't think she'll back out at the last minute, do you?"

"She's in love with you, Forge. She won't back out."

"Thanks, Gred." Fred smiled and took another deep breath. "I just still can't even believe she said yes. By Merlin, I still don't get she kissed me back on the stairs on new years eve."

"Breathe, mate," George laughed. "The second hottest girl on Hogwarts is going to marry you, and she's so devoted to you, she will not back out."

"The hottest, mate. Sorry, but that's common knowledge. Dru's the hottest of the two."

"The more approachable one of the two," George nodded. "I mean, with Rose, especially in the beginning, I thought she'd blast my head off my shoulders."

Fred smiled. "You know I never really got it, seeing you nervous and out of your comfort zone with Rose in the beginning, but Dru just...I never felt as nervous as walking up those stairs to kiss her."

George started to straighten Fred's tie. "I could walk back out and leave you to your own devices if you like," he chuckled.

"No!" Fred grabbed George's wrist.

"Relax," he laughed. "Mate, do you honestly think I'll leave my younger brother alone on a day like this?"

"Only by a few minutes! Oh, wow, for the first time I'm doing something profound and important first."

"Yes you are." George said proudly as he handed Fred's his waist coat. "But it's as it should be. Maybe you'll be the frontrunner from now on"

"I always am, you always follow my lead. You're just a mean copy cat," Fred smirked.

"Not the important stuff." George helped Fred in his jacket and straighten it.

"No, not the important stuff. Ugh, what if she backs out at the last minute?"

"We've already discussed that, mate."

"Yeah but... what if? I mean... things can change, I mean, women have scary minds. You just have to snap your fingers and their minds are changed!"

"If she changes her mind, I'll use the imperius curse." George chuckled. "Stop worrying. She's getting in her wedding dress in the next room as we speak. She won't back out, Fred." He put an arm around his brother. "You two belong together."

"Mum's going to kill us."

"Yes, she will." George let his brother go and stood in front of him again, "Well, turn around." he was making spinning movements with his index finger.

Fred turned around. "Well?"

"Oh Merlin." George gasped in horror.

"What?" he said panicked, looking at his clothes. "What?"

"I just realised...Oh Merlin."

"George, What?" Fred was close to losing it right now.

"You're getting married!" George exclaimed with a wide grin on his face.

"George!" Fred hit his brother on the arm. "For a moment there I thought something was wrong!"

"No, you're fine." George chuckled and looked at Fred's suit again. "Your clothes... are perfect, wish I could do something about that ugly mug on top of those shoulders though."

"Oi, my mug is yours too!"

George smiled as he took the ring box out of his night stand. and put it in his waistcoat. He thought for a second, took the ring box out of his pocket again and opened it. "Nope, these are yours." He then put the box in his pocket again. "Well, now all we have to is wait for your bride to get ready."

Dru had finished her hair, she had decided to let it hang loose and just pulled a few strands of hair out of her face and held them together with the hairpin Tonks and Lupin had gotten her for her birthday. She was wearing the earrings Fred had given her and was putting her makeup on.

"You look so pretty," Rose smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Nervous." Dru smiled and put her make up away. "That dress looks pretty on you."

She curtsied. "I have this personal shopper who knows what looks good on me."

Dru giggled. "I'm glad I've got you here with me today." Dru was wearing a robe over her underwear and looked in one of her drawers for her garter. "What do you think, Rose? White or Pink?"

"Pink," she smiled. "To match your shoes. Unless the dress is a bit see-through, then you need to use the white one."

"No, it's not see-through." Dru put on the pink garter and stood up. "Alright, now the dress."

Rose helped Dru to get into her dress and carefully buttoned her up. She made sure that there weren't any folds in the dress and tugged on the dress to make sure that it was sitting perfectly. "How does it feel?"

"Strange." Dru bit her lip and looked at herself in the mirror. "I'm getting married, Rose."

"Yes," Rose smiled widely. "You are."

"I can't believe it." She smiled. "I marrying Fred Weasley." She was almost hopping around.

"I know!" she giggled. "You are marrying Fred Weasley today!"

Dru looked at herself in the mirror. "Let's hope he doesn't get cold feet." She smiled.

"I think he's more scared that you're getting cold feet," Rose chuckled.

"Never, I love him so much." Dru grinned and got her lipstick and mirror and handed it to Rose, Could you keep that in your bag?"

"Of course," she put it in her bag, before pulling out another pink garter out of her bag. "I actually have something for you." She held up an identical garter, but this one had a loop for Dru's wand, without it having to fall out or slip out of it. "It's too dangerous not to leave home without it, despite the three of us having one on us."

"Rose, you're brilliant." She removed the garter she was wearing and put on the one Rose handed her.

"And I actually sewed that loop on there myself." she chuckled.

"Good girl." Dru put her wand in the garter. "Were you smart enough to make one for yourself too?"

"Hmm...no." Rose said after a moment of silence. "I forgot, I can't wear pants tomorrow. I'll make one tonight," she nodded. She tapped the side of her dress, she had put a little small pocket in the same color on the dress' hem and her wand almost looked invisible in it. It was easy to do this on the bridesmaid's dress, but her prom-wedding dress was as unforgiving as Dru's dress was with the extra bits and pieces.

Dru laughed took her brides bouquet, Rose had gotten her one with red and pink flower to match her shoes. "Well?" Dru asked as she took one more spin.

"You're perfect," Rose smiled. "I wish I would look half as good tomorrow."

"You look even better in George's eyes. That's what counts, doesn't it?" Dru gave Rose a kiss on her cheek and was now feeling nervous as she looked at the door of the bedroom. She had heard the boys go downstairs a while ago. She hoped Fred was going to like the dress. "He will like it, won't he?"

"Oh he will want to rip that dress right off of you and go for another round of pre-marriage sex."

Dru blushed. "Sorry! We all need to work on remembering the silencing charm." Dru chuckled.

Rose giggled. "It's okay, George and I went downstairs and made some DADA items for the store."

Dru smiled and looked at the door again. "Let's go." she said, more to herself than to Rose, trying to find the courage.

"Remember, one foot in front of the other," Rose smiled as she opened the door. "Just follow my lead." She started to walk down the stairs. "We're coming!"

George turned around and smiled. "Wow, Rosie, you look beautiful." George pulled Rose close to him and laughed as he watched a very nervous Fred pace the sitting room.

Rose blushed and laughed. "Fred, relax, she'll come down soon."

"I hope so!"

The clicking of heels on the wooden steps of the stairs made Fred realise that Dru was coming down.

Dru had butterflies in her stomach. Good Butterflies, the kind she had when Fred walked up the stairs on new years eve, the night they first kissed.

"George," Fred said, swallowing hard.

"I'll keep you upright," George laughed. "You look amazing, Dru."

"No, she looks perfect!" Fred exclaimed and decided to greet her halfway the stairs.

"Hi." Dru bit her lip as she smiled at him, feeling so nervous.

"You look so beautiful," he smiled at her. "Are you ready?"

Dru nodded and took two more steps down, so that they were only a step away from each other and looking straight into his eyes. "You look very handsome."

"Give me the camera," George whispered in Rose's ear and she pulled out the camera out of her bag and handed it to George, who immediately took a picture of his brother and his bride.

"So, you still want to marry me?" Dru teased Fred, seeing him so nervous, made her feel a bit better; he wouldn't be nervous if he was going to call it off.

"More than ever," he nodded.

Dru gave Fred a soft kiss on his lips, but blinked as George had immediately took a picture. "George." She laughed.

"Fred, put you hands on her hips and give her a kiss." George ordered. "We need to show mum that we did make pictures and that you were all dressed up if she complains when you two get married without her present."

Dru giggled, threw her bouquet at Rose and put her hands on Fred's shoulder. "Don't worry, honey, we'll get back at them tomorrow."

"Sweetie, I think we'll be staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight," Rose laughed.

Fred put his hand on Dru's hips and kissed her long enough for George to take a few pictures. "Let's go and get married."

"Yay!" Dru smiled and near bounced off the stairs out of enthusiasm, making Fred laugh.

"Careful," Rose laughed. "Don't want you to trip."

"I'm not you, Rosie. I can walk in heels." Dru smiled as took Fred's hand.

George handed the camera back to Rose, who put it back in her bag. The four of them apparated to a quiet alley before walking to the bathrooms that would take them into the Ministry.

In the entrance hall of the ministry Fred took Dru's hand as they walked towards the registry.

George put his arm around Rose. "Tomorrow that will us." he whispered in her ear.

"I know," she said softly and smiled, but kept looking around. "What if we get caught?"

"We won't, don't jinx it!" he laughed.

They entered a empty lift, but just as the lift doors were closing, Mad Eye Moody entered the lift. His magical eye first looked at Rose, who was standing at the front with George, then he looked at George, Fred and then at Dru, who was trying to hide behind Fred, but it was kinda hard with her petticoat dress.

"What is this then?" Moody asked Fred.

"A secret mission." Fred deadpanned.

"Really, in a wedding dress?"

"Yes, don't tell our parents, please."

Moody shrugged. "You're all of age, I don't see why I should be bothered by what you lot are up to."

"Thank you, but please don't tell their parents you saw us, ít's a surprise." Dru said, still holding on to Fred's arm. Moody always scared her a bit.

The lift stopped and Moody got out with a big smile on his face. "Congratulations you two."

"Thanks Mad-eye." Fred nodded.

"Thank you, sir." Dru smiled.

When the lift started to move again, Fred took a deep breath. "I thought we were caught."

"You jinxed it!" George said to Rose.

"I didn't!"

"Yes you did!" The other three chorused.

"Alright, fine, I'll take the blame," she shrugged. "Be glad it was him, and not Tonks or Lupin or your father."

"Shut it." George and Fred looked at each other. "Dad!" they both said. Neither one had thought about the fact that he worked at the ministry too.

The lift stopped again, and Rose knew that they were nowhere near the registrar's office yet. When the lift opened, Percy was standing in front of them and looked at his brothers in shock.

"What are you doing here?" the three brothers all said at the same time as Percy got into the lift.

"I work here." Percy said and suddenly his eyes caught Dru, who was standing behind Fred now. "Druella Malfoy?" He said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business, Percy," Fred bit at him.

"Why are you taking her to her wedding? She's what 16? And Longbottom is only 16 too, isn't he? They're too young to get married."

"Shut up, Percy." Fred said again.

Dru step out from behind Fred and took his hand. "I turned 17 yesterday, Percy, and I'm not marrying Neville."

"Then who are you getting married to?" he asked.

"Me." Fred looked at his older brother, he still hated him for turning his back on the family.

Dru was gently caressing Fred's arm, trying to calm him down, as she could feel him getting more angry by the second.

"You're marrying Dru?" Percy asked shocked, but then smiled. "Wow...well...congratulations."

"Thank you, Percy." Dru said with a smile.

The lift stopped again and Percy got out. "Well...yeah...hm" He turned around.

"Wait, Percy, you can always come back. Your family still loves you." Dru said.

Percy looked at the angry faces of his brothers. "I want to, but don't think they do,"

The lift started moving again. "Are you okay?" Dru asked Fred as she was still caressing his arm.

"Stupid git," Fred muttered. "How dare he ruin this otherwise perfect day."

"He didn't." Dru cupped his chin and made Fred look at her. "He congratulated you."

"Did he just say he wanted to come back?" George asked surprised.

"He will," Rose smiled widely. "When it matters, he will."

The lift stopped and the four got out. Dru was walking with a bounce in her step again, trying to cheer Fred up. "We're getting married, we're getting married, we're getting married." she sang quietly to him.

Rose waved her wand around and flower petals started to rain down on Dru and Fred, followed them as they walked. "Oh pretty," she sighed happily.

"Come on, Fred. smile for me again." Dru pouted at him.

"She's wearing a ton of makeup Fred, you would not want her face to freeze up with her wearing that pout." Rose warned him.

George laughed. "You'd better listen to them."

Fred took a deep breath, as if to get rid of the angry feeling and smiled at Dru. "We're getting married!"

"Yes we are." Dru giggled, she gave him a kiss.

"That's for after the ceremony." The ministry official spoke kindly as she opened the door for them.

Dru giggled and took Fred's hand again. "We're getting married." she whispered again as they walked to the front of the office.

"Well, you two stand over here" The man put Rose next to Dru and then turned around to the boys. "Right... which one of you is the groom again?"

"The guy in the sharpest suit, mate," George laughed and took a step back.

"Okay, you stand over here and you then stand next to him." The man said before standing between Dru and Fred.

"Well, you're ….." he looked at his papers and then back at the couple. "Fred Weasley and Druella Lucretia Lestrange, is that correct?"

"Yes, we are." Dru smiled at Fred as she handed Rose her flowers.

"Miss LeStrange, if you'd take your partner's right hand with your left, we can start the ceremony." the official then cast a circle on the floor, and once they had done what he had told, he started to wrap a red piece of silk cloth over their hands and wrists, binding them together.

"As you have opted for the fast, semi-traditional way, with your own vows, now is the time to say them. Mr. Weasley, how about you go first?"

Fred turned to face Dru and smiled at her, before taking a deep breath.

"I, Fred Weasley, take you Druella Lucretia LeStrange to be my beautiful wife, my partner in life and crime and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you with every fiber in my body, respect you, I will laugh with you and share tears with you, I will be the calm in your storm and I will always remain faithful to you through good times and the bad ones. I will protect you. Nobody touches my little firecracker, and if they do, they won't know what hit them. I love the way you make me feel whenever you look at me, you know what makes me tick. I will always be at your side, through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, my entire being and my love, from this day until one of us stops ticking."

The official had to smile, he knew that Arthur's sons were a handful and often getting into trouble, but he had to admit, this was one of the best vows he had heard that day. "Miss Lestrange? It's your turn."

Dru bit her lip for a second, while smiling, and looked into Fred's eyes.

"I, Druella Lucretia Lestrange , take you Fred Weasley to be my handsome husband, my partner in life and crime and my one true love. I will promise to love you each day and every day for the rest of my life. You're my stronghold, my love and my friend and the only one who can keep me calm. Not a day goes by that I don't want to be with you and if I'm not, I long for you every second, of every minute, of every hour of every day. You make me laugh every day and just being around you makes me feel safe. The night you first kissed me on the stairs at midnight, I knew my heart belonged to you and I would never love anybody the way I love you. And this is the beginning of our life together, and hopefully of our family together. And no matter what happens as long as I have you with me, I'll know I'll make it through. I can't wait to be your wife, your honey and your firecracker for the rest of our life."

George smiled at Rose, while she took a few pictures.

The official looked at George and Rose. "As you are here to witness this union, do you support this marriage?"

"I do," Rose smiled widely.

"I do," George nodded.

The official undid the silk cloth and neatly folded it. "I always like to give out some advice to newly wed couples before we make things really official." he spoke. "Marriage is not always shared equally, it's not always 50/50. There are days where you will have to give 99 percent as the other can only muster 1. Other days you'll wake up and find yourself unable to give more than 30 percent, so the other must bring the balance and give himself or herself for 70 percent."

Dru smiled at Fred and took hold of both his hands. "I love you." she mouthed to him.

Fred winked at her with a big grin on his face

"Do you have the rings?" The official asked Fred.

"Georgie." Fred looked at his brother

"Freddie?" George looked puzzled at his brother.

"The rings, Georgie!" Fred rolled his eyes at his brother and held out his hand.

"Oh! Right!" George grinned and placed the rings into Fred's hand.

"Fred, do you take Druella as your wife?" The official asked.

"I do," he chuckled as he put the ring around Dru's finger.

"Druella, do you take Fred as your husband?"

"I do, with all my heart." She smiled and put the ring on his finger.

The official made the circle around the two disappear, and a broom was laying on the ground now. "Now, hop over the broom."

"What?' Dru asked, looking at Fred. "Is this on of your jokes?"

Rose giggled, and tried not to laugh.

"No," Fred laughed.

The official smiled. "Jumping over the broomstick together symbolizes the effort to make a committed relationship work, by working together."

"Rosie, we so are not doing that tomorrow." George snorted.

"Shut up, George." Dru laughed.

"No, it's one of my jokes," Fred grinned. "I just wanted to see the look on your face."

"You..." Dru shook her head laughing.

The official removed the broomstick with a big smile on his face. "I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss each other."

Fred kissed her, then put his arms around Dru, pulled her as close as he could and lifted her off her feet.

Dru put her arms around his neck and giggled as she felt the floor underneath her feet disappear while she kissed him back.

George had taken the camera of Rose and made two pictures and put his arm around Rose, who was in tears watching her two friends.

"Congratulations," the man smiled. "Now all I need is your signatures on this piece of paper and then you can leave this office as a truly married couple."

Dru and Fred signed first and then George and Rose signed too. George then hugged Dru very tight. "Now you really are my sister."

"Oh, god, can I take it back?" Dru smiled.

Rose hugged Fred. "See? Nothing went wrong."

Fred didn't say one word and just hugged Rose.

Rose then gave Dru a big hug and they watched as the brothers hugged each other too. "Congratulations, Dru," she smiled widely.

"I'm married." Fred whispered to George.

"I know mate," George whispered back. "Scary, isn't it?"

"No, it's not." Fred smiled as he looked at Dru over George's shoulder and winked at her, making her giggle.

"Well, your turn tomorrow." Dru said to Rose as the four of them walked out of the office.

"That's tomorrow!" Rose said and laughed as she pulled George with her to the lift. "I'm not going to think about it yet, because that will jinx everything and my dress will fall apart or I will break my neck walking in those heels..."

"Ohhh... a naked bride, that's my favourite kind." George smiled.

Dru and Fred got into the lift as well and Dru wrapped her arms around Fred's waist. "Hello handsome husband." she smiled as she looked up at him.

"Hello my beautiful wife," he smiled at her and softly kissed her lips. "How are you feeling? Happy?"

"Happier than I've ever been. You?"

"Very happy, can't wait to get home and celebrate."

Dru softly kissed him, making the other people in the lift laugh. Dru broke off the kiss and hid her face in his shirt as she giggled.

"Adorable," Fred grinned.

Rose and George walked out of the lift first and walked towards the fire place a bit in front of Fred and Dru. "So, now the surprise dinner, right?" George asked Rose.

"Yeah, I have made reservations at a fancy Muggle restaurant just outside London, away from prying eyes, we just have to stop them from apparating before we do so we can actually grab them."

"Oi! Don't go home yet! Rosie needs to pick something up for tomorrow before we go home." George called at Fred, just before George and Rose stepped into the fireplace.

Mr. Weasley looked around as he heard the name 'Rosie' and saw a young man with red hair with a young girl in a white wedding dress from behind walking towards the fireplace he had just heard the name being called out. "Is that George and Rose?" He said to Tonks and Lupin who were standing beside him. "No, It can't be." Mr Weasley shook his head and walked away. His son would never marry without his mother present.

Lupin and Tonks looked at the young newlyweds as they stepped into the fireplace. Then for a split second The young man face his bride before kissing her. In that second Lupin and Tonks thought they saw a glimpse of George's face

"They didn't..." Tonks looked at Lupin in shock.

"Nah," he shook his head.

"Well, what do you need to get?" Dru asked Rose as the four as them were walking away from the public bathroom. "I thought you had everything!"

"I do," Rose smiled. "Everyone hold on to me please." She pulled them into a empty backalley.

_crack_

"What?" Dru looked around her. "Where are we?"

"Dinner," Rose grinned and put her arm around George. "Away from the bigger part of the wizarding community, and relatively safe too."

"Brilliant." Fred smiled.

"You guys, that's so sweet!" Dru gave Rose another hug, before looping her arm in Fred's and following Rose and George to the restaurant.

"Good afternoon," A waiter greeted them.

"Hi," Rose smiled. "I made reservations for Shepherd, table for four?" She eyed Fred, Dru and George as they snickered.

"Oh yes! Right this way!" the waiter smiled widely and lead them to a part of the restaurant that was a bit secluded and shielded from the rest of the restaurant. "Would you like to have some wine? Beer?"

"Champagne." Rose smiled.

Dru was sitting next to Fred and put her hand on his leg, just above his knee and squeezed it gently.

Fred looked at Dru and smiled as he put his hand on hers.

The waiter had disappeared and George was looking at Rose. "Shepherd?"

"Well, that's my name, isn't it? Besides, it's such a common name that it wouldn't raise any eyebrows if people would read it. Could have used your last name but it wouldn't have been safe."

"Fine." George smiled.

"Just keeping us safe," she shrugged.

George grinned at his brother. "If you don't sound proof your bedroom tonight, we will come in and make you mutes for the rest of your mating ritual."

"Well, at least I don't cry out 'oh Rose, oh Merlin, oh my Wonder Witch' all night." Fred said

Rose just stared at the two brothers in shock. "For the love of god, George. I allow you to do the spells for one night and you  _forget_?"

"Rose, dear. You forget them almost every night." Dru smiled as she shared a look with Fred.

"See, told you." George said simply to Rose.

"Forget I said anything," Rose said blushing and wished that the waiter would hurry up with the champagne so they could toast and she could drown her nervousness for the upcoming day.

Dru looked at Fred as was making little circles with her finger in his hand that he had just held.

When the waiter had dropped off a bottle of champagne and poured them glasses, he disappeared again to get them a menu.

"I'd like to make a toast," George smirked as he looked at his brother and his new sister-in-law.

Dru, Fred and Rose all took their glass and looked at George.

"I suck at speeches," George nodded. "Made Rose cry with one, so I'll just say something short. Dru, whenever you're worried that Fred's not coming home or if he's with another woman... I can already tell you that I am that other woman. Fred, if I tell you to go to your wife because she suspects that we're up to no good, you should go and suck up to her because she'll probably be right."

"Oh god..." Rose muttered and covered her face with her hand.

"I'm always right." Dru smiled at Fred. "Just remember that."

"But in all fairness, as an original Weasley, I'd like to formally welcome you into the Weasley fold. May Mum terrify you as much as she terrifies us, may her hugs feel as good as we think they do. May Dad bore you with muggle stuff that isn't actually that boring... sometimes. May Bill not eat you alive. May Charlie... no wait, you and Charlie will get along just fine, dragons and all. May Perce... uhh... be Percy and come back and love you as much as Fred does... no that's weird. May Ron be the annoying little brother you love to terrorize just as much Fred and I love to terrorize him and finally, may Ginny be the little sister you always wanted to have. Careful though, she bites. Oh and as for me, I promise you that should anything happen, anything at all, and Fred's not available, I will always have your back."

"Thank you, George, that was very kind and very disturbing." Dru smiled.

"And Freddie?"

"Yes Georgie?"

"If you ever want to swap wives for the night..."

"Oh, interesting!" Fred smirked.

Rose hit George on his arm and glared at him. "Can't you ever behave?"

Dru smacked Fred on his head and crossed her arms before. "Well, actually, seeing as we can't tell which one of you is which, it might not be such a crazy idea."

Fred looked at Dru in shock. "You do know he was joking, right?"

"Yes, of course he was." Dru looked at George. "Weren't you, Fred?"

"Yes, Rose." George nodded with a smile. "I swear, I'm going to be the best brother-in-law ever."

Dru smiled and put her glass down as the waiter had come back to hand them all a menu.

After an hour they were all enjoying their meal, when Dru asked. "Fred, we haven't talked about when we're going to tell your parents that we've married."

"After Bill and Fleur's wedding?" Fred shrugged. "Don't want to take the spotlight away from him now, do we?"

"No." Dru smiled, "So we tell them at the end of the party?"

"Yes," Fred smiled. "If that's okay with you."

"Yes, what about you two?" Dru asked Rose and George.

"We tell them after the party and then run like hell." George smirked as he took a bite of his fish.

"Mum will chase us," Fred chuckled. "And throttle us."

"Yeah and not just your mother." Dru smiled and looked at Rose, who was very quiet. "Are you okay, Rose?"

Rose looked up and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine, sorry, must have zoned out a little." She took a piece of garlic bread and nibbled on it.

"Getting cold feet?" Fred grinned.

"No," she chuckled. "Never!"

"It's not too late to back out, you know."

"Please don't put any idea's in her head, Fred." George kicked his brother's shins.

"Oh, don't worry, George," she smiled widely and softly kissed him. "You're stuck with me, whether we get married or not."

"Good." George smiled and gave her a kiss back. "That's the way I want it."

"And I thought we were the newly weds?" Dru whispered in Fred's ear as she looked at Rose and George kiss.

Fred laughed and kissed her. "We are," he whispered back. "Let's keep eating so we can get out of here," he grinned.

Dru smiled and gave him another kiss. "Impatient, are we?"

"You have no idea," he chuckled and stuffed a fry in his mouth.

"Well, you're out of luck!" She grinned and took a sip of her champagne. "I don't think I want to get out of this dress."

"You don't have to, the perfect thing about dresses is that they don't have to be taken off to have a lot of fun," He replied.

Dru nearly choked on her champagne and started coughing. "You're unbelievable!" She coughed.

"Nah, I'm creative," he laughed and gently rubbed her back. "Do remember to swallow."

Dru shook her head and slowly took a sip of champagne. "Don't make me choke then."

The band that was playing live music began a slow song that made a lot of couples starting to dance.

"Wanna dance, Rose?" George had already gotten up and didn't wait for an answer as he took Rose's hand and wanted to pull her with him to the dancefloor.

"Nooo, wait," Rose laughed. "Dru and Fred should dance, first. This is their night."

George growled. "Well hurry up, Freddie. I want to dance with my fiance."

Fred glared at Rose before getting up and held out his hand to Dru. "Can I have this dance, Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes." Dru got up from her chair and took Fred's hand.

He escorted her to the dance floor and pulled her close before he started to move. "Have I told you today that you look absolutely stunning?"

"Yes," she smiled up to him. "But I don't mind hearing it again."

"Well, you look absolutely stunning."

Dru smiled again and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "You've made me very happy today."

"Me? You?" Fred laughed. "It's the other way around."

"We made each other happy then."

He softly kissed her lips and then chuckled. "The look on Rose's face reminds me of the proud look Mum usually gets when one of her kids has achieved something really good or done something extremely well."

"It reminded me, of the way she looked when George proposed to Rose." Dru put both her arms around his neck. "I can't believe we're actually married."

George was standing behind Rose and put his arms around her waist and they both watched Fred and Dru dance. "Can I finally dance with you?"

She chuckled as she leaned into him. "I like watching them, just look, they're in their own little, perfect bubble, looking so happy."

"I'm not going to marry a creeper, am I?"

"No," she laughed as she looked up to him. "Alright, dance with me then."

George's eyes sparkled as he pulled her on the dancefloor, took her hand in his and put his other on her back, pulling her close against him. they were dancing for a few minutes, before George realized something. "Do you know this is the first time we danced since the ball?"

"Wow," she said after a moment of thought. "You're right."

"Maybe we should make each other a deal. Whatever happens. Once a week, we dance to at least one song." George chuckled.

"Oh but I'm a horrible dancer," she laughed.

"Well, you're not that bad," He said, before pulling a face, because Rose had stood on his foot yet again. "We could put you on dancing lessons."

"I could use some lessons in balance and coordination," she grinned before she stepped on his foot again. "Oops, you're distracting me! It's hard enough to walk in these heels, I'm now having to concentrate on dancing too."

"You're adorable," George snorted and softly kissed her. "You're a light weight, it's not that bad."

"Uhuh," she chuckled and shook her head.

"I have an idea." George lifted her up so her feet were dangling a little above the floor. "Just let me lead." He chuckled.

"Ah!"

The two couples danced for a few more songs, before returning to their table, for their dessert.

Dru had ordered ice cream, but she was already full. So she decided she was going to feed her ice cream to Fred. "Want my Ice cream?" She asked as her hold her spoon before his mouth.

"Only if you take some of mine," he grinned and held up his spoon.

Rose downed her glass of water in one go. "Uhh... you want some more sugar with that sweetness?"

"Just wait, tomorrow you'll be just as bad." Dru said, without taking her eyes of Fred as she gave him another bite of her dessert.

"If you do, Rose, I'll file for divorce the next day." George said. "I'm not feeding you my dessert."

"No George, I know that nobody without a death wish touches your dessert. Or your food for that matter." Rose responded with a giggle and polished off her glass of champagne too. She hadn't ordered dessert. She felt like she was exploding already, and she had already had a couple of glasses of champagne inside of her and she just had to stop.

"I don't mind you taking a bite or two from my dessert, but they've got the same ice cream, for Merlin's sake. Why don't they just eat their own?" George offered Rose his spoon.

"It tastes better from her spoon," Fred nodded.

Dru giggled and was now feeding Fred his own ice cream, but still with her spoon.

George looked at Rose. "Are they serious? They're worse than Bill and Fleur."

Not long after everyone was done eating and drinking, Rose paid for the food and hospitality and they went home. Dru and Fred disappeared into their bedroom almost immediately, and Rose started to clean up the mess in the kitchen and some of the random clothing items that were scattered around in the apartment. She had noticed that a few things had moved, or maybe she was just imagining things.

"Rose, are you okay?" George asked as he saw Rose looking around the apartment.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I think that the champagne is messing with my head a little, that's all."

George put his arms around Rose. "Well, maybe that champagne will make you sleep better tonight. You've have been tossing and turning all night last night and the night before that."

"You know you can just kick me out of the bed when you're unable to sleep," she chuckled and looked at him.

"Never, you're my teddybear."

"I keep dreaming about people being killed. Wizards and muggles. Even today at the restaurant I received a flash of our waiter's future. I urged him to leave the country, had to use a little magic to nudge him."

George looked very serious as he caressed a lock of hair out of her face. "Rose, you can't save everyone. I understand you want to try, but you need to close yourself off a bit. You're driving yourself mad with this."

"I do, George. I ignore it for the most part, but you know, that waiter had a family. A wife and a bunch of kids. Muggles shouldn't be the victims in this war. So I did what I could, for him." she shrugged and then softly kissed him. "To save everyone is impossible, but at least I know that I saved one family."

George kissed Rose. "I just don't want your mind to be too fragile, I'm scared You know Who isn't done with trying to get you on his side."

"Don't worry, I have given him plenty of misdirection last year."

"Well, try and get some sleep tonight." George yawned. "You'll need your energy tomorrow."

She chuckled and caressed his cheek. "If you pull something like Fred has done with that broomstick, you're dead."

"I thought you loved me?"

"I do, but I know many ways to make you suffer," she smirked and kissed him after she jumped in his arms. "Take me upstairs."

"Yes Milady."

_Crack_

Dru was lying next to Fred, when she heard Rose suddenly laugh as George had apparated them into their bedroom. "Oh please let them remember the spell tonight." she muttered.

Fred chuckled and crawled underneath the blankets, starting to massage Dru's feet. "I don't think they'll do anything, George looked really tired."

Dru giggled. "Fred, stop that. that tickles." she pulled her feet away from Fred. "I think they both had a bit too much champagne, trying to wash away their nerves."

"Yes, that too," he chuckled and started to caress her left leg with his finger tips.

"Fred?"

"Yes?" he chuckled as he planted a kiss on her knee.

"We're married." Dru squealed as she moved so she was next to Fred again. "I'm your wife." she gently kissed him.

"And your husband was just trying to give his wife a full body work up," he laughed and kissed her back, caressing her bottom and then pulled her closer to him.

"You really are insatiable. aren't you?" Dru kissed Fred's loved just lying in the bed together, messing around after they had sex. It had something sweet and innocent about it.

"I love making you feel good, and I wasn't going to use anything but my mouth and hands this time."

"I love you." Dru softly kissed him. "I love my new handsome husband." She nestled herself against him.

"Shiny and new, right out of the store," he laughed and started to draw circles on her back with his finger tips.

"I prefer, old, beat up and housebroken." Dru chuckled as she was gently caressing the back of Fred's hand and his wrist.

"House broken?" Fred chuckled. "Alright, no more naughty Fred, I'm housebroken."

"No." Dru pouted. "I love naughty Fred."

He grinned and pushed her onto her back. The duvet was still covering the both of them, and they were still upside down in the bed. "How naughty?"

"Very naughty." Dru giggled.

"Ohh," he hummed and planted a kiss on her breast before teasingly biting her nipple.

She shrieked and laughed.

"Oi, Fred! Silencing charm!" George called out from the other room.


	37. Cold Feet

George had been awake for about half an hour. Rose was lying with her back facing him and her hands on his arms that he had wrapped tightly around her. He knew she was still half asleep and he tried to keep his breathing soft, not to wake her up too soon. He had buried his nose in her hair, just loving her smell in his nostrils.

"Morning," she said sleepily as she pulled him closer to her.

"Good morning, my beautiful bride." George kissed her neck just below her earlobe.

"Hmm," she hummed and smiled. "Can't it be yesterday so Dru and Fred can get married again?"

George frowned. "Don't you want to get married to me?"

"Of course I do," she smiled and turned around in his arms to face him. "I can't wait until I get married to you, but if today had been yesterday, then at least I still had a day to look forward to today."

George laughed. "And they call me cheesy?" He gently pushed her on her back and started kissing her neck.

"Call me mistress Cheese from now on." she nodded.

"No, Mrs Cheese." George chuckled and slipped his hand under her nightgown to caress her inner thigh.

She giggled as she kissed him. "Mr. and Mrs. Cheese, I like it."

"Hmmm." George kissed her deeply. "I love you, Mrs Cheese." he let his hand gently rub her heat through her panties.

"Oh..." She gasped. "Good morning," she then chuckled.

"You like waking up like this?" He asked as he used his other hand to push her nightgown further up.

Rose grinned and (with help from the element of surprise) rolled the both of them over so that she was sitting on top of him, smiling down victoriously.

"Rosie?" George was a bit surprised by her, she was never  _this_  forward.

She moved her face closer to his and softly kissed his lips. "What would you like me to do, George Weasley?" she whispered in his ear.

"Rose, don't tease me." George warned huskily. "I mean, you know what I want."

She softly kissed along the vein in his neck, down to his collarbone and across his chest, taking her time. "Oh I know..." she said softly as she looked up to him with a big smile on her face.

"Rose, are you trying to kill me?" George groaned with his eyes closed.

"On our wedding day?" she shook her head. "Nah." She did feel  _empowered_  some how, but she felt like doing this, for him. She pulled his underwear off of him (which was the best thing ever, with him not living at his parents' house or at Hogwarts, he liked to sleep in next to nothing) and ran her finger up his leg as she moved back up again. His cock was proudly presenting itself to her (she still thought it looked hideous, but for something that had given her so much pleasure lately, she could look past all that).

"Rose." George moaned. She was teasing him by letting her finger tips slip up and down his shaft. "You're killing me here." he smiled.

She took him into her hand and started to move her hand up and down, occasionally giving it a firm, but gently tug which made him respond to her so beautifully. Seeing how George responded to her touch was a huge turn on for her, she found out. She slipped her free hand inside her own underwear and started to touch herself. The look on George's face was priceless.

"Who are you and what have you done with my Rosie?"

"You like this?" she smiled at him. "Me touching you? And touching myself?"

"Yeah...this is...so...hot." He groaned.

"I agree," she said huskily, as she kept her eyes trained on him and worked the both of them. She was soaking wet, and his cock had started to leak too. "What do you want?" she asked him. "Want to be inside of me?"

George smiled, "No, finish me off and then I've got a surprise for you."

Rose let her thumb rub the head of his cock, and liked the response she was getting, she could see he was fighting himself to allow her do what she wanted. She moaned as she rubbed her clit from time to time. "You're so hot, George," she sighed happily as it didn't take long for him to come all over her hand, his body shuddering as he did.

"You're amazing, Rosie." George said as he caught his breath. He sat up and kissed her. "Are you ready for your surprise?" He said as he gently removed her hand out of her panties and pushed her on her back.

She was slightly frustrated with him for getting her hand out of her underwear. She had been pretty close to finishing herself off too and now he was going to do what? "George..." she sighed as she felt how he was removing her wet panties from her. "I was having fun."

He grinned and kissed her. "I'm going to have fun with you." He started kissing her neck, down to her collarbone, her breast and then her stomach. He could tell she getting a bit impatient. "hmmm," he chuckled as he kissed her belly button. "Want me to kiss somewhere else?" he asked huskily.

"George," she moaned. She could understand why he wanted to have his way with her, because she had teased him and taken her time with him too, but a part of her already felt ready to explode.

"Well?" he chuckled.

Rose sighed happily and narrowed her eyes on him. "What did you have in mind?" she managed to say.

"Kissing your lips, just not the ones you're used to." He grinned.

"I love new experiences," she said after she took a deep breath and smiled at him. Dru had told her about this, she couldn't wait to find out what it felt like.

George started kissing her knee and worked his way up very slowly, one leg at the time. He loved teasing Rose, he loved the way she was making little noises and was squirming and giggling because she was ticklish. When he finally got to her vagina, he gently kissed her clit before giving it a bit sucking. It made Rose arch her back into him and moan. He chuckled and gave her clit a few licks and a bit of sucking as he caressed her entrance with his finger. He stopped for a second and looked at her with a devilish smile. "What do you want me to do, Rosie?" he grinned. "Stop or go on?"

"I might not have a husband to marry if you stop!" It took her a while to answer him, because she was blissfully floating in this euphoric feeling and she didn't want it to stop.

"Tell me what you want then?" George chuckled after giving her clit another lick, he loved the idea of having her beg for him.

"I want you, inside of me, please George."

"What like this?" He gently pushed his finger inside of her and moved it around, while he kissed her stomach. Oh he knew what she meant, but he was enjoying himself too much by watching her squirm. There was nothing more that he wanted right now than to thrust inside of her and reach a climax again, but it was her turn now and he believed in sharing things equally.

Rose growled for an answer. It was a shame that he was anticipating her wanting to flip the both of them over (not that it would be easy anyway, George wasn't in a position to shove him onto his back without inflicting some pain) otherwise she would have and she would have plunged herself right onto his cock.

George put a second finger inside of her and kissed his way back up her body, until he reached that spot underneath her earlobe, that drove her wild. He was founding it harder to keep himself under control. "How do you want me?" he asked huskily, giving her the control back.

She smiled at him with a wolfish grin. "On your back," she answered as she slowly got up and kissed him tenderly.

George kissed her back, before moving and lying on his back. He was loving this new side of Rose. "Would you like to fly my broomstick?" he grinned at her.

She was sat on her knees next to him and looked at him. "Did you just..." she laughed. "Seriously?"

George groaned as he started to caress her breasts. "Come on, Rosie, no more teasing." he begged.

She laughed and shook her head as she started to position herself so that she could lower herself down onto his cock. "I know you like to watch, but if this is uncomfortable for either of us, we won't try this again."

He didn't say anything as he put one hand on her hip and the other one on his cock to help her a little. She looked magnificent as she lowered herself on to him, the loud moan that escaped her lips as he accidentally hit a soft spot inside of her body was nearly enough to send him over the edge again. "Beautiful..." he muttered appreciatively.

Once George was snugly inside of her, she lowered her gaze upon him and slowly started to move. She actually liked this new vantage point, watching George watching her was  _hot_.

George tightened his grip on her hips. The way her body moved as she was riding him, the way her breasts bounced as she was picking up the pace, was driving him mad with desire. Not to even mention those sparkling green eyes that looked straight into his. It was just too much for him to handle. "Oh Rose." He cried out.

She came hard when George climaxed and the feeling of both their bodies moving somewhat involuntarily was  _great_. Once they were done, she felt simply too lazy to get off of him and carefully laid down on top of him. "Wow..." she tried to steady her breathing.

"Yeah..." George was at a lose of words as he gently caressed Rose's back.

Dru had been up for more then a hour. She had let Fred sleep and had waited for the florist to bring around Rose's bridal bouquet and some roses. She was making breakfast in bed for George and Rose and had torn off the flower peddles of two of the roses to put on the tray.

She was still walking around in one of Fred's shirts and one put on a pair of very short shorts to make her decent enough to open the door. She was also making some pancakes for Fred, it might not be Sunday, but she knew he loved her pancakes. And she wanted to something nice for their first morning as husband and wife.

She wasn't quite sure on how to take the breakfast up to Rose and George, she didn't want to disturb their morning. She decided to wait for Fred to get up, maybe he had an idea.

"Morning," George greeted Dru as he walked into the kitchen in his pyjama's.

"Morning, I thought you would stay in bed this morning, with your bride to be." Dru held up the tray of breakfast. "I made you breakfast in bed."

"Aw, how sweet of you!" he smiled. "Yeah, we were up early this morning, she's currently having a nice soak in the bath."

"Well, you could have breakfast in bed, after she gets out of the tub." Dru suggested, while she tried to shove a box under the kitchen table with her foot, hoping that George wouldn't see it.

After years of secrets, and conspiracies, he recognized the look on Dru's face. George could take a hint and nodded as he took the tray. "Thank you for breakfast, I'll get out of your hair."

'Thank you. I wanna make breakfast for your brother. If he ever gets up, that is." Dru smiled and gave George a kiss on his cheek. "Besides, you two should make the most of this morning. You'll never have another morning like this." She started to set up the kitchen table for one, for Fred to have breakfast, she had already eaten.

George took the tray back up to his room and knocked on Fred's room on the way over their. "Oi!, wake up. Your wife is making your favourite breakfast."

"Hmm, nectar of the gods? Or..." Fred looked at the look on Dru's face, as he came downstairs. "Pancakes!"

"Just for you." Dru smiled as she put the pancakes on his plate. She turned off the stove and sat down on the chair next to Fred's breakfast. Cooking for just one took a lot less time, so now she could actually sit next to him during breakfast.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" He smiled at her and softly kissed her.

"Yeah, I've been up for over a hour now." She got the box out from under the table. "I'm going to put these in the workroom downstairs in a bit, I don't want Rose and George find them."

"What is it?"

"The rose petals and the candles for tonight." She smiled.

"Oh, right!" he chuckled and took a bite out of his pancake. "Yep, these taste even more wonderful now than they did last Sunday."

"Really, because these are from last Sunday? Dru asked surprise.

Fred stopped chewing and looked surprised at her. "Really? But it's Thursday now."

"What? We're married now, you're not getting fresh pancakes everyday." Dru shrugged as she got herself a glass of orange juice. "Want more milk?"

Fred pouted. "I just wanted to say that these taste better now because my wife made them... but if you made the batter on Sunday... it's not really true, is it?"

Dru looked at him laughing. "Do you honestly think I use old batter? I never do!"

"You minx," he chuckled and shook his head. "You hang around with the wrong crowd, you're getting too sneaky."

Dru gave Fred a kiss before she sat down again. "I do love that pouty face of yours. Now finish your breakfast before the pancakes get cold."

"What, are you in a hurry?" he smiled at her and continued to eat his pancake.

"No." Dru smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. "I like watching my husband eat my pancakes."

All of a sudden the bell from the shop's front door sounded and he looked at Dru. "Are you expecting someone?" He asked worried.

"No, there's a sign on the door saying we're closed today." Dru got up, took her wand and went down the stairs to the shop door. Her heart skipped a few beats when she saw the familiar silhouettes of Lupin and Tonks.  _Fred! Hide the evidence!_  she called out to him, which was followed by a lot of noise coming from upstairs. Dru smiled widely and opened the door. "Now this is a lovely surprise!"

Tonks chuckled as she saw her cousin in a pair of shorts and a large shirt. "Ah, you four taking a well deserved break from running a successful shop?" she smiled as she hugged Dru.

"We wanted to take a family day." Dru said as she hugged Tonks back. She suddenly had a smile on her face. "How are you feeling, Dora?"

"Fine, thanks." she smiled. "Family days are good, Remus and I just wanted to make sure that you were safe."

"Yes." Lupin smiled at his wife as he hugged Dru. "So...can we come in or do we have to stay on the doorstep?"

"Well, I'm not sure everybody is decent upstairs. Hold on." Dru walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Honey, Tonks and Lupin are here. Is everybody decent, can they come upstairs?" She looked at Tonks and Lupin and gave an apologetic smile. "The boys like to sleep naked and I don't think you want to see that." Well, that wasn't that far from the truth.

"It's too early!" Rose's voice sounded convincingly sleepy.

"Come on, Rose. I've seen you in your pyjama's before, remember?" Lupin called out.

"Ugh, don't remind me." she groaned. "Yeah, the boys are in their jammies too, it's safe."

Dru pointed to the stairs for Tonks and Lupin to go up, while she locked the door again behind her.

"So, did you lose your pyjama's?" Lupin asked as Dru walked upstairs.

"No, I just put on pants, because the doorbell rang." Dru replied and walked into the kitchen. "Want some tea?"

"Tea would be nice," Tonks replied.

"Hi!" Rose smiled and walked towards Lupin to hug him.

"Well at least somebody can afford pyjamas in this house," he chuckled as he looked at Fred, George and Rose.

"We were just about to get ourselves going and get dressed." George replied. "So what brings you here?"

"So...why is the shop closed today?" Lupin asked with Dru in the kitchen.

"George and I have to meet some suppliers and Rose and Dru are going to visit Neville."

"How nice." Tonks smiled.  _Busted_  she though to herself.

"Thought you were coming with us to Neville? Our family day remember, visiting friends." Dru asked Fred as she walked in with a tray with tea mugs.

"Sorry, Honey, we got the meeting today. We'll come next time." Fred gave Dru a kiss on her cheek.

Tonks looked disappointed at Lupin, she thought she had them there for a while.

 _Nice safe_  Rose thought.

_Nah, they don't suspect a thing, else they would have gotten mad already"_

"Look, not to be rude, but what brings you here?" George asked again.

"I'm just worried about your safety, are your spells up to date?" Lupin asked worried.

"Yes, like we told you the night before yesterday, when you were here for the girls birthday party, all our spells are up to date." Fred said a bit annoyed. He and George could take care of themselves and their (soon to be) wives.

"Are you really alright, Dora?" Dru asked.

"Yes Dru, Remus and I are fine and I'm truly sorry about asking about your defenses, it's just that we worry, that's all."

"It's fine." George shrugged. "Fred and I just don't like it when people think we can not take care of our wi...girls."

Suddenly Dru smiled and looked at Rose.  _Rose, look into the future, I think Dora is pregnant, like a week or maybe two_

Rose looked at Dru for a moment and then focused on Tonks and Dru's suspicions.  _Don't tell them though._  she giggled as she took a sip of her tea.

"Oh we don't think you can't take care of them, but when you mentioned that sometimes non-important spells can be forgotten..."

"Let's just say that Remus hasn't been able to sleep very well," Dora sighed. "Must be the wolf in him or something."

"Really, not just the idea of his goddaughter having sex?" Fred asked, which immediately got rewarded with a slap on his stomach by Dru.

"I'm still in one piece," Rose nodded as she saw the look on Lupin's face. "See? Not falling apart, no stitches or residual glue."

"Except for a few scratches and bite marks here and there." Fred said, after stepping outside Dru's reach.

George chuckled when he saw Rose's face.

Rose growled and threw a pillow at Fred, before smacking George's arm.

"Fred, honestly." Dru shot him a look. "Look, we really don't wanna be rude, but we have to make a move on, or we'll be late. Maybe you could come to dinner on Sunday and them you can check the spells for yourself." Dru smiled at Lupin.

"Oh don't be ridiculous," Rose said and shook her head. "The spells are fine, we're fine... how are we honestly going to learn from possible mistakes if we get checked up upon every other day? Even Mrs. Weasley isn't that bad."

"What if we won't check the spells, can we then stay for dinner?" Lupin asked his goddaugther. "Please?"

 _I seriously don't get what it is with all these visits from him lately,_  Rose thought to Dru.  _Yes or No?_

_I already sort of invited him, so no would be rude_

"Fine," she sighed and finished her tea.

"Come on, Georgie, we need to get dressed if we want to be in time for the suppliers." Fred pulled his brother up from the chair and smiled at the two parents in-law. "Busy, sorry."

"I think they want us to leave, sweetheart." Tonks said to her husband.

Lupin smiled at his wife. "I think so too, but that's okay, we have to do that other thing now."

"Quite right, and get heavy objects out of the way."

"Oh yes, don't want any injuries."

Rose smiled and hugged Lupin. "You're always welcome, but today is just a very busy day. Dru can't wait to go and visit Neville."

Dru nodded and gave Tonks another hug. "Take care of yourself."

Tonks took Lupin's hand.

_crack_

Dru looked at Rose and took her hand. "Now that's out of the way, let's get you in your dress."

"I thought we were busted," Rose said, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Nah, relax! Nobody would suspect you and George to elope. Me and Fred yeah, but you two, no."

"I'm actually thinking that George and I shouldn't... you know. Elope." she sighed. "He sneaked off last night, to the Burrows to go and hug his mum."

Dru bit her lip. She didn't know what to do. "Fred, honey, could you come down to the office please?" she called out, before apparating herself into the boys office.

"What's going on?" Fred asked worried.

"Rose's getting second thoughts about eloping." Dru started to pace. "She thinks George isn't too keen on the idea."

"She might have a point though," Fred said with a nod. "I was actually surprised when he told me he would do it."

"Fred, if she walks away now, she'll break his heart." Dru said surprised at what Fred just said.

"I don't think she'll walk. She's clearly in love with him and she wants to make him happy, I think she'll talk reason into him or something."

"God, this is a mess." Dru sighed and sank to the floor. "George really really wants to marry her! Today!"

Rose wandered into George's bedroom and looked at him with a smile. He was already half dressed up, looking very dapper.

"Fred, can you help me with the cuff links?" He was standing with his back to the door.

"Nope," Rose shook her head and then smiled, appreciating the view. "He and Dru have an emergency talk in the office."

George turned around. "Fighting on their first day being married? pfff!" He then saw that Rose was still in her pyjama's. "Rose?" he asked worried.

She smiled at him as she walked towards him, and softly kissed him as she put her arms around his neck. "Tell me the truth, Georgie, would you like to have your parents present today?"

George shook his head. "Just you, Fred and Dru. That's all I need." He closed his eyes. This was exactly what he had been afraid of, she wasn't going to go through with marrying him. "But you don't want to come, do you?" he said with a broken voice.

"I do," she smiled and softly kissed his lips.

"Well, actually right now I think you don't."

"You know I do. I just have a feeling that you won't really enjoy today without at least your mum present." She softly caressed his hair. "I know you snuck off in the middle of the night last night."

"So, Fred did that too. I wanted to give my mum a hug. Since when is that illegal?" He was getting at bit angry as he felt rejected. He pried himself out of Rose's arms of him and walked to the window. "If you don't want to marry me, I rather you just tell me."

"It's not, I just thought it was very sweet," she said softly and sat down on his bed. "I know that we've talked about this, countless of times in the past few months, but I can't help but feeling that there will come a day where you'll regret it that your mum wasn't present, I mean, you still have parents who can come and see you get married, I know how close you all are."

George took a deep sigh and rubbed his eyes, trying not to show Rose, he had started to cry. "Fine, then we'll call off the wedding." He took his waist coat and put it on and took his jacket. "Fred can help you call the registry, but If you don't mind I don't want to stay here for this." he walked out of their bedroom downstairs to Fred.

"Fred?" he called, with tears in his voice.

"George!" Rose ran after him. "You didn't listen!"

George ignored her and went down to the office where Fred and Dru were sitting on the desk. They had heard him call, but they didn't want to respond, hoping that this wasn't happening. "Fred, I need you to contact the ministry and cancel the appointment."

"No." Fred said and shook his head.

"George, just talk to her." Dru said. "She loves you."

George shook his head, he knew Rose was almost behind him, but he didn't want to talk to her. "She just called off the wedding."

"I doubt it, George." Fred ran his hand through his hair. "Just talk to her."

"I didn't call it off, I just said that we're doing this the wrong way." Rose was now too in tears.

"I can't deal with this." George said

_crack_

Dru walked to Rose and put her arms around Rose. "Don't worry, he just needs to blow off steam. I'm sure he'll be back." Dru looked at Fred.  _What now?_

"I didn't call it off, Dru, I didn't!" Rose sobbed into Dru's shoulder. "I was merely asking him if he'd be happier if his mum would be there too, because I know he loves her and..."

"I know." Dru pulled Rose closer in her arms.

"He hates me now, see? I always manage to ruin things."

"Rose." Fred put his hand on her cheek. "You and Dru get ready, put on your dress, do your hair and everything else you girls do. I'll get my family to the registry in time. I know my brother he'll be there." he wiped away her tears. "Do you trust me?"

"He doesn't want me anymore, Fred," she spoke softly. "I shouldn't have suggested it in the first place, I've lost him now."

"Of course not. He wants you so much, he's scared you don't want him. He just thinks you have cold feet that's all."

"But I don't! I just thought that he would be happier with more family..."

"Fred, what If we get her to your mum's? We can get her ready there and I don't know...get a registry official there maybe." Dru looked at her husband, she didn't know what to do, but she knew he needed her to help him find his brother. "Maybe Ginny can help her get ready? And then I can go to the ministry or something?"

"Think you're able to explain the reasoning why they wanted to elope in the first place but that Rose thought that George would be even happier with the family present and that they're very sorry for being sneaky and that they shouldn't be angry?"

"Yeah, that'll be a lot easier than when one day we tell them we went through with it."

"Fair enough," he gave a small nod before kissing Rose on top of her head. "Don't worry, Rosie, I'll talk some sense into him."

"Can you bring her stuff to the burrows first? I'll take her. It's the blue box on my bed and the stuff from my dressing table." Dru smiled. She was not facing his family alone with this.

_crack_

Dru and Rose were standing now in the kitchen of the Burrow. It was empty but for Ginny and Ron, who was looking with huge eyes at Dru.

"What?" Dru said still trying to comfort a sobbing Rose.

"Couldn't you have gotten dressed first?" Ron remarked. "I'm trying to have my breakfast."

Dru looked down, she had forgotten she was still only wearing Fred's shirt and shorts. She didn't even have any shoes on. "Right...hm... where's your mum?...wait, you haven't seen George, have you?"

"No, Why?" Ginny asked as she now was caressing Rose's back. "What's wrong, Rose?"

"George hates me!" Rose put her arms around Ginny and continued to sob. "All I wanted was to be nice for him and..."

"Ron, where's is your mum?" Dru asked again. "Oh never mind." she walked to the stairs. "Mrs Weasley!" she called out through the house. She then looked around and sighed, of course Fred wasn't coming before knowing Dru had enough time to tell his mum, he was terrified to tell his mother her son had tried to elope.

"Good morning dea-" Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen with an armful of vegetables from the garden. "What's wrong?"

"George and Rose had a huge misunderstanding and now George is gone." Dru said as she walked over to Mrs Weasley, and took some of the vegetables out of her arms to put them on the kitchen counter.

Mrs. Weasley frowned. "George usually doesn't run away from a disagreement, and why aren't you dressed?"

"I forgot to get dressed...hm...the thing is. George got really upset, when Rose tried to tell him something, which he took completely the wrong way, and I do mean completely, and now he's gone. Rose is sobbing and Fred bringing her clothes here, and hopefully mine too and them we're going to go find him and bring him back before it's to late and the day is ruined." Dru had picked up a few thing like really fast talking from the years she spent with Hermione. "But I need you and Ginny and Fleur to get Rose ready for when we bring George back here."

Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Ready for what?"

Dru took a very deep breath. "Their wedding."

"I'm sorry dear, I thought I heard you say 'their wedding'."

"You did. They were going to elope, but then Rose realised that George wants his family to be there too and when she tried to tell him, to invite you all too, even if it was last minute, he took it the wrong way and now he thinks she tried to call it off." Dru took a deep breath and braced herself for a verbal beating, bu to her surprise it wasn't coming.

Mrs. Weasley pulled Rose into her arms and bear hugged her. "Oh my sweet Rose, thank you so much for realising that eloping isn't the answer," she said as she caressed the girl's back. "Right, well, it's certainly very last minute, but I'm sure that with our combined efforts, the garden will be pretty enough for you to get married in with George."

"He's not coming back," Rose sobbed.

"Fred should be bringing her dress any second now." Dru said as she looked outside to see if maybe he was hiding outside. "Where the hell are you?" she muttered.

Ginny and Ron were just gaping at Rose, and looked at their mother too, she was very forgiving, but the mention of 'eloping' should have set her off like a wildfire.

"Do you ever come during the day or are you always gonna come at night?" Bill asked Dru with a smile. "Forgot your clothes?" He and Fleur sat down at the table.

"Fleur, I need your help?" Dru kneeled down next to Fleur. Is Dru was going to trust anyone to make Rose look pretty, it would be Fleur.

"What's wrong with Rose?" Fleur asked.

"George is gone and I need to help Fred find him, maybe Bill can help me too. But I need you to make Rose as beautiful as you can. She and George are getting married today."

"What?" Bill, Fleur and the just arrived Hermione chorused.

Dru took a deep breath. "She and George wanted to elope, but Rose wanted the family there, George misunderstood, now he thinks she wants to call it off and he took off instead. Does everybody get it?" Dru was getting very frustrated. "Please help Fleur?"

"Well, first we need to find her something to wear, she can't get married in her pyjama's."

_Crack!_

"Is it safe?" Fred asked with his hands full of clothes and boxes and whatnot. "Did mum keep the both of you alive?"

"You stupid git, when I'm done with you..." Dru spat at him and hit his arm.

"What? I brought you your stuff."

Dru made a gesture to strangle him before pulling her dress and shoes out of his arms. "Two minutes and I'm ready." She quickly ran upstairs to Ginny's bedroom.

"Hi mum," Fred smiled widely and kissed his mother on the cheek, before looking at Ginny, who was still holding a sobbing Rose. "Blimey Rose, close those floodgates, not all is lost."

"FRED!" Dru yelled from upstairs couldn't he be a little more sensitive?

"Fred, do you have any idea where he might have gone to." Bill asked. "Maybe we should get dad to help too? And Lupin and Tonks?"

"Nah, I think I know where he is," Fred sighed and shook his head. "It'll be hard to convince him that for once, he wasn't listening. It was very sweet of Rose to think of him."

"I'm ready." Dru came downstairs, making Hermione and Ginny looked at her with big eyes. how could Dru possibly get dressed and look like she walked of a magazine cover, in only three minutes? "Bill, could you maybe get the registrar and ask him to come and perform the ceremony here?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Ready?" Dru stood next to Fred and took his hand.

"Yeah, let's go George hunting," Fred nodded.

_Crack!_

"Alright," Mrs. Weasley spoke up. "Let's clear the garden a little, put down some chairs and..."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Weasley, Ron and I will take care of that," Hermione said with a nod.

"I'll get Lupin, Tonks and the others to help out too." Bill said. "See you later." He gave Fleur a kiss

_crack_

Rose watched as everyone was getting busy and she had calmed down somewhat, she was nursing a cup of tea and after telling them to simply not to bother with doing what they did, they assured her that everything was going to be alright. She was surprised by how Mrs. Weasley wasn't angry with her, even though Rose could hear her mutter a few times that she could have used a few more weeks to make it a perfect wedding.

One part of her said that she had done the right thing. Even though George had said that it was fine with just Fred and Dru present, she knew that he wouldn't be completely happy without his family present. His entire family. She knew that he was going to regret it later, and unlike her, he did have a big family who loved him very much.

Another part of her told her that she was just plain stupid. That George would never return now and that she should have kept her mouth shut. But she didn't want him to be unhappy. And George was unhappy now. She didn't really care about herself at this point. She felt terrible, but she had somehow made George unhappy.

She winced when Ginny smacked her on the head. "I don't need to be a mind reader to see that you're talking yourself into a big muddy hole you can't get out of, stop thinking. Drink your tea."

Rose watched as Ginny walked off again and stared into her cup of tea. If George wasn't going to come back or if he'd make the demand of Rose being gone before he'd come back, she'd go. She had really messed things up this time.

Fleur gently pat Rose on her arm. "One of my cousin's groom walked away the morning of their wedding and he came back. I'm sure George will too." She smiled at Rose. "Why don't we get you ready for when he gets here?"

"He won't, Fleur..."

"Well in that case... there will be a party now and you have to look pretty for that. Come on. We can use Mrs. Weasley's bedroom." she took out her wand " _Wingardium Leviosa_." Fleur directed the box with Rose's wedding dress and the rest of her things into the bedroom. "Do I need to use a spell on you too or are you coming on your own?"

Rose slowly followed Fleur up the stairs. Each step felt heavy to her feet. "Maybe I should just go home and see if he comes home."

"You are home,  _his home_ , home. He'll find you here."

Fred took a glass of water from the tab and gave it to Dru first. They had just come back to the burrows after looking for two hours. They checked every where they could possible look. "I don't know anymore, Dru. I don't know where else he could be."

Dru rubbed Fred's back and handed him the half empty glass. "We'll go look again, maybe we've missed him."

"Dru!" Tonks' voice sounded.

"Oh bugger." Dru muttered.

"I knew you were hiding something this morning."

"Don't start now." Dru said annoyed. "We need to find George." She was still rubbing Fred's back, she had never seen him so sad before, he was really worried about George.

"Alright, when I need to find people, I usually try to find them in places where nobody would bother to look, the least likely places." Tonks said as she leaned against the table, eating an apple. "What about those ex-girlfriends of his?"

"He wouldn't run off to another girl!" Fred said angrily.

"We've already tried those and Lee and even Harry's." Dru said.

"Oh, don't let Remus know you've been to Harry's, Harry is a bit off limits these days to keep him safe," Tonks winced.

'We didn't let him see us, we just checked around the neighbourhood and I peeked inside Harry's head to see if I saw George there." Dru sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "I don't know anymore."

"Alright, least likely ally? Someone you can trust but isn't really around?" Tonks offered.

"Oh, he wouldn't!" Fred groaned and smacked himself in the head. "Of course!"

"What?" Dru asked.

"Come on." Fred took Dru's hand.

_crack_

"Fred, Where are we? This street seems familiar to me."

"Just think for a second," Fred said as he walked through the street. "Who, besides me and George, have been a constant factor in your and Rose's life?"

Dru looked Fred. "No." she said surprised.

"As Tonks said, the least likely place." Fred shrugged. "He'd be the perfect place to go and hide at."

"Well, they did support each other when Rose and I were lost with our minds." Dru said, she had to run a bit to keep up with Fred. "It's that house." She pointed to a house.

"Hey you two," Neville greeted them and got up from his spot in the garden. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"He's here then?" Dru asked relieved.

"Yeah, he's locked himself into my bedroom." Neville sighed.

"Did he talk to you?"

"Something with Rose and some mumbling and a lot of tears, I swear, he makes us blokes look bad."

"Let's go and talk to him." Dru said to Fred.

Neville walked them to his bedroom. He knew Dru knew where it was, he knew Fred knew that Dru knew where it was, but it was the polite thing to do. he knock on his own bedroom door. "George you have visitors."

"Go away!"

"Sorry mate, you're out of luck." Fred's voice sounded. "Can I come in?"

"No."

'Fine, have it your way.  _alohamora_  " Dru said and the door unlocked itself.

"Go away," George said again. "I don't want to talk about it."

"George, Rose is really upset." Dru walked into the bedroom, where George was lying on Neville's bed.

"I don't care. She called it off."

"You're wrong," Fred said, walking into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to his brother. "It's the complete opposite."

"It isn't, she made up this lame excuse to get out from under it. I don't understand, if she wanted to wait all she had to do is say so."

"What's going on?" Neville asked Dru.

"George thinks Rose called off the wedding."

"Wedding?" Neville asked confused. "This so-." he shut up when he saw Fred glare at him. "That's brilliant!" he quickly said.

"Yeah but Georgie, you didn't listen to her. I understand that you were worried that she'd get cold feet, but what she asked you, is actually very sweet of her." Fred said.

"Really? How would you feel If Dru had gotten cold feet and called it off?"

"George, she didn't call it off, she wants a big wedding." Dru said frustrated. "She didn't want to elope anymore, like Me and Fred. She wants a wedding with your family there."

George blinked at her. "Really?"

"She knows how much you love the rest of us, Georgie," Fred said with a nod. "She knew that you wouldn't be completely happy on your wedding day without at least mum or mum and dad with you."

George put his hand in front of his eyes. "What did I do?" he muttered.

"Being a idiot." Neville deadpanned.

"You freaked out mate," Fred said and shook his head. "She's worried sick that you're not coming back or that you don't want her anymore now."

George sat up. "Well, maybe if I go back now, we can still make it to the ministry in time."

Dru smiled at Fred. "George, you're family is organising your wedding at the Burrows as we speak."

"What?" Neville was shocked and a little hurt. He always figured he'd be at Rose's wedding. "They're getting married  _today_?"

"If she still wants me." George dropped to the bed again.

"Of course she still wants you. That girl loves you more than she loved anyone in her life." Neville said.

"It's no use. I've messed up. I can't undo this."

"Look, if there's one thing Rose has always thought me, that's there's always hope and you can't just give up. Go to your house and marry her." Neville said and pulled George off his bed. "Take him with you, as soon as they see each other, everything will be fine." He said to Fred, before sitting down on his bed, looking sad and hurt.

Dru looked at Fred, she knew Neville was a good friend to her and Rose and that neither Rose or George would mind having Neville attend their wedding, they'd probably like it, but Fred was the one that didn't like having him around.

"Come along, Neville," Fred said as he hoisted the boy to his feet. "George, go to the Burrows."

Dru smiled at Fred, walked to Neville's closet and found him a shirt and jacket to wear. "Let's go and get these two married."

_crack_

"GEORGE!" Mrs Weasley hugged her son. "I knew you'd come back." She then let go and hit him over the head three times. "How dare you try and elope? Hoe could you to that to you own mother. Don't you care how that makes me feel?"

Dru took a step back and stood very close to Fred. "We're in so much trouble."she whispered to him.

"Yep," Fred sighed.

"I do, mum, I honestly do, but... with Bill and Fleur getting married... and the war that's going on..."

"Well, thank heavens you didn't go through with it. It would break my heart if one of my children would run off and got married without me there." She hugged George again, before looking at Fred and Dru. "Don't you get any idea's in your head about eloping." she said sternly.

Fred and Dru both shook their heads. "We won't." they chorused.

Mrs Weasley then looked at Neville. "Neville? what are you doing here, dear?"

"We invited him to George and Rose's wedding, mum." Fred answered with a big smile.

"Oh well, that's good, nice to see you again."

"I'm going to apologize to Rose," George said as he filled two cups with tea. "I need to talk to her."

"Good luck, Fleur's not allowing anyone inside the bedroom."

"I'm going to try anyway." George said and walked up to his parents bedroom, "Fleur, I brought you and Rose some tea. May I come in, please." He asked, as he stood just outside of the bedroom door.

"No," Fleur said

"George?" Had he really come back? Or was that Fred trying to humor Rose by pretending he was George?

"I'm sorry, Rose."

"Fleur, let him in? Please?"

"No, we open the door a little, but he is not coming in."

Rose looked at Fleur, who looked rather superior to her and sighed. She put her chair against the wall next to the door and put her head against the wall. "Is that really you, George? I thought..."

"I'm so sorry, Rose. I freaked out."

"I would never call it off... I love you! I just thought you'd be happier with everyone around..."

Fleur sighed deeply and looked for tissues. Rose was going to cry and her make up would start running.

"I love you too, Rose. I do, I really do."

"So, we're still going to get married then?" she asked with a smile.

"If you'd still have me?" George asked insecure.

"Yes, you idiot," she chuckled. "I wouldn't want anyone else!"

"What about Neville? You wanted to marry him last year, remember?" he chuckled.

"Neville is going to kill me for getting married without him here." Rose chuckled.

"No he won't."

"Yes, he will."

"No, because he's downstairs."

"George! That's great!" she laughed. "He's not going to kill us, is he?"

"Well, not us too." George said. "I better go see if everything is ready. I'll see you at the altar?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Rose smiled.

'What? You're not coming down?" George smiled.

"Oh yes, Fleur will make sure of that!"

"I love you Rose."

"I love you too, George," she sighed happily.

George walked downstairs, where Fred and Dru were whispering to each other in a corner of the room. "What are you two discussing?" he asked as he walked up to them.

"hm...nothing." Dru blushed.

"Uh huh." He poured himself a cup of tea and sat down. "Thanks, you three," he said, looking at Dru, Fred and Neville.

"You really think we're going to let you two ruin your own wedding day?" Dru smiled as she and Fred joined George and Neville again at the kitchen table.

"God, we're both idiots, aren't we?" George chuckled. "Me for not listening, she for not speaking up sooner."

"And yet, you two are adorable," Bill said as he joined them.

"I just can believe you two were going to elope." Neville sat as he took a sip of the tea he had gotten from Fred.

"Eloping in our family, George you should know better than that." Ron said as he joined his brothers.

Dru stood up from the table and nodded to Neville to come and join her in the garden. The Weasley siblings needed a moment for themselves.

"I still can't believe you're getting married." Ginny said as she took Dru's seat.

"What, that Bill's getting married? Why else are we all here?" Charlie said as he suddenly walked int to kitchen, a few day to earlier.

"Charlie!" Ginny squealed and in an instant she was hanging on to him. "I've missed you!"

"You're getting way to big for that." Charlie laughed as he hugged his sister. "By the way, who was that very hot looking girl in the black flower dress. I liked to have another look at that. She's very fit." Charlie said as he peaked out the kitchen door into the garden.

"She's mine, mate," Fred laughed.

"How did you get a girl like that? Was it very bad?"

"Was what very bad?" Fred asked.

"Her head injury, you oaf. No woman in her right mind would choose you." Charlie laughed and pat his brother on the back.

"Oh gee, thanks," Fred rolled his eyes at his brother.

"So, how serious are you two? I mean you invite her to a wedding and she comes and stays two weeks early? By the way are we having a test drive or something?" Charlie asked as he hugged his four brothers.

"Dru actually lives with Fred," Ginny nodded. "With George and Rose."

"What? Not you too!" Charlie looked at George in shock.

"Charlie, you wanna know what's even worse?  _He_..."Bill pointed at George "is even getting married before you and me."

"No way."

"Yeah, she's putting on her wedding dress, right now." George grinned at Fred, but Fred was looking a bit off, they were talking about getting married and suddenly Fred realised none of them, apart from George, knew he was already married.

"I can't believe I come back home and not one but two of my brothers are getting married." Charlie laughed. "Well, that means me next, or you, Fred."

"Well, he is engaged already." Ron said.

"Wait, George is getting married and you're engaged? Why does nobody write me these things?" Charlie said as he hit the twin on their heads both at the same time.

"Ouch." George said. "Watch it, I need to look good today, or Rose is going to kick your butt."

"I wrestle dragons for a living, George, I can handle a girl."

This made Fred, Ginny and Ron snicker. "You haven't met Rose yet," Ron said. "She's a feisty one she is."

"And what's with that ring, Fred?" Charlie asked, pouring himself a cup of tea and finally sitting down.

George looked at Fred, neither of them had realised that Fred and Dru left the apartment in such a hurry, that they were both wearing their wedding rings.

"What ring?" Bill asked and looked at Fred's hand and laughed. "Wait, are you wearing an engagement ring? Like a girl does?" This made Ron, Ginny and Charlie all laugh.

"Yes," Fred nodded and shook his head laughing. "Dru and I got married yesterday," he said only half joking.

"You're joking, aren't you?" Bill said laughing. "You wouldn't be so stupid to elope."

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" He grinned and took a sip of his tea.

Bill looked at Charlie, would their brother really elope?

Ginny looked at Ron. "Fred?" Ron asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Ron?" Fred laughed.

"She just turned 17 two days ago. You didn't really marry her, did you?" Ron asked.

Fred shrugged for an answer. He liked to keep them guessing, it almost felt like old times again, when he and George had cooked up some elaborate plan and done things they probably shouldn't have.

"Let me see the ring." Charlie said

"Nope," Fred said, stuffing his hand in his pocket.

"George?" Ginny said.

"Oi, don't look at me, I'm getting married today."

Dru and Neville walked back into the kitchen and Dru suddenly felt everybody staring at her. "What?'

"Oh, nothing, honey," Fred said as he pulled Dru on to his lap. "I'm wearing a ring and I told them we got married yesterday."

"Did you now?" Dru smiled. "Well, if you say so."

"Have you met my brother Charlie?" He said, pointing at his brother. "He plays with dragons for a living."

"I know, it's a good thing we're not married yet, now I can still trade you in." Dru smiled and gave Fred a kiss on his lips. "I have to go, I'm going to check on Rose, with Neville."

"Fleur's not allowing boys to enter the room," Bill warned her.

"Neville's fine, he's a brides maid. I've got his dress upstairs for him." Dru said as she grinned at Neville as she walked by him to the stairs.

"You are so dead." Neville said to Dru.

George nearly spat out his tea as he looked at the two leaving again. "Yep, Neville would knock them all dead in a dress."

"Can't wait to see his hairy legs." Fred roared.

There was knock on the door."Rose, your two bridesmaids are here, can we come in?" Dru asked.

"Yes!" Rose giggled as she nearly jumped up and down. Fleur was okay company, but still hard to get used to. She couldn't wait to see Dru and Ginny.

Dru opened the door and walked in with Neville, before closing the door behind her again.

"Neville!" Rose hugged him tightly. "That's a surprise!"

Neville's jaw dropped to the floor,when he saw Rose. He had seen her in that dress before, but she was a child then, now she was a woman getting married.

"No boys!" Fleur shrieked.

"Oh relax, Fleur. Neville's one of the girls," Rose grinned. "Go downstairs and have something to eat."

Dru nodded to Fleur. "You have another brother in law to meet downstairs."

"Percy?" Rose and Fleur chorused.

"Charlie." Dru smiled.

"Oh, I can't wait to meet him!" Fleur smiled widely and disappeared.

"Wow, Rose, you look amazing."

"Thanks, Neville," she blushed. "Dru fixed the dress for me."

"You look perfect, Rose." Dru smiled.

"I am glad I get to see you get married." Neville smiled. "I would have hated it if I couldn't have been here on your wedding day."

Dru looked at Neville. she never realized that she was going to tell him too. "Neville, please don't get mad."

"Why would I get mad?"

"Fred wasn't joking when he said that we had gotten married yesterday."

"Are you completely bonkers?" Neville said in surprise. "Have you lost your mind? Or received too many knocks around on the head maybe?"

"No, I love him and we want to spend the rest of lives together." Dru said defensive. "You knew we were engaged."

"Yes, but honestly, married? You're 17!"

"Oh come off your high horse, Neville," Rose said, before sitting down on the bed. "Love is love, love is beautiful."

"Can't you try and be happy for me once." Dru said.

"I  _am_  happy for you, Dru. I am. It's just... a shock, really."

Dru stared at the floor. "You're first to know, besides Rose and George."

"Right," he nodded. "Well I appreciate that, thank you."

"I better go downstairs, You need to get ready, I'll see you in a bit, Rose. You look amazing." Dru said, gave Rose a kiss on her cheek and hurried downstairs, The Weasley siblings were still sitting there talking to each other. Dru sat down on Fred's lap and buried her face in his neck.

"So, Dru, honestly, tell me the truth, how bad were you injured for becoming Fred's girlfriend?" Charlie snickered.

Dru lifted up her head and glanced at Charlie. "Your brother is the best thing that ever happened to me. He is most sweetest, honest and caring man I've ever met." she said, she wasn't pleased with Charlie right now.

"Dru, he was just kidding?" Ron said.

Dru gave Ron an angry look, before burying her head in Fred's neck again.

"Oh," Ron said as he saw the look on Neville's face. "That explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"Oi, you lot, shut up," George said and poured his fifth cup of tea. "There will be no more fighting today, got it?"

"I'm sorry, George." Dru said and without removing her head from Fred's neck she looked around with her hand until she found George's shoulder and pat on it. "Sorry, Charlie."

"Sorry George," Neville said softly as he sat down at the end of the table. He then saw Lupin walk up the stairs and was confused for a moment, but then remembered that he was Rose's godfather.

"That's our cue, let's get to the garden." Bill said.


	38. George and Rose say 'I do'

Rose hadn't liked it that she was left alone. She didn't like Neville's unhappiness either, but she knew that he'd eventually get over it. Well, she hoped. Once again, she was wondering if she had made the right decision by wanting George's family present because now they all had worked hard to get things ready. On the other hand, it would still be a small wedding because it would be with just the family. No extra friends (except for Hermione and Neville) and it was small, not as big as Bill and Fleur's wedding in a couple of weeks (Fleur had been gushing about it while helping Rose with her makeup and dress).

She settled on having done the right thing for George. She understood that he had been freaking out and had been afraid that she would call it all off, so that's why he wasn't listening to her, but it all turned out right in the end, did it? In the future, George would look back to this day and not with any regrets. And of course, what happened was a great story to tell the future kids and grand-kids.

There was a knock on the door and Lupin entered, looking gobsmacked. "You look amazing," he said with a big smile and closed the door behind him.

Rose just hugged him.

"I knew something was up, you know," He said with a smile as he softly caressed her back. "In fact, I saw you at the ministry yesterday and we thought that you and George had run off. Wasn't you, was it?"

"Don't tell the Weasleys, they'll tell them in their own time," Rose said softly.

"Oh I won't, Tonks doesn't realise she saw Dru and Fred yet." he smiled. "At least you were the sensible one."

"Ha!" Rose chuckled and sat down on the bed. "Oh yes, waiting until the last moment to ask my fiance if he wants his parents around when we wed worked out so well."

"He's waiting for you downstairs, isn't he?"

"Just... I was so scared that he wouldn't come back..."

"Nonsense." Lupin said as he sat down in the chair opposite of her. "After all the fighting you've done for each other with me and his parents? After everything that has happened? Rose, George loves you. If he could, he'd worship the very ground you walk on."

"I need him."

"I know," he smiled at her. "I'm going to be the last person to say that you two don't belong together."

Rose smiled at him. "See? It's  _good_  to listen to your heart every once in a while."

"Yes, now, I think it's time you and I go downstairs and make that very nervous groom of yours a very happy man."

"What's taking them so long, Freddie?" George said nervously as he shoved his hands in his pockets to force himself to stop fiddling.

"It's Lupin, he likes to talk." Fred pointed out. "Relax, George."

The boys were standing ready by the altar. Dru was walking up to them and put a flower bouquet in Fred's hands so she could fix George's tie. "She'll be done soon."

"Are you sure?" George asked.

"Of course." Dru smiled and she was now fixing Fred's tie. "Marrying is easy, ask your brother."

Fred snorted. "Stop fussing with my tie, woman, it's fine."

Dru slapped him on his chest. "It's crooked. Now stand still." She smiled. "Okay, now it's fine." She took the bouquet out of his hands again. "I'm going to wait for Rose by the door. And don't worry, George, she'll come down."

"Heels and stairs don't mix," Rose sighed as she had bumped into Lupin yet again, they weren't even halfway down yet.

"One step at a time."

"Easy for you to say!"

"You'll be fine, Rose. Now hurry up or George will think you're getting cold feet again." Dru smiled from the bottom of the stairs, holding Rose's bouquet.

"He's fidgety, isn't he?"

"Yep!" Dru smiled as Rose was finally downstairs. Dru straighted out the dress after handing Rose her flowers. "Oh by the way, don't freak out when the official asks for the rings." Dru smiled as she pat the pocket in her dress.

Rose eyed her friend. "What? You want to scare off George again?"

"No! I want to get revenge because of the broomstick. George was in on it too." Dru smiled as she walked out of the kitchen, down the garden and stood opposite Fred.

Lupin looked at her puzzled.

"Fred asked the official to pull a joke on Dru by having them jump over a broomstick, it was quite funny." Rose smiled.

"Alright," he gave a slow nod. "Are you ready?"

Rose nodded. "Yep, I can't wait."

"You're absolutely sure she's in the kitchen?" George asked Dru.

"George, relax," she chuckled. "Don't worry, she's really eager to get married to you."

"Good," he nodded.

Dru smiled at Fred, who smiled back at her, George and Rose were definitely more nervous then they were.

Just before Rose and Lupin wanted to walk out of the kitchen, Hermione apparated into the kitchen with Neville, he was holding a beautiful flower in his hand. "Give me your Bouquet, I'll only be 20 seconds."

"What's wrong?" Rose asked confused. "Shouldn't you two be out in the garden?"

Neville carefully placed the flower in the middle of the bouquet, "It's from a hybrid from the Dru and Joey plant. I wanted you to have it in your bouquet."

"Oh Neville, thank you," she smiled and softly kissed him on his cheek.

"It's nothing," Neville blushed and he walked out of the kitchen with Hermione to find their seats.

"Still don't consider him to be your friend?" Lupin asked lightly.

"Neville is Neville," she smiled at him. "He's always around."

"Alright, Rose. Let's get you to your soon to be husband." Lupin said after taking a deep breath. He was almost more nervous that Rose was.

"Relax, Remus, you need to breathe," she laughed as he walked her out of the kitchen.

When George saw Rose walking towards him, he could finally relax. She hadn't done a runner. She looked beautiful in her blue dress, even more beautiful then he had remembered her from their ball night. "That's my bride." George said softly to Fred.

"Yep, and she looks amazing." Fred grinned.

George could hear a sob coming from his mother as Lupin escorted Rose towards the altar. He looked at her and he wanted to make a jokingly remark about how she was embarrassing him, but they were with family, and no one else.

Rose looked at George, he looked so handsome in his suit. She could feel how butterflies started to flutter in her stomach and she took a deep breath. "Breathe," she muttered to herself. "Don't forget to breathe."

"Dear family and friends, we are gather here today to witness George Weasley and Rosalie Crouch take their first step into married life." the official said. "Now, how about you two join hands?"

Rose smiled widely at George, who was still staring at her in shock. "Breathe," she mouthed to him as she took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

The official cast a circle around the two and started to wrap a silk cloth around their hands and wrists. "As you've opted to skip the long, lengthy talk about marriage, and all the other things, let's get things started with your own written vows." He then looked at George. "How about you start, George?"

George took a deep breath, before smiling at Rose.

"I, George Weasley, take you my dear sweet Rosalie Crouch to be my lovely wife, My wonder witch and my everything. I promise to cherish this union we make today and love you more each day than as the years go by. I work every day to make you as happy as I can make you, I respect you, we will laugh together and cry together, I'll keep giving you delicious nicknames, I will be the rock for you to hold on to and I will always remain faithful to you, hell, I don't want anyone else for the rest of my life anyway. Although you will have to share me with Fred for the rest of your life. I will do my best protect you, to keep you from harm and hurt and take down anyone that dares to hurt my Rosie. I love the way you look at me, like I'm the only one in the room. With you I feel like you see me and not me and Fred. Nobody has ever made me feel that way, like I alone matter. You bring out the best in me and I will do my best to be the best husband you deserve to have. And one day when we have kids, I'll be the best father you can ever imagine. I will never leave your side, no matter what happens, we'll face it together. You have my heart, my soul and my undying love for you, for the rest of our lives."

While Mrs. Weasley sobbed, the official smiled and looked at Rose. "Miss Crouch?"

"I, Rosalie Crouch, take you, my wonderful George Weasley to be my husband. Life works in mysterious ways, my sweet George. I was never really one who liked to be social, or make friends, or even land herself a very handsome boyfriend. It all changed, when  _you_  asked me to the ball. You didn't really ask very clearly, so I had no real idea of what I had said 'yes' to. But I'm glad I did, and that you did, because that night was the start of something amazing. With your warmth, kindness and your listening ear I found myself becoming a much better person than I was and I fell in love with you. I shared some horrible things with you, expecting you to run away screaming, but you didn't. I still think you're bonkers." she chuckled as she looked at him. "But you make me so very happy and from this day forward I shall do my absolute best to make you happy. There is nothing else in this world that would make me happier than to be your wife. I will inflict some horrible cooking on you on days that Dru won't cook, I will continue to kick you at night when we sleep and I will continue to step on your toes when we dance. But I will do it out of love, because I love you George. I promise that I will always be a safe haven for you, a shoulder to cry on, a sounding board for when you're stuck on something. Just know, that you're not going to get rid of me anymore, because you're going to be stuck with me, and every fibre of my body and soul, for the rest of your life."

"I love being stuck to you." George replied with a smile and tears in his eyes.

"George, don't cry," she smiled at him. "Fleur won't like it when my mascara will run." She could feel her own tears coming too.

The official chuckled and looked at Fred and Dru. "As you are here to witness this union, do you support this marriage?"

"I do." Dru smiled.

"I have to, don't I?" Fred sighed.

"Oi!" George and Rose chorused.

"Yeah, I do." Fred nodded.

The official undid the silk cloth and neatly folded it. "I always like to give out some advice to newly wed couples before we make things really official." he spoke. "You get what you give, if you give more, the more you get."

"Do you have the rings?" The official asked Fred.

Fred's face suddenly froze in shock. He patted himself down while looking at George with the look of sheer horror on his face, while there was laughter from the family.

"Freddie? Please tell me that you didn't forget the rings?"

"I wish I could..." he said hesitantly.

"Fred, honestly, it was your one job for today." Dru said as she shook her head, while she reached her hand in the pocket of her dress, out of George's vision.

"Well, it's his fault, isn't it?" Fred pointed at George. "Because he freaked out, I had to collect everything within minutes."

"You forget my rings and you blame me?" George asked surprised at Fred.

"Of course," Fred nodded and looked at Dru. "Help?"

Dru smiled, got her hand out of her pocket and opened it. The rings were lying on the palm of her hand. "Good thing I picked them up two hours ago." This had everybody now laughing really loud at the sight of the shock on both the twins faces as they were now the punchline of a joke.

"Payback," Dru and Rose grinned at them.

"Careful now," Fred warned. "George would have killed me."

"One word," Dru smirked. "Broomstick."

George and Fred looked at each other and laughed. Yeah, they had deserved this one.

Dru gave Rose George's ring and George Rose's.

"Well then," the official smiled amused. "George, do you take Rosalie as your wife?"

"Hell yes." George put the ring on Rose's finger.

"Rosalie, will you take George as your husband?"

"Yes I do," she smiled at George as she slipped his ring on his finger.

"In front of your friends and family, I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss each other."

But George didn't wait for the official to finish his sentence, before he kissed Rose and pulled her close to him.

Rose put her arms around George's neck and kissed him back. She had been wanting to kiss him ever since he arrived at the Burrows, to tell him that everything was going to be alright and it did.

Dru laughed at the side of her two friends kissing. She knew all too well how happy the two were feeling right now.

Fred smiled at Dru and gave her a wink whilst remembering their ceremony the day before.

When Rose and George broke of their kiss, they were pulled away from each other as Dru gave George a big hug and Fred lifted Rose off her feet into his hug.

"Happy?" Fred asked.

"Ahh!" she chuckled. "Yes! Fred, put me down," she laughed.

"Congratulations, big brother." Dru whispered. "And thank you for making Rose now officially my sister."

"You're welcome, you're so very much welcome... wait, if she's your sister now, that makes her my sister too, but..." he chuckled and softly planted a kiss on Dru's cheek. "Ah, never mind."

Dru and Fred let the newlyweds go and let the rest of the family congratulate them.

"Mum! Don't choke her," George laughed as Mrs. Weasley was hugging Rose very tightly.

"Oh George," she pulled him into the hug. "You two look absolutely beautiful."

After his mother let George go, he got pulled into a hug by his father. "I can't believe I have a married son now, I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks dad," George said hesitantly.

"Although I never thought you'd be the first to get married." he chuckled.

"Wow, George," Charlie smiled widely. "How did you get someone as beautiful as Rose?"

"Head injury," George deadpanned as he looked at his brother. "Rosie, meet Charlie, he plays with dragons."

"Hi, nice to finally meet you," Rose smiled. "I've heard so much about you."

"I wish I could say the same, but my little brothers never seem write me." Charlie said as he gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. "But it is very nice to meet you, Rose."

Fred was standing on the outskirts of the group of people watching his family congratulate his twin brother with his marriage.

Dru walked over to him and put her arms around his waist. "You okay?" She frowned at him. He wasn't looking sad, but he wasn't smiling either.

"Yeah," he said as he put an arm around her, pulling her closer. "I am."

Dru had a awful feeling he was regretting eloping and missing out on the family wedding. "Do you wish we'd …"

"Oh no," he chuckled. "I love my family, but I really liked it that we shared our day with just George and Rose."

Dru smiled at him. "Me too." she tiptoed and softly kissed him.

"Oi! George and Rose are the newly weds." Ron chuckled at Fred and Dru. "It's their time to all gooey, your time will come later."

"You're just jealous, Ronald." Fred looked at his little brother and stuck out his tongue to him.

"I can't believe you're actually married." Neville smiled as he pulled Rose into a hug. "But I'm really happy for you."

"Weird, isn't it?" Rose chuckled as she hugged him back.

"Definitely, but good weird." Neville said as he kiss Rose on her cheek. "I feel weirdly proud of you too." He whispered in her ear. "I mean, I just sort of saw my little sister getting married." Neville let Rose go and went to get something to drink.

Rose just stared at Neville as she saw him walk off. She knew that he was just being weird, but she didn't exactly know how to respond to that. She didn't have time to react because she was pulled into yet another hug, this time Lupin again.

"Congratulations, Rose." He wasn't crying, but his voice sounded emotional.

She gently pat her former professor on his back. "You're not going to cry, are you?" she asked smiling.

"I'm trying not to."

"No tears, you should be happy."

"Not every tear is a sad tear." Lupin smiled as he wiped a tear out of Rose's own eyes.

"I know," she smiled.

"Just next time give us a fair warning a few weeks ahead so we can give you a proper party," he winked at her.

"Hate to disappoint you, but I'm not going to get married again," she chuckled. "George is the only one, and it's perfect."

It seemed like there was no end at receiving well wishes and congratulations, but Rose was happy when she could put her feet up and just look at everyone having fun as she was sitting on a chair next to George and sipping a drink. He was clearly happy too, and she now knew for sure that she had done the right thing in not sneaking off.

George sipped from his champagne and put his hand on her. "Thank you!"

"Thank you?" she smiled at him.

"For not eloping with me."

"Well, you're welcome," she chuckled and softly kissed him. "I thought you'd like this better."

"Yeah, but I know you liked it too." George smiled as she kissed her. He knew that deep down, she too never really liked the idea of eloping, she loved his family like her own and she too secretly wanted to share this day with them.

"Would it be rude if I pulled off my shoes?"

"It's your wedding, you can do whatever you want." George chuckled, pulled Rose's feet on his legs and took off her shoes. "I think there's still a pair of your old flip flops in my bedroom."

Rose sighed happily. "Freedom!" she grinned as she wiggled her toes.

Ginny was dancing with Neville. "Do you know what's funny?"

'What, Ginny?"

"The last time we danced was George and Rose's first date."

"That's right, I remember that night. I even saw their first kiss."

"What?'

"I was sitting in the corner of the common room with Dru, when George and Rose walked in and kissed goodbye. " Neville smiled

Fred was sitting with Dru on his lap. She had arm around his neck and the other hand on his arm that he had wrapped around her. They were watching as their family and friends were dancing. "They look so happy." Dru gushed.

"Yeah, this was exactly how their wedding should be, for George, but also for Rose." Fred grinned. "Look at them, they look so happy in their little bubble."

"Yeah, and I was surprised how well your mother took the news that they had planned to elope. She didn't even yell at Rose at all. " Dru was playing his hair.

"Oh, they probably will, later," Fred chuckled.

Dru rested her head against his. "Are you sure you don't regret that we didn't invite your family to our wedding?"

"I'm sure," he smiled at her and softly kissed her. "It was perfect, yesterday."

Dru smiled at him and pulled him closer to her. "I still can't believe we're married." she whispered. "I feel like I'm dreaming."

"Well, that's good, that means that you'll feel great every day," he said, softly planting a kiss on her neck.

Dru giggled. "I always feel good when you're around me."

"So, tell me Fred, where did you meet this beauty"?" Charlie asked as he came and sat with them.

"Hogwarts, of course," Fred replied. "The prettiest girl in school."

"So you've met what 9 years ago or something, I don't remember you being in school with us."

"We weren't, I only turned 17 two days ago. I'm in Ron's year." Dru said. "So we've met like 6 years ago."

"Wait, you just turned 17, but Ron told just told you've been engaged since new year, by the way thank you little brother for keeping so informed with your life; you starting your own shop, you not finishing school, you living with a girl, you getting engaged." Charlie gave Fred a look.

"Yeah well, busy," Fred nodded. "And complicated things, didn't want to bore you."

Tonks sat down next to Dru with a big smile on her face. "Don't forget to mention the poly juice potion incident where you and George walked straight into a death eater infested area to get Dru out, and that was even before you were dating."

"You what?" Charlie asked with a smile. "Do you need even more trouble?"

Dru smiled. "They came and saved me from my home." She softly kissed Fred's cheek. "And by the way, she helped them do it." Dru pointed at Tonks.

"Of course I did," she laughed.

"It's hard to believe that was only two years ago." Dru said as she leaned her head against Fred's again.

"Oh, I see..." Charlie looked at Fred and Dru and shook his head. "Figured, Fred loves danger."

"Fred loves me." Dru said while cosing her eyes. It was a warm night, everybody had took off their jackets and vest, but Dru was still wearing a short black cardigan with long sleeves.

"Yeah, I can see that. Just when you do get married, please write me so I can come too?"

"Nope." Dru smiled. "We're not telling anyone."

"Mum will kill you, the both of you." He laughed.

Tonks glared at Dru. "Don't you dare to elope."

"I promise you, dear Dora. I will, from this day onwards never elope."

"Really?" Tonks said surprised. "It's that easy? One glare from me and you change your mind?"

"Yep, you have a very good glare." Dru giggled as Fred placed another kiss in her neck. "Want to dance, Honey?" she asked him.

"Glad to."

At the end of the evening, after everything was cleaned up (Rose wanted to help but after being threatened to be put under a full body bind spell, she made her way into the kitchen to make tea for everyone), they were having a nice cup of tea, or, in most cases they were drinking alcohol. Rose had her feet onto George's lap and he was softly caressing her legs as everyone quietly talked amongst themselves.

Fred was grinning at his twin brother from the other side of the big table in the tent outside. There the both were with their wives. Rose with her feet on George lap and Dru was leaning with her back against Fred's chest while letting her fingernails run up and down the exposed skin on his lower arm. "You good, Georgie?"

"Very good, Freddie, you?" he grinned as he kept caressing Rose's legs.

"Brilliant." Fred gave Dru a kiss on the back of her head.

"Well you must be very proud today, Arthur." Moody slurred loudly, he had drunk a little bit too much tonight.

"I am, Alastor," Arthur nodded with a big smile.

"Well, right you are." Kingsley said. "I don't have children, but to see one get married, must be the greatest thing."

"Yeah, then imagine seeing two in two days." Moody smiled, making all the heads turn to him a little.

"Bill's not getting married for another two weeks, Alastor," Arthur chuckled. "I think you've had a little bit too much too drink, it meddles with your mind."

Moody laughed. "I think  _you_  are, I don't mean Bill, I meant the inseparable ones." He pointed from George to Fred and back again.

"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Weasley snapped and looked at Fred and Dru. "Did you two get married?"

"Oh my God..." Tonks muttered under her breath, realizing that she had seen them yesterday, not George and Rose.

Dru looked at Fred, she didn't know what to say.

"Fred?" Ron asked. "But you were joking this afternoon?"

"Fred, did I see you and Dru get married at the ministry yesterday?" Mr Weasley's voice was calm, which almost made him even more dangerous than Mrs. Weasley.

"Maybe," Fred replied.

"Fred, for once in your life, you better tel the truth RIGHT NOW." Mr Weasley lost his calm, which made Dru nearly jump 10 feet in the air and if she could, she would have crawled into Fred.

"Well, in the current climate of the world we decided -"

"FRED!" Mrs Weasley yelled.

"What?" Fred shot back. "We made the decision to get married, yes. Without you. Yes. So what?"

"You made the decision or you already married her?" Mrs Weasley said, with a look that made it clear to Fred, he better just tell her yes, he married her, or no he didn't.

"Yes, I married Dru yesterday." Fred looked at his mum. "I don't see the problem."

At this point the entire Weasley family and Tonks started yelling at Fred at Dru.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"She's just a child."

"I can't believe you didn't invite us."

"I can't believe you would do this to us."

"How can you two be so ungrateful?"

"It was their decision!" George piped up.

"Shut up George!"

"How irresponsible could you be?"

"Just that you're allowed to make your own decisions doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you want with Dru!"

"Jeez, Dru, I though you had learned your lesson from the whole Neville debacle."

"Oi!" Neville shot at Ginny. "Leave me out of this."

Rose quietly looked around at the shouting people and slowly got off George's lap. "Come on Neville, I'll take you home. You don't need to be around for this."

"I'm fine, Rose." Neville said, as mad as he was at Dru and Fred for getting married, his instinct told him to stay, Dru was getting yelled at and he didn't want to leave her then.

"Stop yelling!" Rose shot at the family, seeing how uncomfortable Dru and Fred were getting. They didn't deserve this. She didn't like conflict.

"For once in your life, shut up and butt out." Tonks shot at Rose.

"Oi! Don't yell at Rose! She was just telling you to stop yelling," George shot at Tonks. "She's right, we could all just calm down and talk about this like civil people."

"Shut up!" Tonks shot at the both of them. "This isn't about you. Stop trying to save the day."

Rose looked at George. She was confused. Right now, she and George were probably the only two sane people in the room who were trying to get everyone to calm down and get everyone to talk.

They yelling continued for another 10 minutes. Fred was looking paler by the second, he had always knew his family would get mad, but he had never expected this.

Dru looked at Fred and saw how his family reactions to their news was really hurting them. This was making her mad. "SHUT UP!" she suddenly shot at everyone.

Everybody looked at Dru and was quiet for a moment before Mrs. Weasley spoke up. "Why did you do it?"

"Oh, now you ask?" Dru shot at her, while she gently caressed Fred's back. "Yell first, ask later is it? We did because we wanted to."

"Without the family?"

"Yes." Dru looked at Fred. "Are you okay, Honey?"

"But why?" Mr. Weasley asked. "Without even telling us? I mean, I suppose it would have been alright if you just said that you were going to get married without us but..."

"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley growled at her husband.

"That's why." Dru said as she pointed at Mrs Weasley.

"Me? What?"

"If me and Fred had told you that we wanted to get married without the family there, you would have never let us."

"No of course not." Mrs Weasley shot at Dru. "Fred is part of a big family, one day he's going to look back at this and regret marrying without the people he loves around him."

Dru sighed. "No, he won't."

"Of course he will, nobody in their right mind wants to marry without their family there."

"No mum," Fred said hoarsely. "Dru and I made the decision to marry with just George and Rose present. This was a day we didn't want to share with others, well not yet. We both grew up as one half twin, we've always shared everything with others. Birthday, school, friends. We wanted our wedding to be just ours, just us."

"We actually wanted to do it without George and Rose, but we knew they would never forgive us. So then we decided just them, nobody else." Dru said.

"I can not believe you talked him to this." Mrs Weasley said.

Fred sighed, stood up and walked to the counter a few feet away. He leaned on it and closed his eyes.

"You people are unbelievable." Dru got up, walked after him and as she stood behind him, she put her hands on his arms and kissed his shoulder blade. "I'm sorry, Honey." she whispered as she rubbed his arms.

"See, he knows he made a mistake." Ginny said.

"Have you ever considered he might be upset, because not one person in his family has thought about congratulating us with what is the best and most wonderful thing that ever happened in our lives?" Dru said as she gave Fred another kiss. To hell with his family, she couldn't stand the way how bad they made Fred feel right now.

Rose wanted to say that she had congratulated them, but George put his hand over her mouth. "They don't mean us." he whispered.

"The mistake was in thinking that you'd understand," Fred softly spoke up. "I love you lot, more than anything, I love you. But some things I just don't want to share with you, like our wedding. You should respect that, and be happy for us because Dru makes me so very happy. Yes, maybe we should have informed you before hand, but would it make a difference? No, because you would still react like this, and it hurts."

"And then you'd force us to do it your way." Dru said as she put her arms around his waist and place her head against Fred's back. "I'm sorry, honey." She felt bad, like somehow it was her fault. If she wouldn't have been his bride, maybe he would have married with his family there. "I'm really sorry." she closed her eyes and tried not to cry, she needed to be there for him.

"It's not your fault," Fred muttered, turned around and put his arms around he before looking at his family. "Well, we've done our story, you don't agree, I don't want to be here right now."

Neville looked around the tent, the Weasleys all seem to frozen to their spot. He hated Fred right now for marrying the girl he still loved so much, but he felt bad them as well. And them he realised he too, never said congratulations to either of them. He slowly got up and walked to Fred and Dru. He reached out his hand to Fred. "Congratulations."

"Thanks Neville," Fred said with half a smile as he shook his hand.

"Sorry, Dru, I should have-"

Dru had put her arms around Neville's neck and gave him a big hug. "Forget it."

Ron got of his chair and made his way to Fred. "I'll congratulate you, if you and George promise to stop marrying any more of my classmates. It's weird." Ron said with a faint smile.

"Oh don't worry, Ron, there aren't any more cute girls in your year so they're safe from Charlie."

"Oi!" Ron said. "That's not true."

"Oh wait, there's Granger."

"Thank you, Fred," Hermione laughed and hugged him before hugging Dru. "I'm really happy for you, it's just... a shock."

"Really?" Dru asked Hermione. "I told you last winter that Fred and I were planning to get married in July."

"Yes, of course you did, I'm stupid."

"Now that's something nobody can ever accuse you of, Mione." Dru said as she hugged Hermione.

"I still don't agree with you eloping," Ginny nodded as she hugged Dru before she hugged Fred. "But I understand and I wished you would have made me a part of your little secret."

Dru smiled at Ginny. "We didn't want you to have to lie to your parents."

Dru touched Fred's arm to make him looked up to her. She nodded to his parents. They were watching him, not knowing what to do. "Go to them." she smiled.

Fred took a deep breath and nodded as he walked to his parents. "Mum, dad, please don't be mad."

She took a deep breath. "I'm not mad, I'm hurt." she said.

"I know, but right now you're hurting  _me_. Can't you just be happy for me and Dru?"

Mrs Weasley put her arms around her son and hugged him. "I am happy for you and Dru. I just wished you would have... I don't know, let us know or come afterwards. Then we could have at least thrown you a wedding party. Celebrate with you after the wedding."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, son." Mr Weasley said, as he pat Fred's back. Your mother and I are very sorry too, we should have made it more easier for you and Dru to come to us and tell us the truth."

Suddenly Fleur was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "But we could still celebrate their wedding! The can share our party."

"What?" Bill chuckled and looked at his fiance. "Did you just..."

"We get married in the afternoon and then Dru can put on her wedding dress for the party at night. " Fleur smiled. "Then they can have a party too, I mean, it still  _our_  wedding, but we can share a bit of the party with them, yes?"

"Yeah, of course," Bill nodded.

"I don't know. It's really sweet, you guys, but we don't want to steal your spotlight." Dru said as she was now being hugged by Mr Weasley.

"No stealing," Fleur nodded with a big smile. "Sharing."

"You're sweet, but I doubt Fred will want to see me in that dress again."

"Oh, I have a feeling that he really wants to see you in that dress again," George grinned.

"Hell yes, sex on legs that was!" Fred nodded eagerly.

"Fred!" Dru laughed. "Alright, if you both want to, Fred and I will be honoured to share your party."

"Good," Fleur nodded. "Then you can help me decide on the snacks."

Dru smiled and hugged Fleur. "I come by tomorrow and we'll go over things."

"Well Bill, you know what this means?" Charlie grinned at his older brother.

"What? There'll be two hot girls on my wedding day?"

"No, mate that both of the insane twins beat you to the altar."

"Ah yes," Bill nodded. "Well, at least they can share their experiences with me now, so I don't do a runner!"

"You'd better not!" Fleur shot at her fiance. "I will find you and I will rip you to pieces."

Dru smiled. "I'm starting to like you better each day." she said to Fleur. It was a big difference from the Christmas holiday when things were still very cold and distant between Dru and Fleur.

"It is very daunting to join a big family."

"Yes it is, but we have Rose on our side too, don't we, Rose." Dru looked at George and Rose, who had taken advantage of the situation and were kissing each other, while everyone was busy with Fred and dru.

Rose looked at Dru sheepishly after breaking off the kiss. "Sorry?"

"Big family... very daunting on us daughter in laws." Dru pointed at herself and Fleur.

"And you two grew up with siblings too," Rose pointed out with a smile as George was kissing her neck. "I think we should go," she giggled.

"Good idea." George smiled.

_Crack_

George was standing with Rose on the landing on the second floor in their apartment, "Alright, one more thing to do." He said as he lifted Rose in his arms. "Carry you over the threshold."

She chuckled. "I should carry you over the threshold but my feet are too achy."

George frowned at her. "Why should you be carrying me?"

"Because it would be cheesy with a twist," she smirked and kissed him tenderly.

George chuckled and walked to the closed bedroom door. "Rose, can you open it, I don't want to drop you."

She got out her wand and flicked it at the door, and it slowly opened.

"Wow, look at that," George chuckled as he carried Rose over the threshold and into their room. There were rose petals everywhere and tiny candles burning. The room smelled of unobtrusive incense and even the bed was freshly made.

"Ohh, pretty," Rose smiled as she looked around. "We should have thought about this, for them."

"Nah," he grinned and kicked the door shut before gently placing Rose on the bed.


	39. About to save Harry

Dru and Rose were working downstairs in the basement. Dru had something she wanted to try out. She had come up with a idea in her sleep last night that she was looking into that morning. She had taking some of Rose’s books and was sitting behind Fred’s desk reading them and scribbling down some notes on a piece of parchment. It was almost noon and it had been Dru’s turn to make lunch, but she didn’t feel like making it today.

She and Fred had another fight that morning about the mission that was approaching fast. It was now the 25th, meaning they boys would leave to get Harry in two days. Dru was still trying to talk, scheme, argue, cheat and blackmail Fred out of it. In the beginning he understood and tried to explain that he just had to do this, but now after nearly two weeks he was pretty fed up with it. 

“Dru, it’s nearly time for lunch.” Rose said, looking up from the almost ready bruise-remover paste that she was making as they were almost running out in the shop. 

Dru shrugged. “There’s bread on the counter and eggs in the fridge and whatnot. Help yourself.” 

Rose frowned at her friend. “Dru, maybe you should give up fighting with Fred over this. I mean, I don’t like this anymore than you do, but they’re going through with this, no matter what you say.” Rose had eventually stopped fighting with George about it, she knew it was useless. He had made it very clear he was going to do the mission, whether she wanted him to do it of not.

Dru closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t want to lose him, Rose. I’ve got such a bad feeling about this. There’s no way this can go right.” She opened her eyes, closed the book she was reading and took another one from the pile. “So if he’s insisting on being stubborn and go through with it, he can make his own lunch.” 

George came down and gave Rose a kiss. “Oh you’re almost finished, brilliant! We only have 5 tubes left in the store.” George looked around and saw Dru sitting behind Fred’s desk and having no intentions to making lunch. “Isn’t it Dru’s turn to make lunch today?” George softly asked Rose.

“Yes, but I’m not hungry, so you can take care of yourself for once.” Dru snapped at him. 

Confused, George looked at Rose. “Did I say something wrong?” he frowned.

“No,” she smiled and kissed him. “Come on, I’ll make lunch.” Rose said as she got to her feet. “The paste can wait.”

“We better get a bit of a move on. Lupin and Tonks are coming round in a little bit to discuss the details for the 27th.” George said as he took Rose’s hand, as they went up to the apartment. Verity and Kevin, their new store assistant, could take care of the store. 

Fred was waiting in the kitchen and looked at his sister in law as she walked in and started making lunch. “Wasn’t it Dru’s turn today?” 

“Dru’s on strike,” Rose said as she turned on the stove and put a pan on the fire to start baking eggs.

“On strike from cooking or eating?” 

“Fred, it’s Dru! Both!” George started setting the table for three. 

“No, she figured that if you can do something as extremely dangerous as pretending to be Harry for his safety, you can make your own lunch,” Rose shrugged and put on the kettle. 

“Rose!” George gave her a kiss on her cheek. “We talked about this. It’s dangerous, but we have too. I thought you understood?” 

“I do, I’m not happy about it, but I do. I mean, I can’t really say anything about it because you two already did something like this before and it worked out okay,” she shrugged. “But it doesn’t mean that I’m worried. Or that Dru’s not worried. She’s just really afraid of losing Fred.”

George gave his wife a kiss. “I know.” He looked at Fred, who was clearly annoyed that once again today the subject was Harry’s escape.

Dru walked into the kitchen and got a glass for the cupboard.

“On the other hand, the Pygmy Puffs are breeding like maniacs all of a sudden.”

“Like I didn’t hear you talk, when I walked upstairs.” Dru said and poured herself some orange juice. She kept her back facing Fred. 

George put down another plate for Dru. “I know you’re scared, but Fred knows what he’s doing.” 

Dru looked at George with a look that could kill. “Of course he does, But that doesn’t mean he should do it.” 

“No, then who should Dru? If Harry doesn’t get to safety, we’re all dead.” George shot at her. “Maybe you should stop being so selfish.” 

Dru looked down at her feet. She knew he was right, but she didn’t want to admit it. Not being able to find a good response, she quietly sat down down at the table, staring at her empty plate instead of the floor. “I just don’t want him to...” she spoke softly, not being able to speak the final word.

“I won’t,” Fred said and pointed at Rose. “She’d say if something bad would happen.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Fred. She can’t see everything.” Dru said.

“Yes, multiple Harry’s, good luck in seeing who’s who.” Rose remarked and put one fried egg on a plate and started on another. “Stop relying on me.”

“There’s no way all 14 of you can come out of this safe. The risks are too big.” Dru said, still not looking at Fred. 

“Dru, we’re going to be fine. We’re Weasleys!” George smiled, while starting on his egg. “Weasley’s survive anything. We’re like cockroaches, you can’t get rid of us.” 

“He’s got a point,” Fred nodded.

Once the water was boiling, Rose put it all in one big tea pot and threw the tea into the pot to let it steep. She put an egg onto Dru’s plate before starting on Fred’s. “But seriously, you need to consider putting them on sale, those Pygmy Puffs, we’re going to have our hands full with them by the end of the week.”

Dru didn’t say anything and just played with her fork, trying her best not to cry. She didn’t get how the boys could be untroubled about this. 

“We could do a buy 3, get the 4th for free, sale.” George said as he started pouring tea in the mugs. “Eat your egg, Dru.” 

Dru sighed and took a bite of her food.

“Stop mother-henning Dru, George,” Rose chuckled and softly kissed him. 

“Well, somebody needs to make sure she eats. That girl is way too thin.” George said as he looked at Fred.”He’s not doing it, so I must. You girls are most likely going to have it very tough at Hogwarts this year with all the current changes, I’m just trying to make sure you have as much fat on your bones as possible, before you start losing it again.” George kissed Rose and held up her plate so Rose could put her egg on her bread.

Rose smirked at George and put the egg onto Fred’s plate. “Cook’s always last, sweetie.”

George put her plate on the table and looked at his brother. “How late are Lupin and Tonks coming again?” 

Dru suddenly looked up from her plate. She hadn’t seen Tonks since Rose and George’s wedding. After she and Fred announced they were married, she had disappeared and she hadn’t been in touch since. “Why is she coming? I don’t want her here.”

“Alright, then we’ll take them to the Burrows so they can fill us in about the plan there,” George shrugged.

“Like hell, this is our house too. Dru just needs to get over herself.” Rose said. Not that she didn’t care about Dru’s feelings, but Rose and Lupin had talked a few nights ago and they both felt that Dru and Tonks needed to talk. 

Dru got up and ran towards the basement.

Fred sighed. “I really love her, but she’s just being impossible today.” he muttered. Dru was acting more and more unrealistic the closer they came to the date of the mission. Fred knew she was really scared, but he just had no idea anymore how to make it clear to her, that he had to do this and that everything was going to be okay. “Rose, could you maybe try and talk some sense into her?” Fred asked Rose for the tenth time that week.

“I tried,” Rose chuckled as she took a sip of her tea. “You should take George’s approach. He said; ‘I’m doing it anyway and I don’t care what you think, it needs to be done’, and I just shrugged. I’m not happy about it, but he’s right, it needs to be done and I wish that I could help out too.”

“I did try that approach, I took her in my arms and told her, but she doesn’t listen.” Fred said frustrated.

“Ah! There’s your problem, you’re being too nice to her. Maybe you should just get mad at her and then tell her.” George said. “I know you get angry with her sometimes, but you never show her that, maybe you should this time. It worked for me, at least Rose now understands that I have to do this, whether I want to or not.” 

“No, you volunteered,” Rose pointed out. “It has to happen anyway. You want to. I’m not allowed to. It’s ridiculous.”

“I’m not really jumping for joy to do this, Rose. But we have to, it the best option we have to get Harry safe, without putting too many people around us at risk, so that’s why we volunteered.” 

“He has to be moved, yes. I just wished that he was already of age so you lot didn’t have to do this.” Rose kept sipping her tea. “But it’s fine, I’ll just be waiting for you with bandages and super glue to glue back some body parts that might have fallen off.” She grinned.

“Funny girl.” George smiled and kissed her. “You don’t really see any body parts falling off of me, do you?” 

_crack_

“Hello.” Lupin smiled friendly but Tonks wasn’t looking too pleased to be there.

“Hi!” Rose got up and hugged Lupin and Tonks before turning back to George. “Do you honestly believe that I would allow you to do this if I saw body parts flying off any of the seven Harry’s?”

“Wait what?” Lupin said confused.

“I was joking about having bandages and super glue at the ready for when they arrive at the Burrows,” Rose shrugged. “Tea?”

“Yes, Please.” Lupin said and looked around the room, “Aren’t we missing someone?” 

“Dru’s on strike,” Fred sighed and shook his head. “We’ve all tried.”

“But,” Rose said, handing a cup of tea to Tonks. “I suggest you go up and talk to her about why you disappeared the other day.”

“No need.” Tonks shrugged. “Do we talk here, in the dining room or in the sitting room?”

“Tea first, the important talk later. Plenty of time for you to talk to Dru.” Rose grinned as she handed a mug of tea to Lupin and leaned against the counter. 

“If Dru wants to apologize, she can come to me.” 

“Oh my god, being stubborn is really a family trait, isn’t it?” She rolled her eyes at Tonks. 

“Rose...” Lupin started.

“No, never mind, fine. I’ll go and finish the bruise-remover paste and make an attempt of separating male and female Pygmy Puffs for now.”

“No, you’re staying,” George said with a nod. “Let’s go to the sitting room.”

“Why?” Rose said and looked at George. “I’m not in the Order, I’m not allowed to help out, why should I sit with you?”

“Because you’re my wife and I thought you might be interested in what’s going to happen.” 

“Would you guys like me to try and talk to Dru?” Lupin asked as he looked at the quiet Fred.

“Don’t bother, if she’s on strike it’s like talking to a brick wall,” he muttered as he sat down on the sofa. “She needs some time to simmer down, she’ll come round.”

“See, that’s what I mean!” Tonks said to Lupin. “They’re not mature enough to be married. One fight and she’s acting like a child and he’s letting her.” 

“Would you come off that high horse of yours?” Fred shot at Tonks. “You have no idea, _no idea_ whatsoever, how long I’ve been talking to her about this, how important it is to do it and whatnot. She doesn’t like it, she doesn’t want me to go. And I agree, it’s a weird plan, weird enough that it might work but she’s afraid she’s going to lose me. I can’t disagree with her about that, because there is a chance. On top of that, when George mentioned the other moment that you and Lupin would come round, she became even more agitated because _you_ of all people, should have been the one to at least be happy for her that she got married. The only one who’s acting like a child right now, is you.”

Rose looked at George and was somewhat shocked. George was just grinning proudly at his brother. “Okay, Fred, keep that feeling and go downstairs to tell your wife that.” 

Fred looked at Rose with a smile. He nodded and then apparated. _Crack!_

Dru nearly fell off her seat when Fred apparated into the office. She was holding her chest. “Don’t do that.” 

“Why not? This is my house too,” Fred shrugged and then smiled at her. “We need to talk.”

Dru just looked at her book. She was angry and upset at the same time, but she didn’t want to start screaming at him again with the customers upstairs. “About what?” 

“Well, one, I just told Tonks how I feel about what happened at Rose and George’s wedding and two, I’m scared too, you know.”

“Scared of what?” 

“Scared that something might happen when we get Harry out of harms way.”

“All the more reason to not do this.” 

“I have to do this, it’s a crazy enough plan that might actually work. I don’t want to do it, but it’s what’s needed.”

“There are plenty of people at the auror department that can help.” Dru stood up and put her hands on his chest. Knowing that he was scared, she might find a way to change his mind.

“Yes, and the Ministry can be trusted these days,” Fred sighed. “No, they wanted this to be an Order thing, I’m in the Order. I have to do this, and when Rose started to joke about falling body parts and what not I... well, that was weird. But who else is going to do this? We can’t wait for Harry to be of age and without the trace.”

“Fred, you’re only 19 years old, you don’t have to do this.” 

“Hermione and Ron are 17. They are doing it too.”

“But they are.....they like getting into things like this. I think they just get a real kick out of it. But you’re a married man.” 

“Yes, and be glad that should I pass, at least you’ll be taken care of,” he softly kissed her and smiled at her. “I’m going to do this, Dru, no matter what.”

“No, I don’t want you to and as your wife I forbid you to do this.” She wondered about using sex to talk him out of it, Fred was being nice and kind to her and he always wanted to make her happy. She had tried the crying and whining part. Maybe she should try it a different way. It’s not like she could do anything to make Fred angry at her. She tiptoed and kissed his neck. “I’ll make it worth your while if you don’t go.”

“Dru,” he chuckled and softly caressed her hair. “You can’t forbid me to do this, this has to happen, Harry needs to be safe. I didn’t hear you complain when George was Rose and brought you to safety.”

“If I had known beforehand that you were coming, I would have stopped you.” Dru sat as started to unbutton his shirt. “Don’t go and I’ll let you do whatever you want with me.” she said seductively before kissing his collarbone. 

“Yeah, that’s not going to stop me. Saving Harry is for the greater good.”

Dru growled and stepped away from him. “Fine, If you going to be like that, you’re not getting anything anymore.” 

“Okay, we’ll see how long you can keep yourself from having sex with this gorgeous body of mine,” he grinned.

“I’ll just find someone else. There are plenty of guys on Hogwarts that want a piece of me. We both know at least one.” She lashed out at him. She knew it was a mean thing to say and she would never actually do it, but she would say anything to stop him from going. 

“I don’t think that saving Harry is worth sacrificing our marriage, is it?” Fred bit at her. “Dru, there are no other people in the Order who could take my place. I need to do this, and I’ll do everything in my power to stay safe, but it has to happen, whether you like it or not. You can stay at the Burrows, waiting for my return. Be a good wifey, and support me?”

“A marriage is about listening to each other. You don’t listen to me and my fears, so why should I support you?”

“Okay, I’ve been patient enough.” Fred sighed and walked away from her. “I listen, you DON’T. Dru, I’m scared, okay? I don’t want to do this, but I have to do this so I volunteered, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not scared. You’re making me feel worse by not supporting me, and I need your support so that at least I can do it with my mind at ease so I won’t make any mistakes. I love you, Dru. Saving Harry means that we have a chance of a world without any conflict or danger such as you-know-who and that means that our future kids can grow up safe. That’s why I’m doing it too. Not just for Harry, but for us. For our family, for the rest of the magical community. Stop being such a selfish little brat and do this, for me. Accept this, because it’s something you can’t change.” He yelled at her.

Dru was looking at the floor. Fred had never in his life yelled at her and she didn’t like it. She knew he was right, and that she needed to accept this. She slowly nodded her head. “Okay.” 

Her voice was so soft that Fred couldn’t even hear what she said. “Sorry, what?”

“I won’t stop you going anymore.” She said a little loude but still very soft and shaky.

Fred breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said as he pulled her back into his arms. “I promise, I’ll do everything in my power to stay in one piece.”

“Just so you know, if you die, I’m going to bring you back and kill you again myself.” she muttered.

“Yep, I’ll hold you to that,” he chuckled and caressed her hair. “Now come on, let’s have some tea upstairs.”

_crack_

“Ah, you made up.” George grinned. He was sitting in his chair with Rose in his lap, as Lupin and Tonks were on the sofa. “Good, then we now can start the meeting.” 

Dru nodded and gave Lupin a hug, before sitting on the armrest of Fred’s chair. She ignored Tonks, who did her best to ignore Dru.

“Alright.” Lupin sighed. “We’re going to meet up in the afternoon at your parents place. From there we go to Harry. You both own brooms, don’t you?” Lupin asked. 

“Yeah,” George nodded. “We bought new ones but never really had the chance to fly them,” he chuckled.

“Alright, so each of you will have an escort...”

“Hold it, don’t tell us who because we’ve got this little seer here that will try and make sense of the seven Harry’s and try and see what’s going to happen and it’ll drive her insane and we can’t have her go insane.” George said quickly, interrupting Lupin.

“Wait, but I want to know.” Dru said. 

Rose knew that George was right. Knowing with whom everyone was going to fly was going to drive her mad and make her lose sight of the bigger picture. 

“What if you write it down for me, that way I can show Dru and Rose doesn’t know anything?” Fred suggested. 

She sighed. “How about I’ll go downstairs?”

“No, Fred’s idea will work.” Lupin took a piece of paper and wrote something down and handed it to Fred, which Fred and Dru both read. “Alright so each of you will have an escort and you and your escort will take a different route back to the Burrows. We’re going to have every safety enchantment placed on the Burrow, even some of the Ministry ones, so once Harry’s there nobody can reach him.” 

“Who else is coming?” Dru asked.

“Me, Tonks, the boys, Arthur, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Shacklebolt, Moody, Bill, Fleur and Mundungus Fletcher.” Lupin said.

“Fletcher?” Dru asked. “You’re taking him?” 

“There’s no one else we could use,” Lupin shrugged.

“But you can’t trust him.” Dru said

“Oh, we know,” he laughed. “But he’s also the least likely to talk to you-know-who about this too, he’s the most trustworthy of them all.”

“But...no...I can go or Rose? You can trust us.” 

“You’re not going. One, you’re not a part of the Order and two, you two are special. Should something happen to you...”

“That’s a load of crap.” Rose muttered. 

“Oi! we’re no more special than the rest of you. Tonks has a special ability and she can go.” Dru said and looked at Fred. “If this has to happen, then take someone you can count on, take me or Rose.” 

“No,” Lupin shook his head. “We had a vote, and you’re not allowed to go. What if they find out that it’s you, being Harry? Or what if they think you’re Harry and they take you and they find out that they have you? No.”

“And what if they take Fred and find out it’s him. He’s my husband, you don’t think they’ll use him to get to me?” 

“It’s a risk, but a less bigger risk than taking you.” 

Dru bit her lip and tried not to cry. She wanted to scream at Fred that he couldn’t do this, but she knew she had to support him now. “I don’t like this,” escaped her lips.

“Neither do I,” Lupin gave her a reassuring smile. “But it has to happen.”

“And, in case anyone forgot, you two don’t really like flying either.” George pointed out. “You never learned to fly a broomstick either and with one being absolutely terrified and the other getting sick...”

Rose sighed as she put her head on George’s shoulder. “I hadn’t thought about that...” she said with a shudder. The thought of flying already made her body tense up. 

Dru hid her face in her hands for a few seconds as she couldn’t fight her tears anymore. “I’m so scared.” she sobbed.

Fred looked at Dru for a second, worried that she might change her mind about supporting him. He then gently pulled her of the armrest and on his lap. “Honey, I have to do this.” 

She nodded. “I know, but I can be scared, can’t I?” 

“Absolutely,” Fred nodded with a smile and softly kissed her forehead.

“Do any of you have any questions?” Lupin asked as he looked at his quiet wife. She hadn’t spoken one word since Fred yelled at her and it was very unlike her to _this_ quiet. “Sweetheart, do you have anything to add?” 

Tonks reached for the piece of paper in Fred’s hand, scratched out her own name and scribbled down another before giving it back to her husband, who nodded. She then handed the piece of paper back to Fred. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep him safe, not the way she was feeling about him and Dru right now.

Fred opened the paper and swallowed. “Right.” he said. He was glad he would now go with his dad, but he didn’t like the idea that Tonks didn’t want to go with him. 

Dru was reading with Fred over his shoulder. “You really are a bitch, aren’t you?” she shot at Tonks.

“No, I just disagree with your choice.” Tonks said simply. “And the way that I’m feeling right now, is that I can’t keep _him_ safe.”

“What choice? To get married?” 

“Exactly. You could have easily waited a few more years. And then eloping? You’re nuts!”

“Why should I have waited? What happened to life’s too short?”

“Life _is_ too short, but not for you! We’re doing everything we can to make sure that you can live a long and happy life. To get married and elope is not the way to do it.”

Rose groaned and got off George’s lap. _Not this again_ , she thought as she walked to the kitchen to make some more tea. She was tired of having decisions, whether it were Dru’s or her own, being constantly scrutinized. They knew what they were doing, they weren’t stupid. 

“But being married makes me happy.” Dru said. “I don’t get it, I love Fred, I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him, so why do I have to wait to get married to him? And by the way, what’s wrong with eloping?” 

“I half expected Rose and George to elope, but not you.” Tonks sighed. “Okay, the truth is that I do think that you’re a bit too young, but also that I would have loved to be there for you on your wedding.”

“I wanted to have been for you at your wedding, have you ever thought about that? But did I make a fuss when you told me you married Lupin, NO. I was happy for you, because you married the man you love. And second of all, Rose is only one year older than me, and you were happy for her and she’s not even your bloody cousin.” Tears were streaming down Dru’s face. Not of anger, even though she was now yelling at Tonks, but out of hurt. Tonks was the only family she had left and she never even congratulate Dru on getting married. “But if you can’t, fine! But just so you know, if you don’t, there’s no more room for you in my life.” 

“Dru, Honey.” Fred said shocked. “You don’t mean that.” 

“Yes, I do. If she can’t support me and our marriage, I don’t want her in my life.”

Lupin looked at his wife and hoped that she would have the common sense to do the right thing and make things right with her cousin. He put his arm around Tonks, who was nearly in tears herself. “Sweetheart?” 

“I’m sorry,” Tonks spoke softly. “It’s just... I don’t... I don’t want to lose you, I guess. I mean, I never knew you and now that I do, I just... I suppose I have to stop thinking of you as a little girl... but...”

“Dru, the fact that _you_ eloped, shocked us a whole lot more than Rose, or even George and Fred. You are a girl, I mean a girly girl. Everybody thought that you and Fred were going to have a huge wedding, bigger then Bill and Fleur perhaps. And you said that you would all wait till ever you graduate.” Lupin said as he caressed Tonks’s arm. “That’s why it hit Dora so hard that you did.”

“We never did.” Dru pointed at her and Fred. 

“That’s true, George and Rose had decided to wait, nobody asked us when we thought we would marry, Only George, Rose and Hermione asked and we told them we were going to marry this summer.” Fred said.

Dru looked at Tonks. “Can you accept that I’m married then? And try to happy for me?” 

“But I _am_ happy for you,” Tonks said.

Dru raised one eyebrow. “You have a very funny way of showing that.” 

Tonks suddenly got of her seat of pounced on Dru, who was still on Fred’s lap. “I’m sorry and I am happy.”

* * *

When George woke and looked straight into Rose’s eyes. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes. “Let me guess you haven’t slept all night did you?”

“No,” she smiled as she caressed his hair. “I just wanted to watch you sleep, like a creeper.”

“Ah, mrs. Cheesy again.” he chuckled and kissed her.

Rose answered his kiss and smiled at him. “I love watching you sleep.”

“You’re creepy.” He turned on his back and closed his eyes, he wanted to sleep some more.

She grinned and softly kissed his cheek, then kissed just below his right ear and nibbled on his earlobe as she softly ran her fingers up and down his chest. 

“Hmmm...good dreams.” 

“If you open your eyes, it’s reality,” she giggled.

George smiled with his eyes still closed. “If I open my eyes all I see is cheese.” 

“Yum,” she licked his neck and then moved as she planned on kissing him all over his chest. 

“Now that’s a wet dream.” George smirked as Rose gave him the occasional lick between her kisses.

“Oh dear, we can’t have any spillage in bed, can we now?” she smirked as she tugged on his underwear. 

George suddenly flipped her over making her gasp for breath. He hovered over her, looked straight into her green eyes for a few seconds, before he leaned in and kissed her deeply.

She eagerly answered his kiss and dug her hands into his hair, wanting to pull him even closer. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” he whispered huskily in her ear, before started to kiss her neck and unbuttoning her nightgown at the same time. “I love waking up like this.” he smirked.

She pulled her nightgown over her head to save him the trouble of unbuttoning it and then looked at him. “What?” she chuckled. 

“Nothing, I just love my wife.” he smiled at her as his lips found their way down from her neck to her breast. “And my wife’s breasts.” 

“George...” she moaned. “You’re such a tease!”

“Well you love teasing.” he smiled as he kissed his way back up to her lips, pulling her in a deep kiss. “I’m just trying to my duty as a good husband.” he let his hands slide from the sides of her breast down to her knees, and then ran his fingertips up her legs, making her squirm and giggle as she was very ticklish, which he loved to tease her with. “I could always stop if you want me to.” 

“But I was...” she sighed and closed her eyes. “Alright, you have your fun,” she giggled.

“Did you have other plans?” George asked curiously, while he removed her underwear. 

“Yes, I was going to take advantage of you being sleepy and give you a wonderful massage,” she nodded.

“Massage what?” he asked huskily. 

“Your entire body,” she spoke slowly. “I’d start with your feet... then your legs... your back, your chest...” she pulled him up for a kiss. “Then your shoulders and neck... and then, _maybe_ , if you were a good boy... I would have massaged everything that I missed.”

“With your hand or your lips?” he asked, still trying to see if she would ever give him the blowjob he wanted.

She smiled at him. “That’s a question only I know the answer to.”

“Rose...” he groaned and laid down on his back. “Alright, massage me.” he said.

She squealed as she rolled over and fetched the massage oil from the nightstand. “You’re going to be smelling of lavender all day!” 

“No” George sat up. “You can’t!” 

“Why not? I like scented massage oils and lavender works relaxing.” she pouted.

“Because I have to be Harry tonight, not Lavender Brown.” He kissed her. “NO lavender oil.”

“As if Harry smells like sex.” She huffed and got out another bottle.

“God I hope not. I’m going to kill him if he does.”

“Oh come on, if he does smell like sex, at least you know your little sister is going to be all grown up. Roses?” she laughed, shaking the bottle.

“No scented oil, Rose.” George smiled and pulled Rose on his lap. 

“I don’t see what the problem is, you could always take a shower!”

Then suddenly it hit George. “You’re doing this on purpose! So I can’t go tonight.” His smile had disappeared.

“What?!” She looked at him. “No!” she hit him on the shoulder. “I’m doing this to make you feel relaxed for tonight and hopefully give you the best sex ever in case something happens. You can always wash off the oil, but fine. No massage.” She then threw the bottle back into the drawer. “If I really wanted to stop you, I would have made sure you couldn’t go by cursing the hell out of you.”

“Thank you.” George laid down on his back with his hand folded behind his head. He knew she was right, but he was just worried. And scared out of his mind, he had been dreaming that Rose pulled him out of the mission at the last second and that because he wasn’t there, something bad had happened to the others and left several people dead. 

She picked up her nightgown from the floor and pulled it back on. She then started to gather dirty laundry from around the bedroom which she put in a pile in the corner before reaching into her wardrobe to get a fresh set of underwear. “I know you’re scared, and I wish that I could tell you that everything was going to be fine, but it’s _foggy_. I’m being blocked. But I’m not going to pull you out of this, I know what’s at stake.”

“Don’t worry about being blocked.” George pulled Rose back on the bed. “That will go away soon.” 

It then hit her. “Moody asked someone to block me, didn’t he?”

“He didn’t want you-know-who getting inside your head. We can’t risk it.” George kissed her neck, hoping that it would calm her down.

“I’m not Harry, I can keep him out now that I know that he could---” she got off the bed again and started to find some clothes to wear. “Now I can’t even tell you if something goes wrong or whatever. You know, I don’t get it. Apart from me not flying, there’s no reason for me not to help you, I mean, there are things called Thestrals and I felt safe on one of those when we went to the Ministry. And I’m old enough to join the Order and they’re not allowing me because I’m “special” but I can’t be that when they’re blocking me!”

“Rose, I know. I wish you could be there with me, but it’s not my decision.” George sighed and put his hands over his face, as he laid down on his back. “This is so not how I thought this morning would go.” 

“Yeah well, blame Moody,” she growled as she grabbed a set of jeans, a bra and a t-shirt and walked into the bathroom.

“Yeah, you blame Moody and then take it out on me.” he called after her. “You know what? I don’t need this. Not today.” he got a pair of pants and a shirt and put them on. He would shower later. He left the room and threw the door so hard that one of the mirrors in their bedroom fell off the wall. 

“Great! Seven years of bad luck!” she sighed as she got into her clothes. She walked back into the bedroom, waved her wand to clean up the mess and headed towards the kitchen. She leaned against the doorpost and looked at George. “I’m sorry.”

“Whatever.” He mumbled. He knew she was worried, but he just wanted a nice morning with her, in case he wouldn’t come home again. He kept his back facing her.

“Can we just do something fun today? I mean, go up the London Eye together?”

“Why, so you can bitch at me in public?” He was fed up with always being at the wrong end of her moods and have her take things out on him when he wasn’t to blame.

“I said I was sorry, okay?” She said softly. When George didn’t respond, she took a deep breath. “Fine. Good luck tonight then.”

George turned around. “Are you leaving?”

“It’s what I do, isn’t it?” she gave a small smile. 

“Brilliant.” George threw his hands in the air. “All I wanted was a nice morning in bed with my wife and she gets Moody and then I’m on my own again. Just brilliant, Rose.” he said as he walked back upstairs. He got undressed and took a long shower. 

She felt the need to throw with things. Rose knew that George was just scared and she understood all too well about wanting to have a nice, relaxing morning before everything would potentially go awry, but with the both of them in a terrible mood, hers partially because she hadn’t been able to sleep at all, it wasn’t going to happen. 

All she wanted was to throw things, cry and cling on to George and not have him go tonight. Or just run away and be the coward that she was. Or, go and try to locate Moody and beat the crap out of him for coming up with such a ridiculous idea. 

She could run, of course, but she didn’t want George to go tonight with a terrible feeling. What if he’d go and they’d still be fighting? He could get hurt. She wanted to talk to someone so badly, but her best friend was currently upstairs and angry with her and her other best friend was probably having fun with her husband, having the relaxed morning that Rose had wanted to have with George. In all seriousness, she didn’t have a place to go.

Rose sat down in the sitting room in her corner of the sofa, pulled her knees to her chest and just sobbed. She hated feeling so clueless, desperate and scared.

George was standing with his back against the wall in the shower with his eyes closed and let the warm water come down on him. How did this happen? he wanted to have a nice morning and now he and Rose were fighting. George put his hand in front of his eyes and fought the tears that were coming up. He was scared he might not ever have another morning with her at all.   
~~~

Dru had been lying awake all night, just watching Fred sleep, he looked so peaceful and adorable. By the time it was morning she had just fallen asleep herself as Fred woke up. 

Fred softly kissed Dru’s shoulder and snuggled up to her as he put his arms around her. He loved having her in his arms like this, he liked to think that nothing could go wrong this way.

Dru groaned and slowly opened her eyes. “What time is it?”

“Nine,” he chuckled and softly kissed her neck. “Go back to sleep,” he said softly.

“No, I need to go make breakfast.” she said as she turned on her back.

“We’ll have brunch,” he nodded and snuck his hand underneath her shirt. “Relax.”

Dru looked at Fred and gently caressed his cheek. “Did you sleep well?”

“Sort of,” he smiled and gently cupped her breast. “You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”

“No.” she said and closed her eyes. “But I had a nice view.” 

“Yeah? What happened in the street then?”

Dru laughed. “There was this couple that had a huge fight right under our window and then they had steamy sex there.” She bit her lip as Fred’s finger were playing with her nipples.

“Oh really now?” he asked with a low voice and nuzzled her neck as he continued to play with her breast.

“Nope, I made it up.” Dru said with a smile. “You were my view.”

“Boring stuff,” he nodded and licked her earlobe.

“No.” she moaned. “I ...love...when ...you...sleep”

“Because that’s the only time I shut up?” he grinned as he removed his hand from her breast and started to unbutton her shirt.

“Yeah.” she giggled.

“Hmm...” Fred looked at her for a second and then slowly moved so that he had better access to her body. He helped her out of her shirt and started to plant little kisses all along her torso, lingering at each breast, paying a lot of attention to her nipples. 

“Oh, Fred.” she moaned as she arched her body into his. His lips were once again driving her mad.

“Oh, I like that response,” he giggled and softly blew on her nipple after making it wet with his tongue.

“You’re driving me mad.” She smiled as her hand buried herself in his hair and tugged on it to bring his face to her. “I want you! Now!” she kissed him deeply.

Fred removed her underwear while laughing and kissed her before removing his own. “I love driving you mad.”

Dru kissed him deeply again. “I love you.” she whispered. “I love my handsome husband.” 

“And I love my gorgeous wife,” he replied as he softly kissed her neck as he started to tease her clit with his hand.

“Fred, now.” she moaned and put her legs around his so he had nowhere else to go. She lifted up his chin and looked him deeply in his eyes. “Now.”

“Your wish is my command,” he said huskily and slowly entered her. 

She gasped and threw her head back into the pillow as Fred started to trust. She loved the way he filled her up. She had one hand in his hair and with the other she dug her nails into his shoulder. “Oh honey.” she moaned.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he started to thrust faster, harder. “So incredibly beautiful,” he softly kissed her neck. “Still don’t know how I’ve become so lucky to have you...”

Dru let out a giggle and bit her lip hard. Giggling isn’t sexy, she thought to herself. “I...I...I’m the lucky one.” she could hardly speak as she was almost out of breath. “I’m yours.” she closed her eyes and let out a hard moan.

He could feel her body play catch and release around his cock as she came, and Fred rode out her orgasm with her, giving him the final push to come too. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and sighed happily. “I love you.”

“I love you.” she said as she put her arms tight around his neck, she didn’t want him to move. “I love you so much.” 

Their moment was suddenly interrupted by a door that was slammed really hard. “What was that?” Dru asked.

“Ignore,” Fred muttered as he nuzzled her neck.

Dru giggled again and bit her lip again. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for your giggle!” he kissed her tenderly and then rolled off of her. “I love your giggle. Your giggle brightens any day.”

“It’s silly.” Dru said and turned on her side facing Fred. “I feel so silly when I giggle during sex.” 

“It’s adorable,” he smiled at her and kissed her again. “It’s a real turn on.”

This made Dru roar with laughter. “Stop it! You’re just being mean!” 

“I’m not being mean!” he laughed. 

“Yes, you are!” Dru said as she kissed him. “No man finds giggling a turn on.” 

“And you know this, how?” he smiled at her and kissed the tip of her nose. “I love your giggle.”

“I’m a mind reader.” 

“Get inside mine, and giggle.”

Dru shook her head. “Nope. You wanted to keep things unpredictable, remember?” 

“Well then, you just have to believe me when I say that I find your giggle a huge turn on.” He grinned and started to draw circles on her stomach with his index finger.

“Nope, I won’t.” she said simply and laid back down on the bed and looked at the ceiling. “You’re going to careful tonight, aren’t you?”

“Yes, my beautiful wife,” he smiled at her and snuggled up to her. 

“I don’t want to lose you.” she said softly as she turned her head and looked at him, blinking the tears out of her eyes. 

“Don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen,” he assured her and softly wiped her tears away with his thumb. 

“I’m so scared, Fred.” she said as she turned back towards him and buried her face in his neck.

“Yeah... me too.” he said as he caressed her back. “But not to worry, there’s Lupin, Tonks and Moody... and do you honestly think that my dad would let something happen to me?” Fred smiled.

“No, I just wished you would have let me join you. So I can be there with you.” 

“Stay at the Burrows, that way I’ll come back to you sooner,” he smiled and softly caressed her hair.

“I will.”she said and she closed her eyes, trying to hold on to this moment as long she could

~~~

George came out of the shower, put on fresh clothes and walked downstairs. He had still felt anger towards Rose, but that all disappeared when he saw her crying on the sofa. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “Rosie.” he sighed. 

“I told you I was sorry, I am sorry, I love you George, I am so scared and I’m sorry for getting mad at you and ruining your morning and---” Rose rambled as she sobbed into his shoulder. 

“Breathe,” he said softly and caressed her back. 

“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have lost it like that... I should be strong for you, because I know you’re scared too and...” She took a deep breath. And another one. “I really am sorry.”

“Don’t be, Rose.” George pulled Rose closer to him. 

She sighed and put her arms around him. “I just don’t like it that I can’t keep an eye on all of you.” she softly kissed him. “Promise me you’ll try everything to keep yourself safe?”

“Yes, of course I will. Rose, we all will.” He kissed her back. “Do you honestly think I would do anything to jeopardize coming back home to my wife? I love you.” 

“I love you too,” she smiled at him.


	40. The Harry Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've kept a few lines of JK's work in this chapter, mostly because they were already so beautiful and we just added a bit to it to suit our needs.

It was the end of the afternoon when Rose, Dru, Fred and George went to the Burrows. The mission was going to take place in the evening, but they were going to stay for dinner. It was a very quiet meal. There were no members of the Order present, just the family and Hermione.

Dru couldn’t take the silence anymore. “So, is everybody looking forward to tonight?” 

“Oh, I managed to separate the male and female Pygmy Puffs,” Rose said at the same time. “For some reason they have no problems with reproducing, I think that Verity sneaks in more waste and feeds them.”

“I shall have a talk with her about that, when we get to the store.” Fred smiled.

“I did see that there’s a new color. Purple with a bright pink line over his entire body, I’m sure that Ginny...”

“I want!” Ginny squealed. “Can I? Please?”

“You already have Arnold.” Mrs Weasley pointed out.

“Yes, but I don’t care, I want another one!”

“Ginny, you’re not even going to be able to take care of it. We’re going back to school in a month.”

“I’m taking it with me. That’s the brilliant things about Pygmy Puffs, they hunt for spiders and other things and you don’t _have_ to take care of them.”

“No, you’re really not getting another one.” Mr Weasley said.

“Don’t worry, Ginny,” George winked at her. “Fortunately we have Dru and Rose who have to go back to school too, and they’ll take it with them.”

“George!” Mrs. Weasley said and hit him and Fred over the head. 

“What did I do?” Fred said mockingly offended.

“It’s our duty to spoil our little sister, mum.” George nodded. 

“You, George, spoil your sister enough already and you, Fred...well, you probably would help your brother, so I did it in advance.”

“Yeah, don’t worry Ginny,” Rose nodded with a smile and then winced as she too was hit by Mrs Weasley. 

“Honestly, Rose! Don’t encourage the boys.” Mrs. Weasley said.

“Well, I do think Ginny has got a good idea about bringing Pygmy Puffs to school for pets, since I’m not taking Holly with me”

“I’m not encouraging them,” she laughed. “No, I’m not taking Moggy with me either.”

“Why not?” Ron said as he was chewing on his chicken leg.

“Because it will be an unhealthy place for them,” Rose said softly and took a sip of her water.

“I don’t even think we’re going to be able to send a lot of owls, knowing the new climate at school.” Dru sighed.

“Rose?” Ginny asked slowly.

“No.” Rose replied.

“Don’t worry,Ginny. You might not have any brothers anymore at the school but you do have your two sisters in law.” Dru smiled and pat Ginny on her arm.

“And you will have Ron, and Hermione and Harry.” Mrs. Weasley said determined.

“But Hermione said that....” Dru looked at Ron and Hermione.

“They will go to school and that’s final.” Mrs. Weasley said sternly.

“Of course,” Hermione replied. “I wouldn’t want to miss a day of school.”

“I already told her.” Ron said.

“Yes, Ronald, I gathered as much,” Hermione nodded. “But we will go to school like she wishes us to.” She then kicked him underneath the table.

Dru was finished her plate and crawled on Fred’s lap while he was still eating. It might be a bit rude because nobody else was finished either, but she just wanted to be close to him. 

“Oh, maybe we could take a few of the Pygmy Puffs with us and sell them on Hogwarts,” Rose smiled widely. “Considering that everyone likes to stay indoors these days.”

“Brilliant,” George nodded.

Dru put her head on Fred’s shoulder. “I think we could sell a lot of skiving snackboxes too, this year.” 

“That’s it, you’re not going to take clothes with you, but just our stuff,” Fred laughed as he continued to eat with his left hand, while caressing her back with his right. “Or well, we’ll just have to miniaturize everything and you can set up shop in Myrtle’s bathroom or something.”

“Well, I could leave my clothes at home, I think a lot of boys would like that.” Dru teased Fred.

He nearly choked on his food. “Woman!”

“What? It was your idea!” Dru said innocently as she rubbed his back.

“Yeah... not going to happen,” Rose shook her head laughing.

“Wanna sneak away for a bit?” George whispered in Rose’s ear. 

“Sure,” she smiled at him and slowly got up.

“George, stay, the order can be here any minute.” Bill laughed at his brother, knowing full well what he was up to.

George growled at his older brother and put his arm around Rose. “Where’s Charlie anyway?”

“He had to go back to Romania yesterday. Some dragon emergency.” Mr. Weasley said. “He’ll be back tomorrow or the day after that.” 

It then hit Rose what George had probably been thinking of and chuckled as she put her head on his shoulder, and her hand on his inner thigh, under the table. She was going to have him distracted, just to have a little fun with him.

“Stop it.” George laughed and pulled her hand away.

“I’m not doing anything!” Rose said and put her other hand in his lap.

“Rosie.” 

“I’m honestly not doing anything,” she chuckled and nodded at her hand, which was laying in his lap with her palm up. “It’s just laying there, all _limp_ and _useless_.”

“Rose, hands above the table.” George warned her, while the rest of the table laughed.

“Oh, I remember that kind of doing nothing, I could drive your father crazy with that.” Mrs Weasley smiled at her husband.

“Mom!” her five children all whined, while her three daughters in law and Hermione were in stitches.

“I so didn’t want to hear that.” Bill muttered

“I’m honestly not doing anything,” she chuckled. “Your lap is a good place as any other to put my hand.”

“Yeah....no!” George said and got up to help his mother clean up. “Sorry, sweetie, but I have to keep a clear head.” 

“Sheez, no lavender oil, no rose oil... no teasing...” Rose said teasingly and rolled her eyes at him. 

“Lavender oil?” Fred smirked.

“Thanks, Rose.” George frowned.

“Massage oil, Fred. Just innocent massage oil.” Rose nodded and started to help George and Mrs. Weasley with clearing the table.

“Yeah, Lavender scented.” Fred smirked softly, making Bill, Ginny and Ron laugh.

“Muggles find the smell of Lavender calming!”

“I don’t like Lavender.” Ron said while glancing at Hermione.

“Oh for the...” Rose threw up her hands. “I don’t mean _her_.”

“He knows that.” George said and gave Rose a quick kiss on her lips. 

Dru put both arms around Fred’s neck. She wanted to say something encouraging to him, but she couldn’t think of anything. Instead she just her fingers play with the hairs in his neck. “I love you.” she whispered in his ear.

“I love you too,” Fred smiled at Dru.

“You make me barf.” Ron muttered.

“You’re just jealous,” Fred chuckled at Ron.

“No, I’m not. You two are getting worse by the day. You’re even worse than Bill and Fleur.” 

“Oi!” Bill said and smacked Ron’s head.

“They’re not that bad,” Rose and George shrugged.

“She almost worse than Lavender.” Ron said

There was a knock on the kitchen door before it opened and Shacklebolt walked in. “Good evening,” he said with his deep voice. 

Dru put her arms even tighter around Fred’s neck, she knew he would be leaving soon. 

Kingsley Shacklebolt smiled at Dru. “Don’t worry, little lady, I’ve been keeping the Muggle prime minister safe for the last year, and he’s still walking around, I’ll make sure nothing will happen to your husband.”

Dru looked up to him and smiled. “Thank you, sir.” His deep voice had something soothing about it.

There was another crack outside the Burrow and soon Tonks and Lupin walked into the kitchen. “Good evening.” Lupin smiled at everyone and walked over to Rose to give her a hug.

“Hey,” Rose said as she hugged him tightly. “Don’t get yourself killed.”

Lupin smiled. “I just let them kill your husband, so you’re my little girl again.” he joked at her.

“Remus.” Tonks let Dru go and looked at her husband

Rose looked at Lupin and then at George before looking back at Lupin. “You’d better not or else Tonks will be a widow,” she threatened.

“Yeah, not just a widow.” Tonks muttered under her breath.

“Oh, Dora, you know.” Dru squealed and hugged her.

“Yay you know!” Rose squealed and hugged Tonks too, before hugging Lupin. 

“What?”

“The mind reader and the seer make a great team,” Rose giggled.

“He or she talked to me.” Dru squealed and was hopping up and down. 

“Tonks, what are they on about?” Bill asked.

“Well, Remus and I have an announcement---” 

“I see everybody’s ready? Let’s go now.” Moody said as he walked into the kitchen with Fletcher. 

Dru took Fred’s left hand with both her hands and looked at him. “Now?” she asked softly.

“Yes, now,” Moody shot at her. “Time is of the essence here. Let’s go.”

Everybody said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley and the three girls that were staying behind and walked outside and mounted their broom, Thestral or in Hagrid’s case bike. 

Suddenly Dru remembered something. “Fred, George wait.” Dru ran to Fred. “Your wedding band. You need to take it off.” 

“I don’t want to,” Fred sighed as he reluctantly took it off his finger and put it in Dru’s hand. He softly kissed her. “I’ll come back in one piece, I promise.”

“I’ll be here.” she kissed him back. 

“Don’t lose it, I want it back.” George smiled as he gave Rose his ring.

“You’d better come back so I can return it to you,” she said softly and softly kissed him.

“I will.” he kissed her back and watched as she walked back to the kitchen door. Both Dru and Rose gave Hermione a gentle squeeze on her leg as they walked by her. “Good luck, girl.” Dru smiled at her. 

“Thanks,” she smiled bravely. 

Dru walked up to Mrs. Weasley and took her hand. “They’ll be okay, won’t they?”

“Of course dear,” Mrs. Weasley smiled bravely. “Come on, let’s make us some tea, they will be a while.”

“We can talk about what colour Pygmy Puff you’re going to get me for my birthday.” Ginny smiled as she pulled Rose along with her into the kitchen.

Dru smiled and sat down at the table. “I thought you wanted the purple one with the pink stripe.” 

“No more pets. I’m not running a zoo.” Mrs. Weasley said. 

“But Mrs. Weasley,” Rose smiled brightly. “Pygmy Puffs take care of themselves!”

“Rose is right, Mrs. Weasley.” Dru smiled.

“Rose, Dru, my sweethearts, maybe it’s time you start calling me Molly.” She smiled warmly. “Considering I’m your mother in law. You can even call me ‘mum’ if you feel like it, but you already have one of those.”

Dru looked at Rose for a second. “That’s really sweet of you, Mrs .Weasley.” 

“Molly,” Molly chuckled. “Go on, the world won’t implode if you say it.”

“Molly.” Dru said with a soft voice, making Rose and Ginny laugh.

“See? The world didn’t implode,” she laughed and put the kettle on. 

“Now Rose.” Ginny smiled. 

“Nope,” Rose laughed. “Knowing my luck, something will happen.”

Dru laughed. “You’re worse than Lavender with your superstitious stuff.” 

“Fine,” Rose said as she set her jaw. “Molly.” she then looked at Dru. “I’m going to kill you if something goes wrong tonight.”

“No, kill Molly, she made us say it.” Dru smiled.

“I’m not going to kill the mother of my gorgeous and handsome husband!”

“Too bad they have such an little nightmare of a daughter.” Dru smiled as she watched Ginny, who was in deep thoughts. 

“Hey!” Ginny said and threw a sponge at Dru.

Dru laughed and looked at Fred’s ring. “I still can’t believe I’m married.” she muttered happily.

“Did you write something special in there?” Ginny asked as she tried to look over Dru’s shoulder and at the ring.

“ _My firecracker 17-7-97_ ” Dru smiled and gave Fred’s ring to Ginny. “Mine says. _my calm in the storm 17-7-97_.” 

“That is adorable,” Ginny squealed. “And so you!”

Dru took Fred’s ring back and put it on her thumb so she wouldn’t lose it. 

“What about yours, Rose?” Molly asked as she put the four mugs down and sat down next to the girls. 

Rose handed Molly George’s ring. “He has this image of a rose with the date and I have a wrapped sweet with a G in it with the date of our wedding.”

“Why the wrapped sweet?” Molly asked as she looked at George’s ring.

“He’s my sweetie,” she blushed.

Molly smiled and handed Rose the ring back. “That’s lovely, just lovely.” she caressed Rose’s cheek for a few seconds. “You girls are really something.” 

“Yeah, they are.” Ginny said and rested her head against Dru’s shoulder. “Best sisters in law ever.” 

“Best annoying little sister ever.” Dru teased and kissed the top of her head.

“You girls will look out for each other this year, won’t you?” Molly asked.

“Of course!” Rose said as she hugged Molly. “Dru and I won’t let anything happen to Ginny.”

“She’s our sister and our friend.” Dru smiled.

“I do need some private time to snog boys though.” Ginny remarked.

“Snog Neville, that way we know somebody keeps an eye on you.” Dru teased Ginny.

“I’ve already snogged him!” she blurted and looked at Dru in shock. “Oh my God, I snogged Neville.”

“You what?” Molly said surprised.

“Uhh... some idiot was fooling around with love potions mum, it’s not serious.”

“Was he a good snogger?” Molly asked as she sipped her tea.

“Yes.” Dru and Ginny said at the same time, before looking at each other and laughing.

“What actually happened between the three of you?” Rose wondered out loud.

“Well, Draco gave me a potion that would make me love the one who drank the same potion, but instead of Neville finishing my tea, which he usually does, Ginny drank it, so we sort of fell in love with each other and we went to bleachers and sort of kissed.” Dru said.

“Right... wow...” Rose said, blinking. “Poor Neville.”

“Okay, I understand that the potion made you two fall in love and kiss, but how did Neville come into the picture?” Molly asked, still intrigued by what happened that day as she only saw the final part, when she visited Ron in the hospital. 

“Oh, Neville kept an eye on us to make sure we weren’t getting ourselves into trouble and I thought it was fun if he’d join us... Mum... it was terrible that potion, really.”

“Ginny, you asked him, you wanted to kiss him. The potion had no affect on your feelings for him.” Dru said. “And you have to admit, the locker room was a bit fun.” 

“Oh yes,” Ginny giggled. 

“What happened in the locker room?” Rose laughed. 

“Well, Ginny asked Neville if she could kiss him, which left him stammering and blushing like crazy, Then she sat on his lap and kissed him, while I sat next to him and kissed his neck at the same time.”

Molly’s mouth was wide open and so was Rose’s.

“And then he kissed Dru, while I kissed his neck.” Ginny giggled. 

“Ohh, bad Neville!” Rose said shocked.

“Does Fred know?” Mrs. Weasley asked.

Dru nodded. “I told him everything and the boys did find us under the influence of the potion, Ginny was kissing me and Rose had thrown herself at Neville, because Draco had given her the potion he meant for me.”

“What?” Molly chuckled. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“The potion he used on me was wearing off, I suppose he was desperate and didn’t watch the label.” Rose muttered and shuddered. The thought of her having kissed Draco was just still disturbing.

“I still don’t get why Draco wanted you to hook up with Neville again, he never liked seeing you with Neville.” Ginny said.

“He wanted me to cheat on Fred, so he would call off the wedding.” Dru confessed. “He told me that when I stayed the night in the infirmary with him. I know it was wrong of him, but he was desperate, he felt like he was losing me.” 

“Yeah but that doesn’t make sense, does it? He should have made it so you’d fall in love with one of his Slytherin people.” 

“Because he figured Fred would be more upset it was Neville. If it was just a guy, Fred would know it was just the potion. But Draco bet on Fred being jealous of Neville, cause he’s my ex.” 

“That makes sense.” Molly said, she was trying to keep herself busy in the kitchen, hoping that the time would pass quicker that way. 

Rose sipped on her tea. “Then again, the entire school was obsessed with the WonderWitch love potions since the shop opened.”

“It’s Pygmy Puffs now!” Ginny giggled.

“Maybe that’s why the Pygmy Puffs are producing so much, they’ve been sipping love potion.” Dru giggled.

“Haha! Pygmy Puffs, high on loooove!”

“Just don’t give Ginny any more love potion, she’s still my little girl after all.” Molly smiled.

“Mum! Harry broke up with me, believe me, I won’t be getting any action at all.”

“What about Neville then?” Molly smiled.

“He’s interesting, but no thanks. Would be weird.”

The four women sat in silence for the remainder of the night, before they could hear the sound of an engine in the distance. “Hagrid!” Dru said and got out of her chair and ran after Rose outside. 

She winced when she saw that they had landed in the water, but both Hagrid and Harry looked okay, if it was the real Harry. 

“That’s Harry.” Dru said as she saw Rose looking. 

“Good,” She breathed a sigh of relief. “At least he’s safe.”

“Harry! Hagrid!” Molly ran outside. “Where are the others?”

“Is no one else back?” Harry asked surprised. 

“They were on to us right from the start, Molly,” Hagrid said. “We didn’t stand a chance.”

Rose blinked at Hagrid and looked at Harry who looked apologetic, or maybe he felt guilty, she didn’t know. 

Dru gasped and put her hands on her mouth in shock. 

“Well, thank goodness you two are alright,” Molly said bravely. 

“The Death Eaters were waiting for us, it was an ambush,” Hagrid continued as Ginny walked to Harry to hug him. 

“Ron and Tonks should have been back by now! Dad and Fred as well.” Ginny softly said to Harry.

All of a sudden there was the sound of someone apparating. “Here!” It was Lupin calling out for help. “Quick! Into the house!” Harry ran towards Lupin and one of the twins. It was hard to tell in the dark which one it was. 

“Rose, George.” Dru said looking for breath. She watched the others going into the house as she stood in the doorway, keeping an eye outside as well.

Rose felt herself move, but she wasn’t really there. She watched how Lupin and Harry put George on the sofa and Molly immediately walked over to George and started to check him out. He was barely conscious, one of his ears seemed to be missing and the side of his head and neck were drenched in blood. 

It didn’t even register to Rose that Lupin had dragged off Harry to make sure he was the real one, and that afterwards they talked and ran outside when someone else was coming. “Rose, get me some clean water and wet cloths honey, we need to clean this up.” Mrs. Weasley said, pulling her out of her thoughts. 

Rose nodded and walked to the kitchen to do as Molly had asked and came back inside and sat down on her knees next to Molly. “I told you something bad would happen when I’d start calling you Molly,” she said softly.

“Rose.” George opened his eyes a little.

“I’m here, sweetie,” she smiled. 

“You were right about the body parts falling off, did you bring your muggle superglue?” he gave a weak smile. 

She chuckled and shook her head. “Save your strength, George,” she said as she followed Molly’s lead in gently cleaning him up, she felt a knot in her stomach. The loss of his ear was obviously caused by dark magic, and Rose knew very well that nobody could fix that.

“Told you I’d come back.” he caressed her cheek with the back of his bloody hand.

“Yeah, you did,” she smiled at him. “You did good, George.”

“I’m a Wonder Witch too.” George took hold of the collar of Rose’s shirt and tried to pull her to him so he could give her a kiss.

Rose softly kissed his lips. “I’m glad you’re back, now rest a little, let your mum and me clean you up.”

George nodded and closed his eyes. 

Rose was glad that Mrs. Weasley could stop the bleeding and it was easier now to clean him up a bit. She looked up when she heard Mr. Weasley shout at Kingsley before bursting into the living room, followed by an equally pale Fred and Dru right behind him. 

~~~

Dru saw Kingsley return with a horrified Hermione. She wanted to make her way to her with Harry, but Lupin told them to wait. It was a strange sight to see Lupin and Kingsley pointing their wands at each other like at any moment they could hurt the other man.

“The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to pair of us.” Kingsley spoke at Lupin.

“Harry is the best hope we have, trust him.” Lupin calmly replied and at that sentence both men lowered their wands. 

Dru could see them talk was wasn’t listening anymore, her stomach was making flips and her eyes were tearing up. “Where are you?” she muttered to herself. She saw Hermione run to Ron as he came back with Tonks and Harry ran to his two friends. Dru suddenly startled as Bill and Fleur apparated right next to her on the thestral and then she heard another crack and she saw Fred take off the glasses he was wearing and put an arm around his father. 

“Fred.” Dru ran straight into his arms. “You’re safe.” 

“Of course I’m safe,” he smiled and let go of his father before putting his arms around her. “All in one piece, see?”

“Are we the last back?” Arthur asked. 

“Where’s George?” When Dru looked up at Fred with tears running over her cheeks, he instantly knew something was wrong. 

“I’ll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I’ve seen my son, now back off if you know what’s good for you!” Arthur shouted and bursted into the living room with Fred on his heels.

“Arthur!” Molly sobbed. “Oh thank goodness!”

“How is he?” Arthur dropped to his knees beside George. Rose decided to move away behind the sofa, to give them all a bit of space, but her eyes never left her husband. 

Fred seemed to be lost for words. He was standing next to Rose and looked at his twin’s wound as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Dru was looking at Fred with tears in her eyes, she hated it when he was hurting. Fleur stood behind the girl, put her hands on Dru’s shoulder and pulled her against her. “He’s safe, they’re both safe.” she whispered soothing. “George will be alright.” Dru gave Fleur a weak smile.

George sighed. 

“How do you feel, Georgie?” Fred asked with a whisper as Arthur got up to let Fred kneel down next to his twin.

George pointed to the side of his head. “Saint-like,” he murmured.

“What’s wrong with him?” Fred looked terrified. “Is his mind affected?”

“Saint-like,” George repeated, opening his eyes and looked up at his brother. “You see? I’m holy. _Holey_ , Fred, geddit?”

Molly was sobbing even louder now, while the color in Fred’s face returned. “Pathetic,” he told George. “Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for _holey_?”

“Reckon I’m still looking better than you,” he said to Fred and then smiled at Rose before looking at his mother. “At least you’ll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, mum,” He grinned at Molly before seeing Harry. “And we got you back safely. Where are Bill and Ron? They should see me round my sickbed.”

“We’re here, mate.” Ron’s voice sounded. He was standing near the fireplace. 

“Mad eye is dead. Mundungus took one look at Voldemort and disapperated.” Bill solemnly said. 

Dru had walked outside. It was all becoming too much for her. She had been so focussed on keeping Rose’s mind closed down, like Moody had asked her to, that she couldn’t keep her own gift under control. And right now there was too much pain, worry and sadness for her to handle. She walked to the thestral that Bill and Fleur had arrived on and gently pat it. 

“Go take care of that wife of yours, Freddie,” George said to his brother. “I’ve got mum and Rose mother-henning me, don’t want your ugly face in the middle of two pretty ladies.”

“Alright, but next time they should do something about that nose of yours. It’s too big,” Fred countered with a smile and after giving his brother a friendly tap on his leg, he walked outside. 

“Dru? Honey?” Fred asked softly before pulling her into his arms. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Dru hold on to his shirt and buried her face into it. He smelled like him and bit like Harry. “Uh, you don’t smell right.” 

“Yeah, I know,” he chuckled and caressed her hair. “You can stop blocking Rose now, go focus on yourself, I’m here.”

“I stopped focussing on her the moment George came back.” Dru looked up at him. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he smiled at her. “George is fine. Harry is fine. Shame we lost Moody though.”

Dru bit her lip and shook a head a little, she didn’t need to go inside his head to know he was lying. “He’ll be okay.” 

“Yeah, I’m not too worried,” he said and softly kissed her. “So what did you girls talk about when we were out playing with Death Eaters?”

“Fred.” she growled, not amused by the way he was taking things so lightly, but knew that humour was both Fred and George’s coping mechanism, and George would fall apart later on and Fred would just pretend it didn’t happen. “We talked about the love potion incident.” 

“In front of Mum?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I even told her that Ginny and I kissed Neville at the same time.” Dru couldn’t help but to smile. The memory of Neville been in complete shock over Ginny and Dru coming on to him at the same time, still amused her. 

“Oh to have had mile long extendable ears, I would have loved to hear you, mum and Ginny talk about that!”

“It was quite funny, the looks on your mums and Rose’s face were priceless.” Dru yawned and put her head against his chest again. “I’m glad you’re home safe.” 

“I promised you I’d come back.” He kissed the top of her head. “Are you feeling good enough to join the rest of them for some firewhiskey and shall we then go to sleep? I could use a good shower too.”

Dru nodded as she yawned again. “I think I don’t need that firewhiskey. I’m falling asleep as it is.” 

“You mind if I don’t pass on the firewhiskey?”

“Of course not.” Dru smiled at him. “I’ll stay with you, if you want me to.” 

“Yes,” he smiled and held out his hand. “I think you have something that belongs to me.”

Dru put her hand in his. “You know I belong to you.” she teased, knowing full well he meant his wedding band. 

He kissed her lips. “Give it to me,” he said sweetly. 

Dru took his hand and put the wedding band on his finger. “Now, you’re my husband again.” 

Fred kissed her again and then lifted her up into his arms. “I feel whole again.”

She laughed and put her arms around his neck. “Let’s get you that firewhiskey then.” 

Rose was sitting on the sofa now, George was using her lap as a pillow and he had his eyes closed while he held her hand. He wasn’t sleeping, but he was just trying to ignore the ringing he heard in his head. At least it didn’t hurt, that much. “Rosie?” 

“Yes George?” Rose softly caressed his hair, avoiding the bandage that Molly had put around his head to cover up his ear.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” she chuckled and gladly took a glass of Firewhiskey from Bill. “Thanks Bill.”

Bill then gave Fred and Dru a glass too. Dru was sitting on Fred’s lap on the chair next to the sofa. “Thank you, Bill.” Dru said softly as she looked at George. “How are you feeling, George?” 

“I’m alright. I’ve got my sweet Rosie with me.” George smiled. “How’s your head?” 

“You shouldn’t worry about me, I’m not hurt.” Dru said as she gave Fred her glass as he finished his. 

“I need to look out for my brother’s wife, don’t I?” George smiled with his eyes still closed. 

“Wife?” Harry asked and looked at Dru and Fred. “You two got married?”

“Oh, he didn’t know yet!” Fred laughed.

“We got married ten days ago.” Dru smiled. “The day after I turned 17.” Dru gave Fred a kiss on his cheek. 

“Wow, congratulations!” Harry smiled widely. “That is... that is absolutely brilliant!”

“Thanks Harry, that’s the best reaction we had so far.” Dru smiled. 

“That’s not all, mate.” Ron smiled at Harry. 

“What? Did you get married too?” Harry chuckled as he took a sip of his firewhiskey. “To whom?”

“To you.” Ron laughed. “No, in true twin fashion, Rose and George got married the day after Fred and Dru.” 

“No we didn’t,” George and Rose chorused jokingly and then looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.

“Yeah, we’ve got proof you two did.” Bill smiled. “At least we saw you two get married.” 

“Oh, I think someone needs to fill me in on everything that I’ve missed so I don’t feel the odd one out.” Harry sighed.

“You are the odd one out, Harry,” Rose said as she was gently slipping George’s ring back on his finger. “But we love you anyway.”

“And whole again.” He smiled, and narrowed his eyes at Fred and Dru laughing. “What?”

“You are so twins.” Dru laughed. 

“No, we just met in school and found out we looked alike,” Fred laughed.

“He said the same thing when I put his ring back on.” Dru smiled at George. 

“I should have gone for the other idea I had in my head then,” George nodded and sat up a little to take a sip of Rose’s glass of firewhiskey.

“What was it?” Rose smiled at him.

“I felt completely naked without it,” Fred and George chorused with an identical nod, making everyone laugh.

“Oh, who’s the ruler of the Cheese now?” Rose rolled her eyes at George. “Lay down.” She pressed his head back down onto her lap with a finger.

Dru put her head against Fred’s shoulder and quickly felt herself drift into a deep sleep.

As the evening drew to a close, some people left, others went upstairs to look for their beds. Molly wasn’t complaining when Bill said that he wanted Fleur with him and that there was not going to be a discussion about that, so that meant that technically, Rose, Dru and Fred and George could be in the same room together too. 

Rose had noticed that George had somewhat drifted off in a light sleep on the sofa, so she knew she wasn’t going to go anywhere soon, and Fred decided to carry Dru up the stairs towards his old bedroom. He didn’t want to wake up Dru at the moment, she was emotionally drained and was recharging her batteries. “See you in a bit, Fred.” Rose said softly and smiled at him.

“What? You going to carry him up the stairs?”

“He’ll wake up soon enough, you know how he is.”

“If he needs help to get up the stairs, come and get me, even if I’m asleep already, promise?” 

“Yeah, I promise. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him in your absence.”

“I know you will, Rose. You’re the only one I trust with that job.” He smiled at her and looked at Dru as she made some noises. “Better put this one to bed and take that shower.” 

“Yes, you smell.” Rose said yawning, rubbing her nose. George smelled of Harry, himself and copper because of the blood. “Good night.” She rested her head on the back of the sofa as she heard Fred take the stairs. It didn’t take her long to drift off into a waking state of sleep.

“Pygmy Puffs.” Dru muttered in her sleep.

“Yes,” Fred said softly. “You’re going to take as many as you can to Hogwarts.” He made sure not to bump her head whenever he had to make a turn and gently placed her on his bed when he finally reached the bedroom. “You can borrow Hagrid’s axe to kill them all.”

“George...blood.” she muttered as he turned her onto her side. 

“Shh, he’s fine honey.” he said as he caressed her hair. “Go back to sleep.”

Dru turned on her back and muttered something Fred couldn’t make out. 

“I’m going to take a shower, don’t be frightened when I’m not here when you wake up.” He softly kissed her forehead before going to the bathroom and took a quick, but thorough and hot shower. He then got back into his boxers and walked to his bedroom because he knew his mum still had some of his clothes there to use and found a pair of pyjamas. 

“No, Fred.” Dru muttered as she turned back on her left side.

“Well, yes, we’re at mum’s.” He chuckled and started to pull off her boots.

“Make your own pancakes.” 

“I’d rather sleep first, thanks.”

“No, I’m busy.” 

“Busy sleeping.” He said as he crawled in bed and pulled the covers over the both of them. If she wanted to be undressed, she’d do it herself later. Or not.

“Fred.” she said annoyed.

“What did I do now?” Fred pulled her into his arms. “Let’s continue to sleep.”

“I need to finish my potions. Stop bothering me.” 

He took one good look at her face and saw that she was still sleeping. He chuckled and shook his head. “Fine, I’ll leave you to it. Good night honey.”

“I need to finish this for my homework.”

Fred closed his eyes and buried his face into her hair. He was slightly amused by how Dru was talking in her sleep, it took his mind off the fact that he had nearly lost his brother tonight, all in the name of ‘the greater good’, and if the good was definitely greater, it sucked.

“I don’t like plants.”

“Go find Neville.” Fred sighed and tried to fall asleep.

“Rose, I need to send an owl to Fred, but the owlery is gone.” 

“Build another one,” he muttered.

“Fred.” she muttered again

“What?” he asked annoyed. “Can’t you just go back to sleep? Shut up, maybe? I love you but...”

Dru sighed, yawned and turned to face Fred. She was still sleeping, but she’d stopped talking. 

He listened to the blissful silence for a while and now that Dru had shut up, he found himself unable to go to sleep. Fred was tired, sure, but he had nearly lost his brother. He had nearly lost George. He turned away from Dru and stared at the wall. “Oh God...” he felt tears roll down his cheeks. “Georgie...”

Dru woke up when she felt her sharp pain in her chest and opened her eyes. Fred was his back turned to her and was clearly crying. “Fred?” She sat up to look at him. “Honey?’ she asked worried as she gently shook his arm. 

“I nearly lost George today, Dru,” Fred sobbed uncontrollably as he rolled over and buried his face into her lap. 

“He’s okay.” Dru caressed his hair as she felt her heart break, she had never seen Fred cry before. She didn’t think anybody had ever seen Fred cry before. 

“I could have lost him!” he blurted.

“I know, Honey, I know.” she caressed his hair with her left hand and rubbed his back with her right. “It’s okay, just let it out.” she said softly.

“I don’t know what I would do without him, Dru, we’ve always been together... He was nearly gone!”

“But he’s not, Fred. I know it was scary, but he’s still here. You haven’t lost him.” 

“But I could have!” 

 

Rose jolted awake when she felt George move. “Where do you think you’re going?” she muttered.

“Fred.” George tried to get up, but he could feel Rose holding him back. “Sweetie, I need to go up there.” 

“What?” she blinked and looked at him. He was looking at her helplessly, but also with a rather determined look on his face. “Oh, yeah, sorry,” she said and gently helped him to sit up. “Take it easy though, don’t want you to fall over.”

“I will.” He leaned on her and as they got closer to the room, Rose could hear why he wanted to get up to his brother. 

“Is Fred crying?” Rose asked softly. It was a rare occurrence that any of the twins cried, although George was more prone to it, and it just always broke her heart.

“Yeah, he never cries.” George said as he quietly opened the door. 

Rose helped him to sit down on the bed and then let go of him. George didn’t even pay attention to Dru much when he laid down behind Fred and put his arms around his brother. “I’m here, still here, and not going anywhere Freddie.” 

Dru got off the bed and went to Fred’s drawer to get one of his shirts. “Do you need one?” Dru asked as she saw that Rose was still wearing her clothes too. 

“Yeah, thanks,” Rose said softly and then looked at Dru as she walked out of the room again to give the boys some privacy. _Coming?_ she asked Dru.

Dru smelled a few shirts until she found one of George and one of Fred. Dru could always tell their clothes apart from their sent, even if they were clean clothes, they still smelt like their owner. _Yeah_

The girls changed clothes and sat on the landing next to the room. Rose had put her head against Dru’s shoulder and Dru put her head against Rose’s. They had both fallen asleep by the time the boys went to see where the girls were. 

“I can see why you like Dru wearing your shirt.” George smiled at Fred. “I think I’m forcing Rose to wear my shirt in bed from now on too.” 

“Sexy, isn’t it?” Fred grinned and thought for a moment. The girls had to be moved together or at the same time before the other would fall over, but considering George was still a bit wobbly on his feet to deal with his equilibrium and the ringing in his head, he was not going to allow him to scoop Rose off the floor. “Alright, how about I take Dru, you use your legs to keep Rose propped up, I’ll carry Dru to the bedroom and then come back for Rose?”

“How about I use my wand to get her to the bed.” George smiled and twirled his wand in his hand. “I’m still a wizard.” he smirked. 

“Alright, your Holeyness.” Fred grinned at his brother before he kneeled down to pick up Dru from the floor.

George pointed the wand at Rose and muttered the spell when he saw that Fred picked up Dru. He gently moved Rose to his bed and placed her on it, before crawling behind her, not bothering to take a shower first. He’d do that first thing in the morning. Right now, he was tired too.. “Close the door Fred.” 

“Good night, George.” Fred said as he closed the door with his wand and snuggled up against Dru. 

“The car.” Dru muttered. 

“Yes, the car,” Fred nodded and yawned. “Good night Dru.”

She turned around and muttered. “Good place for sex, Fred.” 

George laughed. “Nice.” 

“We were there first,” Fred chuckled. “You just have to wait.”

“Since when does she talk in her sleep?” 

“Normally only when she has nightmares, but she doesn't seem to have one now. I think she’s just too emotionally drained right now and has to deal with the day somehow, I don’t know.”

“Fred, you’re bad.” Dru giggled.

“Yes, Fred, you’re bad,” George said mockingly.

“Would you three please shut up? I’m trying to sleep here,” Rose said sleepily as she snuggled up against her George. “Stinky.”

“Oi! I’ve got a battle wound, be nice to me.” George said as he pulled her closer into his arms. 

“Alright, Mr. Stinky then.” Rose opened her eyes and looked up at him with a smile on her lips.

“No, he likes it when you call him ‘your Holeyness’.” Fred said.

Dru giggled again.

“Oh no, not going to happen,” Rose shook her head. “Let’s just go to sleep, George needs his rest, so do you, Fred.”

“Yes mum,” the twins chuckled.


	41. Constant Vigilance

They went home the next day as the shop needed to be run. Mrs. Weasley wasn’t too keen on letting George go home, she was worried that he might stub his toe or something, and it wasn’t until Fred assured his mum that Rose could be an even bigger overprotective lioness than her and that she, Fred and Dru would do anything to help out George anyway that George was allowed to go home.

While Fred and Dru were downstairs at the shop, Rose tried everything she could to keep a very bored George occupied while resting. She was ignoring his pleas and reasoning about having lost an ear and that he wasn’t crippled, but she didn’t want him to wander off and potentially fall down the stairs with his wonky balance. 

Two days later, Rose had to leave for a bit to do their weekly shopping (and stock up on bandages and gauze) and she felt slightly depressed for realising the state that Diagon Alley was in. She had noticed it before, but the true extent of the war was suddenly hitting her. Various shops were brave enough to stay open (or stupid enough) and hope that people were still coming to Diagon Alley to do their shopping, but a lot of others were closed and looked in disarray, they were probably running their shops through mail order now.. 

She knew it wasn’t _safe_ to walk through Diagon Alley. She usually apparated to the Leaky Cauldron and then leave for the Muggle supermarket next door and apparate back to the apartment but now that her gift was working again, she knew nothing was going to happen. At least not on her way to the Leaky Cauldron anyway. 

Like Hermione, Rose and Dru had been packing their enchanted bags for weeks. Hermione was a bit more religious with it because she and Ron would be joining Harry on the hunt for Horcruxes, but Rose and Dru had already packed the essentials; clothes for themselves and the boys. Even for Ginny. 

Potions. Books on spells, curses and jinxes. Notebooks. And now that George was injured, Rose wanted to stock up on Muggle medicine too (despite the fact that she had been reading up on and teaching herself healing spells over the last few months). That meant painkillers, bandages, gauze... Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to put a little bit of tinned food in their bags too, just in case they had to flee for some reason and there wouldn’t be any shops nearby. 

When she came back to the apartment, she nearly flipped when George wasn’t on the sofa. Rose dropped the bags in the kitchen and wanted to walk out of there so she could go and find him, but he was standing right in front of her. “Relax,” he chuckled. “I needed to stretch my legs so I walked around a little. And I didn’t fall over.”

“Did you at least do something useful?” Rose said as she hugged him tightly.

“Apart from not falling over?”

“Yes.”

“I refreshed some of the protection spells on the apartment, Dru and Fred have been doing it for the store.” He softly caressed her back. “If you’re too scared for being here, maybe you should stay at the Burrow with mum.”

“I’m not going anywhere as long as you’re not going.” Rose shook her head and let go of George as she pointed at the chair. “Sit, you can start peeling potatoes for dinner while I clean this all up.”

“Sweetie, I’m worried about you, ever since we returned from the Burrows, you’ve been hyper vigilant.” George gently grabbed her arm and pulled her into his lap. 

“We lost Moody that night, we nearly lost you,” she said as she put her arms around his neck. “I just want to be prepared. Dru and I have been packing bags for a while now and...”

“We’re all scared.”

“Yes, which is why it’s good to be prepared. Moody would say; ‘Constant Vigilance’.”

“He’s dead.”

“Exactly!” Rose blurted. “I may not have liked him very much, which probably comes from the fact that my Father pretended to be him for an entire year, but he was right. He was a good man, one of the toughest people I know. And he died. A lot of bad things are going to happen, rather sooner than later, so I want to be prepared.”

“Alright,” George softly kissed her. “Just remember to breathe on a most regular basis. Now hand me the potatoes you want me to peel.”

She smiled at him and softly kissed his lips before getting off his lap and getting him the stuff that he needed. While George peeled, she was putting away the groceries and putting some things in her bag. “You don’t think I’m crazy, do you?”

“No, you’ve just lost it a little, but I love you anyway.” George quipped.

Dru was just done helping a customer and went to look at the Pygmy Puffs. Rose had been right, there really were a lot of them. She then went on to count the number of lovepotions still on stock, if the boys needed more, she’d better get to it now. She figured that sending the boys stock from Hogwarts would become a nearly impossible feat. 

She looked outside the window and for a second she thought she saw Draco standing near Knockturn alley, but when she looked again he wasn’t there. She couldn’t help but staring out of the window, hoping she had been wrong about seeing him. 

“Pretty view?” Fred whispered in her ear as he had snuck up on her from behind.

“I thought I just saw... never mind.” Dru turned around and went back to the counting of potions. She had only spoken briefly with Fred about Draco on the day they came home. Fred had been kind and understanding to her about him, but Dru still felt like it was wrong for her to be sad over her losing her brother, when it was his own actions that made her lose him. 

Especially after seeing Fred so upset about almost losing George, Dru felt it was wrong of her to miss those that had chosen to fight on the other side of this war. “So, it’s a quiet day.” Dru tried to change the subject.

“Yeah, I sent Verity home. I don’t expect a sudden rush in the next hour or so,” Fred nodded. “Maybe we should feed some of the Pygmy Puffs to your cats.”

“Fred!” Dru laughed. “You’re mean.” 

“Free cat food,” he chuckled. “It beats them dying from a food shortage, the Pygmy Puffs I mean.”

Dru shook her head laughing and picked up one of the Pygmy Puffs. “We could always feed you to them. You would like eating Fred, wouldn’t you?” Dru said to the Pygmy Puff on her hand. 

“Or we could let them out and have them eat Diagon Alley.” 

“Are you hungry?” Dru looked at him with a smile as she put the Pygmy Puff back. 

“Yes, but I believe Rose and George are cooking tonight so we’ll just have to wait and see when they’re done. I hope as soon as the store closes.”

Dru smiled and gave him a kiss. “If the food sucks again, I’ll make something else when they go to bed.” Rose and George weren’t terrible cooks, but they had the tendency to always overcook or burn at least one thing. 

“You’d think they’d get things right at some point,” Fred chuckled and pulled her in his arms. 

“No!” Dru smiled as she shook her head. “They’re hopeless.” 

“Who’s hopeless?” Rose asked as she came downstairs with two mugs of tea. 

“Bill and Fleur still can’t agree on some of the wedding stuff and it’s in two days already.”

Rose smiled and put the mugs down. “Just so you know, we’re having potatoes with chicken tonight and as vegetables we have either apple sauce or broccoli. Can’t mess that up.” She grinned. “Just need you to make the gravy, Dru.”

“Alright, I’ll come up in a sec.” 

“Relax, dinner won’t be ready until at least when the shop closes,” she smiled and walked back up the stairs. “George! Drop that!”

Fred grinned at Dru as he took his mug of tea and sipped it. “I swear, she’s worse than mum.”

“She’s trying to make sure George gets healthy again. I would do the same thing.” Dru smiled as she took her mug. She couldn’t stop herself from looking out the window again. 

“Oh I know,” Fred sighed and looked at Dru. “You know what? Everyone’s probably going to kill me over having this crazy idea, but there must be some way for you to safely contact Draco with a time and place where you can meet him and make sure he’s alright, apart from seeing him in school.”

Dru shook her head. “He would never meet me. He’s too scared I get hurt.” Dru hoisted herself on the counter and crossed her legs. “I just... I miss him sometimes.” she said softly. 

“Yeah, I can imagine,” He nodded and leaned against the counter, sipping his tea. “Do you ever regret leaving them?”

Dru nodded. “I know I’m better off now, but they loved me. Sometime I just... I miss my family.” her voice was shaking a bit. “I just wish I could have both my family’s in my life.” She played with the spoon in her mug. 

“Maybe when this is all over,” Fred softly planted a kiss on her cheek. “There is always hope.”

“Thank you...” She smiled at him and then softly kissed him. “For being such a great husband.” 

“If there’s one thing I know, it’s the bond a family can have and even though Draco is a git, he’s your family,” he smiled at her. “And there is always hope. Always.”

“He’s your family now too. He’s your brother in law.”

“I know... he’s still a git.” Fred chuckled.

“Yeah.” Dru drank the last of her tea and put the mug down. “I really love you, you know. I fall more in love with you every day.” 

“Good, would be weird if you started to hate me more and more each day.” He softly kissed her. 

“Uh.” Dru growled through the kiss. “I hate you a little right now.” 

“Hmm... what can I do to make it up to you?”

“Learn how to cook, so we can have some decent food for once.” she giggled.

“But you’re our cook,” he chuckled. “You cook brilliantly, and I think it’s sweet that they’re at least trying and maybe tonight it will taste good.”

“I’m your wife, not your cook.” Dru took hold of the collar of his shirt and pulled him to her. “Besides I want a homemade meal prepared by my husband.” she pouted.

“Then I shall cook tomorrow,” Fred nodded and grinned. “I’ll open a few of those tin cans that Rose bought.”

“That’s not homemade.” Dru pouted. “Do you want to do the best you can to make me happy?”

“Alright, I’ll go to Mum tomorrow to cook something for us _with_ her.”

“You promise you’ll cook a meal for all of us tomorrow?” 

“I promise.” 

“Good husband.” her smile suddenly went devious. 

Fred frowned. “Dru?” 

“Yes, dear?” 

“Why that smile? I don’t trust that smile.” 

“We’re all going to eat tomorrow at mums. The entire family, remember? We’re all staying over there for Harry’s party and then Bill’s wedding the next day. So you’re going to cook for the entire family.” Dru smiled

“Oh... bollocks!” Fred groaned. “Well, I’m doing it with mum then, so I won’t make everyone sick.”

Dru laughed. “Oh, I’m going to love tomorrow.” 

 

“Rose, please let me do something to help.” George was leaning on the counter. “This doing nothing is driving me crazy.” 

“You already peeled the potatoes, everything’s cooking, there’s nothing to do!” she laughed.

George stood behind her, put his arms around her waist and started kissing her neck. “I want to do something.”

“Whatever you’re doing, it’s nice,” she giggled as she leaned into him. 

“How much time do we have, before dinner?” he smirked as he let his hand slide under her shirt. “I want to have an appetizer.” 

“No, no no...” she sighed. “Need to keep an eye on the food.”

“We burned something every night so far, why change the routine now?” he turned Rose around and lifted her on the counter, where he continued to kiss her neck. 

“Because Dru and Fred are expecting burned or undercooked stuff and I want to surprise them, we’re not a complete failure in the kitchen.”

“I want to surprise you and show I’m not a complete failure in my husband duties.” George gently squeezed her breasts, while kissing her lips again. 

“You’re not a failure in your husband duties,” Rose moaned. “But George... seriously? While cooking dinner?”

“Come on, Rosie, Where’s your sense of adventure?” George’s lips found their way to her collarbone.

“Dinner. Burning on hot stove. Don’t make me call for Dru.” she warned.

“Fine.” George sighed and let Rose go. “I’ll go set the table.” he sulked and went to the dining room. 

Dru walked into the kitchen. “Why is George sulking?” Dru asked as she got a pan to make the gravy. 

Rose hopped off the counter and sighed as she quickly checked up on the spuds and turned off the broccoli. “He wanted to start with an _appetizer_ and I said no, because of the cooking thing.”

“Fred is always trying to have sex with me while I’m cooking. So annoying.” 

“I mean, it’s cooking, I mean... well... sometimes we do get a bit carried away while cooking but we never go that far...”

“Really? You making out in the kitchen? Rosie.” Dru teased her.

“What? You honestly think I’m such a bad cook?” She chuckled. “I basically cooked for myself when I was old enough.”

“You can cook.” Dru smiled. “You just...get distracted easily while cooking. I’ve been having potions class with you for 6 years. I always know exactly when you’re gonna screw it up.” 

“Exactly,” Rose pointed out.

Dru smiled. “Well, tomorrow we’re eating at the Burrow. Fred’s going to help his mother cook.” 

“Really?” she smiled widely. “That I have to see.”

“He promised me.” 

“That’s brilliant,” Rose chuckled and turned the chicken breasts. “Wait, we’re going to the Burrows tomorrow?”

“Harry’s birthday and then Bill’s wedding is the next day, remember?” 

“Oh! I... got my days mixed up. We don’t have a present for Harry!”

“We’ll get something useful from the store.” Dru shrugged.

“Yes,” Fred said as he walked into the kitchen. “A dozen or so Pygmy Puffs that he can eat when he’s hungry on his search.”

“Fred!” Rose looked at her brother in law in shock. “You don’t eat Pygmy Puffs!”

“If you try to feed the puffs to someone one more time. I’m feeding you to Holly and Moggy.” Dru said stern. “Go help George set the table.” 

“Yes wifey,” Fred grinned.

* * *

The next day they arrived at the burrow and had first congratulated Harry with his birthday, then George went to fly outside with Harry, Ginny, Ron, Charlie and Bill, while Hermione and Rose were reading a book in the shade on the edge of the paddock. Dru just walked out of the kitchen, leaving Fred to cook with his mother. She walked around in the garden for awhile watching her friends from a distance, she hadn’t noticed that Harry had walked over to her. 

“How are you, Dru?” 

“I’m fine.” Dru smiled a bit confused at him. She and Harry stopped hating each other and were friendly, but they never really spend any time alone with each other, beside the one time he comfort her after she had to face a boggart at Grimmauld Place and the one time they had detention with Umbridge. “How are you? Enjoying your birthday?” 

“Oh you know, another year older,” he shrugged.

“And of age.” Dru smiled. 

“Yes, it feels good to be able to use magic freely,” he chuckled. 

“Still weird though, right? Like every time you use a spell, you’re afraid that you did something you shouldn’t have?” 

“I actually haven’t used magic today, so far,” he replied with a smile. “Didn’t have to.”

“Right.” Dru said and started walking again. “So...” 

“I was just wondering how you’re holding up, I mean, not being able to talk to your family... Draco.”

Dru looked at him. So that was the reason he wanted to talk to her, to find out more about Draco. She knew all too well that Harry loathed her brother. “Why do you care? You hate him.” Dru shot at him.

“Well, not really hate him... I just don’t like his ideals and his constant bullying, but I know what he means to you. And I care about you.”

Dru sighed. “Stop lying, Harry. You hate my brother and you don’t really care about me. We’re just friends with the same people.”

“I do care about you, Dru! I consider you my friend, whether you like it or not and I _care_. I know that he was forced to go with _them_ in order for you to stay alive, and I know how close you and he are. Were. Are, whatever. Sorry for being concerned about you.” He shot at her. 

Dru looked at her feet. ‘I’m sorry.” she said softly with a shaky voice. “I just...he was so scared.” Dru started crying and sank though her knees to the ground. “It hurt so much just to feel his fear.”

Harry sat down next to her and put an arm around her. “I can only imagine what it feels like.”

“It’s all my fault.” Dru sobbed. “It’s all my fault.”

“Why is it your fault, Dru?” 

“I’ve should have stopped him, then maybe … his blood is on my hands.”

“I don’t think they will let him out of their sight,” Harry said carefully. “Because he’s reluctant.”

Dru looked at Harry. “You don’t understand. I’ve should have stopped Draco because then Dumbledore would still be alive.’

“Snape killed Dumbledore. Draco didn’t.”

“But Draco gave him the opportunity. And I helped him by lying to you.”

“Dru, Snape killed Dumbledore. If you have to blame someone for Draco’s actions, and the way he got those Death Eaters into the castle, you could blame me. Or Rose, even, as Draco made her help him out with the cabinet.” Harry sighed. “Don’t bother getting mad at her, Draco covered his tracks.”

“I know he tricked her, but he didn’t trick me. I knew I was lying to you and if I had told you the truth and stood by you, maybe we could have stopped it sooner.’ 

Harry shook his head. “I spoke to Dumbledore about it, he told me that Rose had gone to him because she had seen something, but when I asked _her_ about it, she didn’t remember. But anyway, Dumbledore seemed to know that something was about to happen. He said; ‘Everything happens for a reason, Harry’. It’s infuriating. He always said that. And he was usually right.”

Dru put her head on Harry’s shoulder,something she had never done before but somehow it felt safe. “I’m so scared.” 

“Good,” Harry nodded. “So am I.”

Dru suddenly started laughing and Harry laughed with her. “Thank you, Harry.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiled.

She put her head back on his shoulder. “When all this is over, you will get back together with Ginny, aren’t you? She misses you.” 

“If I’m still alive, sure.”

Dru lifted her head and looked at him. “Harry, look around you, there’s no way we can all make it out of this alive. There’s too many of us.” 

“Yeah I know, and that’s what worries me. Don’t bother talking that crazy thought out of my head though, I tried to leave and Ron and Hermione scolded me.”

“I know, and Hermione wouldn’t tell me what you’re going to do except that’s important. Just be careful.” Dru smiled and looked down. “Who would have thought this three years ago, the two of us hated each other and now we’re almost family.”

“Oh I never hated you, I just thought you were very weird and much like your brother,” he chuckled.

“Harry, I’m a mind reader. I know you hated me. But it’s okay. That’s in the past now.” Dru smiled. “Come on, let’s go and see if that husband of mine burned anything yet.” 

Harry helped Dru to her feet. “I can’t believe you got him to cook something. In all the years that I’ve been at the Burrows, I’ve never actually seen him cook.”

“He doesn’t. Even George cooks more than him, but I pouted and then he can’t ever say no to me.” Dru grinned. 

“Will it be edible?”

“I hope so.” Dru grinned, “But Molly is keeping an eye out, cause it’s your birth.....Oh no! I’m so stupid.” Dru said shooked. “Oh could I do that?” 

“Could you do what?” he chuckled. 

“I forgot Neville’s birthday. He turned 17 yesterday and I forgot to send him his present. I’ve been so busy helping out Fred at the store, it completely slipped my mind.” 

“They’re not allowing me to leave maybe Rose wants to go with you to give it to him.”

Dru nodded and went into the kitchen. “How’s it going, Honey?”

“Dru, sweetheart, I know you were trying to teach Fred a lesson but he’s hopeless,” Molly sighed as she looked at her son, who was sitting at the table cleaning apples.

“Ah, he can’t be that bad.” Dru smiled as she walked over to Fred to give him a kiss. 

“Actually...” Fred sighed and pointed at the corner. It was cleaner now, but only a moment ago it had been cluttered with exploded mashed potatoes.

“Magic is great, but if you don't know what you’re doing with cooking, it’s not good.”

“When we get home, I’ll teach you how to cook the muggle way.” Dru smiled and gently kissed him. “Honey, I have to leave for a bit. I did something stupid.” 

“Uhm, okay? Want me to come with?”

“No, I’ll ask Rose, She made the same mistake I made.” 

“What mistake?” Lupin asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“We forgot that Neville turned 17 yesterday.” Dru bit her lip. “He’s going to kill us.” 

“Yeah, and you’re not going anywhere,” he chuckled.

“What?” Dru asked, before turning to Fred. “Come on, he turned 17.” 

“Look, I’m okay with her going. Neville is on our side.” Fred said to Lupin.

“I know he is but it’s not safe.” Lupin said. “You’ll be putting him in danger. You can’t go anywhere but here and your own house until Harry leaves.” 

Dru sat down on the chair. “He’s really going to kill us.” 

“Neville is reasonable. I am sure that once you explain it to him, he’ll understand,” Lupin smiled at her.

“Hold on,” Fred said and looked at Lupin. “Rose goes to the Muggle supermarket all by herself too.”

“She what?” Lupin said. 

“We have to eat something,” Fred shrugged. “It’s not as if Diagon Alley is bursting with shops these days. Besides, she always checks if it’s safe or not. Which is why I don’t see any problem with her and Dru going to Neville.”

Dru smiled at Fred. She was happy to see him finally getting over his jealousy towards Neville. “Look, we’ll just pop in and pop right out.” She said to Lupin. “Besides Rose and I are both of age.”

“You want to risk Harry’s safety?”

“I’m fine with it,” Harry shrugged. “I trust the girls.”

“It was his idea.” Dru pointed at Harry.

“Oh yes, it was my idea,” he chuckled. “I told her I couldn’t go and that she should take Rose.”

“Take me where?” Rose asked as she and Hermione entered the kitchen with their books. She had grown tired of reading and she didn’t really like watching the rest of them fly around and worry about George’s balance at the same time.

“To the one person that’s really going to kill us.” Dru said.

Rose thought for a second, realised what Dru was talking about, dropped the book on the table and pulled Dru out of the kitchen. “Let’s go.”

_crack_

Dru had apperated them to the back of the garden, where she knew there was a little greenhouse that way there was little chance for them to seen. “Did you have Neville’s present in your bag?” 

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do,” Rose smiled and handed Dru the bag. “Careful, there’s a lot of stuff in there.”

Rose held the bag open, while Dru put her entire arm in there to find the present. “Got it.” Dru pulled out a baby Alihotsy. “Come on, let’s go apologize.” Dru walked to the back door. “Hello?” Dru said as walked into the house. “Neville? Mrs Longbottom?” 

“Who is it?” Mrs Longbottom said as she walked into the kitchen with her wand pointed at the girls. As soon as she realized who the girls were she lowered her wand. “Rose, dear, how have you been?” 

“Hi Mrs. Longbottom,” Rose smiled and hugged Neville’s grandmother. “We’re alright, how are you? I’m glad to see you alert.”

“I’m alright, Neville told me you married that George Weasley? Congratulations.” She gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. “Neville’s upstairs.” 

Rose took a look at Dru and nodded for her to go on without her, she’d keep Mrs. Longbottom busy. Rose knew what Neville’s gran was up to, and didn’t really like it. “Shall I make some tea, Mrs. Longbottom?” Rose asked her.

“Thank you, dear.” 

Rose watched as Dru walked up the stairs and sighed a little. “Did you know? Dru and Fred got married too, isn’t that wonderful?” she said as she started the kettle in the kitchen. 

“What?” Mrs Longbottom asked shocked. “No, Neville didn’t tell me that. When did this happen? I didn’t even know she had a new boyfriend.” 

“Yeah, they’ve been together for about a year and a half now, a bit longer,” Rose nodded. “They got married the day before George and I did.”

“Wait, Fred you said, is that George’s twin brother?” 

“Yes,” she smiled. “She’s truly my sister now.”

Mrs Longbottom sighed. “That explains a lot.” she muttered.

Rose pulled the cups and saucers out of the cupboard and looked at Neville’s gran. “He makes her happy, I know that Neville is having a hard time with it but... she’s really happy.”

“But he....Oh that poor boy.” Mrs Longbottom said. “But anyway, let’s talk about your wedding day, I want to hear all about it.” 

Dru knocked on the bedroom door before slowly opening it. “Neville?” she walked into the room and saw that Neville had fallen asleep behind his desk. She smiled, walked over to him, put the plant down and softly shook his arm. “Hey, sleepy head.” 

“What?” Neville jolted up and sleepily looked at Dru. “Huh?”

“Hi, there.” Dru smiled at him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked surprised, slightly more awake now.

“To apologise.” Dru bit her lip. “And wish you a late happy birthday.” 

“You don’t need to apologise for forgetting my birthday, I’m sure you have more important things to do, or maybe you’re not allowed to come here, I dunno,” he shrugged. “But thanks.”

Dru smiled. “I’ve been helping Fred in the store, because George got hurt and Rose was taking care of him, I only realised a half hour ago that you turned 17 yesterday.” 

“George got hurt? How? What happened? You okay?”

“I’m fine. I didn’t go with them. George lost his ear, but he’s alive and trying to have sex with Rose again, so he’s pretty much back to normal. He just has to re-adjust his balance.” Dru said and sat down at his bed. “Did you have a nice day yesterday?” 

He shrugged. “Was pretty much like any other day, apart from Gran making an even bigger effort to cook.”

Du smiled and pointed at the plant she had put on his desk. “Our present, from the four of us.” 

“Is that a small Alihotsy?” Neville beamed. “That is awesome, thanks!”

“I thought you might like that one. You didn’t have it yet, did you?” She smiled as she saw Neville looking at the plant, like it was the best thing he had ever seen. 

“Gran won’t let me have one considering its leaves causes hysteria.” He grinned. “She thinks it’s too dangerous, so I’m probably taking it with me to Hogwarts.”

“Yeah, Hogwarts.” Dru said with a frown. “I don’t like going back.” 

“We’ll have to, don’t we? It’s just a matter of hoping that Professor McGonagall will be our new headmistress and not someone else.”

“I just don’t have a good feeling about this year, Nev.” Dru looked at the bed. “It feels like something bad’s going to happen.”

“There’s a war going on, of course something bad is going to happen,” he nodded. “But don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” he smiled. “Like I’ve always done, and always will.”

Dru looked up to him. “You’re a great friend, Neville.” 

“And so are you and Rose. If you both aren’t trying to frustrate me.” he chuckled. “Where is Rose? You didn’t come alone, did you? It’s not safe.”

“She’s downstairs talking to your gran. I think about the wedding?” Dru smiled. “Is there a reason you didn’t tell your gran I’m married too?” 

“She didn’t ask how you were, so I didn’t tell.”

“Yeah, I noticed that she didn’t like me very much anymore.” Dru pat on the bed for Neville to come sit next to him. She wanted to clear the air between them.

“Nah, I’m good here,” he smiled. “If you want, I’ll tell her right now that you’ve married.”

“You’re still mad at me for getting married.” 

“No, not really, it’s just weird.” He said and shrugged. _Well, Fred’s going to get hurt, when you realise you belong with me, not him,_ Neville added in thought.

“I know, it’s weird for you, but, it’s like Harry said, everything happens for a reason.” 

“Yeah, whatever,” he shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“Have you talked to Hannah lately? How’s she holding up? You know with her mom and all.” 

“She’s... she’s alright, all things considering. She’s trying hard not to fall apart but I know better.”

“You two are getting close again, aren’t you?” She was curious, she had seen Neville and Hannah leave an empty classroom together with big smiles on their faces at the end of term. Twice. 

“Something like that,” Neville smiled while blushing.

“Neville Longbottom! You have a booty call friend.” Dru grinned. “Nice! Is she any good?” 

“She’s not you, but sure...” it was out before he knew it, and started to blush even more.

“Nev, we never slept together.” Dru said and threw a pillow at him. “You have no idea what I’m like in bed.” 

“Well, you’re very good in every fantasy that I have had,” he chuckled.

This made Dru blush and she didn’t know how to respond to that. “Uh...thank you?” 

“Don’t worry, since you got married I’ve only thought about Hannah. Would be a little bit too weird to fantasize about a married woman, wouldn’t it?”

“Thank you.” Dru said. “Look, we’d better go downstairs, so you can hug Rose and then we have to go again.”

“Really?” Neville sighed. “I should come round your shop one of these days, if Gran wants to anyway, she thinks that danger lurks in every corner these days and barely sleeps just to keep watch.”

“Well, we’re not there every day nowadays, but you’re always welcome.” Dru got up and pulled Neville out of his chair, so she could finally give him a hug. “I hate summers, I hardly get to see my best friend.” 

“Well, one month from now and you’ll be stuck with me for months again.” He said and returned her hug. “Come on let’s go hug that other married woman.” He chuckled and walked downstairs. “Rosie!” 

“Neville! Stop growing!” she got up and hugged him. “Happy belated birthday!”

“Stop shrinking!” he laughed as he lifted her of her feet. “Thanks for the present.” 

“You like?”

“I like.” he nodded. “You like married life?” 

“I’m still liking it,” she chuckled.

“Even with your husband missing body parts?” he chuckled. 

“Just one, thanks,” she laughed. “Yeah, even with him missing his ear. I love him for being George, the looks are just a bonus.”

“Rose, we have to go or else they will get worried.” Dru said. 

“Neville, we’ll see you on the train in a month. We’ll bring Pygmy Puffs, you... just bring yourself.” she smiled and hugged him.

“Hm....can I eat Pygmy Puffs?”

“No!” Rose and Dru chorused.

Dru gave Neville another hug and felt that he held her really close to him. “See you soon, alright?” 

“Alright, say hi to everyone for me?”

“We will,” Rose smiled at Neville and then hugged Mrs. Longbottom. “Take care of yourself, Mrs. Longbottom, don’t be afraid to do what you have to in order to stay safe.”

“I’ll will, Mrs Weasley, I’ve been through this once before, remember.” 

“Argh.” Rose said and shuddered. “Congratulations, you’re the first person to call me Mrs. Weasley outside the family and it... oh I feel old now.”

“Goodbye, Mrs. Longbottom.” Dru said as she stood by the backdoor waiting for Rose. 

She smiled at Neville and Mrs. Longbottom and joined Dru. “See you soon, Neville.” She waved and then went outside.

“Neville?” Mrs Longbottom looked at her grandson.

“Bye Dru.” Neville smiled at her.

The girls waved before disapparating.

“Neville?” Mrs Longbottom put her hand on his cheek.

“Yes gran?”

“She’s married, you need to stop now.” she warned him.

“Yes gran.” Neville nodded and walked back to his bedroom.

* * *

It was the morning of Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Mrs Weasley was very busy so everybody had make his own breakfast (except for Mr. and Mrs. Delacour, Molly had made sure that their breakfast was flawless). The twin and their wives were the last one to come downstairs in their pyjamas (Dru in Fred’s shirt and her shorts). 

Dru went to the stove and got out two pans, while George went to the fridge to get bacon, eggs and tomatoes. Rose started on making tea and Fred set the table for them four. George buttered the bread, while Dru was baking eggs, cut the tomatoes and put them on the plates Fred was holding. 

The other people were just quietly watching them slip into their own morning routine, which seemed to work really well. It was almost as if they were watching a dance performance of some sort. They all knew what to do and none of them really spoke a word before they all had sat down. “What?” Rose asked after noticing that people were staring at them.

“Nothing.” Hermione grinned. “It just fun to watch you guys.” 

“Mental.” Dru muttered as she took a sip of her tea.

“It’s like watching a well-oiled machine,” Hermione grinned again. “Cute.”

“We have a lot balloons to charm, Georgie,” Fred said as he took a bite off his toast. “You up for that?”

“I lost an ear, I’m not crippled.” George said as he took a sip of his tea. “Just keep mum and Rose away from me.”

“Hey!”

“I love you, Rosie,” George smiled widely.

“Fred, dad wants us to help set up the tent first.” Ron moaned, this wedding was too much work for him.

“I’ll help too, that way George can take it easy for a bit.” Dru smiled and gave Fred a kiss on his cheek, he, like Ron, didn’t like the amount of work going into this wedding and his face was telling that. 

“Dru! I’m not crippled.”

“No and we like to keep it that way, George. Just take it a bit easy, besides you all still need to shower and you can’t all go at once. You’re going to be last.” Dru smiled and gave Fred another kiss. “Can you please just smile a bit?” she chuckled at him. 

Fred gave Dru a smile before drinking the last of his tea. “I’m going to shower.”

* * *

“Hold on,” Rose stopped George from leaving the bedroom. He had already taken a shower and had gotten dressed, but if he didn’t want to scare the wedding guests, something had to change. 

“I’m just going to brush my teeth before you go into the bathroom.”

“Yeah, sit.” She pointed to his bed and grabbed her bag. “Your ear is looking better, but it’s not fully healed. Don’t want you ---”

“Scare the guests? But I like scaring the guests, especially if it’s Auntie Muriel!” George said as he wiggled his fingers in front of Rose’s face. “You haven’t met her yet, have you?”

“No, I haven’t had the pleasure yet.”

“It’s no pleasure. Just if you have to interact with her, remember that she’s an old bat. And rude. And annoying and Fred and I might as well set off a few dungbombs underneath her chair again.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Rose chuckled as she started to put the bandage over George’s head. “Bill will kill you. Or Fleur. Or your mum.”

“Maybe, but at least it’d be fun.” He grinned and looked up to her. “I’m currently resisting the urge to grab you and make out with you.”

“Uh huh.” She smiled. 

“Because you look sexy. Can’t you wear this all day?”

“George, I promise you, when we get home,” she smiled and softly kissed his lips before moving her lips to his good ear. “You can do whatever you want with me,” she whispered as she fastened the bandage.

He groaned for an answer and hit her on the head with his toothbrush.

“Oi!” she yelped grabbed the toothbrush and looked at him.

“I’ll just use your toothbrush to brush my teeth.”

“Ew.” Rose said disgusted as she fixed his hair so that it didn’t look too ridiculous. “Oh, I have found a new use for that hole of yours.” she said playfully.

“Yeah, another hole for you to lick.” George grinned.

“No!” she chuckled and gently put the end of his toothbrush in his ear, which was protected by the bandage. “There. Toothbrush holder.”

“Oh, you’re good,” he smirked. “I hadn’t thought of that, this will really creep Ginny out!” He then kissed her tenderly. “I’m going to brush my teeth downstairs and see what happens!”

“You have fun,” she smiled. “I’m going to take a hot shower, let the water run all over my body,” she said slowly as she moved her hands over her pajamas. “Then wash my hair,” she said, running her hands through her hair before back over her body. “And my ....” 

She squealed when George flipped her onto the bed and started to kiss her needily. “Shut up, you’re not allowed to speak today because...” he said huskily. “I might drag you off to the shed.”

“Tempting, but with a very high risk of getting caught.”

“Screw it, I’ll do you in front of everybody!”

“George!” she laughed as he playfully bit her earlobe. “Behave! I promise, tonight I’m all yours, when we get home.”

“Go take that shower and get dressed and forget about the heels, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“You hate them, wear your flats,” he smiled and kissed her again. “Right, I’m going to freak out Ginny.”

* * *

After the wedding there was a huge party in the tent. Bill and Fleur were so happy and dancing together, that they had completely forgot that Dru was supposed to put on her wedding dress and celebrate her marriage to Fred that night as well.

Dru was watching Bill and Fleur dance, when Fred stood behind her and put his arms around her waist. “Aren’t you supposed to be changing into your wedding dress?” 

Dru shook her head. “No, let them enjoy their party. I felt uncomfortable enough as it was to share their party.” 

“Oh, I wanted to see that dress on you again. I like you in that dress.” Fred whined and took two glasses of champagne of the table and handed Dru one. 

“I never said you wouldn’t see me in that dress again.” Dru smiled and gave him a kiss. “If you want I can put it on for you tonight, when we get home.” 

“Oh I want, I want.” Fred chuckled and kissed Dru back. 

“Then you get.” Dru smiled as she took a sip of her champagne. “Maybe when everything is back to normal, you and I could throw a little wedding party for your family. Like wearing my dress and your suit and saying our vows, that way maybe your mum can feel like she was there a little.” she turned around and watched Molly and Arthur watch their oldest son dance with his bride. “I mean, we had the day we wanted, let’s get them a bit of the celebration they wanted.” 

“Oh, more parties?” George had snuck up on his brother and sister in law with a big smile. Ever since his ‘conversation’ with Rose that morning, he had been bouncing off the walls, wanting the party to be over and done with so he could go home and do whatever he wanted with her - she promised! 

“Uh, George. Please stop thinking so loud.” Dru said as she held her head. “I don’t like seeing Rose do that to you.” 

“Pfft,” George shrugged and stuck out his tongue to her. “Speaking of my lovely wife, have you seen her?”

Dru looked around and saw Rose talked to a very formidable elder woman. “She’s there.”

“Oh no,” Fred and George chorused. “Aunt Muriel has her paws on her.”

“I’ll go and help her.” Dru said and walked over to Rose. “Hello, aunt Muriel.” she smiled. 

The woman looked at Dru. High heel and a low cut, figure hugging dress. “You’re the other wife of one of my twin cousins.” 

“Yes, I am.” Dru smiled and looked at Rose, who looked slightly uncomfortable. They both had the sneaking suspicion that aunt Muriel, like so many other, couldn’t keep the boys apart. 

“Good, I was just telling your sister-in-law here how her family is a shame to the entire Magical community. Sure, pure-bloods they might be, but---”

“Now now, she doesn’t need to hear all that,” Rose smiled politely. Auntie Muriel thought that she was Dru. 

“Hold on a second, you don’t get to talk about _our_ family like that.” Dru said angrily. 

_Leave it..._ Rose thought desperately.

“It’s an abomination, I tell you. For one, her family (pointing at Rose) is about the worse as they can come, bunch of hypocrites who roll over just like that for you-know-who to save their own skin. It terrifies me to know that our bloodline will be tainted with the hypocrisy! And secondly, she’s much too young to get married! Good lord girl, what were you thinking? Don’t you know that when you’re dating one of the twins that you should have a good set of brains on your shoulders?” 

_She think you’re me, doesn’t she?_

_Yep..._

_That bitch_

She then looked at Dru. “And you, well, I suppose that it’s all in the Twin’s good nature and all that, to take in a _stray_ , a half-blood no less. For your sake I hope that your babies won’t turn out to be squibs. And don’t get me started on the height difference! For the both of you! Didn’t get your greens growing up, did you?”

“Well, my husband doesn’t mind the fact that I was born at the Malfoy mansion. Nor does George mind her muggle mother. Maybe before you speak you should learn which of your cousins is who.” Dru spat at her. 

Aunt Muriel looked at Dru as if she had gotten a stroke. “You’re the youngest one and you dress like that?! _Harlot_.”

“Oi!” Rose shot at the elderly lady. “I was always taught to respect my elders, but you’re making it really hard.” She turned around to walk away but Muriel grabbed her wrist.

“Let her go.” Dru said and was just about to forcibly remove Muriel’s hands from Rose, when she was stopped by Charlie, who put his arms around the shoulders of Rose and Dru with a big smile on his face.

“Lovely sisters of mine, you still owe me a dance.” He said pleasantly. “And you look a little parched, come on, let’s get you something to drink.” He then turned them around and walked away with them from the offending aunt.

“Thank you, Charlie.” Dru smiled at him. “Honestly is she related to you?” 

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I’m sure you’ve heard the great stories about Uncle Billus, well, he was married to that.”

“Yes, poor guy.” Dru said as she looked at Ron, standing there watching Hermione. “I think your brother could use someone to dance with.” Dru smiled and walked over to Ron to ask him to dance with her. 

“Well, little Rosie, how are you enjoying being married to my two brothers?” Charlie asked as he handed her a glass of champagne. 

“Thank you, Charlie,” she smiled and then shook her head laughing. “If you’re curious as to how we make it work with the four of us, then just ask.”

“I don’t have to. I can see that you guys are making it work.” Charlie smiled. “I’m glad that my brothers are so happy. You girls are the perfect fit for them.” 

“Dru and I are very lucky that your brothers chose us,” she nodded with a smile. “To be honest, I don’t know what I’d do without George anymore.”

“Well, I can see that he feels the same way.” Charlie smiled. “and the same for Fred and Dru. It funny to see them when they’re around you. You changed them, in a good way, but they’re different now.” 

 

“Yeah, the way the both of them deal with Dru and my... _quirks_ is amazing.” she chuckled. “We all changed each other.” she nodded.

“That’s why I married you.” George whispered in her ear as he had sneaked up to her. “I wanna dance with my wife.” 

Rose grinned as she looked up to him. “Do your feet want to get some more abuse then?”

George smiled, put her glass down and lifted her up again, like he did in the restaurant. “Nope, but we can still dance.” 

She put her arms around his neck and grinned. “Well, at least this way you won’t publicly grope me,” she said softly with a teasing smile on her face. Yeah, maybe she had had a little bit too much to drink already. 

George squeezed her bottom with one hand. “Wanna bet?”

“You tease!” she laughed and softly kissed his lips. “I’m so going to switch to pumpkin juice.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I kinda like you this way.” George chuckled and kissed her back. 

“Hmm, how about we experiment with a drunk Rose in the safe four walls of our apartment instead of your brother’s wedding party?”

“Ah, I promised Bill, we would at least stay till midnight.” George groaned as he put her down and danced further. “Can you wait a few more hours?” 

“Oh I can,” she grinned and stepped on his foot. “Oops.”

 

“Ron, can I have my wife back now please? I don’t like your grabby hands on her back.” Fred said annoyed.

“Fred, Ron’s being a perfect gentleman.” Dru said 

“Yes, and a lot of years ago he was madly in love with you _and Rose_ so he needs to keep his hands to himself, let’s dance,” he laughed.

Dru looked at Ron with a surprised look. “What?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Ron blushed and let Dru go.

Dru put one hand around Fred’s neck and took his other hand in hers. “Are you’re jealous of little brother?” 

“Yes, because unlike him, I can be traded in for a younger model, and I don’t like that idea very much.” he chuckled and softly kissed her.

“Hmmm....” Dru looked at Ron. “I had never considered that one, I might do that when you get too old to keep up with me in bed.” she grinned with a devilish smile. 

“You’re really willing to risk Hermione’s wrath?” he chuckled.

“I can easily take her.” 

“Hmm,” he shrugged and softly kissed her lips again. “Sorry you had to deal with Auntie Muriel.”

“She’s an old bat. I don’t care what she says. So she thinks I dress slutty, like nobody ever said that me before.” Dru shrugged, trying to hide that she was a bit hurt by that comment. 

“You’re hot, cute, adorable and incredibly sexy, who cares what she says? I love you, that’s what should matter,” he smiled and caressed her back.

“I love you too.” Dru softly kissed his lips. “She’s just pissed she doesn’t have my looks.” 

“Exactly.”

Dru’s giggle was cut short when a blue patronus suddenly appeared in the tent. 

_the ministry has fallen, the minister of magic is dead, they’re coming, they’re coming_

“Rose, take Ginny and Dru and get out of here. I’ll come and find you when it’s safe.” George kissed her as he pulled out his wand. 

“George, no...” Rose said, half in panic. Why hadn’t she seen this coming? And was he really expecting her to go without him?

“Rosie, if they find you, you’re dead. Please go. I love you, I’ll find you soon.” He kissed her again and pushed her towards Ginny. 

Rose grabbed her wand, grabbed Ginny and dragged her over to Dru who was also not willing to leave. But George had been right, if she and Dru would stay behind, they were going to end up dead.

“I’m not leaving you.” Dru said, she had her wand in one hand and was holding Fred’s arm with her other hand. “I’m not leaving.” 

“If you don’t, you’re dead. Dru, I love you but go with Rose and Ginny. Find somewhere safe.” Fred said and gently pushed her towards his sister and sister-in-law who were running towards them. “Go!”

Dru looked at Rose, then looked back at Fred and gave him a kiss and she pulled him close to her for two seconds. “Neville.” she whispered in his ear and then turned around to run towards Rose and grabbed Ginny’s hand. “Neville.” She said to Rose.

Just as the world started to spin around them, Rose could hear multiple people disapparate, and yell _protego!_. She did not want to leave, but had to.

_crack_

They ran through the street towards Neville’s home, all three with their wands raised and ready to defend themselves if needed and even though it was already late, Rose was relieved to find that the upstairs lights was still on at the house.

Dru was still holding on to Ginny’s hand. Not letting her go, with their family so far away now, it was her and Rose’s responsibility to take care of Ginny now. “We’ll be okay, Ginny.” 

Ginny was almost in tears. She had seen Ron, Hermione and Harry disapparate a few seconds, before they did themselves. She knew she wouldn’t see him for a very long time, maybe never again. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.” she said softly.

Dru squeezed her hand. “Well, then you make up to him with that by kissing him longer when you see him again next time.” Dru then turned to Rose. “We can’t just go in. His gran will have protected the house, let’s go around the back and try to see if we can get his attention.” 

Once they were around back, Rose tossed up one of the failed whiz-bangs she had put in her bag. They were working, but didn’t really create a lot of light or a bang, but just enough to draw someone’s attention. With her wand, she directed it towards Neville’s window.

A few seconds later, Neville appeared in front of his window. When he saw the girls, he opened his window, holding his wand in one hand. “What are you doing here?’ he asked suspiciously. 

“We had to run.” Dru said. “Death Eaters showed up at the burrow.”

Neville looked at them again, still not a hundred percent sure that they were who they looked like. “What shape is the scar on my right shoulder blade?”

“You don’t have a scar there, there’s one on your right upper arm, from the zambini plant and it’s just a straight line.” Dru said confused and looked at Rose. 

“Alright,” Neville nodded.

“Hold on,” Rose said and looked at Neville. “You really hurt me once, why and what did you hurt?” Apart from Neville, the only person who knew was George. She had never told Dru that Neville had hurt her in a moment of rage mixed with worry because of Dru’s condition at the time.

“Rose...” Neville sighed. Why did she have to bring that one up again.

“Just answer me, Neville.” 

“Your wrists, by holding them tight as I slammed you into the wall, outside the infirmary the day after the yule ball. Happy now?” 

“Why?”

“Because I was scared and you were being _you_.”

“Good, now let us in before they come and kill us.”

Neville closed his window and a minute later he opened the backdoor. “Come in.” he said and went to the kitchen to make the girls tea, they really looked like they could use some right about now.


	42. Safe

Neville walked into the living room with 4 mugs of tea. “This one is yours.” He gave Ginny a mug and just put the other ones on the table. 

Dru was sitting curled up on the sofa, she had kicked off her high heels and was shivering a bit, despite being the only one of the girls wearing a cardigan. It was more the circumstance they were finding themselves in right now that made her feel uncomfortable. She and Rose had been in the same house just one day before, but that now seemed like a long time ago. Suddenly she got up. “I’m going back, I need to find Fred.” 

“No you’re not,” Rose said, pushing Dru back down on the sofa. “They sent us away, we can’t go back.”

“Rose, what happened anyway?” Neville asked as he got out a blanket to put over Dru, who was sitting curled up again. 

“The Ministry has fallen. All the protective spells around the Burrows were rendered useless and Death Eaters began to attack. Harry, Ron and Hermione escaped, and the boys told us to take Ginny and go.” Rose said, remarkably sobered up after the adrenaline had sort of worn off and took a sip of her tea. “My God, Neville!” she exclaimed. “You want to have me drunk?”

“You looked like you could use a pick me up.” Neville grinned.

Ginny took a large sip of her tea. “Hey, I just have tea!” 

“You’re still 15.” Neville said plainly and shrugged. “Rose and Dru would kill me if I’d give you something spiked.”

“No they wouldn’t!”

“I would.” Rose gave a nod and took another sip of her tea. 

“She can have a bit, not as much as we got.” Dru smiled at Ginny. “Bill gave her firewhiskey the other night. A little can’t hurt.” 

Neville got the bottle and poured a little bit in her tea before taking his own mug. 

“So yeah, with You-know-who in charge of the Ministry and appointing a new Headmaster for Hogwarts, we’re going to be in so much trouble this year.” Rose sighed as she kept drinking her tea. “And the boys... everyone’s in trouble right now, it’s...”

Ginny looked down to the floor, suddenly it seem to hit her, that her friend, her boyfriend and her brother would not be going to school with her. “It’s going to be so weird, without them there.” 

“You still have us, and with Hermione gone, you can always take her bed.” Dru finished her tea and reached out her mug to Neville. “Can I have some more, but without the tea this time?” 

He chuckled and poured some firewhiskey in the offered mug. “Sure, you’ve earned it.”

“Where’s your gran?” Dru asked.

“Asleep, when I saw you girls I made sure she couldn’t hear us.”

“Can we stay here tonight?” Ginny asked. 

“Yeah, of course,” Neville nodded. “If you three don’t mind sharing a bed.”

“We shared a room almost smaller than your bed with Hermione and Fleur also in it. We’ll be fine.” Dru grinned. 

“Yeah, but Ginny kicks,” Rose pointed out and held out her mug to Neville. “More please!”

“With or without tea?” Neville asked, but didn’t wait for the answer and poured firewhiskey in her cup. “No, you only get with tea.” He said without even looking at Ginny. 

Rose giggled as she took a swig of her mug. “You know, I was almost drunk at the wedding, I sobered up when reality set in and now I’m already on my way to... no wait, I’m close to being drunk, if you’re smart, next refill will be tea,” Rose nodded as she winced. For some reason she couldn’t stop seeing what was in the future for everyone at the Burrows. “Or knock me out, please.”

Neville and Dru looked at each other, both thinking that a drunk Rose might be interesting before laughing. “Tea is in the kitchen.” Neville smiled. 

“Okay,” she nodded, kicked off her shoes and hugged her knees to her chest as she tried to get comfortable, then realized that she was wearing a dress and Neville was looking at her in shock. She then pulled her dress over her knees to make her a bit more decent.

“Don’t worry, Rose, I’ll never look up _your_ skirt.” Neville smiled, throwing a glance at Dru, secretly wishing he hadn’t given her the blanket now.

Dru gave a giggle and looked at the ceiling, while holding out her mug. “More please.” 

“Cool, I am going to end up with two drunk ladies?” Neville chuckled as he refilled her mug. Of course he was worried about what was going to happen now that Voldemort had taken over the Ministry, but his main priority right now was to take care of his girls. And Ginny, who was becoming more and more one of his girls anyway.

“You could have ended up with three drunk ladies, you know,” Ginny countered as she curled up against Rose. 

“No, I’m a gentleman.”

Rose snorted.

“Neville, you’re a good host...well...you would be if you tell us you have more of those bottles stashed in here.” Dru smiled at him. 

“Yep.”

Ginny took Rose’s cup and finished it before anyone realised what she was doing. “You know, Neville, you could have another go at the locker room again.” 

“I think that I’m cutting all of you off and get the stuff ready upstairs for you to go and sleep some.”

“Neville.” They all whined at once. 

“I’m not taking ‘no’ or a whine for an answer,” he chuckled. “What if the three of you start to cry all at once? No thanks.”

“I wouldn’t cry.” Ginny battered her lashes at him. 

“Bed for Ginny!” Rose chuckled and looked into her mug. “You drank it all!” she pouted and then held out her mug towards Neville again. “She drank it all, I can have some more.”

Neville turned around for the bottle, but it was gone. Dru had put her mug down and was just drinking right out of the bottle now. “What?” she asked innocent as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. 

Rose glared at her. “Share!”

“He’s got more bottles. Let’s put the 15 year old to bed and get out more bottles.” 

“No, we should all go and sleep some,” Rose sighed and closed her eyes. 

Dru sighed, took one more large sip and gave the bottle to Neville, who also took one more sip before holding the bottle out to Rose. 

“No...” she shook her head, opened her eyes again and poked Ginny. “Ginny and I are going to bed.”

“Finish the bottle, Rose. You’ll sleep better.” Neville smiled and handed her the bottle that only had one more sip in it anyway. 

“I doubt I can sleep anyway,” Rose said and poked Ginny again. “Come on Ginny, on your feet.” She grabbed the bottle and finished it off. “Oh, yep, that was a bit too much.”

Dru took her shoes from the floor and walked up the stairs in front of Neville, when she nearly lost her balance halfway up the stairs. “Oops.” She giggled, took two steps, lost her balance again, falling backwards into Neville.

Neville chuckled and hoisted her over his shoulder.

“Nice view.” Dru giggled and hit Neville on his bottom. “Really nice.” 

“Uhuh, and you’re drunk.” Neville nodded. He herded the girls into his bedroom and flopped Dru on the bed. “I doubt you have sleeping stuff with you?”

“We do!” Rose smiled and waved her little bag around before opening it and pulled Ginny’s pyjamas and her own out of it. 

Dru opened her bag and giggled. “I have too much stuff in here. “ she nearly put her whole head in it. “Yoohoo... Fred’s shirt, where are you?” 

“Accio Fred’s shirt.” Rose said, pointing her wand at the bag. The shirt hit Dru in the face, making her giggle again. “There it is.”

“Right, I’ll leave you three alone for a few minutes so you can get changed.” Neville said as he turned around and closed the door on his way out.

Ginny helped Dru out of her dress, Dru had never really drunk more than two glasses of alcohol before and she apparently was a light weight. Dru laid down on the side of the bed facing the spot where Neville had put his own mattress. 

Rose got into her pajamas and squeezed herself between the wall and Ginny, who, as soon as she hit the bed, decided to take up most of the space. Rose decided to be selfish and grabbed the pillow and pulled it over her head. Maybe it would help her to switch herself off. 

Neville laid down on the mattress and put the light out. “Goodnight, girls.” 

The girls looked at each other and smiled. “Goodnight, Neville.” they chorused, before giggling.

It was the middle of the night when Dru woke up. She was disorientated, where was she? It wasn’t until she looked at the ground and saw Neville looking at her, she remembered where she was. She layed back down on her stomach and looked at Neville. “Hi.” 

“Hey, how are you feeling?” He asked softly.

“My head hurts.” she whispered back. 

“You’ll get over it,” he chuckled.

“Thank you again for letting us sleep here.” she smiled at him. “You were the only place I could think of to go to.”

“Well, it’s not like I had any choice and thank you for thinking of me. You’re always safe with me, you know that.”

Dru put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it softly. “I know, that’s why I came here.” 

He smiled at her. “So don’t worry, I’ll make sure you stay safe until your husband comes to get you.”

“Thank you for being such a good friend to me. I don’t deserve it.” she said with a small voice.

Neville took her hand in his and gave a kiss on it. “You’re a good friend, Dru. You just make poor decisions when it comes to choosing your husband. “ He chuckled and moved his head away from her, as she tried to hit on the head. “I’m just joking.” Well, only a bit, he thought to himself. 

They smiled at each other as he took her hand in his hand again. They just lay there looking at each other in silence. After a while Neville gave her another kiss on her hand. "Try and get some sleep, Dru." 

Dru closed her eyes again, her hand still holding his and felt how she drifted off to sleep again.

At the first sign of light, Rose woke up and managed to get out of bed without waking anyone. She dove into her bag to find some clothes to wear and laid out some clothes for Ginny as well. When she made her way downstairs, she could hear Mrs. Longbottom in the kitchen and didn’t want to scare Neville’s gran. “Good morning,” she said softly as she looked into the kitchen from around the corner with a smile on her face.

“Rose?”

She gave a nod. “Don’t worry, Neville checked to see if we were truly who we appear to be last night.”

“We?”

“Dru and Ginny are here too.”

“Sit down, sweetheart, tell me what happened, would you like some tea?”

“Yes please,” she smiled as she sat down at the kitchen table, and then started to explain everything. Mrs. Longbottom started to look more worried by the minute. She had been through one war and now she was in another one. “I am sorry that we’re imposing on you, Mrs. Longbottom, but both Dru and I didn’t know a safer place to flee to.”

“Rose, you are always more than welcome to stay with us, you know that.” Mrs Longbottom smiled at her. 

“Yes, I know that, but at the same time I feel like we’re intruding,” she smiled shyly as she took a sip of her tea. “But it won’t be for long, I promise.”

“Nonsense, you can stay here as long as you like, and I have to say, I’ve heard so much about Ginny Weasley, I would like to meet her too.” 

“Well, as soon as she wakes up, you’ll regret that thought,” she chuckled.

Mrs Longbottom smiled. “Well, you and Ginny are both welcome to stay as long as you need to.” 

“And Dru.” 

Mrs. Longbottom’s smile disappeared. “I suppose Neville will be angry if I turned her away.”

Rose gave a small smile and took another sip of her tea. “Can I ask you something?” she asked with a little voice. 

“What do you want to know?”

“Did Neville ever mention things about me and Dru, such as... oh I don’t know, special gifts, towards you?”

“Yes.” 

“You’ve been through the First War... is it really going to get this bad?”

“I hope not. But I’ve taken my precautions for me and Neville, just in case.” 

She nodded slowly as she took another sip of her tea. “It’s like... since the Ministry fell, the only thing I see is a lot of Muggles dying... well I think they’re Muggles. And the Death Eaters... what they did yesterday...” she shuddered.

Mrs Longbottom looked at Rose. “What do you want me to say to that?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, I can see what my grandson meant now.” she said as she looked at Rose.

“Sorry?”

“The constant need to take the world on your shoulders, and then start sulking that’s it’s too hard to carry.”

Rose chuckled, knowing that she was right. “It’s just... I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Do what your hearts tell you, but maybe you should let it go more. Your gift can ruin lives if you use them wrong.” Mrs Longbottom’s tone was harsh all of sudden. “You’ve already ruined Neville’s with it.”

“I know.” Rose shot back. “Believe me, I know. Had I known that he was _impatient_ , I would have kept my mouth shut.”

“You should have kept it shut either way. He needs to stay away from that girl.” 

“Dru’s a good girl, a good, decent girl, Mrs. Longbottom. She’s smart, she’s sweet, a great cook and a fighter.”

“Well, she’s not even close to being good enough for my Grandson. Not with her tricks, I can see how she has my grandson on a string, even though she married. He needs to find a nice girl, one that loves him and doesn’t use him.” 

“I’m not going to have this discussion today.” Rose said and shook her head.

“What discussion? Good morning, Madame.” Dru said as she walked down the stairs with Neville behind her. 

“Where you are going to have to stay.” Mrs Longbottom said. “You can’t stay here, I’m afraid.” 

Rose looked at Dru and shook her head as a warning not to say anything. “I’ll think of something.”

“Rose, like I said, you and Ginny are more than welcome to stay, but there’s no room for Dru I’m afraid.” 

“Gran, they’ve slept in my bed last night, the three of them, I was on the spare mattress. There is plenty of room. They’re staying.” Neville said as he poured tea for him and Dru.

“I said no, Neville.” Mrs Longbottom said stern, using the same she used when he was a little boy. 

“Yeah well, if she can’t stay, I know for a fact that Rose and Ginny won’t stay. And neither will I. It’s not safe out there for Dru.”

“Dru is not your concern.” 

“She’s my friend, her safety is my concern.”

“She’s your ex-girlfriend, she’s her husband responsibility.” 

“I’ll go and grab my stuff.” Dru said and turned around to go up stairs. 

“The hell you are,” Neville said and pulled her back into the kitchen. “Sit, drink your tea.” he told her and looked at his Gran. “Who cares that she’s my ex-girlfriend? She came to _me_ for help, she couldn’t think of a safer place to go to than here. If she’s not welcome here, we’ll all go, so deal with it, Gran.”

“You’re not going anywhere, Neville. and neither are those other two girla, but I don’t want her in my house.” 

“It’s okay, I’ll go to Tonks’s parents. They’ll sure to let me stay.” Dru said with a small voice, she didn’t want to cause trouble between Neville and his Grandmother.

“No!” Rose shot at her with wide eyes. “It’s not safe!”

“Right, okay then.” Neville said lightly. “Let me pack my bag and wake up Ginny so we can go somewhere where my Gran isn’t.”

“No.” His Grandmother yelled at him. “You’re not going anywhere.” 

“Then she’s staying.”

“Neville, it’s okay. I understand.” Dru said tugging on his arm. “I...I’ll go the Sirius Place. I’m sure that Harry wouldn’t mind. Fred can find me there.” 

“Nope,” Rose sighed and looked at Neville’s grandmother. “Deal with us, _all_ of us for just a few more hours, then we’ll be out of your hair.”

“I don’t want her here. I don’t want her around my grandson.” 

“But I do!” Neville blurted at his grandmother. “She’s my best friend, Gran. My mate.”

“You’re still in love with her, I don’t want you around her.”

“I love her, yes. But I love Rose and Ginny too, do you want them out of the house now too?”

“No, but you didn’t talk about getting them back.” she blurted at him.

“That was ages ago,” Neville said. “I’m not getting her back, ever. It’s fine.”

“That was two weeks ago.” 

“Ages ago for teenagers.”

“Neville?” Ginny asked as she suddenly stood next to him and looked at him. “Why is she saying that you want Dru back?” 

Neville looked at Ginny, who was smiling brightly at him as she nodded and held his hand. “Well, ah...” he said blushing. “That was before you and I started dating after Rose’s wedding.” He then softly planted a kiss on the top of her head. “You know I love you, right?”

As Mrs Longbottom looked around the room, Rose and Dru did their best not to look like it was the first time they had heard that. 

“I do.” Ginny put her head against his shoulder and looked at Mrs Longbottom. “Good morning.” 

“I think I’m going to have a seizure,” Mrs. Longbottom gaped at her Grandson. Ginny Weasley, maybe a little bit too young, came from a good family and Mrs. Longbottom had always liked Ron for allowing Neville to be friends with him. “Neville, you know where everything is, make the girls some breakfast, I’m going back to bed.”

“Yes Gran.” he smiled.

When Mrs Longbottom left the kitchen, they all looked at each other and laughed. “Nice safe.” Dru said to Ginny. 

“The way she thinks is disturbing,” Ginny shuddered and let go of Neville’s hand. 

Dru shrugged. “It’s the way most people think of me. I’m used to it.” she sat down and looked out of the window, hoping that Fred would come to get her soon. 

“Yeah well, it’s wrong.” Ginny and Rose chorused.

“It’s Gran,” Neville sighed and started to put bread on the table and cheese and marmalade. “I could bake some eggs?”

Dru looked up to him. “You can cook?” 

“Yes? I’ve been raised by my Gran.” Neville chuckled. “What? Fred can’t?”

“Neither of them can cook.” 

“And I usually screw up because George likes to try and see how long it takes for me to get distracted,” Rose nodded.

Neville laughed. “Well, I’m not a good cook, but I can manage to make breakfast without burning anything.” 

“Well, eggs it is then.” Dru smiled at him. “I can’t believe I don’t have to make breakfast for a day.”

“Yes, wow us with some male cooking,” Rose giggled.

Neville grinned, grabbed his Gran’s apron and put it on. “How do I look?”

“Sexy!” Ginny laughed.

He stuck out his tongue to her and started to make some eggs for them and ducked when an owl swooped in. “Could someone get the paper from the floor before someone tramples on it?”

“I’ll get it.” Dru said as she walked to the living room, she paid the owl and looked at the paper. “Oh my god.” she said out loud. 

“What?” Ginny asked.

Dru came back into the kitchen with a very pale face. “He’s the new headmaster.” 

“You-know-who?!”

“Snape.” Dru’s eyes were filled with tears. 

“Makes sense,” Neville sighed. “Now that you-know-who is in charge of it all...”

Dru sat down, put her elbows on the table and hide her face in her hands. “I’m not going back. Never.”

“Yes you are,” Neville said bravely. “I’m going to make sure that he’s not going to hurt you.”

“I thought you were afraid of Snape?” Rose asked.

“I am, but we should not let him ruin our school year.”

“I don’t care, with him in charge, the Slytherins get free run at the school. I’m not going back.” 

Neville kneeled down next to Dru, got her hand away from her face. “Dru, look at me. You have to go back to school. But I’m going there too. Nobody will hurt you. I promise you that. I won’t let anybody hurt any of my girls, okay?” his voice was clear and determined, nothing like any of them had ever heard him speak before. 

Dru nodded softly. 

“Good girl, now finish your breakfast.” He said as he turned back to the stove. ‘Any of you girls want milk or juice with your breakfast?” 

“No thanks,” Ginny smiled.

“Do you have orange juice?” Dru asked. 

Neville took a glass from the cupboard and carton of juice from the fridge and put them on the table. “Here, now eat your breakfast, Dru. I don’t want your husband yelling at me for not taking good enough care of you.”

Dru smiled and started eating her eggs. 

All the girls nearly jumped ten feet in the air, when there was a knock on the front door. “Stay here.” Neville got his wand out and slowly approached the door. He took a quick looked behind him to the kitchen and sighed. “That’s not staying!” he said as all three girls were standing behind him with their own wands drawn. He took a deep breath before opening the door. 

“Dad! Bill!” Ginny said and wanted to run to them, but Rose and Dru held her back. 

“Ginny, wait! We have to make sure who they are.” Rose said and Ginny nodded, she looked her father. 

“Dad, how old was I when I broke into the shed to steal the boys’ brooms to teach myself to fly?” Ginny asked her father.

“Six, and you gave both me and your mum the scare of our lives when you told us that two years ago.”

Ginny squealed and ran towards her father when Dru and Rose had let her go. 

“Where are the boys?” Dru asked. 

“They’re still at the Burrow. They’re hurt, but they’ll live. Come on we’ll take you to them.” Bill hold out his hands for his two sisters in law to take. 

Dru gave Neville a kiss on his cheek, before walking over to Bill. “Thanks, Nev.” 

Ginny was still holding on to her father. “See you in school, Neville.” 

“Thanks for the fire whiskey.” Rose smiled and gave Neville a hug.

“See you girls on the platform.” Neville said.

“Bye, Neville.” The girls chorused again and giggled.

_crack_

As soon as Dru and Rose got to the burrow, they immediately went to the boys bedrooms. Both of them were lying on their stomach. Molly was gently caressing George’s back with a wet cloth, while Fleur was doing the same to Fred. They seemed to be pretty out of it. 

Dru gasped as she realised why, their back were full with wounds and bruises. “Oh, honey.” she said as she sat down next to Fred. She took the washcloth off Fleur and gently started to take care of the wounds herself. “What did they do to you?” she muttered. 

“You should see the other guy,” Fred chuckled and looked at Dru. “I’ve missed you.”

Dru smiled and gave him a kiss, before turning his head back to his pillow. “I’ve missed you too.” 

When Rose took the washcloth over from Molly and started cleaning his wounds, George sighed. “What a guy has to do to get a woman’s hands on him.” 

Rose chuckled and caressed his hair. “I know you want to impress me, George, but getting hurt is not the way to do it.”

“You saw.”

“I did.” She gave a slight nod as she continued to gently wash away the remainder of the blood on his back. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“What happened?” Dru asked, she had been too scared to look into George’s mind and she didn’t go into Fred’s mind at all anymore, since he expressed he didn’t like her to do that.

“Ah, turned out that even though Harry was the one they were really after, they were looking for you too,” Fred gave a slight shrug. “And of course, they somehow wanted to make a statement.”

“It was horrible,” Molly said as she returned to the bed room with some cold drinks. “I suppose we should be grateful that they didn’t use their wands on the boys. I don’t want you four to go back to your apartment.”

“We’ve talked about this mum, we’re going back. No point in allowing them to win, is there?” Fred said as he slowly got up.

“Stay down.” Dru gently but firmly said and pushed Fred back on the bed. “You’re not moving when you’re like this.”

“I need to move when I’m like this so that when it closes and I do move, I don’t tear myself open again.”

“Fred, you need to lie still.” Dru said sternly. 

“Just give up, Fred. You can’t win with women.” George looked behind him at Rose. “I do think it’s better that we go home, though.” 

“Absolutely not,” Molly said.

“I was talking to my wife.” 

“George, you can sit up if you want to,” Rose shrugged. “I just know that it will just be extremely painful for you to move, so do what ever you want.”

“Can’t you apparate me to my own bed at home?” George asked. 

“Is he really trying to ask you to use your gift to see if it’s safe?” Fred chuckled.

“No! I was just asking her to take me home.” George said and winced as Rose hit a very painful spot on his back. 

“Well, just so you know, it’s safe.” Rose answered Fred. “But if Lupin is going to stick around to keep an eye out, we need to have a dog house.” She deadpanned as she got a dry cloth and started to dry George’s back.

“Dad and I already checked the place out. And Lupin is at Tonks, with her and her parents.” Bill said. 

“Of course,” she gave a small nod. “Dog house it is.”

Dru bent over Fred and whispered. “Do you want me to take you home?” She didn’t want Molly to hear her. Dru was going to do what Fred wanted anyway, so there was no need to discuss it. 

“Thanks for taking care of me, mum,” George grinned and took Rose’s hand. “But we’re going home.”

_Crack!_

“Ah!” George was lying on his stomach on the bed, squirming with pain. “Okay, maybe this wasn’t our best idea.” 

“You think?” she chuckled. “Lay still, I’ve got something to ease the pain.” Rose opened her bag and started to rummage through it. “I’ve taught myself to make healing and numbing ointments in the last few months. I’m actually pretty good at it.”

“Well, that’s why I call you my Wonder Witch.” 

“I’m so sorry that they’ve put you through all of this,” she said as she softly started to rub the ointment over his wounds. “You should never have sent me away.”

“I like having new experiences.” George groaned and clenched his teeth together to try and get through the pain. 

“Yeah well, I thought that after your ear fell off you had learned your lesson,” she deadpanned.

“Shut it, Rose.” George said. “You know full well why you had to go. Now just stop blaming yourself, okay? I really don’t need that too right now. Just.... be my wife and care for me.”

“I’m not blaming myself,” Rose said softly as she tended to another welt on George’s back. “It’s just _unfair_ , that’s all. I’m just so glad that they didn’t kill anyone.”

“So am I.” George reached behind him trying to grab hold of Rose. 

“I’m almost done, be a little bit more patient. The ointment will start to work soon, I promise.”

“I want you to come lie next to me.” 

“And I will, as soon as I’m done.”

George nodded and waited for her to be done. 

When she was satisfied with her work, she put a clean t-shirt over his back and nestled herself underneath his arm. “I love you, George,” she smiled.

George moved a little bit, so he could lay a bit on top of her, he wanted to feel as much of her as possible without the both of them getting uncomfortable. “I love you too. Are you okay?” 

“Of course I am,” she replied and softly kissed his hand. “Just a bit tired, that’s all.”

“Where did you go to? Fred wouldn’t tell me so they couldn’t get it out of me.” 

“Neville and his gran. Oh I think she’s even worse than your Aunt Muriel.”

“Worse? I don’t think that possible” George started to kiss her neck. 

“She didn’t want to have Dru in her house, no matter if that meant that she had to find a place that wasn’t safe.” Rose sighed happily. “Because Neville still has feelings for her, but Ginny came to the rescue.”

“Well, maybe Neville should just get over himself.” George groaned.

“He’s getting there,” she smiled.

“He needs to get there faster. They’re married for merlin’s sake.” 

“So are we,” she grinned. “And I shared a bed with your sister and our sister in law last night.”

“Yeah...well...I...never mind.” George went back to kissing her neck. “Didn’t you make me a promise last night?” 

“I did,” she gave a nod. “But you can barely move, so yeah, not going to happen now, is it?”

“I can try.” George’s hand slipped underneath her shirt.

~~~

“Ow,” Fred groaned as they landed on their bed. “Oh, we shouldn’t do that again.”

“Are you okay?” Dru asked worried as she sat down on her knees next to him on the bed.

“Yep, just give me a second...” he said with a small voice and tried to get comfortable again.

“Oh, I should have just listened to your mother and made you stay at the Burrow.”

“No!” Fred said as he looked at her. “Are you mad? All she wants is to keep us all in one place and...”

“But she can take care of you. I...I don’t know what to do.” Dru looked at her husband, who was still clearly in a lot of pain. “I’m not good at this.” 

“You’re my wife. That’s all I need.” He gave a slight nod. “Although I think that you should check the medicine cabinet, I thought I saw Rose put stuff in ours a couple of weeks ago, maybe there’s something to relieve the pain just a bit.”

“Hmmm....right.” Dru got off the bed and walked to the cabinet and took out a bottle of numbing cream. She got back on her knees on the bed and gently rubbed the ointment on his wounds. “Is that better?” 

“Keep going,” he smiled at her. “You’re doing great. How was it at Neville?”

“Nice, he and his gran were very welcome to us.” 

“Good,” he smiled. “Did they feed you?”

“No, they didn’t have any food in the house, so they just let us starve.” Dru rolled her eyes at him. “Come on, Fred.” 

He grinned. “Just checking!”

“No, Neville cooked us breakfast.” 

“He can cook?” Fred groaned. “That’s it, I’m going to take lessons from mum.”

“I can teach you.” Dru whispered in his ear as she leaned over him, and gave him a kiss in his neck. 

“You’ll only distract me,” he sighed happily. “I like that!”

“What? Distracting you in the kitchen or distracting you now?” she smirked as she gave him another kiss in his neck. 

“Both, yep, definitely liking those lips of yours.”

Dru giggled and got off the bed. “Yeah, well, you need to rest now.” 

“No, I’m good, come back,” he said as he reached out his hand to her. “Come lay with me?”

“Why?” She teased and kneeled down next to bed and made sure she was just out of his reach. 

“Because! I want to _feel_ you.”

She put her hand on his. “Now you can feel me.” 

“You minx,” he chuckled. “Come lay with me.”

Dru crawled onto the bed and layed down on her side next to him. She gently caressed his hair. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I can bring you to your mum if you want.” 

“You’re all I need,” Fred assured her as he put his arm around her, still laying on his stomach. “You and that wonderful cream that Rose has managed to make.”

“Actually, this is one of my creams.” Dru said a bit annoyed. “I can make stuff you know.” 

“I know, sorry.” Fred softly planted a kiss on the top of her head. “See? All I need is you and your magic hands that can make amazing cream and I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

Dru turned on her own stomach and looked at him. “I don’t like this.” 

“There’s nothing you can do about it. It kinda sucks, and it hurts, but at least we’re both okay.”

Dru nodded and couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. “I was so scared I would never see you again.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, softly caressing her back. “I will always come back.”

Dru nodded and closed her eyes. “I love you, Fred. I don’t know what I would do if something were to happen to you.” 

“You’d cry. Well, I hope that you’d cry.”

“Fred!” 

“What?” he chuckled.

“Of course I wouldn’t cry, I can’t ruin my makeup.”

“Of course, no, then don’t cry, don’t want to mess up that pretty face of yours.”

“Would you cry? If I was gone?” 

“Of course not, my mascara would run!”

Dru giggled. “No but seriously. When something happens to me, you have to get on with your life.” 

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say to you,” he said, caressing her hair. “Well, maybe not move on within a week or so, but you know what I mean.”

“When I die, I’m sure that Angelina would be more than happy to take my place.” 

“When you die, you’re at least 70 years old and a hot old granny.”

Dru smiled at him as she caressed his cheek. “You’re gonna die an old man, I’m gonna die young and still beautiful.” 

“Oh no, you’re going to be old and wrinkly.”

Dru smiled at him. “I don’t know, I never see my myself getting old. Not with my luck and not with this war.” 

“You’re a kickass witch, you’ll surive. You have to. I want to have beautiful babies with you.” he smirked at her. “So you’re going to do everything in your power to stay alive and I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe, is that a promise?”

“If you want to have babies with me, you need to be alive too.” 

“We’re going to be old and wrinkly together.”

“Okay, let’s then focus on the other matter.”

“Making babies?” He smiled widely. 

“You need more practise, to perfect your skills.” she smirked.

“I can barely move now, woman,” he laughed and winced. “Oh, laughing hurts.”

“Oh Honey.” she gave him a kiss on his lips.


	43. Last day of bliss

Rose was packing her trunk. She had actually gotten real good at packing and making sure that everything would fit. Her books were all on the bottom and she had put a small box of healing ointments in the trunk, as well as some of the bruise-remover paste they sold at the shop. 

She then started to put her neatly folded clothes next to the box and looked at Moggy, who looked at her longingly. “Sorry Mog, you’re staying home this year. It’s not safe for you.”

The cat cocked his head and she could have sworn she could hear him huff as he walked off. 

“Who are you talking to?” George asked as he walked into their bedroom. 

“Moggy. He’s staying behind, he doesn’t like it.”

“Well, I’m staying behind and I don’t like it either.” George pouted.

Rose chuckled and walked to him before putting her arms around him. “Well, I’d rather stay here too, but I believe that someone told me to stay in school until Easter at least.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“And I kinda have to, someone has to look after Dru and Ginny.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I know,” she softly kissed him. “Me neither, but sometimes, we have to do something we don’t like.”

“I’m just scared that something will happen to you and---”

“George,” she said softly and made him look at her. “It’s Hogwarts.”

“With Snape in charge,” he said bitterly.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. 

“At least bring some of the peru---”

“Packed. And whiz-bangs, decoy-detonators, shield cloaks and other things that can explode and scare people off.”

George smiled at her and then kissed her tenderly. “Let’s go to bed early, Mrs. Weasley. You still owe me something, if I remember correctly.” He put his hands under her shirt and directed her to the bed. 

 

Rose giggled. “I’d better pay up, I don’t want to be in debt with one of the most successful business owners of Diagon Alley, who knows what he might do to me?”

“Okay, so let’s make up the bill, that’s the promise you made me on Bill’s wedding...” he kissed her neck. “The fact you are a month late on that payment....” He started to unbutton her blouse. “...the monthly rent of the use of this gorgeous body that you have to your use...” He pushed on her the bed. “And then your weekly wife duties....my my, you’re have a huge bill to pay, mrs Weasley.” he hovered over her and kissed her deeply. 

“But I performed all my wife duties by making sure my husband’s back healed up nicely, not to mention the after care that I performed.”

“You didn’t give me sex and it’s in our contract that you owe me sex at least three times a week.” George smirked. 

“Damn, I should have read the fine print.” She muttered as she pulled him down for another kiss. “In what way can I start making a dent in my debt?” 

“Your lips.” George took off his shirt. “I still have one thing in mind for them.” 

“You want my lips worship your nipples?” 

“Worship, yes, nipples is nice, but not what I have in mind.” She was still fully dressed, but he put his hand on her heat and gently squeezed it to start warming her up..

“Then please tell me what you had in mind.”

“How about worshipping my wand?” 

“With my hand? Sure.”

George groaned. “Fine, but let’s get these clothes off first.” He opened her trousers and pulled them off. “I like your legs.” he kissed her knee and worked his way up to her inner thigh. 

“I’m sorry,” she apologised. “I don’t know what’s stopping me from---”

“Rosie.” George kissed her lips. “Don’t! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up. I don’t want you to anything you’re not comfortable with.” 

She nodded slowly and gently pushed him to the bed, pushing a bit harder than normal as George wasn’t willing to budge that easily, and then rolled herself on top of him, straddling his waist. “You, kind sir, still owe me something too. How about we combine our two debts?”

“What do I owe you then?” he gently caressed her upper thighs. 

“You owe me to lay completely still while I give you a massage,” she smiled deviously. “And that debt is even older than mine.”

“Rose.” George whined. “No scented oil.” 

“I have non-scented oil too, you idiot.” 

“Now you tell me.” He sighed as he put his hands behind his head. “You could have told me that last time.” 

“I liked seeing you squirm,” she giggled and softly kissed him. “So that’s a yes?”

“Fine, if you want.” 

“Don’t.” She narrowed her eyes on him as she reached for the non-scented oil.

“What?”

“If you don’t want my hands on you, all you have to say is that you don’t want them on you.”

“Rosie, I want your hands on me.” George frowned at her. “You want to give me a massage, remember?”

“Yeah but if you don’t want it...”

“Rose.” he chuckled and pulled her down to kiss her. “Just give me the massage.” 

She put some oil on her hands and slowly started to massage his shoulder, humming a song that she had stuck in her head. 

“You’re adorable, like this.” George smiled.

Rose liked touching George like this, she noticed. It was even very relaxing for her, although she knew that once she had him on his stomach that she’d have to work harder to get the knots out of his shoulder. As she was sitting on his groin area, she could actually feel that he did like it, and wiggled slightly, which made George look at her with big eyes. 

She grinned and softly kissed him as she moved her hands down his body to open his pants. “See? Not that boring, is it now?”

“Rosie, what are you doing?”

“Giving you a massage, your legs are next before you need to be on your stomach,” she looked up to him with a big smile on her face. 

George groaned and closed his eyes, maybe getting massaged wasn’t that bad. 

She pulled off his socks and pants and then found a particular muscle in his leg that she liked playing with. It had been a while, but she had taught herself about certain pressure points that were pleasurable too, and while she worked his left leg, she could see how George really started to enjoy himself. 

Rose kept humming various songs as she worked her way down his leg, and even massaged his foot before switching to the other leg. By the time she had worked her way up that leg, George was snoozing.

She giggled and softly licked his earlobe. “We’re not done yet,” she whispered. “Turn onto your stomach for me.”

He did what she said, folded his arms and put his head on it. “I’m going back to sleep.”

“Whatever you say, sweetie,” she giggled and sat down on his legs so she had access to his shoulders and lower back. “But your shoulders are a bit tight so...” she started to work on his left shoulder.

“I’m not that tight... Oh! OW!” he cried out.

“You were saying?”

“I thought I was supposed to like this.” 

“Yes, you’re going to love me when that knot is out of your shoulder.” She softly planted a kiss between his shoulder blades and continued to work on his shoulder. “Relax,” Rose said as she pinched one of his butt cheeks.

“That’s hard when you’re being hurt.” he muttered under his breath and grit his teeth. His back was still sore, but he wanted Rose to have her fun and she seemed to like doing this, so he’d just shut up.

She used her fingertips to trail down over his back and started to draw circles on his lower back as she got lost in thought for a moment. 

“Rose, are you falling asleep?” George chuckled. 

“Huh?” Rose shook her head and realized that she had been lost for a bit. “Sorry, I was lost.” She got off of him and he immediately rolled to his back, looking at her. She softly kissed his lips as she wiped her hands on her shirt. “I won’t do this again, I promise.” she smiled at him. “Thank you for entertaining me.”

“You can do it again when my back isn’t hurting anymore.” He kissed her and climbed on top of her. “Now, where were we?” he started kissing her neck again. 

“You’re all slippery now,” she giggled.

“Then I can slip right in.” 

Rose laughed and kissed him tenderly. “Go ahead.”

George removed her shirt and her bra and started planting kisses all over her torso. He never could get over how wonderful her soft skin felt against his lips, nor her trying to get away from his lips as she was so ticklish. “You’re so cute.” he grinned as he removed her panties as well. 

“You’re seeing things,” she stuck out her tongue to him.

“Yes, beautiful things.” George kissed her as he got out of his boxers and repositioned himself. “Angels.” He said as he started to kiss her neck and pushed himself inside of her. 

“Oh...” Rose sighed happily.

“You’re my beautiful Angel.” He said as he started to thrust faster. He buried his face in her neck, he had missed them having sex, but with his back still hurting, it was uncomfortable too. “I missed you like this.” he kissed her neck. 

She caressed his hair, she noticed that he was careful. “Would it be more comfortable for you if I rode you?”

George rolled them over so she was on top. “I have no idea, but I love you on top.” he grinned.

“I know you do,” she smiled as she wiggled a little, having him slip further into her. “Hmm...” she licked her lips as she looked at him. “I’m quite comfortable.”

“Rose.” he moaned loudly. 

“Are you two serious?!” Fred’s voice could be heard from the hallway. Rose could hear that he was hiding a snicker.

George took his wand from the nightstand and muttered the words to the sound proofing charm. “Unbelievable.” He sighed and lifted up his hips before lowering them again. “Are you going to move?”

“Aw, do I have to?” Rose giggled and slowly started to move over his cock. 

“Rose... you... are... un...believ...able.” he closed his eyes and moaned. “Yeah...it is....so much... better.” 

“So pretty,” she sighed happily as she kept looking at him as she moved.

“Rosie....Oh Merlin....oh Rosie....oh my....beautiful.....Wonder Witch you.” 

She started to help herself a little and stimulated her clit as she kept riding George. “Hmm... you feel so good inside of me, George!”

“It feels good being inside of you too.’ George removed her hand so he could stimulate her clit instead. “Feels damn good.” 

“Oh George...” she moaned and closed her eyes. She didn’t stop moving and she felt great. “Feels so good...”

“Are you nearly there? I can’t hold it much longer.” he moaned and closed his eyes again.

“Sweetie, you don’t have to wait for me,” she breathed. 

George didn’t even wait for her to finish her sentence and came hard. “Oh!” he cried out.

Rose giggled. “So pretty,” she said as she caressed his stomach. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”

“For the rest of your life.” George smiled as he continued to stimulate her clit as he sat up and started kissing her neck at the same time. “I’ll always be yours, no matter what.” 

She sighed happily and gasped when he ran his fingernail over her clit, sending her over the edge in an instant. “OH FU--!”

“Oh, you liked that!” George grinned as he kept teasing her clit as she rode out her orgasm. She looked so beautiful, so hot and she kept surprising him. 

She put her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder as she tried to catch her breath. “That was...”

“Explosive,” he smiled widely.

“Hmm...” she thought for a second. “Yes, for a lack of a better word...”

“Best send off to school ever, I think.” 

“I’m so going to brag about you,” she grinned.

“You better.” George laid down on his back and pulled Rose on top of him. “I love you, Rose Weasley.” 

“And I love you, George Weasley,” she smiled widely and caressed his hair. 

~~~~

When Fred walked into his bedroom, he saw that Dru had finished packing her stuff, but also that her dollhouse was put back into its box. “Dru, why did you pack your dollhouse?”

“For safe keeping, I wondered if you could put it in the vault?” Dru said from the bathroom.

“Nothing will happen to it when it’s here, honey,” Fred said as he walked towards the bathroom. “I promise.”

“I know, but they’ve burned down Diggory’s house and it’s the only family heirloom I’ve got.” Dru emerged from the bathroom, with wet hair and only wearing a towel that she had wrapped around her. “Could you please put it in the vault? I just would feel better.” She put her toiletries in her suitcase.

“If you look like that, you can ask me anything,” He nodded. 

Dru turned around and smiled at him. “It’s a towel, Fred.”

“Yeah, and?” He tugged on the towel and grinned when it fell to the floor. “Oh dear, now what?”

Dru picked up the towel and put it around her again. “Your back is still very bruised, Honey.’ she gave him a kiss and walked to her dresser to get fresh underwear. 

“Yeah well, so is George’s but they seemed to be having fun,” he said and tugged on her towel again. “You don’t need to get dressed, I like you like this.”

Dru turned around, put her hands in her hips and looked at him. “I don’t think this is fair.”

“You _are_ fair,” he said as he kissed her. “I’ve been wanting you for weeks now, I want this, please let me ravage you before I have to wait about half a year!”

“Stay here.” Dru walked away from him, making him growl, before she laid down on the bed, she propped herself on her elbows and stuck one knee in the air. “Well...’she smiled as he just stood there watching her. ”...It’s still not fair.” 

“You want me to get undressed?”

“I want to watch while you undress yourself.” 

“Fast or slow?” he teased as he started to unbutton his shirt.

“Slow and stay there.” she said as he took a step towards the bed.

“What?” Fred groaned. “That’s not fair!”

“Do you want me or not?” Dru ran her finger up and down her own chest, keeping her eyes firmly locked on him. “Strip, honey.”

He swallowed hard and pulled his shirt off. He then opened his pants but groaned again when Dru spoke up. “Turn around, I want to see your bum.”

“What?”

“You want me or not?”

He had no idea what was going on with her, but strangely, he _liked_ it. He turned around and dropped his pants to his ankles before stepping out of them. 

“I love my view.’ She smiled as she started touching herself. “Drop those boxers.” 

He did as she told him. “And now?”

“You can turn around, but stay there.” She said huskily as her fingers were now stimulating her clit. 

Fred turned around and felt how his eyes grew big as he saw her touch herself. “Oh fuck, that’s hot.” he said hoarsely. 

“Is it?” she smiled devilishly at him. “I had no idea you would like this.” 

“Me neither,” he said, taking another step towards the bed, wondering if she’d say something else. “You’re so hot.”

“I feel hot right now.” She looked at him with sparkling eyes. “How do you feel?”

“I want you.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” 

He grinned as he crawled onto the bed, kissing her needily as he started to fondle her breast. “I love your taste,” he said, while continuing the kiss. He felt how his back was complaining a little, but he chose to ignore it.

‘It’s melon flavoured shower gel. Nice and fresh.” she said as she continued to rub herself. 

“I don’t care, I just love your taste,” he said, moving to her neck and replaced her hand with his own.

“I can tell.” she stroked his shaft before caressing his bottom.

“Oh,” he moaned and decided to give in to his impatience and moved so that he could enter her easily. “Ready?”

Dru grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down into a deep kiss.

He pushed himself inside of her while they kissed, and she bit down on his lip when he hit a spot that she particularly liked, which resulted in one of her cute giggles that he liked so much. He moaned as he continued to push inside of her. “You feel so good around me.”

“You feel good inside of me.” She grabbed the sheets with both hands, she knew she could be a bit rough with him normally, but she didn’t want him to feel more pain, she knew he was already in discomfort as it was. “Are you still good?” she whispered in his ear, before giving him a kiss under his earlobe. 

“I’m good,” he said as he started to thrust inside of her. He wanted her more than the amount of pain he was feeling, he could do this. Fred softly kissed her neck, giving her the occasional nibble as he kept moving inside of her.

She pushed her head back into the pillows, while grabbing the sheets so tight she dug her nails into her own hand through the fabric. “Just be careful, I don’t want to break you.” 

“You can’t break me,” he chuckled and planted a kiss between her breasts. 

“You...know what... I mean.” she panted. “Just...stop...if ...your back...hurt...too...much.” She wrapped her legs around his waist. 

“As long as you don’t pull, I’m fine,” he said breathlessly and started to lick her nipple.

Dru giggled and unwrapped her legs, it was very struggling and a bit frustrating for her not being able to do anything. 

“How far along are you?” he asked as he licked her earlobe. “Close?”

“Yes.” She nodded and closed her eyes. “I...Ohhhhhh” 

“Beautiful,” Fred sighed happily and felt how her body contracted around him, which sent him over the edge as well. It took everything not to cry out in pain. Maybe this hadn’t been the most ideal position right now, but he sure felt good otherwise.

“Are you alright?” Dru asked with a soft voice. She could tell he was in pain and she started to regret not saying no, like she should have done, his back clearly wasn’t ready for this yet.

“I’m super!” He grinned as he gently rolled off her and took her in his arms. “That was great! You really really need to do that more often,” He said as he kissed her. “Boss me around in the bedroom.”

Dru giggled. “That was weird. I felt so stupid.” 

“That was brilliantly sexy.” He took a deep breath and nodded. “Very very sexy.”

Dru closed her eyes and she wiggled so she could lay against him as close as she could. “I’m so going to miss you.” 

“I’m going to miss you more,” he said as he kissed the top of her head. “George is not as pretty as you.”

“I will give him so make up tips and tell him to boss you around in the bedroom.” she giggled.

“He does look pretty in your underwear.”

‘Fred!!! You are terrible.” 

“What?” 

“He doesn’t have my figure, make him wear Rose’s underwear.” 

“Tried that, but she’s too tiny.”

“Did you just call me fat?” Dru pushed herself away from him 

He laughed. “No, I called you taller than Rose, which you are!” He pulled her back to him. “Come back woman!”

“No.” She giggled and pushed herself away from him again. “Go hug with George.” she pulled the blanket of her and sat up straight to get off the bed. 

“Oi! George!” Fred called out. “Pull on some pants! Dru wants us to hug!”

“Fred, I’m not dressed.” Dru said and hit him over the head with her pillow.

“I can’t, Fred. Rose is on top of me. I can’t move.” George called back. 

“Dru is disgusted with me, I told her you wore her underwear!”

“YOU DID?!” Rose’s voice sounded.

“I’m disgusted with you too. And no, Rose, I didn’t, he did.” 

Dru had put on a shirt and looked at Fred. ‘You didn’t?” 

“Of course not,” he laughed.

Dru laughed, before she suddenly sank through her knees, holding her arm. “Oh god.” she muttered in pain.

Fred jumped off the bed and swooped Dru up in his arms. “Your mother is a buzzkill.” he said as he walked with her towards the bathroom and turned on the cold tap. “Let’s drown the pain.”

“She knows.” Dru said as she had her eyes closed. “She knows I married you.” Dru nearly sank through her knees again if it hadn’t been for Fred holding her. “Ouch.” The pain was worse than it ever had been.

“Yeah, everyone knows,” he said with a nod. “For one, since they crashed the wedding party and two, they’re at the Ministry.” he softly caressed her back. “Think of something other than the pain, honey, like the amazing sex we just had.”

Dru gave a faint giggle. “I’m really trying.” she moaned, she turned her body, so she could put her head against his chest, but that her arm was still under the tap. “It just burns so bad.” she sobbed. 

“Shh... it’s okay.” he said soothingly. “We’ll kick her ass one day for hurting you like this.”

Dru nodded and removed her arm from the tap. ‘I’m going to lay down, okay?” 

“Want me to make you something to eat? Would you like some tea?” He asked as he helped her towards the bed.

‘“A glass of water, one from the bottles Rose keeps in the fridge, oh and put some underwear on before you leave the room, else Rose is going to have a heart attack.” 

He put her on the bed and pulled the covers over her before he walked to his clothes that were on a heap and started to put on his boxers and his pants. “I’ll be right back,” he said with a smile and exited the bedroom, walking into George and Rose, who were looking concerned. “Her scar,” he said, before walking downstairs towards the kitchen.

‘I’ll get her the blanket from the laundry room. The one she likes so much.’ George said as gave Rose a kiss on her head. 

Rose nodded and walked to the doorway of the bedroom. “You decent?” she asked before entering.

“Yeah yeah,” Dru sighed. “You don’t have to run around and worry like you three do, you know.”

Rose smiled as she walked into the bedroom. “Oh, you know us, we like to take care of you.” She sat down on the edge of the bed. “I take it she found out that you married Fred?”

“Oh yeah,” Dru rubbed her arm. “It hurts so bad, Rose...”

“Happy thoughts,” she smiled. “Seeing first years tomorrow on the train! Having fun with Ginny and Neville!” She then grinned. “I packed the special coloured Pygmy Puff for Ginny.”

Dru gave a faint smile. “I’m really trying to think of good things, but either she more angrier with me than ever, or...” There was something more painful about this, something that felt disturbing, but Dru couldn’t put her finger on it. She did her best to hide the fact that she could feel somebody desperately trying to get into her head as well. Dru turned her head to hide in her pillow, her head was killing her. “I want her to stop.” she cried. 

Rose caressed Dru’s back and sighed. “I know...”

Fred returned with a glass of water and after putting it onto the nightstand, he crawled on the bed and took Dru in his arms. “Got it, Rose.” He said with a smile, looking at her as he took the blanket from George. 

Rose gave a nod and left the room with George. “Come on, let’s start cooking, the roast needs a couple of hours,” she said quietly as she walked down the stairs.

George walked with Rose to the kitchen, he took a pan and started to peel the potatoes. “Well, that certainly was a buzz kill.” 

Rose smiled and started to season the beef. “We can always go to bed early and snuggle all night.”

He smiled at her. “I was already planning on doing that. I just wished Fred and Dru could have a nice night like that too.” 

“Yeah,” she sighed and switched on the oven and stove. She quickly heated the beef in the pan before transporting it to an ovenproof dish and combined with some vegetables, she shoved it in the oven.

“I just realized. This is the last night we’re going to send you off to school for a new year. You’re growing up, Rosie.” 

“I’d better be growing up,” she chuckled. “I’m married!”

“That’s funny, so am I.” George pulled Rose on his lap and kissed her. “But my wife isn’t here now. Let’s have an affair.” 

“But kind sir, I really need to pay at least a little attention to the cooking, and I just made an attempt in to paying back what I owed you so far.” she grinned and put her arms around his neck before kissing him back.

“But, little missy, you haven’t paid up your debt entirely, You still owe me at least three quarters of the debt.” 

“I thought I already paid off half!” She rolled her eyes at him.

“Interest.“ He kissed her neck. “For that horrible massage.” he chuckled. 

“Fair enough,” she said with a nod. “Well, we’d better start right after dinner then,” she caressed his hair. “I’ll just sleep on the train.”

“I love having such an obedient wife.” he kissed her and pushed her off his lap. “Back to my potatoes, or else my wife’s going to kill me.”

Holly and Moggy suddenly ran into the kitchen, Moggy was chasing Holly, who leaped on the counter, trying to get away from her chaser. “Hey, out of the kitchen, you two!” Rose conjured a toy mouse and threw it towards the living room and the cats swiftly followed. She then sat back down in George’s lap and put her arms around his neck. “I don’t need your potatoes for at least half an hour.”

“Hmmm.” George said as he continued to kiss her neck. “You stupid cats.” he said as Holly and Moggy again decided that the kitchen was their playground. “Get out or I feed you to the pygmy puffs.” 

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Maybe it’s safer to bring the cats to your mum, threatening to feed them to the Pygmy Puffs or stuff them in the oven, yes George, I heard you say that a few days ago, is not fair, what have they ever done to you?”

“Annoy me.” George said and continued to kiss her neck. 

“I can be annoying,” she said as she sneaked one hand underneath his shirt and tossed another toy mouse out of the kitchen.

“Well, I have considered feeding you to the Pygmy Puffs too, but then I can’t have sex anymore.” 

“Ah, is that what you truly think of me then?”

“Yep, marriage is only to have a full time sexslave.” 

“And someone who cleans the house, does your laundry...”

“Yeah.” he nodded his head in agreement.

“One word of advice though, clean the kitchen when we get back for Christmas.”

“I have Verity do it.” 

“You lazy bum.” She chuckled and softly kissed his lips.

“Alright, woman, get off my lap, I need to peel potatoes and make cucumber salad. Dru likes that, maybe it will cheer her up a bit.” George put Rose back on her feet. “And I’m going to take cooking lessons with mum and Fred. We need to learn how to cook.” 

“I don’t mind cooking for you,” she chuckled. “You’re too busy with the store anyway.”

“No, I want to learn how to cook. At least how to make you a proper breakfast.” 

“What’s wrong with a baked egg? Or a cooked one? You’re good at those,” she smiled at him and softly kissed him. “I think you’ve overheard Dru talk to Fred about Neville’s cooking and you’re jealous.”

George growled at her. “I need to be able to cook my wife breakfast.” 

“Besides, all the teasing about your cooking aside, it’s not really your---”

“Don’t say it, because then you sound like mum.” George stopped her. “I want to be a good husband, so I’m going to learn how to cook my wife a proper breakfast.”

“Alright,” she chuckled.

“And besides if Neville Longbottom can cook, so must I.” 

She shook her head smiling. “Cute.”

George took out his wand and shot a bit of harmless magic at Rose’s bum.

“Still cute!” she giggled.

George grinned and shot a bigger ball of harmless magic against her bum.

“Adorable,” she nodded and wiggled her behind while she looked into the fridge to see if she could make smoothies or milkshakes with fresh fruit.

“Oh you shouldn’t have said that.” George got up from his seat, pulled Rose out of the fridge, turned her around and gently pushed her against it. “Now I want you again.”

“Again? Then I’m not doing my duties as a wife right, you should want me at all times,” she giggled as she looked up to him. “And you are so adorably cute.”

George kissed her passionately.

“Oh, that’s hot and cold at the same time.” Fred grinned as he leaned against the kitchen door.

“Rawr,” Rose giggled. “Don’t worry Fred, we’re cooking. Roast. How is she doing?”

“Better, the pain stopped.” Dru said as she walked into the kitchen. “Do you need my help?” 

“Nope, I have everything under control,” she nodded and looked up at George. “When I’m not squished between my adorable and cute husband and the fridge.”

Dru smiled and hoisted herself onto the counter. “I like that place.” 

“Alright, George, Rose, move from the fridge, Dru likes that place, move.” Fred chuckled.

“Oi! I was here first! Use your own imagination.” George said pushing Rose against the fridge again.

“You’re a distraction,” she giggled and softly kissed him. “Come on, move, I need to see if there’s fruit I can use to make dessert or something.”

Dru smiled, got off the counter and looked into the oven. “Did you remember to put two cinnamon sticks in the oven dish?” 

“Yes mum, I’ve put herbs on the meat, pre-cooked it in the pan and stuck it into the oven, don’t worry. We’ll have roasted potatoes too.”

“Squeezed half a lemon over it?” Dru looked up with a smile. She could smell that Rose forgot that part.

“I don’t care much about lemon.” She shrugged.

Dru shook her head, “But then it becomes too sweet.” Dru got up, took a lemon of the bowl and cut it in half. “I’ll do it now, It should still be okay then.” 

“Maybe you should let your wife teach you how to cook.” George grinned at Fred. 

“How can she teach me how to cook when she’s off to Hogwarts tomorrow?”

“I can teach you over the christmas break.” Dru smiled at him as she squeezed the lemon over the roast. “Open the oven for me, Please.” She said as she took the oven dish in her hands again. 

Fred opened the oven.

“Right, I’ll just leave you to do the cooking then,” Rose said curtly.

“I like that idea.” George said and lifted Rose over his shoulder. “Let’s settle that debt of yours, shall we?” 

_crack_

“They are seriously worse than we are.” Dru smiled. “Could you peel the potatoes for me, Honey?” 

“You know, as much as I love your cooking, that could have been us.”

“Not today, Honey. You can try and fool me, but I can see your back hurts more than this morning.” 

“There are other positions we can try! I mean, George has found a way, hasn’t he?”

“George wasn’t hurt the way you were.” Dru gave him a quick kiss, “Please finish the potatoes for me?” 

Fred grumbled and sat down to finish peeling the potatoes. 

“I just don’t want you get too hurt, Honey. I feel bad enough as it is.” 

“Yeah well, you’re going to be gone for a few months, and the pain will be gone soon. And you can switch yourself off.” He was sulking.

Dru sat down on his lap. “Honey.” she gave him a kiss. “I’ll only be gone for a few months, I’ll be back before you miss me.” 

“I already miss you and I want you very badly.”

“You just had me!” Dru got off his lap. “Honestly, is that all I am to you?” 

“No, but today? Yes. I want baby Freds.”

Dru went to the counter and started cleaning the cucumber. “I thought you thought it was too soon for babies.” She said a bit annoyed. 

Fred shrugged. “Apparently you do.”

“No, you did.”

“Well, not anymore.”

Dru looked around and looked at him. “You’re kidding, right?” 

He shrugged again. “If you say so, how many potatoes do we need anyway?”

“The pan full, but Fred, you always said you wanted to wait till I’m at least 20 or older.” 

“Yeah, I know I said that.”

“So, what are you saying now?” 

“That I sort of like the idea of kids running around.” 

“Fred, I’m only 17.” Dru said. “I’m not capable of taking care of a kid yet. I’ll be a terrible mother.”

“You’ll be a great mum,” he replied. “But you’re probably right,” he sighed and continued to peel the potatoes.

“I won’t be a great mother, but that’s okay. Our children will have you as their father, that will make up for a lot.” Dru smiled at Fred. “You’ll be the most amazing father ever. Our children will be so lucky.”

“You’re selling yourself short again.”

“I’m being realistic, Fred. Not everybody is cut out to be a parent. I’m selfish and I’m wasn’t even capable of taking proper care of you. If it hadn’t been for Rose, your mother would have taken you home again.” 

“What did Rose do that you didn’t?” He smiled at her. “From what I can remember over the last few weeks it was _you_ who took care of my back.”

“Yeah, following Rose’s instructions.” Dru turned around and started cutting the cucumber. “If I was a good wife, I should have never given into you today. Your back wasn’t ready, but all I thought about was getting off. I should have stopped you.” 

“I wanted it as bad as you wanted it and like I said, the pain will go away, it’s fine.” he stopped peeling the potatoes - again, and he was slower than George too - and got up to kiss her. “You need to stop selling yourself short. You’re amazing.”

Dru turned around and put her head against his chest. “I just feel so helpless and useless sometimes. Like the night you came home, you were in so much pain and I just completely panicked. What if we have a child and something happens and I panic? I could end up hurting the child.” 

“Nah, you’ll always have me to keep you calm,” he smiled. “And it’s different with a child, Dad once told us that Mum was quite the jittery and panicky person before Bill came around. And look at her now, she’s like the calmest person ever.”

“I’ll never be a great mother like yours.” 

“No, you won’t have to be as great as mum. You’re going to be even better,” he smiled widely and kissed her again. “I promise.”

Dru smiled at him. “Well, as long as I have you to keep me from dropping the child or forgetting him or that kind of stuff.” 

“You will be fine,” he said again. “Now, I’m going to use magic to peel those potatoes because frankly, I’m bored.” Fred got his wand out and with one flick of the wrist, most of the potatoes were peeling themselves and flying into the pan. “That’s better.”

“Be careful, don’t lose your concentration. We don’t have anymore potatoes.” Dru said as she finished the salad. 

“I’ve been doing this for a very long time, I can even read the newspaper and do the books for the store if I have to.” 

“Alright, first cooking lesson, no distracting until you can do everything perfectly. Okay, why don’t you put the potatoes on the stove and put the peas on aswell.”

He did as he was told. “See? Easy.”

“Yeah, how did you screw up the mashed potatoes at Harry’s birthday again?” She said with her arms crossed over each other. “Because you didn’t pay attention to what you were doing.” she gave him a kiss. “Keep an eye on everything while I set the table. I’ll be a minute.”


	44. Dumbledore's army returns

Fred and George brought their wives to platform 9 ¾. Molly was waiting for them there with Ginny. 

“Hi Molly.” Dru said as she gave her mother in law a kiss on her cheek. “Will you please look after the boys, their backs are still not what they should be.” 

“Oi!” the boys chorused. “They’re fine.” George added.

“Yeah, they’re fine,” Fred added with a nod. 

“Yeah.” Dru rolled her eyes at him. “That’s why you could hardly get up this morning.” 

“That’s because you broke it last night.” Fred grinned.

“Fred!” Molly smacked him on his head.

“Mum!” Fred whined.

“Don’t talk like that about Dru.” She said as she smacked George’s head as well as she could hear him snicker. 

“Careful, Mum might break both your legs if you say something else,” Ginny grinned.

“She’s my wife, I’m allowed to have sex with her.” Fred said as he took a step away from his mother, making sure he was out of her reach. 

“You better be, that’s why I want you to take care of that back. I want a lot of sex when I come home for Christmas.” Dru grinned and kissed him. 

Molly’s eyes went big and slapped Dru on the back of her head too. “Watch that mouth of yours, there are children who aren’t of age on this platform!”

“Ouch.” Dru rubbed her head. “Like Ginny never heard anything like that before.” 

“I’m not concerned about Ginny, sadly, because of the twin’s influence, she’s probably ruined forever,” Molly said dramatically with a smile on her lips and sighed deep. “Now you girls be careful.”

“Yes mum,” Ginny nodded. “Stop worrying.”

“We’ll look after each other.” Rose said.

“Yeah, and we got Neville looking out for us too.” Dru smiled. 

“Hi girls.” Neville said as he walked towards them after saying goodbye to his gran.

“Hi Neville.” The girls chorused with big goofy grins on their faces.

“Stop that.” He smiled.. “Hi George, Hi Fred. How’s married life?”

“Yes, Neville,” The girls chorused again.

“Stop!” Neville whined, making Fred and George laugh. 

“What’s going on?” Fred smiled as he put his arm around Dru. 

“They have being that since they stayed with me last summer. It’s annoying.” 

“We know, Neville.” The girls chorused. 

“I can see that. How was your summer?” George asked Neville while still hugging Rose. 

“I’ve been to a wedding after some tosser, the groom no less, tried to hide in my bedroom.” Neville deadpanned.

Fred snickered. “Good one, mate.”

“And then, all of a sudden there were three drunk girls in my garden. That was fun, considering the circumstances. Especially when I made them more drunk.”

“You what?” George and Fred chorused in awe.

“Not to worry, I wasn’t drunk. I got us to bed.” Rose gently patted George’s arm.

“Make pictures next time.” Fred smiled at Neville. 

“Deal.”

“You better get on the train, girls.” Molly said as she hugged the girls and surprised Neville by giving him a hug too. “You take care of yourselves.” 

George hugged Dru and Ginny first and gave Neville a hand. “Watch over them, mate.” 

“Yeah mate, if something happens to them, we’re coming after you,” Fred said with a smile and shook Neville’s hand too. 

“Yeah yeah...” Neville waved them away. “It’s what I’ve always done, why would I stop now?”

“Take care of yourself too.” Molly said as she hit her sons over the head again. 

Dru gave Fred one more kiss. “I’ll be back soon.” 

“You’d better,” Fred said as he kissed her back. “Write me every day, but don’t send the letters, I’ll read them when you get back.”

“I’ll keep you a dairy.” Dru buried her head in his shirt, trying to make his smell linger in her nostrils for as long as she could. “I love you.”

“I love you too, honey.” 

George lifted Rose of her feet. “I love you, sweetie.” 

“I love you,” she said as she kissed him. “Don’t forget to feed yourself, your brother and the cats.”

“I won’t, Fred and I are having Moggy stew tonight and Holly roast tomorrow.” 

“George!” she playfully hit him on the head. 

“Don’t worry,” he smiled and kissed her. “They won’t feel a thing.”

“George!”

He kissed her again and put her back on her feet. “Off you go now, be a good girl and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and please don’t listen to that nag Seamus, he’ll only get you into trouble.”

“Yes George.”

“And don’t kill Lavender.”

“I won’t, George.”

“Ah, but then we would have the room to ourselves.” Dru whined.

“Don’t kill Lavender.” 

“Fine, I won’t.” Dru sulked before looking up to George. “Dad.” .

“Oi!, the train leaves in 30 seconds. Hurry up.” Neville said from the door way after he and Ginny were already on board. 

Dru kissed Fred one more time and ran to the the train, where Neville helped her in. 

The whistle blew and the train slowly picked up momentum. “Rose!” Neville held out his arm to grab her. 

“Love you,” she said to George and reluctantly started to run to Neville so she could get on the train. 

He grabbed her arm and pulled in with ease. “Glad you could join us, Mrs. Weasley-Shepherd, or are you going by Weasley-Crouch these days? No wait, Weasley-Crouch-Shepherd.”

“Whatever,” Rose muttered. “Let’s just go and sit down somewhere.”

“Yeah, and find Luna too.” Neville said as he walked in front.

“Yes, Neville.” the girls chorused.

“Oh, you’re going to be the death of me.” 

“Yes, Neville.”

Neville shook his head laughing and entered a compartment where Lavender and Seamus were already sitting. He took a seat at the table next to them allowing Rose to sit by the window.

“Where is the rest of you?” Lavender asked.

“Not coming.” Dru said as she let Ginny take the seat by the window. “They’re on the run.” 

“You’re stuck with us.” Rose smiled at Lavender, who was looking a bit scared at that information.

“Don’t worry, Lavender. They both have just been instructed by their husbands not to kill you.” Neville smiled.

“Comforting,” Lavender shuddered.

“Wait... husbands?” Seamus asked.

Dru and Rose both held up their hands. “Husbands.”

Lavender and Seamus just stared at the two girls. 

“Thanks!” Rose smiled widely. “How wonderful of you to congratulate us.”

“Sorry, can I please be a little in shock, when I find out my classmates just got married.” Lavender said. “But congratulations.” 

“Yeah, congratulations, that’s …. wow.” Seamus said.

“What’s wow?” Luna asked as she joined them and sat down next to Seamus. 

“Rose and I got married.”

“Oh I know,” Luna smiled widely. “That was the best news I received over the Summer! May your years be filled with beautiful fireflies and may the bad things turn into something funny. Congratulations.”

“That’s very sweet of you, Luna. But how did you know?” 

“Ron told me at Bill and Fleur’s wedding.” Luna said as she sat down. “And George was pretty loud when he was talking to his Aunt Muriel, wonderful lady by the way, so I heard.” 

“Yeah!” Dru said shortly. “Charming woman.” 

“She was,” Luna nodded with a smile. “I am glad that you’re alright, my father took us out of there at the first sign of trouble.”

“Yeah, we’re alright. We went to Neville that night.” Ginny smiled at him. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yep,” Neville smiled widely. “It certainly was interesting.”

“Yes it was, Neville.” the girls giggled.

“Knock it off.”

“How many girls do you have nowadays, Neville?” Seamus snickered.

“A lot, I collect them.” Neville deadpanned.

“Just a head’s up, someone’s coming,” Rose said and grabbed her wand, which she firmly held under the table. 

“Why?” Neville asked.

“Harry, they’re looking for him.” Dru said as she took out her wand too and with her free hand took Ginny’s hand.

Suddenly the train stopped and within a few minutes two Death Eaters boarded the train. Dru turned her head towards Ginny. She was scared, she and Rose had been trying to stay out of their hands all summer and now they were on the train and there was no hope of escaping. 

“My father will hear about this.” They heard McLaggen say. 

Neville looked at Dru and realised that if the Death Eaters would come any closer, they surely would recognize the girls. He suddenly stood up. “Hey losers, he ain't here.” 

Dru looked at Neville while her mouth fell wide open. She had always known he was courageous, but this was beyond anything she ever thought he would do. 

“What’s your name?” The Death Eater scowled at Neville. 

“Neville Longbottom.”

The Death Eaters exchanged a look and turned around to leave the train again.

Neville took his seat. “What were we talking about?” 

“Neville, that was... amazing!” Rose said in awe. “I always knew that you had it in you but wow, even I was shaking in my shoes.”

Neville shrugged. “I didn’t want them to find you.” he smiled at Dru, who was still a bit shaky. “You okay?”

Dru nodded and looked at the table. “That was really close.” 

“I’ll keep you safe at Hogwarts, don’t worry,” He put his hand on top of hers to reassure her. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep your monsters away, and if I fail, then... well, I failed, but I wouldn’t have meant to fail.”

Dru smiled and put her other hand on his. “Thanks.” 

When Neville saw Seamus looking at him, he pulled his hand away from Dru. “Where is that trolley? I’m hungry. Oh wait.” He turned to Rose. “Am I allowed to eat Chocolate Frogs?” 

Rose giggled and gestured him to wait as she rummaged through her extended bag. She had been experimenting with the Chocolate Frogs (they were already enchanted but they only hopped once and were basically stupid, and she had discovered an old charm of hers that made them hop around a bit more and even gently bite the person who wanted to grab it before it was done hopping) and decided that Neville was a good person to test them on. “Here you go.”

“Uh huh.” Neville took one hard look at Rose. “Wait, how rude, where are my manners? Seamus, do you want a chocolate frog?” Not waiting for the answer he tossed the frog to Seamus and then looked at Dru, who was giggling. 

Rose shrugged. Seamus would do just fine.

“Thanks!” Seamus said happily and opened the frog box and immediately the frog started to perform a jig. “What?”

Rose snorted. 

Seamus was trying hard to catch the frog but it kept nipping at his fingers. “What the bloody hell!”

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted.” Neville whispered to Rose. “What’s wrong, Seamus, are you letting a chocolate frog beat you?” 

“It’s biting me!”

“It’s chocolate.” 

“Well you get it then!”

Neville got up and with one move he had grabbed the frog and bit off his head. “See, no problem.” he smiled at Dru, when the others weren’t looking she quickly had petrified the frog. “I never knew the Irish were so scared of chocolate.” 

Seamus’s head turned red as the others around him started laughing. 

“That’s it, I’m waiting for the trolley!” Seamus cried out.

Neville smiled and put his arm around Rose. “So, I’m a good test person, am I?” 

Rose nodded and smiled at him. 

Dru and Ginny laughed. Dru reached into her bag. She got out a hair band and put her long hair in a pony tail. Neville looked at her. He had known her for six years now, but she had never wore her hair in a pony tail before. It looked different and he didn’t like it. It wasn’t looking like her, but the rest didn’t seem to notice. 

When they got the platform, the group was told to form lines, houses sorted by house and years by year. Rose was between Lavender and Seamus, the Death Eaters put them on alphabetical order and they had no intentions on using other names for Rose and Dru than Crouch and Lestrange. 

This placed Dru between Seamus and Neville. Their lines was supposed to be ten but was now only five. Dru looked to the floor, she wished she would have just made a run for it over the summer and not have come back here. All the students were afraid, expect for the Slytherins then, and Dru couldn’t seem to close off her mind to them either. It was increasing her own fear. “I don’t like this.” she muttered as they were marching to to the school.”

“Keep breathing,” Neville said encouragingly. “I’m right here.”

Lavender walked past one of the Carrows and suddenly took Rose’s hand, she too was terrified. 

Rose squeezed Lavender’s hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry.” Rose had buried her fear deep inside her head, mostly for Dru’s well being, but also her own. She knew everyone was scared, and the least she could do was to become someone to depend on, to be the calm or whatever. 

Lavender looked at Rose and gave her a faint smile, but didn’t let go of her hand. 

The five of them sat down next to Ginny at the table. Dru was to afraid to look up at the their new headmaster as he gave his welcome to Hogwarts speech. She was sitting between Ginny and Neville. 

Lavender had sat down between Rose and Seamus, the poor girl felt lonely, with her only friend gone and was grabbing Rose’s kindness with both hands. When Snape mentioned the Carrows being in charge of discipline Lavender suddenly grabbed Rose’s hand again. “That can’t be good.” 

“You never get into trouble, Lavender, you’ll be safe,” Rose smiled kindly at her. 

When Alecto Corrow narrowed her eyes on Neville, with a nasty smile on her face, Dru could hear him swallow hard. He knew he would get in trouble for mouthing off the death eaters on the train. Dru put her hand on his leg and gently squeezed it. “I’m so sorry.”

“Nah, don’t be.” Neville smiled at her. “I’ll be fine.”

Dru looked at him with teary eyes, “You’re lying.” She could feel that he was a bit scared of what was to come. Without realising it she squeezed his leg a bit harder.

“I might be, but you’re the only one who can tell, so let’s keep it that way.” Neville whispered to her and nodded. “What’s important is that the First and Second years are safe.”

Dru put her head on his shoulder. “Just don’t get in any more trouble.” 

“You know me.”

“That’s the trouble.” She smiled at him as she looked up to him. “I know you too well. You need to be careful, Neville.” 

“Don’t worry.”

“I already do.” 

Seamus was looking at Neville and Dru. He couldn’t help but to wonder how two people so perfect for each other, were not together and how one of them married someone else. “Had a nice summer?” He asked Neville as he started to put some food on his plate.

“Yeah mate, the best.” Neville smiled. “You?”

He shrugged his shoulder. “Mum didn’t want me to come back this year, but that’s nothing new.” 

Ginny put some food on her own plate and on Dru’s. “Eat.” 

Dru shook her head and pushed her plate away. “I’m not hungry.” 

“You have to eat,” Ginny said, pushing the plate back. “Please eat, Fred will kill me if you come back all malnourished.”

“Fine.” Dru smiled and reached for her glass and took a sip of her pumpkin juice.

“I’m seeing you swallow, where’s the chewing?”

“Shut it, Ginny.” 

“I’m doomed.” Ginny sighed and stabbed her piece of chicken. “I think the elves are depressed.”

“Yeah, so do I.” Lavender said as she looked at her vegetables. “It is not what I’m used to.” 

Neville nudged Dru and pointed to her plate. “Come on, eat a little bit.” 

Dru shook her head. 

“Fine, then none of us will eat.” He put down his fork and looked at the others. Lavender soon followed and nudged Rose. 

“Neville, I _am_ hungry, unlike you all.” Rose muttered.

He kicked her under table and gave her a stern look. Seamus and Ginny had also stopped eating

“Fine,” Rose put down her fork. 

“Wait, but you guys need to eat. You can’t make them stop eating, Nev!” She hit his arm but he didn’t even flinch. 

“If you want them to eat, you eat.” 

“No!” she crossed her arms trying to look defiantly at Neville. 

“That’s not working, you don’t eat, we won’t eat. It’s that simple. And a new rule for us at Gryffindor.”

“What?!” Rose looked at Neville in shock. “If she continues not to eat I’ll be out of tinned food within the week!”

“It’s not my fault if you can’t eat, look at her.” Neville pointed at Dru. “Whether or not you can eat, is entirely up to her.”

Rose looked pleading at Dru. “Please, I’m hungry.”

Dru took up her fork and started eating. But after two minutes she put it down again, which made the rest of them, not including Rose, put down their forks again too. 

“Oh come on!” Rose said annoyed.

“Rose.” Neville said.

She tossed her fork on the table and crossed her arms. “Wait until my brother-in-law hears about this.” She mimicked Draco’s voice. Even though she was joking, she was pissed off.

“I hate you, Neville.” Dru scowled, reached or her fork and started eating again. 

While everyone started to eat again, Rose refused. She was annoyed and Dru was going to stop eating again anyway. She took a sip of her pumpkin juice and crossed her arms again.

“Rose, eat! Dru won’t stop eating anymore, will you?” Neville smirked.

“I really hate you.” 

“See?! Finish your plate, Rose, before Seamus finishes it for you.” Neville smiled at her.

“Yeah never mind now, I’m too pissed off to eat.”

“Okay.” Neville took Dru’s fork. “Do you want Dru to eat?” 

Rose growled at him. “You’re taking this ‘taking care of the girls’ thing way too serious.”

“That’s not an answer to my question.” Neville smirked as he twirled Dru’s fork in his hand.

“Again, you’re taking this way too seriously. We’re very much capable of taking care of ourselves, you know. We live in this apartment with two blokes who need to be looked after on a regular basis.”

“Well, if you’re that capable, eat or your friend doesn’t eat. Or do you wanna be a stubborn little girl for the rest of the meal?” Neville looked at her, his voice was friendly, but at the same time, she could tell he meant what he said. “So, the question is, do you want to take care of each other and make sure that they are healthy enough for this year and get through this, of do you want to play I’m a stubborn baby.” 

“I really really really hate you, Neville. I promised not to kill Lavender, I’ve not made the same promise about killing you.” she growled and took a bite off her potato.

Neville gave Dru her fork back. “Eat, Dru.” he said friendly

Ginny smiled. “I’m impressed, Neville. You’re better at this than mum is.” 

“Shut up, Ginny.” Rose and Dru scowled, making Lavender and Seamus laugh. 

“How’s your chicken, Rose?” Neville asked with a smile.

She narrowed her eyes on him and twirled her wand in her free hand. “Shame that Dru likes you.”

“Twirl your wand all you like, Rose. I’m not George, I’m not scared of you.” 

“He’s not scared of me!” she shot at him.

“He is sometimes.” Dru smiled. “Like the other night when you were throwing the Pygmy Puffs at his head.” 

“No!” Ginny said shocked. “You throw with cute little Pygmy Puffs?!”

“Which reminds me, I got you yours.” Rose smiled sweetly at Ginny and then looked at Dru. “George deserved it.”

“How many did you bring?” Neville asked.

“At least a dozen and I will instruct them to nibble on your... _wand_ at night.” Rose said angrily.

“Nice, then I can give Hannah the night off.” he smiled

The entire table started laughing, but not Rose. She was very close to blasting a hole in the table where her plate was resting.

“Come on, Rosie, let it go. You don’t want to lose your temper around them.” Neville said 

“Then stop talking.” She shot at him.

“Fine, I’ll shut up, you calm down, cause they’re coming this way.” Neville looked at his plate and quietly went back to his dinner. 

Dru looked down at her plate too, trying not to draw attention to herself, she took a piece of chicken and started nibbling on it. 

Rose finished drinking her pumpkin juice and was stabbing her chicken, it didn’t look dead enough. She used her spoon to eat the Mushy peas.

When the Carrows passed the group and walked on again, Hannah approached the table. “Neville?” she said as she placed her hand in his neck and gently squeezed it. 

“Hi Hannah. Did you have a nice summer?” He smiled up at her as he turned in his seat to towards her.

“My summer was _long_ and _lonely_.”

He sighed. “Not tonight, Hannah.” He caressed her leg. “I need to take care of some other things.”

“But I haven’t seen you all summer!”

“I know, but...” He looked at Dru, who was clearly in pain, with all the emotions that were flooding her brain. “I promised Fred I’d keep a eye on her and she’s not feeling that well.” 

Hannah narrowed her eyes on Neville. “I’ll refrain from saying something rude right now, but we’ll talk about this later.”

“I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise.” He smiled at her. “Anything you want.” 

Hannah huffed, turned on her heel and went back to her own table. She was certainly not a happy person right now.

“Nev, go after her.” Dru said, she didn’t say a word with Hannah there, afraid that it would only make things worse. “I’ll be fine.” 

“No, we’re going to the Common Room and we’re going to take our time to settle in. If Hannah was really that desperate and missing me over the summer, she’d have gone to my house.”

“Neville, maybe she couldn’t, I don’t know. But she really wants to be with you right now. Just go to her.” 

“Nope, tomorrow.”

Dru dropped the subject and followed the others to the common room. Seamus took hold of Neville’s robe to pull him to the back of the group. “Are you mental?” 

“I suppose, yeah.” Neville nodded. “I’ll talk to Hannah tomorrow, don’t worry.”

“You have one girl trowing herself at you and you rather want to stay with your married ex?” 

“Just tonight, to settle back in, and tomorrow during the day I’ll be with Hannah and then...” Neville shrugged. “I promised I’d keep them safe, so I will.”

Seamus shook his head. “You’re kidding yourself if you think I don’t know it’s more than keeping her safe, mate. I’ve seen you lust after that girl for years.” 

“Stay out of this.” Neville bit at him. “It’s complicated, alright?”

“Just looking out for you, mate.” Seamus shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.

Neville looked at Rose who had started walking right in front of them. “Do you want to share your opinion on this too?” 

“Nope,” Rose said simply. “I hate you, remember?”

Neville grinned, took two larger steps, so he was walking next to her and put his arm around her. “You know it had to be done. Dru needs to eat and I knew she would cave in. Do you honestly think I would have let you starve?” 

“Dru will eat when she gets hungry, forcing her to eat is not the option. God, Neville, I have to fight the boys over this as well, leave it alone.”

“Rose, she doesn’t. When you left at the end of the fourth year and I didn’t remember her, I kept watching her, because..well... it’s hard not to look her. She didn’t eat for nearly two months. This year will be so much worse. You’re wrong about her, if you think she’ll eat when she’s hungry. She won’t, Rose.” 

“Leave me out of this, Neville.”

“Fine, I’m sorry for thinking you care about her.” Neville puled his arm away form he and put his hands in his pockets. “I thought you were friends.” 

“Yes, Dru and I are friends,” she shot at him. “We’re doing just fine without _you_ telling us how to co-exist and be friends and whatnot, Neville. We’ve been doing it for a while now.”

“Then open those pretty eyes of yours and wake up. You not good at taking care of her, you never were. I mean you’re a great friend to her, but you’re not when it comes to her eating problems. She’s fragile as it is, and she’s needs her strength.” 

“Then why are you discussing this with me?”

“To tell you to stop letting her get away with it.” 

“I’m not the right person to do that.” Rose growled and walked into the common room. 

“Fine, like I said, I thought you cared.” Neville walked in after her. 

“What the hell’s wrong with you two?” Dru asked as she saw the two angry faces.

“They’re having a marriage troubles.” Seamus smirked as he walked in after them.

“He,” Rose pointed at Neville, “Doesn’t know when to drop a subject.”

“And she.” Neville pointed at Rose, while mimicking her voice. “is so full of herself, she can’t listen to anyone and admit she might be wrong about something and needs to change what she’s doing.” 

“Apparently I needed to force feed you when you don’t want to eat, Dru. IF I had done that, I would have been the best friend ever.”

“That’s twisting my words, Rose.” Neville warned her. 

“Oh and I don’t care about you.” She nodded.

“Neville?” Dru asked.

“I’ve told her she didn’t care about you, because she’s got her head so stuck up her own ass, that she can’t listen when someone is trying to her help her.” 

“Help her how?” 

“Help her getting you over that eating problem of yours.” 

“Neville!” 

“Fine, everybody that thinks Dru has a problem when it come to eating, raise your hand.” 

“Neville, you’re such an ass.” Rose and Dru chorused.

“Ginny?” Neville asked.

“Well, you ARE right, _however_ , it’s not really your place to tell Rose how she should be friends with Dru. I mean, they do live together, they function and eat.”

“Yeah, and Dru’s more skinnier than ever.” 

“She’s been taking care of her husband, my brother, for the past month, thank you very much, even I would forget to eat.”

“Yeah and who’s taking care of her, she’s only bloody 17.” Lavender said. “You Weasleys seem to forget that she’s just a kid.” 

“Fine, anything else?” Rose shot at them. “Is my shirt crooked? Did I forget to iron it? Oh, maybe I kept the gas on at home.”

“I’m not saying it’s your fault, but stop attacking Neville for actually taking care of her.” Lavender said.

“He should stop attacking ME, he started it!”

“No, you did. He told you he needed to do this to help her eat and that he knew she would cave in and you could eat and then you bit his head off.” Seamus said at Rose. “You Weasleys need to stop taking it all out on Neville, every time you fuck something up.”

“Maybe you should be more appreciative of him.” Dru said with a soft voice. 

“Fine.” Rose growled. “Have it your way.”

“Alright everybody shut up. This was a discussion between me and Rose. And we both were mean to each other and tomorrow everything will be fine. That’s what brothers and sisters do. they yell, they fight and then everything is fine again.” It was the first time he referred to Rose as his sister in public. It was out before he knew it and seeing Rose’s shock face he regretted it the moment he said it. 

“She’s not your sister, she’s mine.” Ginny said.

“I’m going to bed,” Rose muttered and walked up the stairs to the dormitory. She had enough of everything. Rose had given up on trying to take care of Dru in the first year, because she was stubborn and never listened anyway. 

She had clearly told Neville this over and over again, and she even had to make George back off somewhat because it made her uncomfortable. And now everyone was ganging up on her and it was getting annoying, it made her feel like she was the bad one.

“He has so much nerve, who does he think he is.” Ginny scowled as she dragged her trunk in the dormitory. “He’s not your brother.”

“He’s right about Dru.” Rose said as she flopped onto her bed and pulled her pillow over her head and tried not to cry. 

“Maybe, but he’s just very frustrating.” Ginny took Hermione’s bed and laid down on it. 

Lavender entered the room and looked at Ginny. “What are you doing here?” 

“She’s staying here.” Rose muttered. She wanted to be alone and would tolerate Ginny, but Lavender? “With the current climate at school, she’s not going anywhere.”

“Fine.” Lavender laid down on her bed an curled herself up to a ball. “It’s not like I have anything to say here anyway.” she muttered.  
j

* * *

The energy between Neville and his three girls was a bit strained, and at the end of the first week Neville, Ginny, Rose and Dru were sitting in the library together, none of them really talking. Luna joined them and looked at the four friends. “Is everything alright? Or did Nargels get all your brains go fuzzy?” 

“We’re fine, Luna,” Rose smiled at her. 

“They’re all just mad at me.” Neille said without looking up. “Apparently I’ve been getting everything wrong again.” 

“You should stop blaming yourself, Neville, it’s not good for you.” Luna smiled pleasantly at the boy.

‘Yeah... well.” He sulked. “I’m just as hopeless as ever.” 

“You’re not hopeless, like Rose said a few years ago, there will come a day where you will save us all, I do not call that hopeless.” She finally sat down at the table and opened her book. 

“You’re never been hopeless just without self esteem.” Dru said and nudged him “And you haven't smiled all week.” 

“Better to avoid smiling and be happy before I have to put my foot in my mouth again.”

Dru put her head against his shoulder. “Okay, you were right about me, so thank you for making me eat.” 

“Eating is very healthy,” Luna’s light voice sounded. “But you don’t eat very much do you? That’s quite worrying.”

Dru sighed. “You’re right.” she tugged on Neville’s arm. “Smile, you’ve won one battle.” 

“But why is everything a battle with you?” Neville sighed. “It shouldn’t be a battle. It should be “Dru, you need to eat” and you’d eat. Not becoming something that it has currently turned in to.”

“That’s not my fault.” Dru said. “I did eat. I’ve been eating all week.” 

“And yet, this is the first time we’re truly communicating.”

“Well, not really,” Luna piped up and nodded towards Rose and Ginny.

Dru looked at her book. “I’m sorry, Neville.” she didn’t like it when he was mad or annoyed with her. 

“You shouldn’t be sorry, it’s just a shame that you finally get it after seven years that you need nourishment.”

Dru nodded. “I just don’t like to eat when I’m not feeling well, and everybody else doesn’t seem to mind it too much.” 

“Oh come on,” Ginny rolled her eyes at Dru. “I can name at least four people who’ve been trying for years.”

“Yeah, who besides you?” Dru said.

“The people you live with,” Ginny pointed out. “I know that Rose gave up a long time ago in making you eat, but Fred...”

“No they don’t, if I don’t eat, none of them will say something, George used to, but he doesn’t anymore.” 

Neville looked at Rose and frowned his eyebrow. “Do you get what I was trying to show you? I probably should have done it in a more subtle way, but do you get it now?” 

“Yes, it’s my fault.” Rose said. “I told George to stop telling Dru to eat because I, personally, had given up in our first year.”

“Are you saying I’m right? Are you actually admitting that you were wrong?” Neville teased her.

“No, I’m not. I’m telling you that I’ve given up and I can tell you why; I saw how much stress it caused to Dru when I nagged about it, and even when George nagged about it so I had him stop.” Rose hadn’t looked up from her book at all.

“Bummer. I was _this_ close.” Neville smiled at her.

She picked up her book and put it away on the right shelf. She then walked back to the table and sat down again before getting a piece of parchment out of her bag and a quill and started to list everything that she had in her bag and trunk.

Neville took a deep breath. “Rose, I’m sorry for what I said about you being my sister. I shouldn’t have said that.” he said with a small voice, that reminded Dru and Rose a lot like the 11 year old Neville. “It’s just I see you like that, but don’t worry I never expected you to feel the same.”

“You should apologize to Ginny for that, I don’t care.”

“It’s not Ginny’s business how I feel about you.” he muttered.

“She was upset by it, so you need to apologize to her for that.”

“No, I don’t.” He looked at Ginny. “You’re my friend, Ginny, but my friendship with Rose is not your business.” 

“You better find something else you can use to define your ‘friendship’ with Rose.” Ginny replied as she turned the page in her book. “End of discussion.”

“Yeah, it is.” Neville closed his book and wanted to get up but Dru pulled him back in his seat. 

“Ginny, look at me.” Dru spoke to her sister in law.

Ginny looked at Dru. “He has no right to define his friendship with Rose as feeling like he’s her brother. He’s not.”

“I don’t care how you think about that. It’s none of your bloody business, if Rose doesn’t want to call him to call her his sister, then she can say something.” 

“But she’s my sister.” 

“No she not. We’re your sisters in law, not your sisters.” 

“Not by blood!” Ginny blurted as she smacked her book down on the table. “But that doesn’t change the way I feel about you two!”

“So why can’t Neville feel the way he feels about Rose, they’re cousins only two or three times removed.” 

Ginny got up and walked away angrily, kicking against a few things before returning and sitting down again. “Sorry Neville.”

“It’s fine.” Neville said.

“So, what are we going to do this year?” Luna smiled

“I was sort of thinking about restarting Dumbledore’s army.” Neville said. “If...if you all will help me? I mean Harry had Hermione and Ron, I can’t do it by myself.” 

“Of course.” Luna smiled.

“Absolutely.” Ginny grinned.

“I don’t know. I don’t like fighting.” Dru said with a soft voice.

Rose knew it wasn’t a good idea, well it was, but it would be probably even harder for them to do it now that there was more control with the two Death Eaters working for Snape and the re-founded Inquisitorial Squad of Slytherins. “Decree 24 is in play, and the punishments will be harder.” she said softly.

“Since when do you follow the rules?” Neville asked with his eyebrows raised. 

“Since all the first years will be wanting to join too and we can’t guarantee their safety. They need to be taught too.”

“I’m only talking about sixth and seventh years joining. If younger students need to be taught, every house can teach their students themselves in the common rooms. I’m talking about resistance against the school and we need to look out over the younger students. To keep them from harm. I want you with me, I need you with me, but if you don’t want to, then I’ll accept that. I’ll never force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Why?”

“Rose, don’t be such a idiot. You know why.”

“I’m the idiot, remember?” She countered.

“Because you’re my best friend and I feel safer when you are standing beside me.” 

“Wow, still afraid that I’m going to switch sides, are we?” Rose rolled her eyes at him. “You are perfectly capable of teaching them yourself. I’ll even give you half of my stuff in the trunk to patch them up again when something goes wrong.” She gave him the parchment she had been writing on. “Besides, sooner or later you’ll get angry with me anyway for saying something you don’t like and you won’t believe me when I say that we’d have to leave the room because I say so.”

“So, we’re always angry at each other, why should that matter. But fine if you don’t want to help, you don’t.” Neville knew Rose would help him either way, no matter what she said now. Besides unlike Dru she didn’t need any help anyway, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. 

Dru was another matter. He had noticed how Dru had completely crawled into her shell and he was going to force her to join. He turned towards Dru. “You, don’t have a choice,” he told her. “You’re going to do it with me.”

“No, I can’t. I don’t want to.” Dru shook her head. “I don’t like fighting.” 

“You’re going to have to anyway once this war really gets going.” Neville said.

“I only get in your way.” 

“Dru, you’re one of the most talented witches that have ever graced this school.”

Dru shook her head. “I’m not. Apart from my gift I’m useless.” 

“Are you insane?”

“I am,” Luna smiled. “Well, they say that I am but I am sane.”

“You are sane, Luna. Weird too, but sane.” Dru said.

“But Neville is right, you know. Your spell control is amazing!”

‘I don’t want this, Nev. I don’t want to fight. Can’t I just stay in the infirmary and nurse everybody back to health?”

“You reckon the infirmary will be safe if you-know-who decides to fight here?” Neville said. “Well, okay, if you don’t want to fight, then at least you’re coming with so you can defend yourself better.”

Dru shook her head. “I’m just going to hide in a broom closet when the time comes.” 

“You’re going to join,” Rose said to Dru. “If only to save Neville’s sorry ass.”

“Why, you didn’t. Why would I do it, if you don’t?” 

Ginny was grinning and even Luna stifled a grin. 

“Because Neville does listen to you, and you’re better at the ass saving.”

“I’m not joining unless you do.” Dru crossed her arms, trying not to smile. 

“You just want me to hurt you again when we duel, don’t you?”

“Yep.” 

“Fine, looking forward to it already.” Rose smiled at her.

“Alright I know what we’re going to do next.” Ginny said. “We need to break into Snape’s office.

“Are you mad?” Dru and Rose chorused.

“Brilliant, just for the heck of it or do you want to break something in particular?” Neville asked.

“No, we need to steal the sword of Gryffindor, for Harry.”

“Did he asked you to do that?” Luna asked.

“No, but Dumbledore left it to him in his will. Ginny and I used the expendable ears to listen in when Scrimegeour told them.” Rose said. 

“Ah, you two play eavesdroppers and let me go outside to pull up the tent.” Dru said. 

“Yep.” Ginny smiled widely. 

“Alright let’s do this.” Neville said. “Dru, you need to distract Snape.” 

“What? Why me?” 

“Because you’re the only one that would go up and talk to him,” Ginny said. “You can say you’re having troubles with your head.”

“No, talk to him about Draco. Demand him to tell you why he let him do what he had to do last year.” Neville said 

Dru looked at the table. “I...I..do I have to?” 

Neville put his arm around her. “Yes, we need you to do this.” He said softly.

Dru nodded. “Alright.” 

“Okay, Luna and Ginny, you stand guard. Rose and I go inside the office and steal the sword.”

“When are we going to do this?” Luna asked.

“RIght now.” Neville got up and hoisted Dru to her feet. “Come on, let’s go.” 

“You’re mad!” Rose said, putting the parchment back into her bag.

“The longer we wait, the more chance we got of being found out.” Neville said as they walked out of the library. “Dru, are you up for this?” 

She nodded. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” She looked at Neville.

“You’ll be fine,” he assured her. “You can do anything.”

“I’m scared.” she grabbed his arm.

“You want Luna or Ginny to come with you?” he asked as he patted her hand.

“No, I can do this. I’m just scared.” She let go of his arm and walked away towards the teachers lounge. 

Ten minutes later Rose and Neville were standing in Snapes’ office. “So where is that sword?” 

“I don’t know,” Rose said, looking around. “I can’t even imagine how _he_ finds everything in here.”

“It’s worse than the boys’ stock room and that one’s a pig sty.” Neville grinned.

“ _Accio sword of Gryffindor!_ ” Rose hissed, but nothing happened. “Ugh, this is useless.”

Neville leaped onto Snape desk, trying to have a better look at the higher shelves. “So, how’s married life treating you?” 

“If people would stop hurting my husband, the last month would have been great,” Rose pouted. “Really, you’d think they’d take pity on him for losing his ear.”

Neville laughed. “It will get better, I’m sure of it. Is Dru enjoying it as well?”

“She’s pissed off because they were harder on Fred than on anyone else that night. And scared.”

“Because of her mother, I suspect.” Neville looked at Rose with his hands in his pockets. “I just want her to be happy, you know that, don’t you?” 

“Yeah, on both accounts,” she gave a nod. “It would help if you let go of her more, you know. I know you love her, but you have to move on.”

“I’m trying to. I really am. Why do you think I spend every night so far with Hannah? Maybe I could learn how to love her.” he shrugged.

“I think your determination is admirable.” Rose said, walking up the tiny stairs and started to look up there for the sword. “But one thing, Neville, you have to be honest with Hannah, about your feelings. Not about Dru, but about your feelings for her.”

“Hannah knows we’re not a real couple. But I don’t want to be alone for the rest of my life and I like Hannah, and the sex is alright. Besides not everybody falls in love at first sight. Maybe over time I do learn how to love her. ” 

“Alright,” Rose replied. “I did not have to know about the sex though.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” He grinned. “I don’t know. She wants to be with me and seeming as I can’t be with the one I love, at least I can make Hannah happy.”

“Neville Longbottom, always the one to sacrifice himself for everyone else.” Rose snorted and hopped down the stairs. “Please do try to find your own happiness.”

“I already found it, but Fred Weasley has it now.” His voice sounded really depressed, like he had lost all hope. It reminded Rose of the brokenhearted Neville that was standing in the hospital realising that his girlfriend has lost all her memories of him. He hopped off the desk. “I don’t think the sword is here.”

She hugged him. “Nope, it’s not, but don’t abandon hope for your happiness, you’ll find it.”

Neville put his arms around her. ‘I’ll settle for being Dru’s spare and making someone else happy instead.” 

“Alright,” Rose replied. 

Suddenly the door opened and Snape walked in with the two Carrows behind him, holding Ginny, Luna and Dru. “What are you two doing here?” 

“My cat disappeared, sir.” Rose said. “I thought it might had wandered off.”

“Your cat?” Snape asked

“Moggy, you know, the red, cute little cat that likes to hide and play with everyone’s hands?”

“Don’t lie, Rosie.” Neville smiled at her, making her look up to him in shock. “We wanted to find a exciting place to make out.” Neville pulled Rose a bit closer to him.

“Now, that is something I simply cannot believe,” Snape said as he looked at Neville and Rose. “Considering Miss Crouch’s impossible love for her husband.”

“I’m their spare. They told me to care for them. I’m simple taking care of their needs.” 

Ginny and Luna couldn’t help giggling.

“And for such an elaborate plot you had Ms. LeStrange talk to me about Mr. Malfoy, and both Ms. Weasley and Ms. Lovegood on the look out?” 

‘Well, whenever I have sex with one of them, the other three are on the look out.” 

“I say we chain them up in the dungeons, headmaster,” the male Carrow offered. “I think they’d last longer than the first years for target practise.”

“Exciting!” the female Carrow giggled. “Yes, yes, make an example out of them!”

“Please, don’t, professor, please.” Dru begged Snape.

“Don’t beg, Druella, it’s very unbecoming.” Snape said calmly. “Whether it’s finding a cat or finding something else, all of you will serve detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest.” He said as he narrowed his eyes on Rose and Neville. “Do not lie to me again.”

Neville nodded, while he was still holding Rose firmly against him and kept his eyes locked on the other three girls. “Can we go back to our rooms now?” 

“Report to Hagrid after supper.” Snape said and watched as the five students left his office and then he scowled at the Carrows. “When they come into my office, it is my punishment. Get out.”

Rose looped her arm through Dru’s as they walked down the stairs. “Pfew.”

“Did you get it?” Ginny asked Neville.

“It wasn’t there.” Neville said and looked at Dru. “How did he find out you were lying?” 

“I don’t know.” Dru sighed. “I really tried my best.” 

“I know Dru. I was just wondering if he used a spell or potion or something.” Neville said friendly. 

“I think he looked inside my head. I can’t control my gift properly at the moment.” 

“Then we’re going to work on that,” Ginny gave a nod. “And the first step is you teaching us how to close off our minds to you, at least our feelings part.”

“I don’t know. I would like to know how Rosie thinks about her and me having sex in Snape’s office.” Neville teased as he gently tugged her hair.

“I can’t believe you just came up with that.” Luna laughed.

“I’d rather eat dirt.” Rose replied. “You’re so not my type.”

“Oh we do it all the time, Luna,” Ginny grinned. “Last time was at his gran’s house, I pretended to be his girlfriend.”

“Or me in Herbology class, scaring off Hannah.” Dru smiled

“And the changing room? What happened there?” Luna asked.

“Any boy’s wet dream,” Rose nodded. 

“Wait, you told her?” Neville’s face went red.

“We’re girls, we talk.” Ginny shrugged. “But if Luna knows, then something must be terribly wrong, and we had an extra watcher that day.”

“Or Neville told someone.” Dru looked at him. “Did you tell any of the boys?” 

“Uhh... I might have told Seamus when I was a bit drunk...”

“Neville!” Dru said.


	45. Detention, whiskey and love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a hierarchy within the reformed DA, somewhere.

That night after dinner Neville and the four girls made their way over to Hagrid’s. Dru knocked on the door. “Professor Hagrid.” 

The door opened and the friendly half giant opened the door. “You were the least I expected,” he greeted them happily. “Sneaking into the headmaster’s office, how dare you,” he said playfully.

“He wanted to have sex.” Ginny said patting on Neville’s shoulder.

“Right...” Hagrid pulled on his coat and grabbed a lantern. “As long as it’s done safely, I suppose.”

“I wasn’t... it was excuse.” Neville blushed.

Hagrid looked at Neville. “Right, like the time I found you two at the hippogriffs.” 

Neville looked at Dru and the both of them had to smile. 

“Alright, we need to look for a wounded Thestral. “I’m going to split you up. Rose, you can see them don’t you?” 

“We all see them, except for Ginny, Hagrid.” Rose replied. 

“Alright, Neville, you go with Dru, Rose, you go with--”

“Ginny,” Rose interrupted Hagrid. “George would kill me if she went into the forest without me.” 

“Alright Luna, you’re with me.” Hagrid handed Rose and Neville both a bag with some bandages and ointment. “If you find them send red sparks into the sky.” 

Ginny took Rose’s hand. Ginny wasn’t easily scared, but the forest at night in the current climate wasn’t a funny thing.

“Neville, don’t let her get too excited when she sees animals,” Rose joked as she walked off with Ginny using her wand to light the way.

“Doesn’t anybody understand that animals don’t hurt anyone unless they asked for it?” Dru said. “They’re not plants.” 

“It’s because you’ll love them to death, silly.” Neville chuckled. “Hagrid trained us well in dealing with Magical Creatures.”

“I’m not silly.” 

“Alright, you’re not silly.”

Dru walked alongside Neville. “I still think plants are more dangerous than creatures.” 

“I think it’s the other way round,” he smiled.

“I’ve been assaulted more by plants than by animals.” 

“Yeah, we both aren’t going to win this discussion, are we?”

“No, I win.” She smiled at me. “Wanna know why?” 

“Because you’re a girl and you always win?”

“Because you’re going to let me.” She grabbed hold of his arm and put her chin on his shoulder. “Please, Neville.” She pouted, while batting her eyelashes at him. 

“Nope, it won’t work.” 

“Please, Neville, Please.” she pouted as she gently tugged on his arm.

“No, we’re supposed to look for an injured Thestral, I’m not going to let you win a discussion that can’t be won.”

“Come on.” she started tickling him, still knowing his sensitive spots. “The sooner you give in, the sooner I’ll stop.” 

“Dru, please,” he chuckled. “Stop.”

“Not until you give in to me.” she laughed.

“Never.” 

Dru stopped tickling and walked a few steps ahead of him. “Fine then.” she sulked.

“Dru, you can’t do that to me, tickling me and teasing me like that,” he said honestly. “I’m trying to... I’m working on letting you go.”

“Fine.” Dru said and they walked in silence for a few minutes before Dru suddenly stopped and leaned into a tree. She had her back turned towards Neville. Her arm was burning again, but she didn’t want to show him. 

“But that doesn’t mean I still can’t be your friend, but it’s not good for the both of us if you keep doing... boyfriendy stuff with me.”

“Fine.” Dru’s voice was shaky. She was crying now as she clenched her arm.

“Are you mad at me?”

Dru shook her head and gently sank through her knees. “I’m fine.” 

“Obviously not!” Neville shot at her and sat down on the ground as he pulled her against him. “What’s wrong? Did you hurt your foot?”

Dru shook her head and pulled her arm against her chest. “It’s fine, It will stop by itself.” 

“What will?”

Dru lowered her arm and pulled up her sleeve, showing him the dark mark.“My mother’s birthday present, for my sixteenth birthday. She uses it to hurt me.” Dru put her head against his shoulder. “It’s her way of making me feel how much she loves me.” 

“Charming,” Neville said bitterly. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“She makes it burn.” Dru pulled her arm against her chest again and sifted so she could sit closer to him, she knew she shouldn’t, he had only just told her to stop doing things like that, but he felt so safe, that she couldn’t stop herself. “It hurts so much.” 

“What can I do to help?”

“Nothing. She will stop eventually.” She sighed. “Can I sit here for a few more minutes?” 

“Yep, I’ll bet that super witch Rose will get to the Thestral before we do.”

“Probably.” Dru smiled. “My arm will probably stop burning soon. She never makes it hurt too long after another to make sure I don’t go mad.” she moved her head so it was in the crook of his neck. 

“I don’t know if that should be a blessing or not.”

“Neither do I. Nev, I know I shouldn’t ask, but could you please just hold me?” 

He put an arm around her and sighed. “Here we are, in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest, filled with dangerous creatures and we’re not moving.”

Dru gave a faint giggle. “Don’t worry, the creatures won’t hurt us, as long as there no plants around us, we’ll be fine.” 

“You still won’t win the discussion.”

Dru giggled and slowly sat up straight. “I think the worst is over now.”

“Alright, good,” Neville nodded and then looked up to see a ghostly lioness. It took him a moment to register that it was Rose’s patronus. 

“Dru, found it, follow the lion please, I don’t know what to do.” Rose’s voice came out of the lion’s mouth.

Neville helped Dru to her feet. “That is actually impressive,” he said impressed.

“Yeah,” Dru said and followed the Lion, holding on to Neville’s arm. She was still a bit shaky. after ten minutes they reached Ginny and Rose, who immediately noticed there was something off with Dru. “I knew you would find it.” she smiled at Rose. 

“I was actually wondering if that lion reached you okay,” Rose chuckled. “I wanted to try a non-invasive approach for once.” 

Dru let go of Neville’s arm and hold on to Rose instead. “Where is it?” 

“Right here,” Rose said as she walked with Dru to the Thestral. “So, do I need to pull a Fred and put your arm under water or what?”

“It’s okay, water doesn’t really help. But it’s calms Fred down if he thinks he can help, so I let him.” Dru smiled and kneeled down next to the thestral. “Have you called for Hagrid yet?” She took out some cloths and started cleaning the wound. 

“Yeah,” Rose nodded. “But I got you too because I’m good with people not Magical Creatures.”

Dru finished cleaning the wound and put some bandages on it. The thestral was making crying sounds. “I know, sweetheart, I know.” She said as she stroked its cheek. She turned around to Rose and shook her head. 

“How about ‘rennervate’? Would that help?”

“No.” Dru whispered. “Could one of you keep pressure on the wound?” 

“I’ll do it,” Ginny said and kneeled down next to Dru. “Uhm... where?”

“On the bandage.” Dru put Ginny’s hand the bandage and moved so she could put it’s head on her lap. “It’ll be okay, It’ll be over soon.” she said soothingly to the creature.

“Did you find her?” Hagrid’s voice sounded from a distance. “Did you?”

“Over here, Hagrid.” Rose called out for him.

Dru could feel the animal’s life slowly slipping away from her. It brought tears to her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She whispered and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here faster.” 

“Oh no,” Hagrid said as he got to his knees behind the thestral. “Let me see the wound, Ginny, let’s see what happened.”

“She’s gone, Hagrid.” Dru said with a soft voice.

“No no no, poor Pepperpot,” Hagrid said with a catch in his voice as he got up and wiped his eyes. “Alright, let’s get out of here, the forest will take care of her.”

Little Luna was watching the scene with tears in her eyes. It was a strange sight to see her cry. Neville put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. He wanted to hug Dru, but he knew he shouldn’t so Luna would have to do. 

Dru was still sitting there with the head of the animal on her lap. “Goodbye Pepperpot.” 

“Come on, Dru.” Hagrid gently nudged her. “Let’s all go to my cabin and have a wee bit of tea in our firewhiskey.”

Dru slowly got up and took Ginny’s arm, as she was still unstable on her feet.

* * *

It was near the end of November and Ginny and Dru was waiting in the common room for Neville and Rose to come back from detention. “I don’t like this,” Ginny said as she was pacing in front of the fire. “It’s taking too long.”

“I know, something is wrong.” Dru said as she was fiddling with her wand. It was nearly twelve o’clock and they had been gone for hours now. “Maybe we should go look for them.”

“No, you know what they said.” Ginny shook her head. “I don’t like it either, but... Rose and Neville know what they’re doing by now.” As if by magic, the portrait door opened and a lot of cursing could be heard, mostly from Rose. “There they are!”

“Oh god, are you alright?” Dru asked.

“No,” Both Neville and Rose said whereas when they usually got hurt over the last few weeks they had lied, this time the pain was too bad to lie. 

“Come on, Rose.” Ginny took her arm. “Let’s go to our room, and I see what I can do.” Ginny helped her to the room and helped Rose on her bed.

“Oh god, is she alright?” Lavender quickly got up to see if there was anything she could do.

“Get my bag,” Rose whimpered as she tried to get out of her blood soaked shirt, trying not to cry or curse.

“Rose.” Lavender sighed and first helped Ginny remove Rose’s shirt before looking through Rose’s trunk. “The purple one, right. The one you always carry around?” 

“Yes, Lavender, please.”

“I got it, what do you need?” She put the bag next to Rose’s hand, guessing Rose wouldn’t want Lavender to go through her bag. She then got off the bed took to bowl and filled it with warm water. “Rose, be honest, do you want me to leave you alone with GInny?” she put her hand on Rose’s hand

Rose gave her a nod. “Please, she knows what to do. I’ll give you a training after Christmas, okay?”

“I’ll be in the common room, if you need anything. Anything at all.” Lavender smiled, caressed Rose’s hair out of her face.

“Oh!” she nodded. “Yes, Lav, there’s... ahh...” she winced when Ginny started to clean her back with a warm cloth. “Fuck that... uhh... as soon as I can sit upright, I have something for you to do.” She said in one breath and grabbed hold of her pillow. 

Lavender went to her night stand got out a hair clip, then got back to Rose and pulled all her hair back in twist and used the clip to fasten it to her head. “Better?” 

“Thanks.”

“Ginny, call me, if you need anything.” Lavender said as she left the room. 

“Is she gone?” Rose asked with a small voice. 

“Yes, scream all you like. I already used the silencing charm on the room.”

Rose pushed her head into her pillow and started to sob. “It hurts so much...” She hadn’t cried when she had gotten hurt before, she had kept it all inside of her but this time she just couldn’t stop herself. She wasn’t ashamed to break down in front of Ginny, as long as she would be strong for the rest of the house.

“It’s okay.” Ginny said with a broken voice. “It’ll be okay.” 

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“You’ll be okay.” Ginny took out her wand and started to use the healing charm. “George and Fred got through this, so can you. You’re the Wonder Witch, remember?” 

“I’m sorry for crying...”

“Shut up Rose.” Ginny grinned through her own tears. “Be sorry for the asskicking George is going to give me this Christmas.” 

“He won’t, he’ll love me for keeping you safe, then start yelling at me for putting myself in harms way, and then love you for taking care of me, and then start yelling at me again.”

“And then kill Neville.” Ginny chuckled. 

“Quite possibly.” Rose snorted. “Oh, don’t make me laugh.”

“Sorry.” Ginny laughed. “What the hell did they do to you?”

“Oh, target practise, then a good old fashioned whipping, some more target practise...” Rose sighed. “Although now that nobody is keeping an eye out, it’s worse. At least they didn’t break bones.”

Ginny put her wand on the table again and went back to cleaning the wounds. “Did they do this kind of stuff when they kidnapped you and Dru?” 

“Yeah,” Rose said after a moment of silence. “There’s some disinfecting ointment in my bag. And a numbing cream.”

“I know, It’s already on the table, but I need to clean you first.” Ginny chuckled. “Relax Rose, I know what I’m doing.” 

“Of course, it was worse back then... the breaking and resetting of bones is just... and no welts on my back either, maybe one. But Draco and Narcissa looked out for me and Dru, they made sure we weren’t hurt too badly, or too long.” she took a deep breath. “This felt as if we were in there with them for at least a handful of hours.”

“You were.” 

“Oh,” Rose sighed. “Kinda forgot about the time...”

“We didn’t.” Ginny said as she unscrewed the bottle with disinfectant. “Rose, I’m really really sorry, but this is going to hurt and I’m not going to stop even if you beg me to.” 

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Go.” She then pushed her face back into the pillow.

Ginny gently cleaned Rose’s wounds with the disinfected and tried to block out Rose’s screams. It was breaking her heart to her Rose be in so much pain. “Shush.” She wanted to calm Rose down, but she herself couldn’t stop from crying.

“Imagine me holding you right now and comforting you.” Rose shuddered. 

“You imagine George holding you right now, telling you how much he loves you and how beautiful you are.” 

This made Rose sob even more. “I miss him!”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Rose.” Grinny started to cry harder too.

“Oh look at us, two crazy girls crying our eyes out.” Rose gently patted Ginny’s leg. “You’re doing great, Ginny.”

“I’m not, I make you cry.” Ginny sulked. “I don’t know how to make you feel better.” 

“You’re doing great.”

Ginny got out the numbing cream and started to rub Rose’s back. “Rose, could you tell me about what happened when you and Dru were taken?”

“What would you want to know? I told you the jist of it.”

“I don’t know. What is Narcissa like?” 

“She’s a lot like Dru, or Dru is a lot like her. She cares about her children. It’s just... I dunno, the wrong kind of love that family has? I mean, you should love someone because you love someone, not out of loyalty first, right?”

“But Dru’s sweet, nice and caring. And without self esteem half the time.” 

“Yeah, Dru loves the right way. They really really broke her when we were there. Sometimes she’d be gone for an entire day.”

“That’s why she’s too scared to fight, isn’t it?” Ginny put the numbing cream away and laid down next to Rose. “She’s too scared what they will do to her once they find her.” 

“Yeah,” she gave a nod and smiled at Ginny before caressing her hair. “You did great.”

“Yeah, just stay out of detention next time, will you?” 

“I promise I’ll try not to get caught again... once I can walk up straight.”

“Yeah, you do that.” Ginny grinned and held Rose’s hand, “Try to get some sleep.” 

She pulled Ginny closer to her and closed her eyes. “I’ll try,” she sighed. “Quite sleepy anyway but...”

“You sleep, I stay awake and watch over you here and Lavender’s got the common room covered, so try and sleep, Rose.” 

~~~

“I’m fine,” Neville said, backing away from Dru.

“Neville, I can see you’re not. Let me help you.” 

“No, I’ll wait until Ginny’s done fixing up Rose, or whatever, if you want me to be looked at but I promise you, I’m fine now that I don’t have to pull Rose with me.”

“Neville, stop being so stubborn.” Dru said as she took a step closer to him. “I know you’re not fine.” 

Neville scowled and walked towards the bathroom. “I’ll just take a shower, and I’ll be fine.”

Dru gave him three minutes of a head start, before grabbing her bag and walking after him.

“BLOODY FUCKING HELL!” Neville cried out as he was standing underneath the shower, still fully clothed. 

“Neville, why didn’t you take off your clothes?” Dru smiled. She pulled off her sweater so it wouldn’t get wet as she helped him, she was wearing a tight top with spaghetti straps underneath. “Are you going to take it off yourself or do you need me to do it for you?” 

“I didn’t take off my clothes because you’re here. Go away, I’m fine.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Neville, stop this. It’s me. I know you’re not fine.” She took another step closer to him. “I fought like hell when they hurt me. It took them hours to convince me to let them take a look at me. Let me help.” 

He turned the shower off and sighed. “Fine...” he said reluctantly. “And I’ll kill everyone who has hurt you.”

“Always the hero.” Dru smiled. She gently helped him out of his shirt and swallowed as she saw the blood on his back. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second to calm herself. “Alright, turn the water back on, we need to clean your back first.” 

He groaned as he turned the shower back on. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience the first time round, and was just looking at the ray of water.

“It’ll be okay, Nev.” Dru took a washcloth and gently cleaned his wounds. She tried to stay out of the reach of the water to stay a bit dry. 

“Usual practise for them then?” Neville asked through gritted teeth. “Spells and whips?”

“Yeah, and let me guess a whole lot of Cruciatus curses between them?” 

“Yeah, not on Rose though.”

Dru put the washcloth away and started using the healing charm on him to try and close the wounds. “You made sure they didn’t, didn’t you?” 

“She’s a little girl, I told them that if they wanted her to last longer for their pleasure that they shouldn’t do it.” He took a few deep breaths. “They’re really pissed off.”

“Neville, you need to stop sacrificing yourself. I know you want to protect us all, but you need to take care of yourself too. Else you won’t last and we need you too much.” Dru caressed his hair. 

“You don’t need me, Dru,” he chuckled and shook his head. He wanted to punch the wall, but he felt too drained to do it and he’d only end up hurting himself more. 

“Neville, you really don’t see it, do you?” Dru smiled at him. “If it hadn't been for you, us girls, Ginny, Luna, Rose and me, we wouldn’t be able to make it through. Not to mention the rest of the school. You’re our leader, our hope, you’re keeping us strong.” 

“You’re talking about Harry. He’s our leader, our hope and he’s out there, somewhere.”

“No, you’re our leader.” Dru leaned against the wall. “Everybody is so depressed, but when you come in and tell them that everything is going to okay, they all feel better.” Dru closed her eyes, she had told all of them that she had been able to close herself off more, but she had lied. She couldn’t she could still feel so much fear and hurt and it was killing her on the inside. “You need to take care of yourself, before you crack in front of others.” 

“You should listen to your own wise words,” he chuckled softly and turned off the water again. “And I’m just keeping the seat warm for Harry, when he returns.”

“Neville, Harry might be a hero, but he’s not you.” Dru knew she was crying now, but she couldn’t stop herself anymore. She had been keeping it in for so long. “They’re all so scared. I just wish I could take their pain away, I try to, I try to talk to them and comfort them and give them some hope, but it’s draining. And something it feels so hard to tell them everything is going to be okay, when I haven’t felt even a flint of good for so long.” 

“I know! I feel it too. Their loneliness, their hopelessness, being drained.” Neville caressed her cheek. 

“It just feel like there is no more light at the end of the tunnel. Like this is it for the rest of our lives.” Dru put her hand on his wrist. 

Neville closed his eyes, her touch on his skin, it felt so familiar, so safe, it suddenly made him lose his barriers and wanting to confess how he was truly feeling. “I know. I’m so tired sometimes. I just want to crawl into bed and just sleep for days, but when my head hits the pillow, I can’t sleep at all anymore. I just lay awake, staring at the ceiling.” 

“Hey!” Dru caressed his cheek with her free hand. “It’ll be okay. You’re so strong. You’ll get through this, Neville. I know you will.” It broke her heart when she realised he was crying. “Neville, please don’t cry. You will get through this, You got Rose and me and Hannah. She loves you so much, let her comfort you a little. I know she would love to do that. You’ll feel better being comforted by the one you love. Maybe that’s all you need to feel something good, to give you hope again.”

“You just did,” he gave a faint smile. “You’re the one who keeps me hopeful, Rose just tells me that everything is going to be okay, but you truly give me hope, something to fight for.”

“You’re sweet.” Dru smiled at him. “I just wish... I don’t know anymore.” She rested her forehead against his. “I wish I could do something to help you.”

“Just be you.” Neville caressed her hair. “That’s all. Now, if there was a way to help you, we’d all be okay.”

“I don’t know anymore. I’m too tired.” 

“Let me get dry, and let’s go to bed.” Neville smiled bravely at her and reached for his towel.

‘No, Seamus and Lavender are in the room, I don’t want to be around anyone else right now. Besides I still need to rub that numbing cream on your back” She dried her eyes and grabbed the bottle. “Turn around and lean against the wall. This will hurt, I’m afraid.” 

“I don’t want that stuff.”

Dru turned him around and walked him back into the cubicle. “It’ll be over soon.” she gently rubbed his back with the cream.

Neville started to yell some obscenities as she was working on his back, it’d even make a dockworker blush. 

“It’s okay. I’m nearly done.” Dru was crying now, she didn’t want him to hurt.”I’m so sorry, Nev. I’m so sorry for this.” 

“I got caught,” he said, wincing. “Not your fault. Don’t cry.”

“You got caught, because you pushed me into the broom closet. This should have been my punishment, not yours.” She started to cry bit harder. 

“Better me than you, besides, Fred would hurt me much worse if something would have happened to you.”

Dru dropped the bottle as she put her hands in front her face. “I don’t want this anymore. I just want to go home.” 

“Few more weeks. We can hang in there for a few more weeks,” he said, turning around and gently placing his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me, Dru.”

She shook her head. “It’s not worth it anymore. I don’t want to live in this world anymore. Not like this.” 

“It’s going to get better, we’ll just have to hang in there for a while longer. It’ll all be fine.” He gently squeezed her shoulders. “In a few weeks we can go home and recharge ourselves, and be ready for the rest of the school year.”

‘I can’t. I just can’t.”Dru walked out of the cubicle. “I just can’t.” 

He walked after her and gently grabbed her wrist. “You have to. It’s time to fight back.”

“There’s no use. He’s won. It’s over.” she put her head against his chest and started sobbing harder. “I don’t want to live in his world, I’m not going to.” 

“If you give up now, he has won. If you give up now, you’re going to pass up on living a full and happy life with Fred. If you give up now, I might as well quit myself, what’s the point if you’re giving up? Because if you do, Rose will. If Rose gives up, Ginny will.”

“I can’t.” Dru looked up to him, her dark eyes wet with tears. “There’s no hope anymore. I just feel so drained and empty.” 

“There is always hope,” he smiled at her. “Always. It’s just hard to see it sometimes.”

“I can’t feel it anymore. I can’t feel anything anymore.”

“Yeah... let’s get you to bed.” He said and gently started to push her towards the bedroom. “I’ll tell Seamus that he needs to take the sofa, but you’re going to stay with me.”

Dru let Neville put her to bed and closed her eyes. She was just too tired to fight him anymore. 

Neville sighed as he sat down next to her on the bed, resting his painful back against the headboard after he had pulled the sheets over her. He then softly caressed her hair. “There is always hope,” Neville said softly. “It’s just a matter of knowing where to find it.”

There was knock on the door and Lavender looked into the room. “Are you okay?” She asked Neville. “Rose has fallen asleep.” 

“Dru’s in a worse shape than I am, she’s lost hope.” he said softly as he kept caressing her hair. “Dunno what I can do about that.”

“You think she might hurt herself?” Lavender asked. 

“I wouldn’t put it passed her, I’m afraid.”

“I can stay with her, if you want to finish cleaning yourself up.” Lavender suggested. “Maybe it’s better if we get Ginny and Rose to sleep in your room. You have three empty beds anyway.” 

“Yeah, but I’m not allowing you to be on your own.” Neville said. “It’s a great idea though, so we’re going to be dragging your mattress over here tomorrow. Let’s just go to sleep now.”

“I’ll get the girls and don’t worry about the mattress, Ginny’s has been sleeping with one them for the entire year now.” 

Lavender came back a few minutes later and laid down next to Dru, who had fallen asleep. “The girls are coming, you take that shower now. I’ll watch Dru.” 

“Thanks Lavender,” Neville slowly got off the bed and took out some clean clothes out of his trunk before taking it to the bathroom. Getting dressed again was going hurt a lot, but all of them hadn’t been sleeping in their pyjamas for weeks now, just in case they had to run or whatever.

* * *

The next morning when Dru woke up, she could feel an arm around her, when she turned around, she was surprised to find Lavender sleeping next to her and saw Neville in the other bed. She sat up and saw the Rose and Ginny were in the bed next to her. Rose was asleep like Neville, but Ginny was wide awake. “Ginny, what are we doing here?” 

“Lavender thought it was best if we’d be in one room, instead separated.” Ginny said as she looked at Dru. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” Dru lied.

“Yep, and so is Rose.” Ginny countered. “I know that look, missy.” she said sternly. “And you’d better be mourning a dead Pygmy Puff.”

Dru gently got off the bed. “I’m going for a walk. I wanna....be alone for a while.” 

“Yeah, not going to happen.” Neville sat up. “We had a talk last night. You’re not going to be alone, not anywhere.” 

Dru looked at him. “You can’t stop me. You can’t be with me 24 hours a day.” 

“No, but together with the five of us, we can be.” Lavender said. “Now lay back down I’m not ready to get up yet.” Lavender pulled her down on the bed and put an arm around her again.

“Leave me alone.” Dru pushed Lavender’s arm away from her and got off the bed.

“What’s going on?” Rose muttered as she lifted her head from her pillow.

“She’s given up hope.” Neville said as he tried to get up.

Dru walked to the door, but it was locked. “Unlock the door.” 

“Alright, give me a moment,” Rose groaned as she tried to get up. “Let’s all go for breakfast,” she winced as she had managed to sit up. “We’ll talk after breakfast.”

“I wanna go for a walk, by myself.” Dru sulked. “That’s not a crime.” 

“It is, when you’ve threatened to off yourself like you did last night.” Ginny pointed out. “Neville told me.”

“Weasleys don’t kill themselves, they have breakfast.” Rose muttered and looked into her bag for some aspirin.

“You stupid... why did you have to say anything.” Dru launched herself at Neville, who just managed to stand up. She was pounding on his chest. “You stupid idiot.” 

“Because I care,” Neville said, looking at Dru. “Because we’re in this together and you can’t give up. There’s always hope somewhere, and we’re going to find it. I just figured they should all know what you said so they can help out.”

Ginny nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re not alone,” she said bravely. 

Dru started sobbing and Lavender got off the bed and held the girl in her arms. “Come on, Dru. You never give up and you surely can’t now. You have a handsome husband at home. You don’t want to leave him now. I don’t think he can bare it without you. You wouldn’t want him to hurt himself now, do you?” 

Dru shook her head. “No.” she said with a small voice.

“Alright, let’s wake up the Irish and go to breakfast.” Lavender said.

“The Irish boy is awake but decided to keep his mouth shut,” Seamus’ voice said from underneath his blankets before some movement could be seen. “Holy crap, Neville you look possibly worse than last night.”

“Yeah well, no sleep and all that,” Neville took a deep breath. “Let’s go and assure the younger students that everything is going to be alright.” He walked over to Rose and gently helped her to her feet. “You okay?”

“No she’s not,” Ginny growled and pointed at Rose’s back. Despite her best efforts to keep the girl from moving during the night, she had been tossing and turning and whimpering and had hurt her back again. “New shirt, and maybe a cardigan or a jumper. You too, Neville.”

“Neville, take her. I’ll get a shirt for Rose.” Lavender pushed Dru in his arms and quickly went to her own room. 

“Well, she’s....changed, hasn’t she?’ Seamus smiled. 

“She’s brilliant,” Rose said. “After the Christmas break I’m going to teach her some the basic healing things so there’s more of us able to do the healing.”

Dru put her head against Neville’s chest. “I’m sorry.” She felt embarrassed for what she had said the night before. 

“You shouldn’t be sorry. For once you were honest about something again.” Neville caressed her back.

“I’m just so...I’m not good with this.” 

“I know. That’s why we’re still not leaving you alone, we need you.” 

“Alright, Seamus, turn your back. Neville, just don’t look.” Lavender said as she walked back into the room.

“Why not, he’s been sleeping with Rose anyway.” Dru grinned and let Neville go so he could change his shirt as well. 

“He has?!” Seamus said surprised. 

“I don’t call them my girls for nothing.” Neville replied with a cheeky smile on his face.

“Ow,” Rose winced as Lavender peeled off Rose’s shirt and helped her back into a new one. “Thanks, Lavender.”

“Forget it.” 

“I’m an old lady but that doesn’t mean I have to forget my manners,” Rose chuckled as she got into a cardigan.

“After everything you guys do for us, I’m just glad I’m just glad I can do something back.” 

“Oh!” Rose smiled at her and gently patted Lavender’s shoulder. “If you want, after breakfast you can cut my hair off.”

“NO!” Lavender said. “Not your pretty hair.” 

“Are you insane?” Dru looked at Neville. “And you worried about me? She’s lost it.” 

“Just to shoulder length, my hair never sticks in a bubble or a hairpin and it gets in the way of things. I’m not asking her to shave my head or anything.”

“I think it would look good on her.” Seamus smiled. 

“George will kill you, Rose.” Ginny grinned. 

“It’s my hair, not his... well.. since we’re married half my hair is his, so let’s just say that the hair remaining on my head is completely his and that we just cut off my half of it.”

Lavender snickered. “Alright if you’re sure. Now let’s get some breakfast.” 

When they came down into the Common Room, Professor McGonagall was waiting for them, and not looking surprised at all when the girls came down from the boys dormitory. “Good morning,” she greeted them. “How are you feeling Neville? Rose? Would you like me to ask Poppy if she’d make a house call?”

“We’re good. Dru and Ginny know good healing spells and Lavender turned out to be quite the mother hen.” Neville smiled bravely, they were in the common room now and the first years had been waiting for them to walk with them to the great hall.

“Is there a way for Dru to get in touch with Fred? She could use hearing her Husband’s voice.” Lavender said. “What?” She said as she saw the other look at her. “If I’m gonna be mother henning, I’m going to do it right.” 

“Actually, that’s not such a bad idea,” Neville smiled widely. “The only way right now would be the radio, wouldn’t it? But Filch took all the radios on one of the first raids on the trunks. Even theirs.”

“What radios?” Rose and Dru chorused.

“Wait, the radios my dad made?” Ginny asked. 

“I dunno,” Neville shrugged. “All I know is that Filch wasn’t too happy seeing radios in their trunks.”

“What radios?” Rose asked again.

Professor McGonagall smiled. “Alright, I’ll get them back for you.”

“Professor?” Neville said, not believing his ears.

“Oh for all the work you are all doing, it’s the least I can do without getting into too much trouble with Severus. There’s a scheduled broadcast today anyway, I shall make sure that you’ll have your radios before then.” 

 

 

“Thank you professor.” Dru smiled and gently squeezed Lavender’s hand. “Thanks, Lav.” 

That night, all the Gryffindors were sitting in the common room listening to the radio. Rose was sitting on a chair while Lavender was cutting her hair and Neville was laying on his stomach on the floor next to some first years. It was depressing to hear Lee Jordan talk about wizards going missing and about the muggle attacks, and yet, it was strangely enough also giving hope, everyone in the room was relieved that at least their families were still safe. 

“And now I’ll give the word to Rodent... no, Rapier and Tentacula with the latest sighting of you-know-who.”

“Thank you, River,” Fred’s voice sounded. “As the last time, he’s been sighted all over the place, hasn’t he?”

Dru closed her eyes and smiled. It felt good to hear his voice, to know he’s okay. She pulled the third year sitting next to her in a hug. “That’s my husband.” she whispered. 

“Yes, Rodent. He has.” George said.

“I’m Rapier, you twat.”

“Right, Rodent, just kidding Rapier.” 

Rose chuckled. It felt good to hear George’s voice again, and even hear him joke around a little.

“Sit still, Rose,” Lavender said. “Don’t want me to cut your ear, do you?”

“Well, then at least she’d match George.” Ginny grinned.

“The latest sighting of you-know-who was at a Muggle restaurant. Yes, we can not believe it either, but he was fetching himself a hamburger.” Rapier said. “Too much of those muggle hamburgers can make you fat.”

“Let’s hope he’ll eat himself to death! Or at least so fat that he’d be easy to out run.” Tantacula added. “Besides my lioness always likes those burgers.” 

“Your lioness is corrupting my princess with those burgers.”

“He’s so dead.” Dru groaned and kicked Neville, when she heard him snicker. 

“Can’t we do one show without lionesses and princesses?” River scowled. 

“If you want a massive bloodbath on your hands, sure,” the boys chorused.

“Right, was that it?” River sighed. “It’s almost as if your section is getting more pants whenever you’re on.”

“That’s because you-know-who is a sneaky little bugger and apparently has a love for burgers, River. We only bring you what we know, it’s not like we can see in the future.”

“Or read minds.” Rapier snickered, followed by the sound of someone getting smacked on the head. “Ow! Romulus why did you do that?!”

“Oh god.” Dru sighed. 

“The password for the next broadcast is .... Lucretia.” River said. “Until then, stay safe.”

The radio went dead and Rose goofily smiled at Dru. “Those were our boys.”

“Yeah.” Dru smiled still hugging the third year. 

The third year was gently but awkwardly patting Dru’s back. 

“Those were my brothers!” Ginny said giddily, observing Lavender’s handiwork. “Oh, you’re brilliant, Lavender!”

Lavender nodded quietly and try to smile bravely. She was homesick, but she didn’t want the younger students to see it. “Yeah, just hope that Tentacula doesn’t murder me, for cutting her beautiful hair.”

“I’ll protect you from him,” Rose smiled widely and looked at the pile of hair on the floor. She waved her wand and directed her hair into the fireplace. “Sorry for the smell, but that amount of hair shouldn’t lay around like that, it’ll pass soon.”

Lavender put her hands on Seamus’s shoulder. ‘Alright?” she asked. She knew how must he miss Dean, it was just as much as she missed Parvati.

“Alright,” he smiled at her. “Alright.”

She sat down next to him and put her head on his shoulder. “Alright, so what are we going to do now?” 

“Help everyone with their homework.” 

“You keep blowing stuff up, Seamus,” Rose chuckled as she slowly rose from her chair. Her back felt as stiff as a board. It still hurt a lot and it was hard not to wince or cry out in pain in front of everyone else. At least she had been sitting. Neville would have more trouble getting up.

“It’s time for bed.” Neville said, he decided not to try and get up, before everyone was to bed. “Yeah, bedtime.” he said as he heard a lot of muttering. 

“Go on, you lot,” Rose said, pointing to the stairs. “Tomorrow we’re going to help you with your homework, and if you’re good, I might have a little surprise for you.”

Colin Creevey and Cormac McLaggen were the only left with the other six. “Need some help?” Colin asked Neville.

“No mate, I’m good.” Neville gave a nod. “Floor is comfortable.”

“Well now that the kids are to bed...” Cormac pulled three bottle of firewhiskey from under the sofa. “Let’s drink to Potterwatch.” 

“Where did you get that?!” Ginny said with big eyes. “Three bottles of alcohol? How?”

“The Carrows offices.” 

“You’re mad!”

“What? What rule states that only Neville and Rose are allowed to get into trouble?”

“We better drink them and get rid of the evidence.“ Dru smiled as she conjured 8 glasses. 

Neville got to his knees and hoisted himself up with help from the sofa and sat down. “Firewhiskey, brilliant.”

Dru handed him a glass and crawled against him. “Let’s get drunk.” 

Two hours later two bottles were finished and they were now starting on the third bottle. 

Lavender was sitting on Seamus lap. “Why didn’t we go out after the ball?” 

“Because all you could talk about was Ron.” Seamus said caressing Lavender’s hair. “You’ve got beautiful hair.”

“Stupid Ron.” Lavender giggled. 

“Hey!” Ginny said and thought for a second. “No, you’re right. Stupid Ron. Stupid Harry and stupid Hermione.”

“You’re not stupid.” Cormac whispered in Ginny’s ear.

“I know I’m not stupid, you oaf.” Ginny rolled her eyes at him. “My brother is for running off without any kind of direction with his friends and we don’t know where he is, or even if he’s still alive.”

Cormac put and his arm around Ginny. “I’m sure he’s fine.” 

“He probably won’t even be home for Christmas!”

“At least he won’t burn if they attack the house again.” Dru giggled, she was lying on the sofa with her head in Neville’s lap. 

“That was brilliant, the way Rose saved Ron!” Ginny cried out. 

“All the boys are taken,” Rose pouted. “Sorry Colin, you’re a wee bit too young for me.” She shifted in the chair she was sitting on. 

“Colin, take the red head.” Cormac smiled and sat down next to Rose. “I’m young too, but you can lean on me if you want.” He smiled. 

“Lean on you? Why?” Rose said confused.

“For comfort?” He rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t worry, I don’t want to get in your panties.” 

“Shame George is not here, he’d _love_ to get into my panties right about now.”

“He won’t because you’re hurt!” Ginny chuckled.

Rose looked at Ginny for a moment. “Yes, you’re right, I am hurt and I don’t feel a thing, which is brilliant.”

Dru giggled and turned so she was lying on her back and looked up at Neville. “Hi.” 

“Hi,” Neville smiled back at Dru. “Having fun, are we?”

“I always have fun with my favourite idiot.” 

“Good,” he gave a nod. “Have you found your hope yet?”

Dru nodded. “How’s your back? And no lying.” 

“Comfortably numb.”

“Let’s go and paint some walls!” Rose got up in one fluid movement.

“No!” Cormac pulled back on the sofa. “Wait, till your back is okay, before you risk another round of whipping.” 

“My back is fine,” Rose nodded. “I don’t feel a thing. Let’s go.”

Cormac placed his hand on her back and put the slightest amount of pressure on it and it made her scream. “Yeah, you don’t feel a thing.”

“Well, if you put pressure on it, of course I feel something!” she shot at him and got off the chair. “I’m going to bed, maybe get myself off before I go to sleep.”

“Rose!” Lavender giggled, breaking off her kiss with Seamus. “You just don’t announce that!”

“I just did.” Rose shrugged and started to walk up the stairs.

“Wrong stairs!”

“Girls dormitory!”

“No, the other one.”

“I’m not a boy. I want a boy with a wand that... I want George.”

“I could pretend to be George if you want.” 

“Shut up, Cormac.” Rose said as she walked up the other set of stairs. “Behave, you lot. I’m going to be in the shower for a bit.”

“Let’s go upstairs.” Lavender giggled in Seamus ear.

“Yes!” Seamus cheered and grabbed Lavender’s hand and pulled her with him.

“I’m going to paint the walls. Coming Ginny?” Colin asked, while Cormac got some spray cans.

Ginny nodded and got up too.

“Be careful, Ginny.” Dru said as she poured two more glasses of Fire whiskey. “Here.” she handed Neville his glass. 

“We’re going to be so hung over in the morning,” he chuckled.

“I don’t care.” Dru smiled and put her head on his shoulder. “We’re kids, we’re supposed to get drunk and have nights like this.” 

“Fred never does this with you?”

Dru shook her head. “We have a store to run and a house to keep up with and order stuff.” she sighed. 

“Well that’s no fun.” 

“When I’m home, I’m a grown up. Here I’m just a kid.” 

“Pfft, growing up doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun.”

“We have fun, but it’s different. George and Fred have responsibilities, they have a store to run, and they can’t do that hung over and Rose....is Rose. So I go along with them.” 

“Well, you should have said something, we’d have gone to the Leaky Cauldron and have fun.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I love Fred, but sometimes I feel.... like I grew up too fast.” Dru sighed and put Neville’s arm around her. “I forget that I’m only just 17 sometimes.” 

“Yeah, you need to live a little.” He smiled and softly caressed her arm. “Alright, when this is all over, you and I are going to paint the town red. We’ll take anyone who wants to come with us and have fun.”

Dru looked up to him and smiled. “You’re a good friend, Nev!”

“I just wish you’d have told me sooner that you feel like you’ve grown up too fast and that their kind of fun isn’t really your kind of fun.”

“Fred wants to have kids! Soon!” 

“He what?” Neville chuckled. “Is he mad?”

“I told him I'm not ready, but he didn’t really like that.” 

“Well, it’s not like he can force you to become pregnant anyway,” Neville said.

“He won’t and I do have fun with them, I just feel like I went from a kid to a married wife, without being a young carefree adult.” Dru poured two more glasses. “I just feel like it’s going too fast all of sudden. I mean I love it when I’m with him, it feels right then, but now that I’m in school, it just feels different. Now I just want to be a kid again, without responsibilities.” 

“Then be that kid, without responsibilities.” He smiled at her. “You’re an amazing person, Dru. It’s a shame to let your fun side wither away.”

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you haven’t broken up with me?”

“I used to,” Neville said with a nod. “And it’s weird to say this, but I think that if we’d stayed together, we couldn’t have been friends like we are now.”

“Why?”

“I think that things would have become too... I dunno. We’d probably be bickering all the time, fighting and be really angry with each other at some point.”

Dru shrugged. “I fight with Fred too. That’s what being in a relationship is about. I really think we would have been happy.” She looked up to him and caressed his cheek. “I was always happy when I was with you.” 

“You could always leave him for me,” Neville shrugged.

“I can’t. Just like I couldn’t leave you for him. I love you both.” 

“How can you love two people? Do you love us equally?”

“I don’t know. Fred keeps me calm, level headed and like a giddy little school girl, But you keep me safe and strong and make me feel like there’s no one else like me.” 

“But there isn’t. There’s only one of you, unless you’re hiding a twin somewhere, then I’d love to meet her.”

“There is always Draco.” 

“No thanks.” Neville shuddered and took another sip of his whiskey.

“It’s weird, I feel like I’m two different persons. One when I’m with you and one when I’m with Fred.” Dru finished her glass. 

“I think I know the feeling.”

“The shy, clumsy Neville and Neville the hero?” 

“The Neville who truly enjoys spending time with a girl and the Neville who doesn’t really enjoy spending time with another girl but does it anyway to get over the girl he likes spending time with.”

“i think you lost me, say it again with names.” Dru giggled and poured them two more drinks. 

Neville groaned as he took his glass, downed the whiskey in one go and took a deep breath. “The Neville who truly enjoys spending time with a girl, you, and the Neville who doesn’t really enjoy spending time with another girl, Hannah, but does it anyway to get over the girl, you, he likes spending time with.”

Dru looked at him with a sad look in her eyes. “Neville, please don’t tell me you’re not serious about that.” 

“If you do things repeatedly, you’ll end up loving it in the end,” Neville replied and sighed. “No, I didn’t mean that.”

“The first thing of the second thing?” 

“Yeah, she’s growing on me and she’s actually very talented with her hands and mouth...”

“But you don’t love her.” Dru sat on her knees next to him. “Oh, Neville.” she caressed his cheek. “I there anything can I do to help?” she put her forehead against his. “I don’t want you to be unhappy, I want you to be happy.” 

“I’m getting there,” he said with a nod. “I had the same conversation with Rose, she thought I was an idiot, but Hannah knows how I feel about her.”

“You are an idiot. You need to find your happiness and grab it with both hands. Don’t give up, you need to keep fighting for it. That’s what you told me, remember?”

“Yep, and I’m getting there.”

Dru looked in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s not your fault. Not everyone can have a fairytale life,” he smiled and caressed her hair. “the best I can do now is to be a good friend and make sure you’re safe, and I love doing that.”

“You’re the best friend ever.” She said and without thinking about it, she gave him a quick kiss on his lips. 

“I’m a decent spare, aren’t I?” he smiled at her.

“Best spare ever. Too good to be a spare.” Dru smiled back with tears in her eyes. 

He softly kissed her lips. “Don’t worry so much, I’m fine.”

She took a deep breath and kissed him back, without thinking about it. She knew it was wrong, but he felt so safe, so good to have his arms around her and she hadn’t felt good for weeks. She needed him right now.

“That was so much fun!” Ginny giggled as she skipped her way back into the common room. “OI!” she threw an empty can of paint into the direction of Neville and Dru. “Bad drunk people! Bad! Very very bad!”

Dru broke off the kiss and bit her lip. “I’m so sorry.” 

“Yeah, you’d better be. Off to bed, the both of you.”

Dru quicky got up and ran upstairs.

Neville looked at Ginny. “She’s messed up.” 

“No, _you_ are messed up and you’re taking advantage of _her_.”

“She just told me she’s unhappy.” 

“Go to bed, Neville.”

“Ginny, I’m not trying to ruin your brother’s marriage, but you need to tell him that she’s just 17 and he making her grow up too fast. You need to tell him that, before he loses her.”

“Bed.”

“Just tell him.” Neville got up and went to his dormitory. “Oh and just so you know, She loves him and really wants it to work between them,she’s just confused and very drunk right now.”

“Bed!” Ginny said as she walked after him. “Rose, where are you? I need to take care of your back.”

“You’re too drunk.” Rose replied as she put her arms around Dru, who had crawled into bed with her. “Now shush, my sister-in-law and I want to sleep.”

Neville looked at Seamus and Lavender, who were lying in his bed. “Right, no more drinking.” He said and laid down on his bed. “If you want you can lay with me, Ginny. I won’t do anything.” 

Ginny sighed and crawled next to Neville. “I know. I’ll tell him.”


	46. Recharging Batteries

Fred, George, Molly and Arthur were waiting nervously on the platform 9 ¾. The train was now more than a half hour late and the train was never late.

“What’s keeping them?” Molly asked nervously. 

“I don’t know.” Arthur rubbed his wife’s back. “Fred, can you hear Dru? Is she trying to contact you?” 

“Dad, stop making us nervous, will you.” Fred said.

“Yeah, because maybe the train won’t come at all and everyone aboard is dead or something. Please don’t.”

“Oh thanks, Georgie,” Fred rolled his eyes at him.

“You’re welcome, Freddie.” 

Suddenly the people further down the platform were making cries of relief when they saw the train coming.

“Well, at least it’s coming.” George said simply.

When the train stopped Dru was the first one out, she ran to Fred’s open arms and started to sob.

“You’re alright,” Fred said, pulling her against him and softly caressed her back. “What’s wrong?”

“They took Luna. They came on board and just took her, there was nothing we could we do.” 

“Why in the world would they take Luna?” Fred said puzzled. 

“Her dad openly supports Harry.” Ginny said as she crawled into her mother’s arms. “We really tried to help, mum, we did everything we could.” 

“Oh I know you did, dear,” Molly said as she caressed her daughter’s hair. “You’re alright now.”

George held Rose very firmly, too firmly. 

“Don’t break her, George,” Neville’s voice sounded. “She’s already been broken.”

“She what?” George said and pulled her even closer.

“Neville!” His gran made her way to him. “What took you guys so long?”

“They took Luna, gran,” Neville said to his grandmother before turning back to George. “Listen, she won’t tell you herself because she doesn’t want you to worry, but we got into a bit of trouble with the current... administration at Hogwarts and they are quite angry there, because the D.A. lives. She’s still not completely healed up.”

“Shut it, Neville. Luna is gone, that’s worse,” Rose muttered as she clung to George. “I want to go home.”

Neville then turned to Fred. “Keep an eye on her, her batteries are empty. Dangerously empty, geddit?”

Dru buried her face in Fred’s shirt. “I want to go home.” 

“Yeah, about that, we’re staying at mum and dad’s.” Fred said, caressing her cheek. “We ran into some trouble at home.”

“You will tell us everything once you girls are all rested up. Thank you for looking after them, Neville.” Molly smiled kindly.

“No problem, see you in two weeks girls.” 

“Good night Neville.” the girls chorused.

“Stop it.”

“Okay Neville.” 

“Argh, come Gran let’s go.”

* * *

“Let’s make you some tea,” Molly said as they arrived at the Burrows. “Are you girls hungry?”

“No thank you,” Rose replied as she sat down on the sofa with George and put her arms around him. She just wanted him to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright. “I’ve missed you.” she said softly. “What did you do in the last few months?”

“Well, we closed the shop at the moment.” George caressed her arm. “Mostly because Mum thought we were in trouble.”

“We’re doing mail order now.” Fred said as he sat down in the chair and pulled Dru on his lap.

“And we’re doing potterwatch.” George smiled  
.  
Dru suddenly hit Fred’s arm.

“Ouch! What’s with the abuse? I haven’t seen you in months!”

“How many times do I have to tell you to not call me princess?!” 

“Ah, you’ve been listening then.” Fred grinned.

Dru started sobbing again and nodded.

“It’s bad, at Hogwarts,” Ginny said. She knew that Rose and Dru were too shattered to explain why. “We’ve resurrected Dumbledore’s Army though. Neville and Rose are our leaders and take most of the heat. Dru takes care of the first years, and me and Lavender do what we can. And Luna... well Luna was good at stating things.”

Dru tried to crawl as close into Fred’s arms as she possibly could. “Please don’t make me go back.” she whispered. 

“Shh...” Fred softly caressed her back.

“Please, Fred, I don’t want to go back, please don’t make me.” 

“I won’t.”

“You’re actually putting yourselves in harms way? Are you mad? They’re watching all of us.” Molly came into the den with tea and sandwiches. “What if they kill you?”

“Don’t worry, Neville and I make sure that Dru and Ginny are safe.” Rose said as she closed her eyes, trying to listen to George’s breathing and heartbeat. 

“He’s supposed to make sure you’re safe too.” George scowled. 

“Oi!” Dru looked at George. “He’s been taking more beatings than all of us, to protect us. He’s the reason they didn’t use the cruciatus curse on her, but put it all on him. Don’t you dare have a go at him.” 

“No, you shouldn’t have a go at him,” Rose shook her head. “I’m just... tired.”

“And Dru and I do get into trouble, but it’s usually not that bad, just slightly annoying at times. At the beginning, we got caught sneaking into Snape’s office.” Ginny nodded. “Snape sent us to the Forbidden Forest, but if we get into trouble with the Carrows, it’s a whole different matter.”

“So, what’s wrong with her?” Arthur pointed at Dru. 

“Well, imagine feeling the fear of everyone at Hogwarts all day long, dad,” Ginny said. “In your head, in your body. It’s depressing. Dru’s at wit’s end. Oh, and she’s not to be allowed to be alone, not until she’s back to her old self. No matter what.”

Rose nodded. “She’ll cry, she’ll beg, she’ll even walk away, but don’t leave her alone.”

George looked at Fred while directing his question at the girls. “But she wouldn’t hurt herself, come on. This is Dru we’re talking about.” 

“This is Dru alright. With not an ounce of hope left in her. Listening to Potterwatch and hearing your voices made her alright for a couple of days.” Ginny took a sip of her tea. “She doesn’t want to live like this, she’s been saying that. I’m sorry Fred.”

Dru had buried her head in the crook of Fred’s neck and was holding on to his vest. She didn’t feel up to speaking up. 

“Alright, that’s it, Dru’s not going back.” Fred said resolutely.

“She has to, Son.” Arthur said. “If not, you will risk your brother’s life as well as hers.” 

“I know they’re watching us, dad, but look at her.”

“I know son.” Arthur sighed. “I don’t like how this looks either, but if she stays that would put Ron and Harry’s mission in danger and then she will have to live in a world like this.” 

Rose sat up and took a sip of her tea before emptying her bag on the spot next to her.

“What are you looking for?” George asked.

“The amount of ointments, bandages, creams and other stuff that we need. If I start making them now, by the time we have to get back we’ll have enough to last us for the rest of the school year.” Rose nodded. 

“I’ll help you.” Molly smiled. 

“Good, then let’s start now.” 

“No, you’re not.” George said and pulled Rose back on the sofa which made her wince. “You need to rest and stop pretending you’re fine, because the other moment you were clearly not fine.”

“George, I need to do this.”

“I’m your husband, I’m telling you that you are not going to do that and that you need to think of yourself first. Don’t make me tie you up.”

“I’ll help your mother make the ointments, Fred, George you two make sure that all three girls are resting.” Mr. Weasley said.

“No!” Rose said and looked at Arthur. “Don’t, please, don’t. I’ll do it myself.”

“No, you can sit on the kitchen table and give instructions, but no more than that.” 

“Yeah well, first you’re going to sleep.” George told her. “I don’t like it when you’re like this, it scares me.” He put his arms around her and pulled the bubble out of her hair, wanting to caress her beautiful long hair. “What!” he cried out. “What did you do?!”

“I told Lavender to cut it off,” Rose replied simply.

“Why on earth would you do such a thing?”

“Because long hair isn’t practical. Get over it.” Rose pulled the bubble out of his hand and put it back into her hair.

Fred tugged on Dru’s bun and released her hair from it. “Oh thank god, it’s still long.” he sighed with relief.

Dru gave a faint giggle. “I’ll never cut off my hair.” 

“If you do, you need to keep your hair and give it to me so I can pet it anyway.”

“Fred, that’s disturbing.” Molly said from the kitchen.

“What? It’s hair. Hair is practically dead so it won’t decay, and I love Dru’s hair. It’s pretty.”

Dru gave another faint giggle and lifted her head to look at him. “I won’t cut it short, I promise.” 

“Good,” Fred smiled at her and softly kissed her. “Maybe you could dye it red?”

“Over my dead body.” she smiled and kissed him back. “I’ve missed you so much.”

George was sitting on a kitchen table, with Rose on his lap.He had taken out the bubble again and was playing with her hair. “I need to talk to Bill soon, dad. It’s very urgent.”

“What is it, son?” Arthur asked worried. 

“I need to get that hair regrowing spell of his.” George sulked.

“It’ll grow back on its own,” Rose said softly as she had her head on his shoulder. She was almost falling asleep. “It’s just hair.”

“But your hair was so pretty.” 

“I think that the sort hair looks even more pretty on her.” Arthur said as he handed Molly a bunch of bottles. “It reminds me of your mum‘s hair.” 

“Oh, you’re so growing it back now.” George whispered in her ear. 

“After the war.” Rose nodded slowly. “Why are we in the kitchen?”

“Want to go to bed?” 

“So tired, George.” she sighed. “Not sure if I can go on any longer.”

“Want me to walk you upstairs or aparate you in bed?” 

“I’ll just sleep here.”

“Come on, cupcake, Let’s get you in bed.” George lifted her up in his arms and carefully took her up the stairs. “Want to go to my old room?” 

“Can I finally sleep in pajamas?”

“Nope.” George grinned.

“Okay.” she kicked off the shoes while they were still on the stairs. “Ready.”

“No, you’re going to take off your clothes.” 

“No, I’m not.” Rose shook her head. “What if we have to run? I won’t be wearing any clothes and I’ll be cold and everyone will look at me and point and say how hideous I am and how bad my back looks and I won’t have a place to stick my wand and...”

“We’re safe here.” George grinned and put her down on his bed. He gently removed her pants and started unbuttoning her shirt. “And I know a good place to stick a wand.” 

“As if I’m going to stick a wooden wand up my...” Rose looked at him and pulled her shirt closed, she started buttoning it back.

“Rose, stop it or I will tie you to the bed.”

“I’m not a flight risk. Dru is.” she sighed. “I’m tired, I just want to sleep.”

“I want to take care of your back and put you in a fresh shirt.” He softly kissed her lips. “And let me take care of my wife like you took care of me.” He gently removed her shirt and got off the bed to get one of his own shirt to put on. “Turn on your stomach so I can rub the cream on your back.” 

She sighed again and reluctantly turned to her stomach. “Don’t freak out.” She put her hands underneath the pillow and closed her eyes. 

George turned around and gasped in shock. “Rose!” He sat down next to her. “What did they do to you?” 

“It was worse, don’t worry.”

George put the shirt on the nightstand and bent over her softly kissing every piece of her back that was scarred or bruised. “I’m going to kill them for hurting my beautiful wife.” 

“Your wife shouldn’t have gotten caught painting the walls with things like ‘Dumbledore’s Army, still recruiting’ or ‘You get what you give, signed D.A.’ or free first years from being chained up in the dungeons.”

“A part of me should be so mad at you, but I’m not.” George chuckled as he kept kissing her back, he could feel it relaxed her.

“I’m doing reckless things, and you’re not mad?”

“I’m proud of you, Rose. You’re doing your bit to fight.” 

“I’m doing what everyone with common sense would do. Can’t just sit around and wait to see what happens.”

“And that makes me very proud of you.” 

“I love you, George,” she sighed happily. “I’m sorry that my back looks so awful.”

“You look beautiful.” George let his hands slide up and down her waist as he was now kissing her lower back.

“Oh that feels good...”

“That’s my job, isn’t it? To make you feel good.” He chuckled. “Just tell me what I can or can’t do.” 

“Oh don’t worry,” she smiled at him. “I’ve been doing everything for two weeks now, like running and falling and falling out of bed because Ginny kicked me out...”

“Rose.”

“Fine, I’ll stop pretending.”

“You’re home now, safe. Two weeks of not having to worry about anything. Let me take care of you.”

“Yes George.”

“Now, what do you want me to do to you?” 

“Just lay with me? I want to crawl into your arms and fall asleep.”

George moved and laid down next to her and opened his arms. “Come here, sweetie.” 

She scooted up and put her arms around George. “I’m sorry for being like this, I’ll be better next time I get back home from Hogwarts.”

“I love you, Rose. I just want you in my arms.” George planted a kiss in her neck. “You’re safe and in my arms, best Christmas present ever.” 

 

Dru was nestled in Fred’s arms while Ginny had fallen asleep on the sofa. “She’s been really strong.” 

“Yeah, our Ginny is a trooper alright,” Fred smiled as he caressed her back. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“It feels good to be home.” Dru sighed.

“For the next two weeks you don’t have to take care of anything, you can just laze about and relax.” 

“That sounds good.” Dru said and moved a little in his lap, so she was more comfortable. She and Ginny had their own run in with Alecto Carrow and she was still a bit sore. 

“Maybe my magical hands can give you a nice massage,” Fred softly kissed her neck.

“NO.” she blurted in shock.

“If you’re feeling better!” Fred said defensively. “Not now, you’re obviously not feeling well.” Dru tried to get out of Fred’s lap, but he was holding her firmly. “Tell me what happened to you,” he said sweetly as he caressed her hair.

“Nothing. Neville and Rose get the real beatings.” 

“You got some too, didn’t you?” 

Dru shook her head and tried harder to get out of his arms.

“Dru, calm down,” he said and pulled her closer to his chest. “Fine, we won’t talk about it now, just relax?”

Dru closed her eyes and sighed as she relaxed in his arms.

Ginny opened her eyes and looked at her brother. “Her back.” she mouthed to him.

Fred gave Ginny a grateful nod. “Tell me about the First Years,” he said with a smile. “Are they corruptible with any of the things we sell?”

“They’re terrified.” Dru sighed. “We take turns to bring them from class to class. It’s not the same school anymore.” 

“I wish I was there with you, so that I could keep an eye on you there.”

“I’m alright. We actually have some fun at night. Sleeping with the six of us in one room and Seamus keeps stealing fire whiskey ever since Cormac got caught.” 

“You drink whiskey at school?” he chuckled. “Where are they getting it from?”

“The Carrows office. Ginny and I stole a bottle three nights ago.” 

“You sure they’re not poisoned?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Dru chuckled. “I like drinking it and having a bit of fun, acting like a regulair teeenager.” 

“What kind of fun?”

“Just drinking, laughing and watching Seamus and Lavender snog each others faces off, Rose becoming horny and talk dirty about George and that sort of stuff, just being teenangers. Not having to worry about running a house or work or kids.” 

“Yeah yeah, I get it.” Fred said and rolled his eyes at her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I mean I love our life, I just like being a teenager too. It’s like I’m two people sometimes.” 

“Yeah well, once we get through all of this, it’ll change, I promise. We’ll go out and do more fun stuff together.”

“We don’t need to go out, Fred.” Dru eyes sparkled. “All we need is some booze and a empty room.” 

“Muum! You have any alcohol?!”

“We’re having dinner soon, dear, you’re not going to drink.” Molly’s voice sounded. 

Dru sighed and put her head against his shoulder. 

Fred grinned and softly kissed Dru on the head. “Don’t worry, I know that my dad keeps a bottle in his shed.”

“Oh, the shed.” Dru sat up and kissed him. “I like that idea.” 

“Yes, good idea,” Fred nodded and answered her kiss. “Not now though, she’s keeping a firm eye on the three of you.”

“After dinner.” Dru muttered through the kiss. “I missed you.” 

“Deal.”

“Disgusting.” Ginny muttered. “I’m never going into the shed again.” 

“George and Rose already did that, and I’m sure that Bill and Fleur were in there at some point and...”

“Ew!” 

“Oh sweetheart, could you start setting the table for nine please?”

“Nine, mum?” Ginny asked confused. “There’s just seven of us.”

“Remus and Tonks are coming over for supper.”

“Tonks?” Dru broke off her kiss with Fred, making him growl. “How is she?” 

“Oh you’ll see,” Fred smiled widely.

“Is it big?” 

“Is what big?” 

“Her baby belly.” Dru said excited. 

“How do _you_ know she’s pregnant?” Fred said surprised.

“I heard it talk, I’ve known it since George and Rose’s wedding day.”

“And you didn’t bother to inform me?”

“They didn’t even know it back then.” 

“But yes, her belly is getting bigger, at some point, I’m sure she won’t be able to get through the door and we’ll have to hoist her in through the window.”

“Oi!” Tonks’ voice sounded. “I heard that, Fred Weasley!”

“Dora!” Dru got off Fred’s lap and threw her arms around Tonks. “I missed you.” 

“I’ve missed you too, little Dru,” she grinned. “What do you think? Does this suit me?”

“Oh, your belly.” Dru hopped from excitement. “ROSE! The baby is here.”

Lupin stared at Dru. “Not for another four months I hope!”

“You’re so big already.” Dru squealed. 

_Crack!_

“Oi, keep your voice your down,” George shushed them. “Rose is sleeping.”

“But the baby is here.” 

“Yeah, I can see that,” he nodded and greeted Lupin and Tonks. “But Rose wasn’t making any sense so she’s sleeping.”

“Rose never makes sense.” Dru waved her hands in the air. “How have you been feeling, Dora?” 

“It’s not too bad,” Tonks said as she sat down. “Remus is not allowing me to do anything anymore, not even chase Death Eaters, can you imagine?” she chuckled.

“See I knew I liked you for a reason.” Dru said to Lupin.

“Because he wants to take care of Tonks, we had to get out of our apartment,” Fred said as he joined them all in the kitchen.

“Nonsense,” Molly said, smacking Fred on the head. “You two weren’t safe there anymore.”

Dru put her arms around Fred’s waist and gave him a kiss. “I have to admit, it’s more reassuring that I know you’re here now.” 

Fred grinned at George. “Sorry Georgie, our escape to our apartment has to be put off until this is all over, my wife thinks it’s better that we’re here.”

“Here we have the shed.” she whispered in Fred’s ear as she stood on her toes and gave him a kiss in his neck. 

“And we might have to do some redecorating anyway,” he nodded and softly kissed Dru.

“Aren’t you cute together.” Tonks smiled dreamily.

“Why do we need to redecorate?” Dru asked.

“We don’t have a shed.” he whispered in her ear.

“No, but we have an office, a storage room, the kitchen.” She laughed. 

“Yes, but no shed.”

“True.” Dru kissed him again. It felt good, being playful again with Fred, it had been too long, since they had been like that. 

“What’s all this commotion then?” Rose’s voice sounded from the doorway, wearing a pair of George’s old pants and one of his shirts.

“The baby!” Dru pointed at Tonks. “It’s here,” 

“Baby!” she smiled widely and hugged Tonks. “Oh! You’re so big already! You want to know what you’re having?”

“No,” Tonks chuckled. “We want it to be a surprise.”

“I want a baby.” Ginny smiled.

“No.” Arthur said, shaking his head. “Absolutely not. Out of the question. Over my dead body. Not until you’re at least 30 years of age. Or...”

“Can I have another pygmy puff then?” 

“You already have Arnold!”

“And Benjamin.” she giggled.

“I would like a baby in a year or three.” Dru said.

“Really?” Fred smiled widely.

“Wait, in three years time, she’ll only be 20 and Fred only 22. Why do I have to wait til I’m thirty?” 

“You’re our only girl, sweetheart.” Molly smiled. “We want you to wait for as long as we can keep you from having one.”

“Rose and I are going to wait till we’re thirty too.” George smiled at his sister. 

“You’re mad.” Ginny shook her head. “That’s in like, ten years. You won’t have enough time to make that big family you wanted for yourself.”

“We’ll see.” George smiled and kissed Rose on her head. 

“How big?” Rose looked up to him. 

“5 or 6.” he grinned

“What?” 

“I’m only having one.” Dru said.

“What?” Fred said in shock. 

“I’m tiny! I already have nightmares of exploding whilst being pregnant!” Rose said and shook her head.

“I don’t want to lose my figure.” Dru said simply.

“Princess.” Fred stuck out his tongue to her.

Dru hit him over the head. “Don’t call me princess.”

“How are you doing, Rose?” Lupin asked as he placed a hand on her back once George had sat down next to her, and he wasn’t too subtle about it either.

“Get your hand off me.” Rose glared at him. “I’m fine.”

“That’s not what Neville told me.” Lupin said.

“I’m going back to bed.” Rose nodded and caressed Tonks’ belly. “Bye blue.”

“Dinner is ready in two minutes, Rose. But we can’t eat until Fred finally sets the table.” 

“I’m not really hungry, thanks.” She smiled at Molly. “I’m just really tired.”

“Then I don’t eat.” Dru sighed. 

“And neither will I.” Ginny sighed. “Damnit Rose.”

“Are we seriously going to do that while we’re away from school?” Rose rolled her eyes at the both of them.

“Yep.” Dru nodded, “You heard what Neville said on the train. We need to get our strengths back up.” 

“We do that by sleeping.”

“Hold on, Neville is getting you to eat?” George said surprised. “How did he pull that one off?” 

“Very simple,” Ginny nodded. “When one of them refuses to eat, the rest of us don’t eat either. And it’s actually turned into a big event now, where most of the table won’t eat if they don’t.”

“But Rose, in that case you have to eat, else the baby can’t eat either.” Tonks smirked.

“You’re all very cruel.” Rose said as she put her head against George’s shoulder and swatted Lupin’s hand away. “Get your hand off me! Yes, they’ve resorted to corporal punishment, the Carrows. Snape’s not doing anything about it. If you get caught, you get hurt. I got caught, I got hurt. Stop hurting me, I’ll be fine soon. I just want to sleep.”

“Just eat and then I’ll take you back to bed, okay.” George put his arm around her in a way that Lupin could touch her back anymore. “I already checked her out, she’ll be okay.” 

“Of course I’m going to be okay, Ginny, Dru and Lavender took care of my back for weeks.”

“And now I’m taking my very special George medicine to take care of her back.” 

Dru was sitting on Fred’s lap and was feeding him and herself with her fork. 

“Hold on, you’re scooping more stuff on my fork than you do on yours, that’s not fair,” Fred chuckled and picked up his fork and started to feed Dru.

“Fred, I’m eating, I just take smaller bites.” Dru giggled.

“Dru, we have a chair for you.” Arthur said.

“Thanks, but I missed sitting on Fred’s lap.” 

“They’re getting worse every time.” Lupin chuckled. “This is a wonderful meal, as always, Molly.”

“Oh it’s nothing, Remus.” Molly smiled as she waved her hand. 

“Compliment, mum.” Fred and George chorused, making Lupin and Tonks laugh. 

“Don’t tease your mum.” Dru said as she put more food in Fred’s mouth.

“Yeah George, don’t tease your mum,” Fred said with his mouth full.

“Ew! I married Ron.” Dru said and tried to get off Fred’s lap.

Fred snorted and put another forkful of food in Dru’s mouth. 

Rose quietly ate everything that George had put on her plate. One side of her was happy that she was at home again, with people that she loved and that she could just be herself and stop burying everything in her mind, but on the other hand, she’d rather had stayed at Hogwarts just so that she didn’t have to feel guilty about feeling and being off. 

She liked the familiar buzz of people talking at the table, albeit being with half of the family with Bill and Fleur at their own cottage and Ron, Hermione and Harry gone. Rose thought it was a pity that Charlie had gone back to Romania and Percy was still being very much Percy. “George? You didn’t put Moggy and Holly in the oven, did you?” she asked out of the blue.

“They were delicious.” George smiled at her. 

“Wanker,” she shook her head.

“Hold on, where _is_ Holly?” Dru asked, pulling back the spoon of dessert, that she had almost fed Fred. 

“Like George said, they were delicious.” Fred tried to get a bite of dessert.

“Fred?” Dru pulled the spoon further away from him. 

George moved in and ate the dessert off the spoon. “De-li-cious.” He grinned.

“Oi!’ Dru said and tried to hit George but she couldn’t move. “Somebody hit George for me.” 

“Relax, they’re outside playing with the garden gnomes,” Molly chuckled. “As if I would allow the boys to cook your pets.”

Dru looked at Fred. “I’m not sure you deserve more dessert.” 

“But I do,” George grinned.

“Will somebody please hit him?” 

“Rose, duck.” Fred grinned and hit George on the head.

“Okay, now you can have dessert again.” Dru giggled, gave him a kiss and went back to feeding him dessert. 

“Do you want me take you up to bed?” George softly asked Rose.

“I don’t know, will they stop having dessert if I don’t eat it?”

“No, dessert is not mandatory.” George chuckled and gave her a kiss before getting to his feet. 

“Oh, Rose, could we have a talk tonight?” Lupin asked as she was slowly getting up.

“No!” George said angrily. “Come back when she is rested.” 

“Alright, I will,” the man nodded and sheepishly continued to eat his dessert.

“Don’t forget to say bye to Baby.” Dru said, while still looking at Fred. 

“Bye baby, bye Tonks, bye Lupin.” Rose said as she and George walked out of the kitchen. 

“Had enough dessert?” Dru asked Fred.

“Yeah, let’s go to the shed,” he grinned.

Dru got up from his lap and walked to Tonks. “Take care of yourself, alright?” 

“Don’t worry about me,” she smiled and caressed her stomach. “The baby is kicking, you want to feel?”

“Yeah!” Dru put her hands on Tonks’ belly. “Ah, that’s so cute!” 

“Isn’t it just?” Tonks smiled proudly. “The baby will grow up to be just as strong as its father.”

“And just as colourful as its mother.” Lupin smiled.

“Bye bye Baby.” Dru gave Tonks’ belly a kiss and walked to Fred. “Let’s make our own.” she whispered. 

Fred carefully lifted her up and walked towards the shed with her. On their way there, he started to kiss her. “I’ve really really missed you in the last few months.”

“I’ve missed you too, I’m a wreck without you.” 

“I should bribe Lee then to appear more often on Potterwatch, although he clearly stated George and I shouldn’t be so cheesy.”

“I don’t care what you say, as long I hear your voice.” 

“I could ask him if I can sing!” he snorted as he kicked the door to the shed open and flicked his wand at it to keep it closed. 

‘No singing.” Dru chuckled as Fred put her back on the ground. “You’ll embarrass me.” 

“I’m a decent singer... in the shower.” he chuckled and kissed her tenderly. “I believe I can fly... well I have a broom so I can touch the sky... think about you every night and day... grab my broom and fly away....” he sang off key as he unbuttoned her shirt.

“Stop singing or I’ll go back inside.” She threatened. “Where’s the booze?” 

“I’m the booze,” Fred said as he kissed her again.

“Too little alcohol.” She grinned and kissed him back. 

“But so much better.” He helped her out of her shirt and unhooked her bra. He still hadn’t touched her back, but now that he had her somewhat relaxed, he was determined to find out how badly she was bruised. He softly started kissing her neck. “You taste so good, so sweet, great dessert.”

Dru tugged on the hem of his vest. “Take it off.” she moaned, partly from pleasure, partly from the pain in her back. 

Whilst he kept kissing her neck, he worked on getting out of his vest and shirt. “I want you to ride me,” he whispered in her ear. “I want to see your beautiful breasts bounce around.” 

“Then you better take those pants off.” she said as she kissed him fiercely. 

Fred groaned as he couldn’t get his pants open. He wanted her so badly, but he knew he had to be careful and now he was getting impatient on top of it all. 

“Fred, relax. I’m not going anywhere.” Dru chuckled and she removed her panties, but kept her boots and her skirt on. 

“Not for another two weeks,” he sighed happily and finally managed to open his pants and pulled them and his shorts down before pulling her down to the floor with him. 

Dru sat on top of him and bit her lip. She was a bit nervous, not about Fred, they had sex a million times before, but her back was still in pain. “Please be careful.” she asked softly. 

“I know, don’t worry.” He smiled at her and softly kissed her lips. “I’m leaving this all up to you,” he said, running his finger tip down her breasts towards her stomach as he kissed her. 

Dru put her arms around his neck. “I missed your smell.” she muttered through the kiss. She gently broke it off and pushed Fred to the ground. She looked at him with a devilish smile. “So, tell me mr Weasley, how have you been getting off, when I wasn’t here?” 

He groaned. “Not often,” he answered as he started to caress her thighs.

“Liar.” Dru smiled. “How many times a week?” she moved a little, putting more pressure on his cock.

“Once or twice...” he squeezed her thigh before moving his hand towards her clit. “With the hand I’m currently touching you with.”

“Once or twice a week or a day.” Dru said huskily. “And what do you think about when you get off?” 

“Depends...” he licked his lips. “Usually I imagined that my beautiful wife was touching me in all the right places, whispering dirty things in my ear as she likes to do.”

“You like that, don’t you?” she smiled at him. “What kind of things do you like to hear?” she moved again, so he could easily enter her now. 

“Tell me what you’re going to do to me, what you want me to do.” he swallowed hard as he rubbed her clit with his thumb and put one finger inside of her. 

“I’m going to ride you.” She moaned as she let her hands move over her breasts. 

“Oh yeah?” He replied as he inserted a second finger inside of her.

Dru moaned hard, “If you ever get inside of me, I will.” 

“Fuck,” Fred removed his hand from her and grabbed his cock while with his other hand on her hip, he directed her right above it. “All yours, it’s all yours!”

She lowered herself onto him and giggled when she heard him moan. “Feels good doesn’t it? Me around you.” 

“Oh, it feels so good... do I feel good to you?”

“I don’t know yet.” she teased him as she wasn’t moving yet and let her fingernails run up and down his chest. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.” 

Fred growled at her and caressed her sides before moving his hands to her breasts. 

Dru slowly began to move and loved hearing Fred moan underneath her. She loved to know she was in control of him. “Yeah, you feel good to me.” She put her hands besides his head and leaned on them to hold her up. Her back was nagging a little bit, but she wanted him too much to stop now. 

He grinned and pinched her nipples at the same time. “You look so beautiful, you are so beautiful.”

She giggled, before biting her lip. “Damm, Fred. Stop making me giggle.” she smiled. 

“Why? You’re cute when you giggle, and it’s a real turn on,” he sighed happily. “Giggle for me.”

Dru giggled, and lowered her arms, so she was lying on top of him. “Flip me. I want to feel your body on mine.” she said huskily. 

“Are you sure?” he said, putting his hands on her bum and then squeezed her buttocks.

“Yeah!” She moaned. “I’ll be fine.” 

He gently rolled the both of them over as he kissed her and made sure he wasn’t leaning too hard on her as he got to his arms and knees. “You okay?”

“Come here.” Dru pulled Fred back on top of her. “Fuck me already.” she smiled before kissing him fiercely. 

He answered her kiss and wrapped her legs around his waist as he entered her again. Fred then started to thrust inside of her and gently broke off the kiss, only to start kissing her neck.

“I missed you.” she moaned as she dug her nails in his shoulders. “I’ve missed you so much.” 

“I love you,” he said, nibbling on her earlobe. “So glad that after this year I’ll have you all to myself, every single day.”

“Hmm, morning sex every day.” She smiled as she closed her eyes. “I like that.” 

“I’d have you for breakfast, lunch _and_ dinner.” he groaned as he kept thrusting. 

“And you want me to believe that you only wank once or twice a week.” she giggled between her moans. 

“Yes, because getting myself off is something completely different, you drive me crazy woman,” he playfully bit her shoulder before licking her collar bone.

“Oh...Damn.” She moaned and gasped when she felt him come inside of her. She came a few seconds later, while he was riding out his orgasm. It shot a few flashes of sharp pain through her back. She bit her lip hard trying not to let him noticed it. 

“You okay?” he breathed heavily, not moving until she had rode her own wave of pleasure. 

Dru nodded while still biting her lip. She didn’t want to let him know that she was in more pain now then before they had sex. It felt like something shifted and it was causing more pain than before. 

He slowly got off of her and caressed her hair. “Hot bath when you’re ready,” he said as he kissed her neck.

“Could you apparate me into the bathroom?” Dru asked softly. Her voice was shaking a little, having sex might not have been one of the best ideas she had had. 

“Yep,” he caressed her hair. “You should have said something, honey.” he started to collect their clothes. 

“It didn’t hurt like this, until I came.” She said as she slowly sat up. “Besides I wanted you.” 

“Shame it’s cold outside, otherwise we could have had sex in the pond,” he grinned and kissed her as he held onto their clothes and gently put an arm around her. 

_Crack!_

He held her upright as he dropped the clothes and turned on the tabs to fill up the bathtub. He then directed her to sit on the chair in the bathroom and locked the door before pulling off her boots and socks.

She unzipped her skirt and kisses Fred’s cheek. “Come with me in the bath.”

“Oh you bet,” he grinned as he put some bath salt in the tub and made sure the water was hot enough, but not scalding hot. Once the bath was filled up, Fred helped her up and helped her into the tub, taking a good look at her back. “You know, if you didn’t want me to see those bruises, you could have used some of our bruise-removing paste,” he said as light-hearted as he could, but he was boiling with anger. “What did they do to you?”

“We did!” Dru leaned forwards so Fred could sit behind her. “It was a lot worse.” 

“Alright,” he said softly and sat down behind her. He gently pulled her back towards him and put his arms around her. 

“Now this is heaven.” She smiled as she grabbed one of Ginny’s hair clips and put her hair up. “I like this.” 

“Yes, this is brilliant.” Fred smiled and planted a kiss on her neck. 

“It’s nice to be home.” She tilted her head back and kissed him. “It feels good to be in your arms again.”


	47. Reflection and Bargaining

A couple of days later, Rose had snuck downstairs in the middle of the night and had started to cut some herbs from Molly’s herb garden in the dark while dodging some disturbed gnomes. She was feeling a lot better now that she had slept a lot and had eaten properly.

“Rose, what are you doing?” Dru came outside wearing her favorite shirt and short.

“I’m going to make a start with making the stuff that we need.”

“Need some help? I can’t sleep anymore.”

“Yep,” she smiled widely. “I was thinking of making the ointments smell a bit more pleasant, what do you think?” Rose said as she picked some lavender.

“Yeah, I saw some violets in that corner.” She walked to end of the garden and picked some violets before following Rose into the kitchen. “How’s your back now?”

“Better now that I’ve been able to sleep properly, yours?”

“I think I twisted something.” Dru said. “I don’t think Fred will ever dare to touch me again.”

“You pulled a muscle?” she then blinked. “You had sex!”

“My back wasn’t as bad as yours. Then.” she smiled. “It was hot though.”

“Sex in the shed _is_ hot,” Rose grinned. “Want me to have a look at it?”

“Maybe in the morning, when everybody's awake. I don’t want to wake up the whole house.”

She chuckled. “Alright, fair enough,” she nodded and pulled out a few cauldrons. Now that everything was quiet and Molly wasn’t using the stoves, it was easy to use a few cauldrons at once. “Alright, so, I’m thinking to bring the double amount of everything for the remainder of the year.”

“Especially the numbing cream and bruise remover. Neville’s going to need it, if he continues the way he has been acting.”

“Yeah, and maybe some more fat creams to keep the skin moist and stretchy.”

“You know, Neville has turned even more courageous than I ever though he might be.” Dru smiled.

“I know! I’m so proud of him!”

“He really is a great leader.”

“Annoying too.”

“Yeah, that too. But it’s still weird, sometimes I forget he isn’t that shy little 11 year old and then suddenly I see a man standing there and I think; when did this happen?”

“And he really needs to stop growing, I mean...” Rose shook her head laughing as she stirred in her cauldron.

Dru laughed and stirred in her own cauldron. She took a deep breath and decided to confess what she had kept to herself (and Neville) for two years now. “Sometimes I miss him.”

“I know,” Rose looked at her with a smile. “And that’s okay, really.”

“Rose, I’m in trouble. I think I still love him. No... I know I still love him.”

“I know, but the question really is, would you act upon your feelings for Neville?”

“I kissed him when we had those three bottles of Fire whiskey, but other than that no. I love Fred so much and I would never cheat on him.”

“Then I don’t see why you’re in trouble,” Rose said as she put some more herbs into her cauldron. “All you can do is be the best friend possible to Neville.”

“I feel so wrong. Like I’m lying to both of them.”

“You’ll get over it, eventually.”

“Oh, helpful.” Dru remarked sarcastically.

“What do you want me to say, Dru?” Rose asked her and sat down on the table as her cauldron needed to simmer for a while. “Do you want me to say that you should stop seeing Neville? That it’s wrong that you two are friends since you still love him but are married to Fred? You need Neville as much as he needs you and you need Fred too. The one thing you could try is to see if both men would like to be in an equal relationship with you, share the same bed, home, whatever and hopefully live together in peace.”

“I can’t believe you just said that.” Dru said after a moment of silence, she didn’t know whether to be hurt or amused by Rose’s comment. She had to admit, it certainly had massive potential. “Besides, I love Fred more.”

“Then you’re not wrong and shouldn’t feel wrong. And if it feels wrong to be friends with Neville, then something has to change for you, something has to change in your life.”

Both girls sat on the table watching their cauldrons simmer and the sun rise from the window behind it. They were quiet, both immersed into their own thoughts and when it was time for Dru to get her cauldron off the stove she hugged Rose. “Rose, you are brilliant!”

“Uh, okay?” Rose said impish. “What did I do?”

“You gave me something to think about.”

“Okay.” she shrugged and got her cauldron off the stove as well. They both put it down in a corner of the kitchen where it couldn’t be disturbed and started making breakfast for everyone. Also, in the most comfortable silence ever.

That afternoon, despite several protests, Rose and Dru went into town by themselves to buy some little Christmas gifts for everyone. They weren’t really going to celebrate Christmas as the entire family couldn’t be together, but they’d save the presents for those absent for a later date when everyone was together again. 

Dru had looped her arm through Rose’s as they were walking in the winter sun, soaking up the beautiful countryside. “Rose?” Dru asked after a while. “Are you happy? I mean, apart from everything that’s going on, are you happy?”

“Yeah,” Rose smiled widely. “I mean, I never thought that I’d be where I am now, seven years ago. I found out that it’s not bad to have friends, that not all boys are necessarily evil and that it’s okay to share.” She then giggled. “I certainly wouldn’t have imagined that I’d be married to a great man with such an extended family.”

Dru nodded. She had had the same thoughts, although she would have never imagined that she would be torn between two very different families. Even though she was glad that she was (relatively) safe, she missed Narcissa and Draco every day. Even her father, although she could now see that he made the wrong decisions for even more wrong reasons. Hadn’t her family history been so messed up, her family could have been like the Weasleys, well, maybe not like the Weasleys, but she had always been loved. 

Sometimes she wondered if she had made the right choice herself. Granted, she gained Fred, Neville and Rose and a lot of friends by turning her back on everything for the ‘greater good’ and fell in love, but family was everything. All the problems she had now were simply a direct cause of her abandoning them. She’d be a lot safer if she had stayed.

But if she had stayed, would she have found love? Probably, just not as soon as she had in the last seven years. 

They bought their small Christmas gifts and were walking back home, when Dru had another question for Rose. “When we’re home, I mean at the apartment, how do you see us?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you see us as two separate couples? A family? Roommates?”

“All of the above?” Rose answered. “I mean, you’re married to Fred, I’m married to George. We live together because the boys live together. The four of us make a family.”

“Yeah, but don’t you ever wish you could be completely alone with George? Without having to worry about me or Fred walking in on you or... I dunno.”

Rose was quiet for a while, she kept kicking rocks and had put her hands in her pockets. Dru knew that her friend was thinking, truly thinking, about things now. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer to her question, but she had asked anyway. “I like it the way it is now.”

“Why?”

“Because, I...” Rose shook her head. She had ignored her feelings for a very long time and she couldn’t believe that she was about to share her fear with Dru. Dru had always been honest with her, Rose usually danced around the subject when it came to her own things because sharing was wrong. Was it? “I love George. I really, really do. He’s the only boy I feel completely safe with,” she looked at Dru who was looking at her as if Rose was mental. “Neville, he’s a great guy, but he has hurt me, and even though we work together _now_ , it doesn’t mean that I completely trust him, you know.”

Dru gave a nod. She couldn’t really understand it, but then again, Rose’s thoughts had always been a bit weird.

“Sharing the apartment with you and Fred, sort of assures me that George wouldn’t go too far with things, I suppose. Or ...”

“You don’t trust him?”

“I do, just... life is great, when we’re together you know. When the four of us are together, it’s brilliant. I don’t want that to change. I don’t want George to change, because I’m afraid of what might happen to what we have.” She swallowed back the tears she felt coming up.

All of a sudden, Dru realised that despite everything that Rose had done, been through and despite her personal growth, deep down, Rose was still that scared little girl who’d rather blast her way through things and not think of the consequences as long as she could protect herself. Despite Rose seeming to be independent, she wasn’t. Not at all.

Dru smiled at Rose and hugged her while they continued to walk. “You should share more often, Rose.”

“I’d rather not.” she managed to chuckle. 

 

“What did you buy?” Fred grinned as he wanted to take a peek in the bag that Dru had been carrying. “Well?”

“It’s not Christmas yet, you’ll just have to wait,” she smiled widely, as she pulled the bag away from him.

“Oh come on, you can tell me!”

“Nope.”

“Alright, where’s that cat of yours? Georgie, turn on the oven, will you!”

“Fred!” 

Fred laughed and softly kissed her. “Don’t worry, I would never do anything to hurt your cat unless it’s standing behind me and I don’t know it’s standing behind me and I step on its tail.”

Dru grinned.”I hate you.” she softly kissed him back.

“You can’t hate me, I’m your husband!”

“Molly, is it possible to hate your husband at some point? Dru called out to Molly.

“Yes dear, after seven children it’s entirely possible to hate your husband.”

“See?!” Dru smiled at Fred, who was looking quite shocked by what his mother had just said.

“Mum!”

“What?” Molly entered the kitchen with a big smile on her face. “Your father can be very infuriating at times. And then we have make up sex.”

“Oh gross, mum!”

“He’s threatening to kill Holly, because I wouldn’t show him the present I bought.” Dru pointed at Fred.

“No I wasn’t.”

“You told George to turn on the oven.” 

“Yeah, which he didn’t, he’s too busy dealing with that closed book of his.”

“Not that closed.” 

“Not to you, maybe. I told you, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Holly unless she makes the situation so that I would hurt her accidentally.”

“See?” Dru looked at Molly. “He’s impossible.”

Molly grinned and gently put her hand on Dru’s shoulder. “Let me give you a bit of advice on how to deal with impossible Weasley men.”

“All men are impossible? And beyond help?” 

“Well, yes, but if you want to punish him for being impossible, just deny him sex. It works like a charm.”

“But then I punish myself too.” Dru pouted. “He’s way too good at sex.”

“Dru! My mum doesn’t to hear that! And mum! I did not want to hear that!” Fred whined as he poured Dru some juice.

“But you are.” Dru smiled at him. “Honestly, Molly, the things he can do with that tongue of his.” 

“Dru!” Fred looked at the glass of juice he had just poured for his wife. “That’s it, I was going to give you this glass of juice because you’ve been shopping, but forget it.” He took a sip of the juice and walked away.

Dru laughed at him. “Sorry, Molly. But he’s just too easy to tease sometimes.”

“Yes, they all are,” she laughed and shook her head. “I’ve emptied your and Rose’s cauldron’s and labelled the bottles correctly while you were out, so you can make more if you two can’t sleep again.”

“Thank you.” Dru hoisted herself on the counter. “Can I ask you....could you....I need advice.” 

“On what, dear?” Molly smiled at her.

“Fred, George and Rose.” 

“Let’s go out to the garden,” Molly smiled and helped Dru off the counter. “The walls have ears.”

Dru sat down on a tree trunk and sighed. “I’m not really happy with my current living situation.” 

“Honey, you can’t go to the apartment, it’s not safe. I am sorry if our house is---”

“No Molly, I don’t mean that. I love the Burrow, I mean at the apartment. Living with the four of us. I don’t want that anymore. I want to built a home with just Fred, on our own.” 

Molly was quiet for a moment and then nodded. “I can completely understand. The boys are inseparable, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, and Rose too. But Fred and I have been talking about having kids, and I don’t want my child to grow up with two moms and two dads, that’s too confusing for a child.” 

“Oh I wish I could help you with some sound advice but I’ve been trying to separate them for years, give them their own rooms, or have them dress differently. The best I can say is that I think you should have a talk with just the four of you and discuss separate accommodations, but it will be a fight for you.”

Dru nodded and sighed. “I’ve tried it once a year ago, but that didn’t go too well.” 

“What happened?”

“I ended up crying and they kept telling me that we would see when we get there.” 

Molly chuckled. “Yeah, that’s typical.” She put an arm around her daughter-in-law. “Tell Fred that you want to live in a home that’s just yours and Fred’s. Because you’re his wife and you want to be with him, and just him. And if he says that he doesn’t want to because it’s not time yet, you can tell him that he’s married now and that it’s inappropriate to live with his brother.”

Dru nodded. “I’ll do that.” She gave Molly a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you mum.” she said very softly. 

“You’re very welcome,” she said as she hugged Dru. “I was actually wondering which one of you two would come to me first and tell me how impossible it is to live together, but I don’t have a better answer for you, sorry.”

“Rose told me today that she doesn’t want to live apart from me and Fred, but I do.” Dru got up and help Molly up too. “Thank you for listening and not telling me I’m mad for wanting this. I better go and find your son.” She walked into the house. “Fred?” Holly was walking around her ankles, trying to get her attention. Dru picked up her cat and held it to her chest. “Where’s Fred, Holly? Did you see him?” Dru smiled when the cat purred. “Don’t worry, he would never really put you in the oven.” she walked to the bottom of the stairs. “Fred? honey?” 

Ginny ran down the stairs, wearing old clothes and the biggest grin ever on her face. “We’re going to play Quidditch, the boys against me! They’re already at the paddock, come on,” she pulled Dru with her and ran out the door.

Dru groaned as she followed Ginny. When she came to the paddock she saw Rose sitting on a blanket, reading one of her books. George and Fred were already flying. “Fred, could you come down here, Please.” 

“We were just about to play some Quidditch!”

Dru closed her eyes. “Fine.” She shot at him and sat down next to Rose. She didn’t want to ruin his fun, but she also really wanted to say what she had to say, before she didn’t have the courage anymore. Dru laid down on her back, while still petting Holly and closed her eyes, waiting until the boys and Ginny would be finished with their game. 

“We really need to get you two to fly.” George laughed as he landed on the floor, followed suit by Fred. “It’s no fun with just the three of us.”

“You just don’t like it that I won.” Ginny grinned.

“We allowed you to win,” Fred and George chorused.

“I still won.”

“Are you done now?” Dru asked as she put her hand above her eyes. The sun was behind the boys and she had to squint her eyes to see their silhouettes. 

“Yep, our stomachs say that dinner’s ready.” Fred nodded and helped Dru to her feet.

“Already?” Dru asked

“Well you’ve been gone for most of the afternoon, shopping with Rose.” 

Dru groaned and put her hand in front of her eyes. She hate putting the conversation off even longer. “Fine, but after dinner, we need to talk, Fred.”

“Alright,” he nodded and kissed her before putting an arm around her and walked back to the house. 

Dru crossed her arms and kicked a few stones on the way over to the house while sulking. 

“Is it something important you want to talk about? Want to have dinner later?” Fred asked her after realizing that something was bothering Dru.

“Yeah, I would actually. If you don’t mind.” 

“Alright, let’s just inform mum and we’ll go and take a walk or something.” He smiled at her and poked his head through the door. “Mum, could you keep some food warm for me and Dru? We will be back in a bit.”

“Sure Fred, take as long as you need.”

Dru took Fred’s hand and pulled him away from the sweet smells that came out of the kitchen. “Come on, honey. let’s sit down there.” she took him with her to the swing in the garden. she sat down on the swing and sudden felt a bit nervous, she knew Fred wasn’t going to like what she had to say. “You know how much I love you, don’t you?” She smiled as she looked up to him.

“I don’t really like the tone in your voice right now... You’re not going to leave me, are you?” Fred asked worried.

“I....Fred, I love you, but I’m not happy with the way are things right now.”

“Uh... there’s a war going on, I don’t think that anyone’s really happy right now.”

Dru stood up and put her arms around his waist. “I don’t want us to go back to the apartment when the war is over.” 

“Okay...” he slowly nodded. “That’s okay, because George and I have been talking about how we need more space for the shop but we didn’t know how or when we should tell you girls and then of course there’s going to be a debate on where we’re going to live next...” he softly caressed her back. 

“Well I suppose Rose would want to move into London, but I would like to have an apartment in Diagon Alley, would you like to stay in Diagon Alley? With me?” 

“Houses aren’t big enough in Diagon Alley for the four of us, George and I checked.”

“But they _are_ big enough for the two of us.” Dru looked into Fred’s eyes. “I want to live together, like a real married couple.” 

“But...” Fred was confused. “What about George and Rose?”

“I think they’re old and mature enough to live on their own.” Dru took a deep breath. “Don’t you want to live with me?” 

“We already are living together. You and me.”

“No, Fred.” Dru let him go and put her hands in her hair as she started pacing. “We’re roommates now, I want to live together as husband and wife.”

“Honey, I can’t leave George all by himself. We’ve never been apart for too long and he won’t be able to---”

“He won’t be by himself. He has Rose. He’s married, you’re married.” 

“I need to talk to George about this.”

“No, you need to talk about me about this!” She yelled at him as she saw him march into the kitchen and quickly followed him. “Fred!” 

“I can’t say yes and leave him out of it, Dru!”

“Lover’s quarrel?” George grinned at Fred and Dru. 

“She wants us to move out after things settle down.”

“Well, we already talked about that, Freddie. I’ve told Rose and she wants to look for a house for all us in London.’ George smiled at Rose. “You already had some idea’s, don’t you?” 

“You don’t get it, Georgie.” Fred said as he sat down next to his brother. “She wants us to move into separate houses.”

“You what? No, Dru, no way.” George shook his head. 

“What? No!” Rose said to Dru in shock. “You can’t leave!”

“I’m married. I want to live with my husband.” 

“You live with your husband.” George said confused. 

“That’s what I said but she said we’re more like roommates now.” Fred grumbled.

“Oh no!” Rose looked at Dru in shock, remembering their conversation earlier that day. “You didn’t just ask me those things for no reason, did you?” she narrowed her eyes on Dru. “That’s so not fair! You can’t move out. We’re a family.”

“Dru, you just need more time to adjust. And now we’re here. Just wait, when we get back to the apartment, all will go back to normal.” George said. “Want some mashed potatoes, Freddie?” 

“No, I’m not hungry anymore,” he sulked and looked at Dru. “I can’t believe you’re trying to ruin something that’s good.”

“Fine, you really want to stay living with your brother and his wife in one house?” 

“I’m not ready to leave him, Dru.”

“Then I’ll go and live on my own.” Dru said simply. _crack!_

“Where did she go?” Fred asked worried. “What was she on about anyway?”

“Neville.” George sighed. “I swear, one day I’m going to...”

_Crack!_

 

Dru looked around. She had no idea where she was. She didn’t know what house she should be knocking on. She crossed her arms and started to cry. She took a deep breath. “DORA.” 

A door opened and Lupin and Tonks ran out to the street. “Dru? What are you doing here all by yourself? Are you alright?” Tonks pulled her cousin into her arms. “Come inside, it’s not safe out in the street.”

Dru walked into the house and gasped. She tried to walk out of the house again, but Lupin stopped her. 

“That’s Andromeda, your aunt,” he said reassuringly. “She won’t hurt you.”

Dru looked scared at the woman standing in front of her, she was the spitting imagine of her birth mother, Bellatrix. “Hello.” she said softly. 

“Dru, what are you doing here? Where’s Fred?” Lupin asked, a bit mad that she was on her own.

“Sorry, I’ll leave.” 

“No, you’re not leaving.” Tonks put her arms around Dru and caressed her back. “Mum, this is Dru,” she smiled. “You need to forgive her manners, she’s usually a well behaved girl but...”

“I know dear,” Andromeda Tonks said with a smile. “It’s nice to finally meet you Dru,” she said while keeping her distance. “I shall make you all some tea and leave you alone.”

“Brilliant mum, thanks.”

“You don’t have to go.” Dru said with a small voice. “I just... You look so much like me.” she gave a faint smile. 

“And I say we look fabulous,” Andromeda smiled widely. “I’ll come back with the tea in a bit.”

Dru smiled and sat down in a chair. “How are you feeling, Dora?” 

“Don’t worry about me,” she said as she sat down, looking at Dru. “Tell me, why are you so upset and why are you here without anyone accompanying you?”

“I think I just left my husband.” she cried. 

“What? What happened?” Tonks took her hand and pulled her out of the chair and onto the sofa next to her. 

“I’ve tried talking to him, but he wouldn’t understand and then he told George and Rose and them they all three went against me, so I left.” 

“What did you talk to him about?” she put her arm around her and pulled her against her.

“I told him I wanted to us to get our own place, without George and Rose.” Dru kicked off her shoes and wanted to put her feet on the sofa, but then looked at the aunt as she walked into the room again, “Can I?” 

“Of course,” Andromeda smiled as she set the tray on the table. “This is your house too, even though we’ve just met.”

“See? My mum is great,” Tonks grinned. “But I think you were right in wanting your own place for you and George. Remus and I talk about you four a lot, it’s not healthy the way you live now.”

“Me and Fred.” Dru laughed. “Rose’s married to George.” 

“Ugh.” Tonks groaned. “Pregnancy hormones.”

“She blames everything on her hormones these days,” Lupin said amused.

Dru laughed and took her cup of tea. “My best friend, Rose, Lupin’s goddaughter and I are married to the Weasley twins.” She said to her aunt.

“Great choice,” Andromeda smiled. “Would you like me to leave?”

“No, it’s your house.” Dru smiled. “Could I stay here tonight?” she looked at her aunt.

“Of course,” she nodded.

“Would you like me to go over to the Burrows and try to talk to Rose and George for you? I’ve been meaning to talk to her anyway.” Lupin offered. “They can be quite reasonable.”

“Could you wait for tomorrow? I really want to be left alone tonight and I don’t want Fred to know I’m here.” Dru put her head against Tonks’s shoulder and suddenly smiled. “Dora?” she asked sweetly.

“As I said, I’ve been meaning to pop over anyway and I’m pretty decent in keeping secrets, don’t worry.” Lupin smiled.

“What is it, Dru?” Tonks chuckled as she caressed Dru’s hair.

“Could I raid your closet? You can’t wear any of it anymore anyway.” 

She started to laugh. “Well I hope I’ll fit back into my clothes once the baby is out! But sure, steal away.”

Dru gave Tonks a kiss on her cheek. “Lupin, are you good at stealing?” 

“He stole Dora,” Andromeda grinned. “Who in turn stole his heart so I think he’s pretty decent.”

“And with my help, if I might say so.” Dru laughed.

“What?” Tonks smiled at her. “What did you do? I know that Rose badgered Remus about those bottled up feelings of his.”

Dru looked at Lupin. “The same thing he did for me once.” 

“You used the Felix elixir on an adult?” Lupin said shocked. “When?”

“Oh!” Tonks’ eyes went wide. “That was last year, wasn’t it? I was wondering why I felt so brave all of a sudden and knocked some sense into him!”

“He did the same to me and Neville once.” Dru smiled. “I left my black beaded bag on the staircase. Could you steal it and bring it with you?” 

“I’ll sure try.” He smiled. _Crack!_

 

Rose had nestled herself on the sofa against George’s side. He had tuned into Potterwatch and wanted to listen, and Rose didn’t want to be alone right now. She had gone over the conversations she had with Dru over the course of the day and she should have picked it up. 

Rose felt responsible for what had happened now, because she had told Dru that if she wasn’t happy that she needed to change something and then this happened. Fred was apparating in and out all the time after discovering that she wasn’t at Neville, and there were only a few places he could check. He was now sulking up in the bedroom.

She heard the door open and Molly greeting Lupin and telling him that Rose was in the den. Rose scowled. For some reason he had a nose for knowing when something was wrong and he took pleasure in finding out what it was and meddling in someone else’s business. Something she had stopped doing a few months ago because it wasn’t healthy and it upset people, even though she was right all the time.

And if Lupin wasn’t going to meddle in someone else’s business, he was going to ask her if she could see into the future and give information he could use to pass on to other Order members. She decided to pretend she was asleep. She didn’t want to be used as if she was some sort of object.

“Good evening,” Lupin greeted them with a smile. 

“Hey, Remus,” George said, looking up from his book and then next to him. Rose seemed to be asleep. “Can’t get up to shake your hand I’m afraid.”

“That’s alright,” he smiled and sat down in the chair. “How are you doing?”

“Would you like me to wake her?”

“Nah,” he said with an all-knowing smile. “I’m sorry for the interruption, Dora and her hormones sometimes drive me a little mad.”

“I can imagine.” George grinned. “I’ve seen Dru with her hormones. There’s a reason Fred calls her a fire cracker.” 

“Firecracker? Is she here?” Fred asked as he stormed out of his room. 

“No, Freddie, I’ll let you know if she comes back!” George called out to his brother, causing Rose to stir. “If she wakes up, I’ll blame it on you.” 

The sound of a door being slammed followed. 

“Sorry about that. Dru was being weird and stormed off. Now Fred’s sulking.” George caressed a strand of hair from Rose’s face. “I like it when she sleeps.” 

“Where did she go?” Lupin asked worried.

“I think Neville. He said she wasn’t, but If Dru asked Neville to hide her, he would.” George shrugged. 

Lupin gave a nod. “Must have been some row then.”

“Dru got weird, she’ll come around. Don’t worry about her, we’ll talk to her when she comes back and then it will all go back to normal.” 

“Alright,” Lupin chuckled. “I just left my dirty socks in the bedroom, Tonks got angry because of the smell.”

“Rose is the messy one. She always makes a mess everywhere.” George chuckled. “She’s unbelievable. She has a massive workspace almost twice as big as Dru’s but she’s always trying to steal Dru’s workspace too. Then it turns into a huge girl fight. That is funny to watch actually. Especially after Fred and I take their wands away.” 

“Ah yes, the dangers of having two best friends living under the same roof,” Remus said amused. “Aren’t you worried that one of these days they will end up hurting each other?”

“Nah, they love each other and we work well as a family, the four of us.” George looked at Rose. “But I don’t think you’re here for discussing hormones.” He looked at Lupin. “She’s okay, her back is better and mentally she’s strong.” 

“Is she? Or is she putting up a front like she usually does?”

“She puts up a front to deal with the physical pain and some of her worries, but I know her. She’s stronger than she looks. She’s been a real leader according to Ginny. She’s Neville right hand at Hogwarts.” 

“That is amazing. I’ve always known that she was special but to actually do all those things, yes, I’ve spoken to Neville and he sang her praises too, it takes a lot of courage or maybe a bit of insanity.” He chuckled. “I can’t help but being a little worried though. Someone like her shouldn’t put herself into the position she puts herself in.”

“Yeah, I always thought that it would be Ron and Harry to be the leaders, but Neville and Rose seem to do a better job of it than Harry ever did during his fifth year, according to Dru. Rose and Neville seem to hold up the entire student body. With Dru, Ginny and Luna that is.” George caressed her hair, “I’m worried about her too, but who am I to say no. We do more dangerous stuff with the Order and she’s only one year younger than me and she’s older than Harry, Ron or Hermione and you let them go, you even encouraged them and tried to go with them.” 

“She’s your wife.” Lupin sighed. “And I know you’re worried about Ron, but Harry, Ron and Hermione can take care of themselves and are doing a very important job, one that Dumbledore gave to Harry and he wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t sure about Harry’s capabilities.”

“So can Rose, and I think Dumbledore’s Army is important too. They saved Dru’s life.” George looked up the stairs. “Dru wanted to kill herself a week ago and Neville and the others stopped her and made sure she couldn’t do it.”

“Maybe Dru’s unhappy, or conflicted, someone as strong as her doesn’t usually want to end it all.”

George looked at Lupin for a few seconds. “Fred!” 

“What? Is Dru back?” Fred called out. 

“Did you go to Tonks’ mothers house?” George kept looking at Lupin. “How could you not say she’s there?” 

“Because she’s not.” Lupin said with an even look. 

“Liar.” George said. “What if your wife runs away? Would you like for us to keep her hidden away from you?” 

“Please do.” Remus sighed. “And I’m not lying. Dru is not with Tonks. Wouldn’t it be one of the first places Fred would look? Usually when you run, you don’t want to be found.”

“Fred!” 

“Shut up,” Rose muttered and sat up, blinking at George. “Why are you yelling for Fred?”

“Because he’s hiding Dru.” George pointed at Lupin. “Fred’s worried sick about where she is.”

“I’m not hiding Dru. Why does she need to hide anyway? What was the fight about?”

“She wants to me and her to move out,” Fred said, walking down the stairs. “Are you hiding her?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Okay.”

“What’s wrong with moving out? You’re married.” Lupin looked at Rose who was giving him a death glare. “Surely you realize that it cannot be healthy for two married couples to live together.”

“See!” George stood up. “He’s been trying to send the conversation towards your fight ever since he got in and started to speak!” 

“Sit down, George.” Lupin said and pointed at Fred. “Sit down, Fred.”

“This is a family matter, Remus.” George shot at Lupin.

“Yes, and I respect that, but you forget that Rose is my goddaughter and Tonks is Dru’s guardian. Also, I’m an outsider who has been to your home many times and have seen how you four function.”

“I mean our family, the four of us.” 

“You’re not a family. You can talk of a family if there’s a father and a mother.”

“Bit rich, coming from someone who ran away when his wife got pregnant.” Fred spat.

“Look, Fred, Rose and I are very happy with our situation and Dru was always happy too. She’s just confused right now.”

“But Dru obviously isn’t.” Lupin pointed out. “Or else she wouldn’t have started about moving out.”

“She’s had a rough time. She’s a bit messed up right now.” Fred said. 

“It’s not healthy, boys. The both of you are married now, it’s time to start living your own lives, nothing wrong with that. You’re just an apparate away and you still have the shop together. I’m sure that Rose would like it too if she could be completely alone with you, George.”

“No.” Fred and George chorused. “Rose doesn’t want to Dru to leave either. She would sooner kick me out than Dru.” George added. 

“What say you, Rose?” Lupin looked at the girl who was just quietly taking everything in. 

“Leave her out of it, Lupin.” Fred said. “And George is right, when push comes to shove, both girls would rather kick the both of us out than to move out. Dru will come round.”

“Boys, it’s not healthy the way you live now. It will ruin your marriage, both of your marriages.”

 

“Dru can’t leave,” Rose said quietly. “I need her.”

“No Rose, you don’t need her,” Lupin smiled at her. “You are perfectly able to take care of yourself and your husband by yourself.” Lupin realised that Rose was the one he had to appeal to in order to have the boys see reason.

“Freddie, do you believe me now? She’s at Tonks’ place.” George said. “Go get your wife and then things can go back normal.” 

“I believe you,” Fred nodded. “Now that I know that she’s safe, I won’t go looking for her, she’ll come back tomorrow, that’s the way she works.”

“Remus, I knew from the very first start that if I’d start to date George, there would be Fred too. The boys are inseparable, and that’s fine.” Rose said softly. “And then Fred started to date Dru, that was brilliant, because my boyfriend had his best friend and I had mine around all the time. It works just fine. I don’t think that it’d be better for all of us if she and Fred would go and live somewhere else.”

“See!” Fred said to Remus. “When Dru calms down, she’ll see reason and she will remember she liked living like this. She never had any problems with this, before this year. I’m telling you she’s just confused. You’ll see.”

“Fred, what if she doesn’t come back?”

“She’ll come back, Remus. Now get out, this is getting ridiculous.”

* * *

On Christmas Morning, Dru still wasn’t back, and Fred and George had been fighting ever since Lupin had left, spoiling the entire mood in the house. Rose and Ginny spent as much time as possible away from the house because the boys never fought and kept themselves busy by making the gnomes do weird things. At one point Rose had the gnomes all lined up and they were dancing a jig, which amused Ginny. 

“Forget it George,” Fred’s voice could be heard from the back garden. “I love you, but I love Dru too and I’m not having sex with you. Or have babies with you. I’m going to get her back and we will move out when this is all over.”

“Freddie, you can’t do this to me.”

“If I have to move out to keep Dru, then I have to, won’t I? I don’t like it, but I don’t want to lose her. What would you do if Rose would pull something like this?”

“Rose loves me enough to never ask me to do this.” George said. “Fred, you will both regret this. Listen to us, like I listened to you about my wedding. Just explain to her that she’s hurting all of us like this, including herself.” 

“Yeah, I will regret this, but Dru...”

“Freddie, you can at least _try_ and talk to her. You don’t want this, just _try_. At least let her know you don’t really don’t want this.” 

“Fine, Georgie, I’ll tell her and I’ll try to change her mind.” 

 

Dru was sitting curled up in the chair before the fire. She had been at her aunts for few days now and she was afraid that she had blown it with Fred. She had spent the last few night crying herself to sleep and wished she had never brought it up. She put her arms around her legs, put her head on her knee and started crying for her fifth time that morning. 

Lupin jumped up when someone knocked on the front door. He drew his wand and walked to the door. “It’s about time,” Lupin said, looking at Fred after opening the door.

Dru looked up and got out of her chair. Hoping it was Fred. 

“I’ve come to take Dru home,” Fred said, not moving from his spot by the door. 

“Fred.” Dru ran to the door and threw her arms around his neck. “I thought you would never come.” 

“I was waiting for you, actually. Ready to come home?” he smiled at her. 

“No yet.” She dried her eyes with one hand, keeping the other firmly on the back on his neck.

“Dru, you’ve made your point, let’s just go home.”

“No, I want to talk first, without interruptions.” 

“Come inside,” Lupin muttered. “You can sit in the den, we’ll be gone.”

“Please, we need to talk this out.” Dru took Fred’s hand.

“Honey, we can talk about this at home too.” Fred said as he followed her inside.

“No, we can’t.” Dru sat down on the sofa. “That’s what I mean. If we go home, everybody will get involved and push their opinions on us. We need to do this together, without them.” 

“Well, maybe it pleases you to know then that George and I have been shouting at each other for the last couple of days. First fight since he broke my broomstick when we were nine.”

Dru sighed, “Of course that doesn’t please me.” she put her hand infront of her face and shook her head. “See, you think I’m a horrible person now.” 

“You’re not a horrible person. You’ve just been through a lot and it’s finally doing you in, that’s okay.” Fred sat down next to her and put an arm around her. “It’s okay.”

“Fred, this is not because of what I’ve been through. I...never mind. If you don’t want to leave, we won’t.” she said with a small voice. 

“Really?”

Dru shrugged and sniffed. “I suppose.” 

“Dru, I want you to be happy. I love you. I just don’t understand why you can’t be happy at the apartment with George and Rose with us.”

“Because... I don’t feel married there. Every time I want to do something, I not only have to tell you, but them too and it’s.... I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter, if you’re happy there, I’ll stay.” she put her head against his shoulder. “I just want to be with you.”

“If you’re not happy, something has to change, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll try to adjust. I just want to be with you. And I want you to be happy.” 

“You had time to adjust, but it’s not working, is it?” Fred sighed and caressed her hair. “I can’t be happy if you’re not, but it’s hard you know...”

“I used to love it, but ever since we talked about having children. Fred, how can you see that work with the four of us and a child? I love Rose and George, but they will interfere too much. You know that. They would take over raising our kid. I want to raise my own child.” 

“Yeah, but I thought we’d wait, just like them, so that we’d have at least a few more years together, George and I. We’ve never been apart and it scares me.”

Dru took a deep breath. “Alright how about a compromise. We’ll stay together with them for a few more years, until I get pregnant, then we’ll find out own house, very, very close nearby our child’s favorite auntie and uncle. Can you live with that?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, that way you and George can get used to the idea and my main concern was about how we were going to do this when we have kids. If I get bored with them, I’ll just get myself knocked up.” she grinned. 

“I love you,” he smiled and softly kissed her. “I really really do.”

“I love you too.” she kissed him back. “See, we need to spend like at least like one hour a day alone, and I don’t mean in our bedroom. Just to talk and stuff, without them there.”

“We can do that.”

“Can I come home now?” 

“I want you to come home, silly.” He smiled and kissed her again. “It’s Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, my handsome husband.” she kissed him back.

“Merry Christmas, my beautiful wife.”


	48. Change of heart

For the first time in a long while she had picked up a copy of _The Quibbler_ again when George was off to taking care of mail order business and Fred and Dru were still up in the bedroom. It was Boxing day and everyone was a little depressed or slow or whatever. It was hard to describe the feeling of having to miss someone over Christmas. 

It was interesting to see how _The Quibbler_ had been printing the facts, everything that _the Daily Prophet_ hadn’t been publishing according to Arthur, which was mostly because _The Quibbler_ hadn’t fallen into Voldemort’s hands, and it now made sense as to _why_ Luna had been taken from the train; they wanted Xeno Lovegood to stop printing the truth. 

Rose didn’t have to read _The Quibbler_ to know that things were bad. Really bad. She felt sorry for everyone, not just for her own family, who had to miss a loved one or more for Christmas and wished that there was a way to help them. All of them. 

She chuckled and tossed the magazine back onto the table. Since when had she become such a big hearted person? She sure wasn’t raised that way!

“Breaks your heart, doesn’t it?” 

Rose hadn’t noticed that George had returned from the errands he had to run and had taken a seat next to her. “Oh, I already knew it was bad,” she said as put her arms around his waist and cuddled up against him. “It’s just the realisation that it’s really really bad and to see it in writing that’s...”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “That’s actually the first reason that Fred joined Lee to do _Potterwatch_ , not just to spread information, the right information, but also to try and spread some good feelings. And you know, it actually does make _us_ at least feel better in mocking the pants off of you-know-who.” George softly caressed her hair. “Can I ask you something?”

“You can ask me anything, you know that,” she smiled up to him. 

“I know you’ve been in pain, and that you’re doing better now, or at least you’re pretending to be doing better,” he then rolled his eyes at her. “I’ve been watching your every move and I can tell you’re still sore so there’s no point in denying that, but you’ve been home for almost a week now and I feel like you’ve been avoiding me.”

“George, I’ve been here _with you_.”

“Physically, yes, not the rest of you. Do I revolt you or something?”

“No!” She playfully hit him on his chest. 

“Then what’s going on? You’ve been awfully quiet for a couple of days now and I’m worried that I’ve done something wrong.” He pulled her legs on his lap and softly kissed her. “I thought I was the one you could share everything with, even the nasty stuff that’s inside your head.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” she softly caressed his cheek before she took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right, maybe my head is just about to explode again. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”

“I miss my bubbly Rosie,” he softly kissed her. “And I miss having sex with my wife, who has returned for a small break from her currently very awful school a week ago and ever since then my wand has been throbbing with...”

“George!” she laughed and kissed him back for a while before gently breaking off the kiss. “Alright, let’s go outside and take a walk... nobody else has to hear what’s inside this head of mine.”

“And can we have sex after?” he smiled widely at her. “Please? I’ll be careful!”

~~~~~

Dru lay on her stomach on Fred’s bed making her homework, while Fred was sitting on the ground reading some of her new school books. “This stuff’s disgusting.” Fred shook his head while was reading her muggle studies book. “Who on earth writes something like that?” 

“People like my parents.” Dru said while she was scribbling on her potions essay. “Besides the worst isn’t even in the books.”

“Really? Writing about how you’re worthless if you’re without magic or muggle born and how you should be killed without any reason sounds pretty bad to me.” He flipped the pages. “‘Muggles have done nothing but defile the world with their unconventional ways of travel’, really?”

Dru sighed. “Well, they did put down a lot of road for their motorways.” Dru chuckled. “Relax, it was a joke.” she said as he looked at her in shock. “You know I don’t think of muggles or muggle-borns that way.” 

“I’d certainly hope not,” he gave a small smile. “I’d have to keep you away from at least one valued friend and nearly a family member.”

“Fred, you know I love Hermione and I would never hurt her.”

“I know, don’t worry, I’d never think you’re anti-muggle or pro-pure bloods.” Fred kissed her. “Because you’re not.”

Dru smiled and looked back at her homework, “It getting tricky sometimes to keep both Rose and Neville calm during muggle studies. I now sit between them so I can keep them both from saying nasty things to Alecto Carrow. Especially now she’s....” Dru suddenly stopped talking and flipped through a few pages. “Fred, do you still have some of your notes from your seventh year?” 

“I never took notes and what do you mean by ‘especially now she’s...’ she’s what?”

“She has a new favourite subject and it’s... let’s say the Slytherin like it.” 

“What is it?”

Dru took a deep breath. “Look, Neville or Seamus won’t let anything happen to me or Ginny. They have been watching us like hawks.” 

“Dru.” Fred looked at her. “Stop dancing around it and just say it.”

“We have been getting lectures on keeping the pure blood line strictly pure blood. That the pure blood male sex is responsible to impregnate only pure blood female for to have as many pure bloods as they can. Anyway they can.” 

“They’re promoting rape?” Fred said shocked. “Has anyone laid a hand on you?”

“NO! Like I said, Neville and Seamus never leave us girls alone, and like Rose will ever let anything happen to me or Ginny. And they feel like anybody worthy of creating offspring will choose to stay pureblood. Most of them do, at least.” Dru smiled at him. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m only letting one pure blood impregnate me, and only on my own terms.” 

“You’d better be talking about me,” he said deep in thought. “Doesn’t this make it even more dangerous for you at Hogwarts? Or for Ginny for that matter?”

“We’ll be okay. Your dad is right, we can’t stay away, at least not yet. We don’t want to draw more attention to this family and the Ron ghoul in the attic.” 

“It’s ridiculous, you know,” he said as he softly caressed her hair. “You’re not safe at Hogwarts and there isn’t anything I can do to protect you. What kind of a husband am I?”

“Fred.” Dru caressed his cheek. “You’re my handsome husband and you give me hope by hearing your voice on Potterwatch.” She softly kissed him. “And I am safe, we have a tight group now. We protect each other and we have Neville, the hero.” she grinned. “You guys have no idea how amazing he turned out this year. He blows everyone’s socks off. Even you would be in awe if you saw how much he has done for Me, Rose and Ginny.” 

“You and Rose have always spoken highly of him, but I never saw it,” he said and kissed her back. “But it’s good that he’s keeping you safe, he’s been looking out for you for years now and if he had stopped doing that, I’d have gone over and kicked his ass.”

“He has done more than that. He has been taking beatings for me, he gets detention for taking the blame for Ginny’s graffiti and he took on the cruciatus curses that were meant for Rose.” Dru look at her homework again, she hated it that Fred never saw how Neville really was. “You know, maybe you should remember that you did a lot more bad stuff to him than he ever did to you.” 

“Yeah, I know. It’s surprising how he’s not become bitter by it all.”

“He’s not. He’s working on letting me go and he’s even trying to give his relationship with Hannah a real shot, despite the fact he doesn’t really love her.” Dru took a deep breath. “He saved my life, you know, in a way you don’t even realise.” 

“Well, I’m sorry, alright?” Fred said hurt. “I think I’m just jealous because he’s there with you and doing his best to keep you safe and I’m not.”

Dru sighed and got off the bed and sat down next to him. “You do keep me safe. I only get by because of those few minutes that I hear your voice on Potterwatch. I know I’ve been a mess lately, but I love you and you are still my calm in the storm.” She softly kissed him. “I married you, not Neville.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, you feel any better?” George asked as they started to walk back towards the Burrows. They had taken a long walk, a very long walk. Rose had told him just about anything that was currently inside her head and he just couldn’t believe that she was still functioning with all those horrific images in her head. 

“Lighter, sure,” she said and looped her arm through his. It was cold outside, and the walk had been longer than she had expected. At least they could have turned around earlier, but they had just kept walking. Should they both become fed up with walking, they could always apparate back.

“Not better?”

“Yes, better,” she smiled at him. “I’m sorry for doing this to you...”

“No, we’re not starting that again. You talk, I listen and shut my mouth about it. That was our original arrangement and it’s still the same.”

“I love you,” she smiled.

“And I love you.” He smiled and softly kissed her lips as they continued to walk back home. “Now, tell me about school.”

“Muggle studies is a horror and the Dark Arts is...” Rose shook her head. “Not important.”

“Rose, I don’t.....” George took a deep breath. “Please be careful. I know Neville does his best to keep you girls safe, but I’m still scared for you.”

“What? Because I’m a half blood?” she gently squeezed his arm. “Or because we’re trying to keep everyone else safe?”

“Because you’re my wife.” He rolled his eyes at her. “I like being married and I’d like to stay married to you for a while longer.” 

“Don’t worry, there’s a strict no-kill policy.”

“Yeah,” George stopped walking and looked at her. “Don’t forget, you don’t have to dead to be gone. these are the same kinda people that made Neville lose his parents. Or hurt two fourteen year old girls.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” She shot at him. “I’m constantly reminded by _them_ how it’s a shame how my father was brilliant for destroying Neville’s parents and how sad it is that my mum was a muggle. They’ve been trying to blast the impurity out of me, George. But if it’s not me, who else will they take? Dru? Ginny? A first years?”

“Rose, I’m just telling you to be careful, like you told me. I’m _not_ saying you should stop, just that you need to careful and that I don’t want any of you to get hurt. Not you, not Ginny, not Dru and no, not even Neville.” He rubbed his eyes. “I just know that sometimes you forget that you’re only human and that they _can_ break you if they try hard enough.” 

She softly caressed his cheek with a small smile on her face. “You’re right,” she said softly. “And for a moment I wanted to tell you that as long as they’d break me and not someone else that it would be alright, but it’s not. Not anymore.”

George put his arms around her. “I love you, Rosie. Please don’t sacrifice yourself for anyone else. Not even Dru.” 

“But she’s Dru, George.” 

“And you’re Rose, my Rose, my wife, I can’t live without you.” 

“But she’s Dru. I’ve been fighting for her since she and I met, she’s everything. She’s this superwitch. She’s my Fred. If I stop protecting her, what would happen? She could end up dead or...”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t protect her, just don’t sacrifice yourself for her. I mean if you die, I... I can’t live without you. And if I’m gone, Fred can’t live without me and then Dru would kill herself and then we all would be dead. So don’t.” 

“You’re silly, George.” Rose said as she put her arms around him. “I’m not worth killing yourself over.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” He made her look up to him. “I love you. I married you because I love you and don’t want to be without you anymore. I needed to make sure that you’d stay with me and not with some random bloke that would sweep you off your feet. I needed to make sure that I had someone to come home to. You’re brilliant. You’re cute. Apart from mum, you’re the sweetest person I’ve ever known. The kindest. Your need to protect everyone is kind of insane, probably borderline suicidal and that scares the hell out of me. I need you to stop doing that, because despite what you may think, you’re worth living.” George softly kissed her. “Yes, I married you for completely selfish reasons, but I love you.”

“George...”

“No, I’m serious. You’ve been with my family for a while now, would anyone of us have taken you in as a family member if you were this horrible person? I know that you’re a bit broken, and that it takes time to heal, but being reckless isn’t the way to do it. I need you to stop being reckless and be more careful.” 

“George...”

“If we put things in perspective, I’d rather have someone else mourn someone than me having to mourn you.” He swallowed hard. “Stop being reckless, I’m begging you.”

She slowly nodded. “I’ll be more careful, I promise.”

“Thank you.” George smiled and pushed her against the outside wall of the shed. “Now, how about the other promise you made me?” he started kissing her neck. “I’ll do it how ever you want me to.”

“Did you forget how to have sex?” she said surprised with a big smile on her face. “You know, you just have to plug that wand into this tiny hole and cause friction.”

“Minx.” He chuckled and pressed his hand against her heat, he was still not believing that she was finally wearing a skirt outside of Hogwarts in this cold. “Is this friction enough?” 

“That’s nothing, what are you doing down there?” she grinned.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He whispered as his fingers pushed her panties to the side and caressed her clit. She looked so sexy in that skirt, he didn’t really want her to take it off.

“Fuck...” she moaned as her hands tried to open his trousers. She loved the feeling of his cold fingers against her and teasing her like that. 

“Oh, like that don’t you?” He grinned as he swatted her hand away. Rose could be very impatient in foreplay, but George loved teasing her. “Not yet.” he chuckled as her hand reached for his trousers again. 

“George, we’re outside,” she stated, and looked up with a twinkle in her eye. “In the middle of winter.”

“Let me warm you up then.” He kissed her neck and slipped one finger inside of her. He felt himself getting turned on by her moans that increased when he slid another finger inside of her. “Okay, now you can open them.” he said huskily. 

“I don’t want to now,” she teased.

“Rose.” he groaned and tried to open it himself with his free hand, but that wasn’t a success. 

She smiled and opened his trousers and gave his boxers a gentle tug too before both clothing items fell to his ankle into the bit of snow that was on the ground. She then wrapped her cold hand against his fully erect cock, making him hiss. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

“”Damn good.” he groaned and pushed a third finger inside of her. “Ready for something bigger?” he asked after a long deep kiss. 

“I want you,” she moaned as he rubbed her clit with his thumb. “Please.”

“Say the magic word.” He chuckled and gave her a playful bit on her earlobe. 

“George....fuck.” she gave a sound that was between a moan and a whine and it was simply adorable.

“That’s the one I was looking for.” He grinned.

She jumped up and locked her legs around his waist before slowly lowering herself down so that he could enter her. He was pushing her slightly too hard against the stupid wall of the shed (thank god they were out of sight from the house and were only being stared at by a couple of gnomes, which was annoyingly disturbing) but she didn’t care. She’d just take an aspirin later, she just wanted him too much right now. She wrapped her hands around his neck and felt how he was maneuvering her so that he could easily enter her, and once he did, she felt glorious. “Fuck...” she muttered.

“Hanging out with the boys has given you a potty mouth,” George said as he kissed her. “Don’t worry, I like it.”

She moaned once he started to move. “I’ll rinse my mouth with soap later...”

“No.” He groaned. “Say it again.” 

“I’ll rinse my mouth with soap later?” 

George chuckled and started thrusting harder. “Good, you’re good at this.” he kissed her fiercely and squeezed her butt. 

“I’m good at repeating things,” she squealed and tugged on his hair. “But I think you wanted me to continue to swear, am I right?”

“You’re good at fucking.” George chuckled in her ear and kissed her just below her earlobe. “Say fuck again.” He closed his eyes and rested his head against her shoulder as he felt he was nearly there. 

She moved her lips close to his good ear. “Fuck,” she whispered and licked his earlobe.

That was all he needed and he came hard as he bit down on an exposed part of her neck. He put one hand against the wall and pushed her a little bit away from it, trying not to hurt her as his body was shuddering. 

She caressed his hair as he came inside of her, not daring to let go of him in case she’d fall. “Are you okay?” she asked with a smile.

“Not yet.” he said and started to stimulate her clit again. “Now it’s your turn.”

“I’m fine by not... fuck George...” she moaned.

“Yeah, I’m good at it too.” He grinned.

“Such talented fingers...” she breathed. She had felt the build up to her climax in her body, but it was weird to have sex outdoors, in the cold and gnomes staring up your boyfriend’s ass. Rose closed her eyes. She trusted George enough not to drop her, even though she could put her feet back on the ground. He surprised her when he gently pinched her pleasure mount and she came hard, muffling her cry by burying her face into his shoulder. 

“That’s my good girl.” He smiled as he placed his hands back on her butt and kissed her again. “Did it hurt a lot? Your back I mean?” he softly asked her. 

She whimpered as he put her down on the ground and he started to pull his pants back up. “No,” she smiled at him. “I’ll take an aspirin later to make sure it stays that way. Back is just a bit stubborn still.”

He smiled and kissed her again. “We could take a warm bath together. If Fred and Dru aren’t occupying the bathtub again.” 

She chuckled. “Sounds nice, but Dru has her own problems with her back, so we shouldn’t really get angry with them for it.”

“Nope, I won’t. But I want a bath with my wife as well.” he smiled. “What is exactly wrong with her back? Fred told me she’s a bit scared to hurt it again.”

“It’s easier to hurt your back and seriously injure you there because the spine is so close. Snap that in half and you can’t walk anymore,” she shuddered. “They kicked her a lot, she’s bruised it pretty bad.”

George closed his eyes. “She’s very breakable, isn’t she?” Although Dru was a bit taller than tiny Rosie, Dru seemed to feel a lot more pain than Rose. 

“She doesn’t just feel her own pain, remember? She refuses to work on ignoring everyone else’s feelings. On top of that, with everyone worried or sad or depressed, she’s just very fragile.” Rose softly kissed him before they walked back to the house. “To be honest, what I’m doing isn’t very healthy either. I compartmentalize my pain until it gets too much and I have to let go and fall to pieces for a bit.”

George put his arm around her. “I won’t let you fall.” 

“Already did that before I came home,” she chuckled and opened the door. “I’m all empty now, and recharged and I can take on the world and...” she saw the look on George’s face. “Which I won’t.”

Fred was sitting on the kitchen table reading a few pieces of parchment and looking very angry. 

Bill was sitting across from him. “Fred, she said to let it go.” 

“Shut up, Bill. How would you feel if it was Fleur they were talking about?” he said angrily and waved the piece of parchment. 

“What’s going on?” Rose asked as she poured some tea into two mugs for her and George to warm the both of them up.

“The new breeding program at Hogwarts.” Fred gritted his teeth. 

“Oh, that.” She sighed. “Nothing to worry about, Fred. Neville and Seamus are keeping her out of trouble.”

“Wait, what?” George asked shocked as he looked at Rose.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not a pure blood.”

Fred handed George the pamphlet he had been reading, he got it out of Ginny’s bag when she hadn't been looking. 

Rose didn’t like the looks on all three the faces. “Nothing will happen to Ginny or Dru. Nothing has happened to Ginny or Dru. We have polyjuice potion at hand to turn them into half bloods if needed.”

“It almost happened twice to her already, remember?” Fred said. “Because I do, I found her the second time.” 

Bill looked at Fred. “You what?”

“Yeah, and they have tried to do the same to me. But nothing will---”

“They what?” George said shocked. “When?”

“Oh... I shouldn’t have said anything...” Rose sighed. “Sorry, forget it, it was nothing. The point is, the DA is very vigilant when it comes to the ‘breeding program’.”

Dru came downstairs. “What are you all talking about?” she stood behind Fred and put her hands on his shoulders.

“Well, you’ve told Fred about the breeding program and guess what he has found in Ginny’s bag?” Rose said and handed a mug of tea to George.

Dru sighed. “It was out before I realised what I said. And why didn’t Ginny burn that damn thing like we told her to?” 

“I don’t get it, the two of you are acting as if this is nothing!” Fred turned around and looked at Dru. “What happens if they can’t protect you for some reason?”

Dru put her hand on the back of his neck and gently squeezed it. “It’ll be okay.” she smiled at him. 

“I reckon we need to have a chat with dad again about pulling at least you and Ginny out Hogwarts.”

“No. I’m not leaving Neville and Rose behind.” 

“I don’t care.” Fred spat. “Sorry George, Rose, but I don’t. Seems like Rose is safer there than you, Dru.”

“Fred...” Dru sighed. “I’m fine.” 

“Yes, now you’re fine.”

“Fred, we had this conversation a few months ago, remember what you told me then?” 

“No.”

Dru sat down on his lap. “You told me that you’re a part of the Order and you had to do this for a better world for the entire magical community. Well I’m part of Dumbledore Army and I need to stay at Hogwarts.” Dru took a deep breath. “I’m sorry to say this, but Hogwarts needs Neville maybe even more than the magic community needs Harry. And Neville needs us there. Me, Ginny and Rose.” 

“Why won’t you trust us when we say that we’ve got it under control?” Rose asked as she took a sip of her tea.

“Because this is rape they’re promoting!” George growled.

“They’re not just after Dru and Ginny, George. We’re the only ones standing in the way of having this going out of control. They haven’t done anything for weeks.”

“She’s right, we trust you, you should trust us.” Dru nodded. “We’re not thrilled about this either, you know.” She rested her forehead against Fred’s. “We need to keep fighting.” 

“They’re right, you know. Hogwarts is not the same school that you guys went to. It’s changed and the students need us.” Ginny said as she was walking into the kitchen. “The school needs us to keep everything together.” 

“Yeah, we know that the school has changed, Ginny. That’s why we don’t want you to go back. I don’t want my wife, my sister, my sister in law or any girl to get raped so that they can produce the right kind of heir for the bloodline.” George spat at his sister. “Fred, we need to tell mum and dad about this.” 

“Sweetie...”

“No don’t, Rose.” George looked at her. “You’re not going back to Hogwarts, even if that means we have to go on the run ourselves.”

“What are you going to do, George? Tie us up? Lock us away?” Ginny asked calmly. “It won’t work. We’ll find a way back to Hogwarts on our own.” 

“George, I understand that you’re scared, but the girls are right. If Neville needs them, they have to go back.” Bill said.

Rose crawled onto George’s lap and softly kissed him. “Nothing good will happen if you take me away, I know this. I know it’s very tempting to just go, but it’s important that all of you stay together,” she caressed his hair. “What happened with me not allowed to leave school until Easter, huh?” she smiled at him. “That’s what you told me, and I’m sticking to that.”

“Yeah but I didn’t know it was going to be this bad, Rose.”

“Easter. Then we’ll see.” She said determined. “You have to trust me on this.”

“Fred, say something. Help me here.” George said. 

“Alright, fine, Easter.” Fred said with a shrug.

“NO, Fred, Help me, not my wife.” 

“George, we won’t be able to change their minds. They’re right. The work they do at Hogwarts as part of the DA is just as important as our work for the Order.”

Dru gave Fred a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.” 

“I’m still not too happy about it and if I find out that even one hair on Ginny’s head is out of place come Easter, I’ll deny you sex for at least a week,” he said bravely.

Dru chuckled. “Fine, I can do without a week, I’ve been doing without a week almost already, anyway.” Dru said. 

“Ew, you two are gross,” Bill and Ginny chorused.

“Yeah, we should remedy that tonight.” Fred nodded and softly kissed her.

Dru giggled and hid her face on Fred’s shoulder. “Sorry, I can’t.” Rose had checked her out and everything seemed to be in place, but Dru was still very afraid to put any pressure on her back again.

George grinned at Rose and kissed her nose. “Bath?”

“Bath,” she nodded with a smile.

“But you don’t have to be on the bottom, you know,” Fred tried.

“Fred!” Bill whined. “I don’t wanna know that.” 

“Poor Bill is missing Fleur,” George chuckled.

“I just don’t want to know which positions my brother is practising.” Bill said as he hit both twins on their heads. 

“I don’t think my back is ready yet.” Dru said with a small voice and got off Fred’s lap, grabbed a coat from the coat rack and went outside. She felt like she was letting Fred down, but she just couldn’t get in the mood and her back was a good excuse. 

“Fred, you should take her somewhere fun,” Ginny smiled at her brother. “Have her let go of all those wacky feelings.”

“Huh?”

“Fun, you’re good at doing fun stuff. Do it. With her.” Ginny said again. “It’s not just her batteries that needed to recharge, it’s the head that needs to be emptied too.”

“Ginny, they can’t just go! they need to be careful.” Bill said.

“Oh come, BIll, you and Dad have been going to work. Why can’t fred take her into town or something?” George asked. 

“There’s snow outside,” Ginny shrugged. “Have a snow fight and then warm up with some firewhiskey.”

“Or take her to the christmas fair in town. You know the one where the hot wine and stuff. I don’t think Dru has ever been to a muggle christmas fair before.” George said. “We could go with the four of us.” He nudged Rose. “Rose can tell us about the muggle christmas traditions.” 

Fred stood up and went outside to find Dru. “Dru?” 

“Chickens.” 

Fred went into the the chicken barn and found Dru there feeding the chickens. “I think they have already been fed.” 

Dru shrugged. “It’s winter and it’s cold, they could use a bit extra.” 

“Fair enough,” he smiled and put his arms around her. “Would you like to go into town and watch the Muggles celebrate their boxing day with a fair?”

Dru looked at him and frowned. “I thought we weren’t allowed to leave the burrow?” 

Fred shrugged. “You and Rose did the other day to buy us small Christmas presents, I don’t see why we can’t leave.”

“That’s true.” Dru giggled as she gave him a kiss. “Well then, I’d love to.” 

“You want to go with just the two of us or shall we take George and Rose with us too?”

Dru smiled and kissed him again. She thought it was sweet that he was really trying to take her feelings into account. The last two days Fred had took it upon himself to try and show Dru that he really was trying to spend more time alone with Dru. He hadn’t told George about their decision to eventually go find their own place. Fred wanted to wait for the right moment. “You are the best husband.” she put her arms around his neck. “Let’s take George and Rose too.”

* * *

That night as Dr woke up around two in the morning. When she turned around she noticed that Fred wasn’t lying beside her. She sat up and looked over to the other bed where she was surprised to see Rose sleeping alone. Dru quietly got out of bed and decided to go see if the boys were downstairs. Halfway down the stairs she could hear George and Fred talking in the kitchen. She stood still and hid in the darkness to listen to them.

"George, you need to relax!"

"Relax? You told me you were going to fix this!"

"I am! But I can't do that overnight!"

"Telling me that you agreed to move out when Dru becomes pregnant is not fixing it, Fred!"

"I told her that so she would come back. Look, Georgie, I love her to death, but I'm not going to move out. All I need to do is show Dru that we can be together alone enough without moving out. But I need some time to show that to her."

"Yeah, but what if you can't? Rose is already freaking out at the idea of Dru moving out!"

"She will see sense right now she's just confused and Tonks and Lupin got to her! Don't worry Georgie, neither Dru or I will ever move out! I promise."

"You better."

"Come on, let's go to bed before the girls realise we're gone."

Dru quickly made her way back up and crawled into the bed and closed her eyes, pretending to be sleeping when the boys came back in. She could feel how Fred crawled against her. She kept her eyes closed and couldn’t help feeling very lonely and sad. He never had the intention to live with her on their own, he had blatantly lied to her.

* * *

“So, what’s your opinion on all of this?”

She and George were picking vegetables from the garden. The soil was a little bit hard so it wasn’t easy to get it. Over the last few days Rose had noticed that Dru was about to crawl back into that shell of hers and nobody really saw it but her.

Of course, Rose had started to think about the conversation that she had had with Dru and realised that this had been a long time coming. Well, not really. Rose was patient. She was married now, but hadn’t been around her husband, away from Hogwarts, for longer than two months. Most of the time, something was going on. Something bad.

And she did the best she could. She took care of George after the Death Eaters crashed Bill and Fleur’s wedding party, she studied, she didn’t stick her nose where it shouldn’t be and kept going.

She didn’t like it however, that Dru had spread the idea of Rose freaking out if she’d move out. Sure, Rose would have some issues, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Her friend wasn’t happy. If Dru really wanted a place on her own, with Fred, then so be it, at least then she’d be happy, wouldn’t she?

“I’m not taking sides,” Rose replied. “This is a matter between Dru and Fred.”

“And us!”

“And _you_. Which is fine, I completely understand.”

“You are taking sides, then.”

“No, I’m not.” Rose sighed and looked at George. “A couple of days ago when Dru and I went to town together, we had a talk. Well, she asked questions and I answered. At one point she asked me a question and I said that if something felt wrong, something needed to change for her, in her life.”

“So you brought this down on us, didn’t you?”

“No. It’s the way things go. If something isn’t working, or if something feels off, you change things, don’t you? It’s how it’s supposed to go.” Rose stopped him from walking off. “I don’t mind living in a house with the four of us. I honestly don’t, but this is something between Fred and Dru. I know that it will be hard for you and your brother not to be under the same roof, but it will happen. One day it will happen and you’ll have to deal with it.”

“He’s not ready for---” George sighed. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

“Well, you’ve got me now, I’m not going anywhere,” she smiled at him as she put her arms around him. “This is something between Dru and Fred. Not Dru, Fred and George. You’re not Fred. Fred’s not you.” She softly kissed him. “Happy friends and family members who live just an apparate away are better than having none.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” George muttered with a sigh. “If something’s wrong with _their_ marriage, they have to fix it themselves, that it?”

“Amongst other things,” she smiled sweetly at him. “I know it’s hard, but you’re not in a relationship with them. Fred’s a grown boy now, he can take care of himself.” She softly caressed George’s hair. “I wouldn’t want them to interfere if we’d run into a slight bump, either.”

“I thought you said that you needed Dru.”

“Well I think I do,” Rose shrugged. “In a way, she’s my Fred. We’re not twins but since we started at Hogwarts we’ve been hanging out together, became really good friends, gone through a lot of shit... Ever since our fourth year... I just want her to be happy. If she’s happy, I’m happy and that’s not how it’s supposed to work. Maybe Dru and I have become too close and maybe after this is all over, it’s time to see what happens when we’re not around each other every day.”

“You’re saying...”

“I’m saying, I love new experiences, remember?” she smirked. “I’m not saying that it would be easy, but I’ve got you, don’t I?”

George chuckled and softly kissed her. He knew she was right, but that didn’t mean he had to agree with her.

“Besides, I always thought that you and Fred were ballsy. Like how you set off the fireworks just to annoy Umbridge and leave school. If you can do that, I’m sure you can learn how to deal with not living under the same roof as your brother.”

“Oh, that’s just...”

“Brilliant?”

“No, mean. Because we did that together.”

“Like I said, I’ve got you now, you have me.” She kissed him and picked up the vegetables from the floor. “Let’s get these inside before your mum starts freaking out.”


	49. Gaining Perspective

Neville was standing with his grandmother on platform 9 ¾ waiting for the girls to arrive. He was constantly greeted by other students. Neville stayed polite and greeted everyone back, but his eyes were still looking above the heads of the crowd to see if he could spot Dru, Rose and Ginny. 

Mrs. Longbottom tapped on Neville’s arm and she pointed to his right. She frowned at him as she heard him growl. “Neville.” she said stern.

Neville’s face hardened as he looked at Hannah who was walking towards him. “Hello, Mrs. Longbottom.” Hannah said friendly and shook the elderly lady’s hand.

“Hello, Miss Abbot, nice to see you again.” 

“Hi Neville.” Hannah said carefully, knowing he was still mad at her.

Neville didn’t respond and just kept looking out for his girls.

“Neville, please?” Hannah tried.

“Neville, at least hear the girl out.” Mrs. Longbottom said. 

“I think I see them.” Neville said and gave his grandmother a kiss on her cheek. “See you for Easter right? Stay safe, bye.” Neville sped to the Weasleys, still ignoring Hannah.

“My girls!” Neville sighed happily as he first hugged Rose. “Will you ever stop shrinking?” 

“Next time I’ll use a spell to make me even smaller, how’s that?” she smiled at him. “I’ll fit into your pocket then.”

“Brilliant, then I can feed you to Trevor.” He chuckled and let her go to hug Ginny. “Hey, tiny redhead, had a nice holiday?” 

“Meh,” Ginny shrugged. “There were a few people missing, you?”

“Let’s not talk about it.” He said bitterly before giving Dru a hug. Unlike the other girls, Dru didn’t seemed as smiley and happy. “You okay?” He whispered in her ear. 

“Just tired.” She smiled and let him go to say goodbye to Fred. “Please take good care of yourself and don’t cook my cat.” 

“One barbecued kitty coming up,” he grinned and put his arms around her. “Take care of my girl, Neville. I don’t like it when she’s hurt.”

“I always look out for her.” Neville frowned. “Why are you trying to cook the cat I bought her?” 

“Because Moggy doesn’t have enough meat on his bones.” George smiled.

“You will not cook Holly or I will cook you.” Rose glared at the boys before kissing George tenderly. 

“Alright we’ll cook Moggy instead and barbecue Arthur and Benjamin.” Fred said and winced as Dru hit him on his chest.

“Hm mm... Now I can’t get the idea of barbecued Pygmy Puffs out of my head.” Neville licked his lips and ducked when Ginny tried to hit him. 

“Fine,” she nodded. “I think he’ll taste wonderfully with two Pygmy Puffs.” She put her arms around George and smiled up to him. “Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.” George kissed her. “You try and stay out of trouble.” 

“Right,” she gave a nod. “I love you, you know that, right?”

“I know and I love you too, wifey.” He grinned and hugged her very tight. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.” he whispered.

“I’ll be careful,” she whispered with a smile. “I promise.”

“Right, come on Neville,” Ginny said as she tugged on his arm. “Let’s give them some alone time.”

“Gin, could you keep your arms around me, I want Hannah to go away.” Neville smiled as he put an arm around her. “Wanna play Neville’s fake girlfriend again, please?” he pouted.

“Oh you big baby,” she sighed as she looped her arm around his. “Come on.”

Dru gave Fred a hug. “Stay out of trouble, will you? I like it better if you’re in one piece.” 

“Look who’s talking,” he chuckled and softly kissed her. “You stay out of trouble.”

“Oh, that’s no fun.” Dru pouted. “I live for trouble.” 

“I mean it, Dru. You’ve had enough lately to last you a life time.” He then cocked his head to Rose. “She can take more,” he chuckled.

Dru sighed. “I’m not even allowed to crack a joke nowadays.” she muttered and let Fred go. “I’d better go before the train leaves.” 

“Hogwarts isn’t a joke,” he replied and softly kissed her. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” Dru gave him a quick kiss and then walked towards the train. She turned around and waved at Fred just before she boarded the train, trying to ignore a nagging feeling in her stomach she been feeling since boxing day. The feeling that everything was falling apart. 

“Remember,” Rose said to George as she took her bag from him. “Not your bump.”

“I will,” he chuckled and gave her one last kiss. “See you at Easter.”

Rose smiled at him and got onto the train, following Neville, Ginny and Dru to a compartment. Not soon after she boarded, the train started to move.

Dru sat down at the window and sighed deep as she looked out of the window.

“So, what did you do over the holiday?” Neville asked, looking at Dru. 

“I stayed at the Burrow, had sex, fought, left, stayed with my aunt, came back, went to a fair and then had a quiet holiday. You?” Dru still had her eyes focused on the landscape outside. 

“Stayed home, stayed home, listened to Potterwatch, stayed home...” Neville started. “Went to my parents, where, much to my surprise I found my friend with benefits with my parents and introducing herself to my Gran as my girlfriend, threw a fit, kicked her out and visited my parents, then stayed home, and stayed home some more.”

This made Dru look at him. “She did what?” 

“Yeah, she went to St. Mungo’s... I mean... she was there for days in a row according to one of the nurses! That’s bonkers!”

“What was she thinking?” Dru said surprised. “Are you okay?” She knew how much he kept his time with his parents to himself. If he could go without his gran, he would do that. “I’m sorry, Neville. Did you at least have some time with them alone after that?” 

“Yeah, I did and I’m fine. Broke things off with Hannah though,” he shrugged. “I never want to talk to her again.”

“Can’t blame you.” Ginny said. “She’s almost a stalker.” 

“Just when I started to actually feel _something_ for her, she does this. Pisses me off.” Neville replied with a shrug. “I’m just not destined to be with someone I suppose.”

Dru looked out of the window again, trying to ignore the jealous monster that was inside of her the moment he had said he was starting to feel something for her. She didn’t want to feel jealous, she shouldn't feel jealous. She was married. 

“You’ll be fine, Neville,” Rose smiled reassuringly at him.

“I guess none of us had a great Christmas then. You have unexpected visitors, we had another family member disappear for days.” Ginny said as she got a book out of her bag and started to read. 

“Who?” Neville frowned.

“That one.” Ginny and Rose chorused as they both pointed at Dru.

“Yeah but she was with Tonks, didn’t you...” He looked at Rose who was shaking her head. “You went to Tonks by yourself without telling anyone?” He asked worried and put an arm around Dru. “What happened?”

Dru shrugged. “I had a fight with Fred and I needed to get away.” She said with a small voice.

Neville looked at Rose and Ginny, who got up and left the compartment to do some patrolling. Neville then looked back at Dru and softly caressed her arm. “It was that bad?” he asked Dru.

Dru nodded and bit her lip, trying her best not to start crying. “I...” she took a deep breath. “I told him I wanted to live with him, just him. And then he went to discuss it with George and Rose, then all three of them told me they didn’t want me to go and Fred even said he didn't understand why I want to ruin something so good.” 

“Ah,” Neville gave a nod and pulled her closer to him. “I’m sorry.”

“I don't understand it.” She felt the tears escaping from her eyes. “Why doesn’t he want to live with me? Why am I not good enough?” 

“You _are_ good enough. If he wasn’t planning on leaving George, he shouldn’t have married you, no offense, but... that’s what I’m thinking.” Neville said as he tried to contain his anger. He had thought about this being one of the things that could go wrong and he had wished he hadn’t been right. 

“Neville, I made such a mistake and I can’t take it back anymore. I just don’t know what to do.” 

“You should think about what you want, just you. Not being influenced by anyone.”

“I know what I want, but it’s too late now. I can’t go back. I thought if I’d just stick with it, it would turn out okay, but it didn’t and now it’s too late. I’ve messed everything up.” Dru put her hands in front of her eyes and started sobbing even harder.

“It’s never too late,” he said and pulled her back against him. “It’s alright, Dru. We all make mistakes, and we learn from them. Some are just bigger than others.”

“But I can’t undo this anymore.” Dru looked at him. “I can’t fix this, I don’t know how.” 

“Everything can be fixed unless you’ve murdered someone,” he chuckled.

“If I told you something, could you promise not to tell anyone, not Fred, not Rose, not Ginny, not anyone?” She needed to get it out. She needed to say it out loud, she had been holding in her for a nearly three months now. 

“Dru, have I ever told someone something that they shouldn’t have heard from me?” 

Dru took a deep breath. “I think I never should have married Fred.” her voice was soft and shaky. “I don’t think either one of us was ready for marriage.” 

“I know,” he said softly and caressed her back. “Are _you_ absolutely sure though?”

Dru nodded. She had known something was wrong ever since the potions accident last year, like something had awoken in her again, but she tried to ignore that feeling, thinking it was just having cold feet, about her upcoming wedding and then her worries about the war and the horrible position her family was now in. 

But this Christmas hearing Fred and George’s talk in the kitchen made her see she was fooling herself. “I’ve been fighting my feelings for months now, but after Boxing day, I know for sure I’ve made a mistake, but it’s too late now. I can’t go back.” 

“Why not?”

“I’m married.” Dru shook her head and sat up straight again. “It doesn't matter that I love someone else more then I love Fred, I’m married to Fred and I do love him, so I just have to stay with him.”

Neville blinked at her. Surely she wasn’t meaning him. “Even wizards get a divorce, you know,” he said, reaching for his bag and pulled a bottle of water out of it. “Here you go.”

Dru smiled as she took the bottle. “Thanks.” She took a deep breath and tried to open the cap, but her hands were wet from her tears. “I’m only 17,” She shook her hand and handed the unopened bottle back to Neville. “I never thought I would be a divorcee before I’m 18.”

Neville opened the bottle and handed it back to her. “Well, you have to try everything at least once in your life,” he grinned.

Dru couldn’t help laughing. “Merlin, you’re such an idiot some times.” She looked at him and caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. “Thank you for not judging me.’ 

“You’re my best friend, why would I judge you?” He frowned. “There’s a war going on, I think that’s worse than your impending divorce,” he gave a nod. “It’s perspective.”

“I just don’t know what to do now. Fred’s going to hate me. And not to mention the rest of the family. I’m going to have no one left.”

“I’m sure that everything will turn out alright,” he assured her. “I just wish I had the guts to go and talk to Fred for you so you wouldn’t have to, but he scares me,” he chuckled. “I’m sure that whoever the person is you’re in love with more than your Fred, that person is very lucky and would do anything to make sure you’re happy. If not, send him to me. Except if it’s George, you’re out of luck because Rose scares the hell out of me.”

Dru laughed while shaking her head. “You’re a funny guy, Neville.” She looked at him. “You know you’re that person, don’t you?” she suddenly said. 

“Of course I do,” he sighed. “And you know how I feel about you, but I don’t think it’s fair towards Fred _and_ Hannah to kiss you passionately right now and on top of that, Rose and Ginny can come back any minute too.”

Dru nodded and looked in front of her. She closed her eyes for a second. _What was she doing?_

“On top of that, I want you to really really think this all through, okay?”

“Trolley!” Rose and Ginny jumped inside the compartment with a big grin on their faces.

Dru smiled and got her purse. “Alright, Longbottom. Since this is the last time on the train on the train together, I'll buy you two chocolate frogs, like old times.” She smiled at him. 

“Wait, you’re not coming back after Easter?”

“Probably not, I’m not sure.” Dru looked at him and smiled. “Never know what will happen between now and Easter these days. So, do you want your frogs, or not?” 

“Well fine then, give me my frogs.”

Dru ordered two frogs, one box of every flavoured beans and three liquorice wands and sat down in her seat again. “How was patrol? Did you see Seamus and Lavender yet?” 

“Yep,” Ginny nodded. “They were patrolling too... well each other’s mouths that is.”

Dru laughed. “Can’t believe it took them 6 years to find each other, only Ron and Hermione are slower than that.” She slipped a note saying _if I’m sure, you still want me?_ in a chocolate frog box and handed it to Neville. 

Neville gave a nod with a smile after reading the note and stuffed it in his pants before looking at Rose. “Any trouble?”

Rose gave a shrug. “Not yet, I think we can all relax for the rest of the ride.”

“Relax? It’s been a long time since we could use relax and Hogwarts in the same sentence.” Dru said as she started nibbling on her liquorice wand. 

“How’s your back, Neville?” Ginny asked, knowing he took a beating on the train two weeks ago, when he tried to defend Luna.

“Never better, Gran was angry with me of course, then proud, then angry again and then she started to take care of it,” he smiled at Ginny. 

~~

After putting their belongings into the common room, they went down to the great hall. Rose could tell that the elves were depressed as the food didn’t look tasty and mostly burned. Even though Snape was in charge now, the students hardly ever saw him, unless he was either walking to his herb store or patrolling the hallways. Unfortunately, this made it easier for the Carrows to go and pick on students. 

Rose knew that professor McGonagall was keeping an eye on them from a distance, but even she couldn’t so much without getting caught. It would be far worse if she’d be off the property. 

When it was time to go back to the common room, a tiny first year tripped over her own feet (her parents obviously thought that buying a robe ‘on the grow’ was better than a fitting one) and Rose stopped and helped her up, making sure that she was okay. She fiddled a lollipop out of her pocket and handed it to her with a smile. “You should ask Dru if she can trim the robe for you, you’ve been struggling with this one ever since you came here.”

The first nodded but looked a bit fearful at Dru. Dru might be nice and kind, but she still manage to have people a bit scared of her. 

Dru smiled and put her hand on the shoulder of the girl. “Adrianna, wasn’t it? Give the robe Friday night and I’ll get it back to you on Sunday.” She looked up and pulled the first year against her as she looked behind Rose. “Rose!” she warned and took a few steps back to protect the first year. 

Rose got to her feet and turned around, only to have to look up to look into the female Carrow’s eyes. “She tripped.” She said simply. “Is it wrong now to help a fellow student to her feet, professor?”

“No, it’s wrong to have a unfitting uniform.” Alecto looked at the first year who tried to hide behind Dru.

“She’s been walking around with that ever since this year started, and now you complain?” Rose rolled her eyes at her. “We’re handling it. She’ll have a fitting robe soon.”

Without warning Alecto struck Rose’s cheek with her wand. “Don’t talk to me with that tone.” she grabbed Rose by the collar of her shirt and pulled her close. She smirked when she saw the cut on Rose’s cheek. “You need to learn your place within this school.” 

“You need to learn how to hit harder,” Rose said defiantly. 

“Rose!” Dru shot at her.

“You filthy little half-blood. You’re a disgrace to your father.” Alecto struck Rose again, leaving a deeper cut. 

“Oi.” Seamus and Neville walked towards Rose. 

“Get the kids to the common room.” Seamus said to Lavender, who followed his instruction immediately with help from Dru and Ginny. 

Rose narrowed her eyes on to Alecto and wanted to reach for her wand and hurt her so bad, but attacking a teacher was still wrong, no matter how bad they were. “I sure hope so,” she managed to say as calmly as possible. “Professor.”

“Take her to the dungeon.” Alecto said to Crabbe as she pushed Rose into his arms “Let’s teach her some manners.” 

“She didn’t do anything wrong.” Neville said and pulled Rose out of Crabbe’s arms. “Don’t you even touch her.” He bit at the Slytherin. Seamus stood next to them, trying to block Rose from Zambini and Goyle who were now walking towards Rose as well.

Alecto grinned. “Oh, better idea! I’ll let you two teach her a lesson. Don’t make this harder than it is, I’m so happy to have my favorite playthings back.”

Neville pulled Rose closer in his arms. “Keep your hands off her.” he threatened. 

“Oh we will, you won’t,” she grinned. “Off to the dungeons with the three of you.”

“What is going on?” Snape’s low voice suddenly sounded, coming from behind Alecto. He sounded calm and in control.

“Teaching this lot a lesson in manners.” Alecto smirkted.

Dru suddenly joined them again. “We helped a first year that had problems with her robe and she got mad at us, Professor.” Dru looked at Snape. “Then she struck Rose and the boys only protected her. She’s small and she easily hurts.” Dru looked straight into his eyes, her eyes pleading to him to let her friends go.

Snape raised an eye brow. “Professor Carrow?”

“She’s got a big mouth, she has been running it at me all evening.” Alecto lied.

“Ms. Shepherd does indeed have a big mouth, but I highly doubt that she has been running it all evening, especially at you, when you haven’t left your chair for the entire meal,” Snape said. “I trust you in speaking the truth, not with lies.” He then looked at the Slytherin students. “For you to be so willingly be dragging a student to the dungeons, I will have to applaud you. Following orders is a good thing to do.” Snape then looked at the four Gryffindor students. “Get that cut looked at and go to bed.”

“You’re just going to let her get away with this?” Neville shot at Snape. “Rose didn't do anything and she struck her.” 

Dru tugged on Neville’s arm and try to shush him. 

“It’s your first day back, Mr. Longbottom. Unless you’d want to spend your first week in the infirmary, I suggest you go to your dormitory right now.” Snape said and walked through the group out of the Great Hall. “Alecto, come!”

“Come on.” Seamus said and pulled Dru with him out of the great hall too. “Neville, Rose come on. You have a group of first years to comfort now. They all saw Carrow hit you.” 

“I’ll be fine,” Rose said as she pulled away from Neville. “Are you out of your mind, though?” she shot at him. “What did you want them to do, hurt all of us so we all can’t take care of the rest?”

“I...Sorry, Rose. She just pissed me off, striking you like that.” Neville took a deep breath and put an arm around her as they followed Dru and Seamus up the stairs. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He let his finger slide over her cuts.

“Yep, watch me,” she smiled with a wince and walked through the portrait hole where ten first years were looking at her in shock. “Adrianna, please give me your robe, we’re going to fix it straight away,” she smiled brightly at the kids. 

Dru went upstairs and came back with her sewing kit. “Alright, Neville, get this girl on the side table. I need to be able to walk around her.”

“They’re just a bit bored, she didn’t hurt me that bad.” she wiped her cheek with a cloth and managed not to wince because it did hurt. “Looks worse than it is, see?”

“Alright, kids. Let me show you what a bit of magic can do.” Dru said, trying to distract the kids from watching Rose cleaning up her wound so Lavender could use the healing spell. Dru took her wand and with a flick, the robe folded a new hem and tiny pins pinned it, while a sewing tread started to sew the hem stand on the robe. It took Dru about five minutes and all the first years were watching it so Lavender got to help Rose. 

“You really are a lioness, aren’t you?” Lavender said softly so the kids couldn’t hear her.

“Until they go to bed, sure,” she had her hands in her pockets and balded up in fists. “Thanks Lavender.”

“So, did George want to kill me?” 

“Ha! No, he was asking his brother for a hair grow spell so he could make my hair grow again, but he wouldn’t budge.” Rose managed to smile. “Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

Lavender grinned. “Could you ask your brother in law for that spell, though. I would love to have that spell.” She winked at Rose before saying louder. “I think I wanna cut my hair short too.” 

“No! It’s so pretty!” Seamus cried out. “Keep your hands off her hair, Rose!”

“I don’t know, I kinda like the short look on Rose. I think I wanna try it too.” Lavender grinned at Rose. 

“You know, I think that’s a great idea.” Dru said as she helped Adrianna from the table. “What do you think?” she asked the little girl. 

“Don’t you dare say yes.” Seamus scowled at the first year.

“Seamus!” Neville chuckled.

“Thank you for fixing my robe,” Adrianna hugged Dru. “And if Lavender wants to cut her hair, I’m cutting mine too.”

“Don’t you dare.” Dru said as knelled down so she was at even high as the girl. “You have far too pretty hair to cut it, and...” Dru bent forward to the girl and whispered. “Lavender is only teasing Seamus.” 

“I think it would be a fun thing to do, if we’d all cut our hair,” Adrianna gave a nod, and then grew the biggest smile ever. “Just kidding.”

Dru looked at Ginny, “What you think Ginny, should we follow Rose’s idea and let Lavender cut off our hair?”

“No! Not Ginny!” Cormac and Colin chorused.

“Oh yes, anything to get those two off my back!” she grinned.

“Alright.” Lavender pulled out her scissor. “Come here, Weasley.” 

“NO!” Ginny squeaked. “Mum would kill me!”

Dru laughed as she put everything back in her sewing box.

“Alright, then Dru.” Lavender said as she walked towards the unsuspecting girl. Dru’s back was turned and Lavender got the hair clip out of Dru’s hair and took a lock of her hair and threatened to put her scissors in it without Dru noticing. 

“No!” Neville cried out. “Touch that hair and...”

Lavender laughed and looked at Neville. “And what?” 

Dru turned around, saw what Lavender was up to and than laughed as she looked at Neville’s shocked face. “Go ahead, Cut, Lav.” 

“Not your pretty hair.” Neville almost whined, making Lavender and Dru roar with laughter as Lavender put the scissors away. 

“Like either me or Dru would ever cut our hair.” 

“Alright you lot,” Rose smiled at the first years. “Up to bed with you.”

Dru took the hair clip and put her hair back into a ponytail when she noticed Neville looking at her with a frown. “What?”

“I don’t know. I used to hate the ponytail, but I’m kinda getting used to it, I think. I’m starting to like it.” He smiled at her.

“I could always start wearing pigtails.” Dru teased, referring to Hannah, who was known for her pigtails. 

“Don’t bring her up please, Dru.” Neville rubbed his eyes. 

“Sorry, Nev.” Dru said and patted him on his shoulder before going up to the dormitories. Neville was right, she needed to think.

* * *

Over the next two weeks Dru had thought long and hard about her conversation with Neville. She hadn’t talked with him about it and he hadn’t mention it. He wanted to give her time to make sure she was making the right decision. And this was a decision she had to make on her own. 

However, Dru and Neville kept having these tiny little moments. Looking at each other while they were both in their own bed. Dru putting her hand on his arm for a second or two while she said something to him during class. Neville putting his hand on her back for only a moment, while letting her pass him through a door opening or the portrait.

Two weeks later, Neville had gotten detention again, while helping out a Ravenclaw third year when the boys got attacked by Crabbe and Goyle. When Neville got back, he left for the shower room and Dru followed him with her bag. The moment Neville saw her, he only smiled and pulled his jumper and shirt off. He had already learned that it was better to just give in and let her take care of him, than to go against her, bicker, fight and then lose before letting her take care of him. 

Dru rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and got the stuff from her bag. Since it was a Wednesday night, they were both in the school uniform. “Alright, Nev. Turn on the water.” She said as she got her wash cloth and she started cleaning his back. “Thank you for giving me the time I need to do this right.” 

“Like I said, you need to make this decision on your own, without anyone, including me, influencing you.” Neville put his hand against the wall and leaned his head against it too. They hadn’t hurt him that bad this time, but the wounds were on the wounds of the previous beating and together they were hurting like hell. 

“Well, I’ve really thought about it and I know what I want and what I need to do, but I’m just really scared to do it, Nev.” Dru put the washcloth down and got out her wand to perform the healing spell. 

“Yeah, I know,” he hissed. “But you’re strong. You can do it if you really want it.”

“I know. It’s just scary to do this, Neville.” Dru put her wand back and got the washcloth again. “I’m changing my entire life with this decision and I’m going to lose my entire new family. I’ve never been on my own before.” 

“You won’t be on your own.”

Dru chuckled as she shook her head. “Rose’s George’s wife, and George is Fred’s twin. I’m going to lose them too.” 

“I think you underestimate the power of friendship. Rose will understand. George probably won’t.” he winced as she hit a particular sore spot. “And you’ve got me.”

“Do I?” 

“If you want to have me, yeah.”

Dru bit her lip, remember the last time he said that. “Are you kidding me, Neville?” 

“No, I’m not,” he chuckled. “There’s only one girl for me.”

“Hannah?”

“You, you idiot.” He laughed.

“Back is done, I need to take a look at the cut on the front of your shoulder, turn around.” 

He turned around and looked at her. “Can I kiss you?”

Dru nodded shyly as she bit her bottom lip.

He stepped out from under the water and gently caressed her hair before kissing her tenderly on her lips. 

It felt so good that Dru suddenly pushed him back into the shower with his back against the wall. She didn’t care about getting wet anymore. She just wanted to feel him close to her. 

“Careful,” he chuckled, not breaking off the kiss. This felt wonderful and he didn’t want it to end.

“I missed this.” Dru said as she gently broke off the kiss and put her head against his shoulder. “I missed you so much.”

He put his arms around her and caressed her hair. “I knew you’d see reason one day,” he chuckled.

Dru looked up to him and kissed him again. “Shame it took me two years though.” She then took a step back from him. “Right, we need to finish your shoulder.” She took the washcloth again and cleaned the cut. “Neville, we can’t tell anyone yet.” 

“I know, it’s fine.” He smiled at her and tugged on her hair. “Don’t want to get things even messier than it’s going to be.”

“Fred’s a decent guy and I do still love him. I think he deserves to hear it from me in person, not in a letter.” 

“I know, don’t worry.”

Dru bit her lip for a second. "Neville, can I ask you to do something you're not going to like?"

“You can ask me anything, you know that.”

Dru put the washcloth down and fiddled with her bag. She felt shy to ask this, but she knew it was for her and his own good. “Well, It’s about us... and... ah... well... I don’t know how... never mind.” She shook her head.

“Oh no, I’m curious now. Ask.” He turned off the water and handed her a towel.

“No, it’ll be okay. I’ll figure it out.” she took the towel and began drying her hair. She knew she was blushing, so she turned away from him. “It’ll work itself out.” 

Neville looked at her for a moment before stripping off his soaking trousers and started to dry himself off with another towel. “Alright, whatever you say,” he chuckled. “But you can ask me anything, you know that.”

Dru turned around to face him, but when she saw he had taken his pants off, she turned away from him again, her face was now scarlet red. “Yeah, I do.” She wanted to kick herself for giggling. She had seen Fred naked a million times and Neville wasn’t even naked right now, so why was this so hard?

“Was that a giggle?” Neville chuckled. “You’ve seen me in my boxers a lot, you never giggle.”

Dru buried her face in her hands, she felt so embarrassed. “See, I’m not good at this. You make me nervous. How am I supposed to talk to you about sex if you’re almost naked!”

“You want to talk to me about sex?” he laughed. “Well, let me just say; yes please, but only if you want to and at your own pace.”

Dru took a deep breath. “What if I want to take things slow?” She asked with a soft voice, while she had her back turned to him. “Will you be okay with that?” Dru had always wanted have things right away, patience had never been her virtue. But this time around didn’t want to rush into anything. 

“Dru, like I said, only if you want to and at your own pace. If you want to take things slow, we’ll take things slow. I’ll follow your lead.”

Dru nodded and suddenly shivered. She was still wearing her soaking wet uniform. But she wasn’t finished with Neville’s back. She still needed to put the numbing cream on. She reached for the bottle, before turning around. 

“Turn around, Nev!” She said while still looking at the floor, she felt incredible self conscious and shy right now. He said he was okay with it, but she was still doubting if he really would be okay with that. He was a guy after all, a guy that was used to having a friend with benefits. 

“Besides, who needs sex when their girl is so damn fascinating?” he smiled at her. 

Dru bit her lip as she giggled again. “I thought I told you to turn around.” 

“Yeah but the wall isn’t interesting to look at.”

Dru finally looked up to him and smiled. “Yeah, but your back, with all these scars and wounds, is. Wounds that I need to rub ointment on. Turn around, Longbottom.” 

Neville sighed and turned around. “I’ll just watch you sleep tonight then.”

“Why me? Don’t you have your fascinating girl to look at?” She teased him as she rubbed the ointment on his back. “She might get jealous if she catches you looking at me.” 

“You can’t catch me looking at you because you will be asleep.”

“Not me, that interesting girl you keep boring me with.” Dru laughed as she put the bottle back in her bag. “You’re done. You can put your clothes back on.” 

“I’ll never get bored looking at you.” He stuck out his tongue to her.

Dru laughed. “Really, sticking out your tongue and pulling my hair? You really are still a school boy, aren’t you?” She walked out of the shower and got another towel after she had pulled off her soaking shirt and skirt.

“We’re in school! Of course I’m still a school boy, you silly girl.” He laughed. “Tell me when you’re decent so I can come out and get my clothes.”

“What? You strip in front of me, but you’re too scared to see me in my underwear?” She put on a clean, dry shirt. 

“I’m a gentleboy.” Neville replied. “I don’t walk in on pretty girls in their underwear.”

“I’m not that pretty.” Dru muttered as she looked at the dark mark at her arm and the cuts and bruises on her legs, before pulling her pants on. “Decent.” 

Neville walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a clean set of clothes. “Every bit of you is pretty. Inside and out. Anyone who tells you otherwise is an idiot and should get a balding treatment.”

Dru smiled at him and gave him a kiss. “You’re sweet.” 

“And you’re not believing a word I’m saying,” he chuckled and kissed her back before pulling his shirt on. 

“Nope.” 

“You will. In time, you will,” he smiled at her.

Dru put her arms around his waist, being very careful not to hurt him. “I love this, us like this. I really missed us.” 

“Me too,” he smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. 

Rose walked into the bedroom and crawled into bed. “Goodnight, you two,” she muttered as she pulled the pillow over her head. She had obviously not seen Dru having her arms around Neville’s waist. 

Dru let Neville go, sat down on her bed and looked at him. “Yeah, we really need to be more careful.” 

Neville started to laugh and threw a pillow at her. 

“Oi!” She threw the pillow back at him.

He fell onto a bed with his stomach onto the mattress. “Man down!”

Dru laughed. “Wuss.” She looked around at Rose, who was already asleep, she then looked at Neville. “Thank you again.”

“No need to thank me, I should thank you for yet again fixing me up,” he smiled goofily at her.

“I meant for being so patient with me.” Dru smiled. “Nurse duties are nothing compared with what you do for this school.”

Neville shrugged and then got off his bed. “I’m going to the common room to check and see if everyone has gone to bed and who’s keeping watch.”

“Kiss.” Dru whispered.

Neville softly kissed her before making his way out of the bedroom.

“Is he gone?” Rose asked after a few minutes and peeked out from underneath her pillow.

Dru nearly jumped ten feet in the air. “I thought you were sleeping?” 

“Nope, well... just dozing, biding my time, I suppose,” Rose shrugged as she sat up and smiled at Dru. “Because you seem to be feeling a bit off and I think you should talk about it.”

Dru pulled the covers over her. “I’m fine, why? Neville and I were just talking about my nursing skills and how I have too much of a soft touch sometimes. But he’s patient and is helping me be more.... uh... well you know what I mean.” Dru rambled, hoping that Rose hadn’t seen Neville kiss her just now.

She shrugged. “You seem off, that’s all. I was wondering if there was something on your mind that I could help you with... like when we went into town to buy small Christmas presents. You kept asking me things and ever since then it’s like... I dunno, you’re lost?”

Dru sighed. “Things aren’t going well between me and Fred. We don’t seem to be able to agree on certain subjects.” 

“You’re both just really stubborn,” she chuckled. “You’ll figure it out. I bet that at Easter, you just walk up to him and you’ll take no prisoners when you tell him what’s on your mind.”

“I already did that last Christmas, and see how well turned out.” She shot at Rose. “I tell my husband I want us two to live on our own and you _three_ shoot me down.” Dru sat up again and looked angry at the wall in front of her.

“I’m sorry, I just know that George doesn’t like the idea very much of being separated from Fred.” Rose said with a sigh. 

Dru chuckled as she shook her head. “Stop hiding behind your husband. You told me without the boys there, that you didn’t want to chance our situation, don’t even try and deny it. I was there remember.”

“No, I don’t. I’m happy. But I also told you that if you were unhappy you should do something about it even if that means making people unhappy. If I were in your shoes, I would have found a place on my own, taken George there and not allow him to go back to the apartment. But I’m not you and I’m certainly not in your shoes,” Rose shot back. “I’m just worried that something will go wrong and that things will happen that everyone will regret later.”

Dru shook her head. “I tried to do the grown up thing and I made a compromise. Fred and I would stay at the apartment until I got pregnant, which by the way is freaking me out as well as I’m only 17. But my _husband_ goes and tell George two days later that we’re not moving no matter what. That I’m just confused and not thinking straight. So Fred decided he would just manipulate me into wanted to stay at the flat.”

“What?”

Dru cocked her head at Rose. “He’s going to manipulate me into staying because he’d rather have his brother with him and not me.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard you the first time,” Rose said and rolled her eyes at Dru. “Look, I’m sure that once Easter comes around that he has had some time to think about it and everything will be okay.”

Dru shrugged. She didn’t like lying, but she didn’t want Fred to hear about her leaving him from anyone else. “We’ll see.”

“I know that both boys are a pain in the ass but I’ve never seen you back down from a challenge before. You can win this.”

“Win this? Rose, this is supposed to be a marriage, not a game of Quidditch. It’s not about winning or losing. My husband is supposed to want to live with me, just me. What does it says about his love for me, if I’m not enough anymore after less than a year of marriage?” 

“Fred loves you, Dru. He really does but he just has a hard time letting go of George.”

“Did you hear Fred, George, Bill and Arthur discuss their proposals? After New years lunch?” 

“No.” 

“Fred told him that he knew he wanted to propose to me after George had told him he was going to propose to you. Don’t you see? He wanted to get married because his twin was going to.” 

“Fred had actually been planning that proposal for months, it was the other way around.” Rose pointed out. 

“Never mind, Rose. You just don’t see it. You’re a Weasley now, you don’t see beyond that anymore.”

Rose narrowed her eyes on Dru. “You clearly need to sort yourself out because right now it sounds as if you’re just giving up.”

“Maybe I am.” Dru sighed and lay back down again. “Let’s just see what happens at Easter.” 

Ginny came into the bedroom. “Neville is sending everyone to bed.” She looked at Rose. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing.” Rose muttered and laid back down. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Rose doesn’t believe certain facts I found out about my husband.” Dru said bitterly. 

“Dru is paranoid and a quitter,” Rose said and pulled her pillow back over her head. 

“I’m not a quitter. I’m just seeing things in a different light now.” 

“Ohh... I see,” Ginny chuckled and shook her head. “I need to disagree with the boys because you two fighting is so not cute.” She then crawled into bed next to Rose. 

“Rose, I’m sorry you don’t like this, but I can’t help feeling very hurt. He doesn’t care one thing about what I need from this marriage.” 

“See what happens at Easter,” Rose muttered.

“Yeah, you two just go to sleep there and then we’ll see what happens at Easter.” Dru turned her back towards her two sister in laws and bit her lip, trying not to cry.


	50. Three Neville's and a basket case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning for rape.

Lavender and Dru were coming out of their Transfiguration class, when Neville approached them. "Dru, could come with me? I need to show you something." 

"Okay." Dru walked with him. When she noticed he was leading her to the dungeons, she looked around to see if anybody was seeing them. When she saw nobody, she put her hands on his arm and whispered. "Are you finally going to give my that kiss in the potions class room, like you promised me three years ago." 

Neville blinked at her for a second, before grinning. " I sure am." he opened the classroom and let her walk in first, before he followed her and unseen to her, he locked the classroom door.

As soon as he turned around, Dru kissed him full on his lips. A kiss he was more than happy to return.

~~~

Rose and Ginny were sitting at the Gryffindor table, when Neville tapped on Rose’s shoulder. “Rose, could I talk to you alone?” 

“What’s going on?” 

“I want to to go over some DA stuff with you! Alone!” He smiled at Ginny. “Talk things through before throwing it in the group.” 

Rose shrugged, got up and followed Neville out of the great hall. He took her up to the 6th floor and then into a empty classroom. He closed the door behind her.

“Alright, Neville, what’s going on?” 

~~~

Professor Sprout saw that the secure section of the greenhouses was unlocked and the door was open. 

“Longbottom?” She asked as she peeked around the corner.

“Hello Professor Sprout.” Neville smiled up to his professor as he was weeding the pots that hold the Dru-Joey hybrids. 

“Nice to see you working on your plants again.” 

“Yeah, I’ve been busy but I had a few minutes left.” Neville got the water-can. “I only be ten more minutes and then I lock up.” 

“Alright, Longbottom.” 

~~~

Dru was looking at Neville and had her wand pointed at him. “Who the hell are you?” 

“Neville.” He pointed at himself.

“No, you are not.” 

“Dru, what are you on about?” 

“I’ve been kissing Neville since I was thirteen and he’s a great kisser.” 

“Thank you.” Neville smiled as he slowly got his wand out of his back pocket.

“Yeah, he is, but you’re not.” she kept her wand pointed at Neville, or who ever it was standing before her. “I’m asking you one more time. Who are you?”

“One guess, Dru.” Neville’s voice had disappeared. “ _Expelliarmus!_ ”

Dru’s wand flew through the air and she back into the teachers desk as she saw Neville turn into Goyle. She then realised she’d walked into a trap.

~~~

“I want to talk to you about the breeding program.” Neville said

“We’ve been over this, Neville.” Rose said, hopping on the teacher’s desk. “I’m half-blood and I doubt they still keep my father in high regard so I’m safe. It’s Dru you should worry about, and Ginny.”

“No, I think your father’s position is good enough for you to produce some good offspring. He was the one responsible for my parents, remember? And as you know I’m pure blood.” Neville licked his lips as he walked towards the desk. 

She looked at Neville. He wasn’t acting like Neville at all. “You?” She chuckled and hopped off the desk before she started to walk around in circles through the classroom. “The almighty Neville Longbottom wants to anger the wrath of the one person he’s afraid of? Well... the second person he’s afraid of?”

“You girls might have frightened me in the past but I decided that you’re just little girls and I can take you.” Neville grabbed Rose’s wrist and pushed her against the wall. “I’ve been looking at you for years, let’s see what parts of you I haven’t seen yet.”

Rose kneed Neville in the groin and moved away again. “I’m not talking about Dru, you oaf. Yeah, me, possibly. But you know that you and I love to hate each other too. I’m talking about someone else, whom you openly admitted to being scared of.”

“Could you just shut up.” Neville said with the voice of another and suddenly pushed Rose on the desk and held her down there. 

“Oh, it’s _you_.” Rose said bored and kicked him again before running to the door. “Don’t make me hurt you, Crabbe.” she said as she tried to open the door.

“Fine, I tried to do this nice, but you wouldn’t listen. _Crucio_ ”

~~~

Neville walked to the Gryffindor table in the great hall and sat down next to Seamus. “Where are Dru and Rose?” He asked.

“With you.” Lavender and Ginny chorused before looking at each other.

Neville was just going to take a bite out of a bread roll, but looked at the two girls. “What?” 

“You came in here and took Rose apart to discus DA stuff a half hour ago.” Ginny said.

“No, he came and picked up Dru from Class to talk 30 minutes ago.” Lavender said to Ginny. “I know, I was there.”

“Neville, where have you been the last half hour?” Ginny asked worried.

“Greenhouses.” he said, got up and looked around to the Slytherin table. “Damn it.” he said when he was two people missing from that table. He looked back at the girls and Seamus. “We need to move fast and we need more people.” Neville saw Hannah and the other Hufflepuffs sitting at their table. He didn’t want to talk to Hannah, but the girls were more important, even the Hufflepuffs would think so.

“Guys, I need your help.” He said as he approached Hannah, Susan Bones and Ernie McMillan. “Dru and Rose are in trouble.” 

“So?” Hannah said without looking at him. Dru’s name made her angry these days. “They’re not Puffs, so why should we care?” Ernie and Susan looked at Hannah with big eyes. 

“Because we Gryffindors cared for you when Cedric died,” Neville shot at them. “We’ve had your backs all school year, this year. Rose took a beating for you, Ernie.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Ernie asked. 

Terry Boot, Micheal Corner and Zacharias Smith - Ravenclaws - came and joined Neville, just like Ginny, Lavender, Seamus, Collin and Cormac. “Neville, what’s going on?” Terry asked. 

“Crabbe and Goyle got the girls and my guess is both in different parts of the castle. And I think...I think they going to force themselves on the girls.” 

“What? No?” Hannah said shocked. “Where? We need to help them.” She might not like Dru but she never wanted her to get hurt.

“Let’s spread out and find them. You all got your coin, right. Let it know when you found one and who you found.” Neville said.

~~~

Goyle hit Dru across her face as he had pushed her down on the table. “Now, let’s see what you got that has Longbottom so excited for you.” 

“Let me go.” She screamed and kneed him, trying to get away.

“Oh no you don’t.” He grabbed her by her hair and pushed her face down on the table and spread her legs with his feet. He wasn’t some brainless moron anymore. He was a good soldier, a good, well trained soldier and Goyle knew exactly what to do now. 

She struggled to get up and actually got there halfway before he pushed her body down so hard she could feel at least one rib snap. She cried out from the pain. 

“Shut up, you bitch.” He said as he tried to her out of her panties, but despite being in so much pain, she was fighting really hard to get out of his hold. “You know you want this.” 

“Please, don’t do this, please, Greggory, you’ve known me since we were kids. Please don’t do this to me.” She begged him through her tears. Her ribs were hurting so much that she was losing the strength to fight him off. All that was left was begging for mercy. 

He spread her legs again and pulled her underwear down. “Oh, but you’ve been begging for this, haven’t you?” he spat at her. “Prancing around on your heels, your skirts that are just a little shorter than the standard issue ones....” The sound of his pants opening and dropping to the floor was heard. “Playing with your hair, flirting with everyone... just the little whore that you are.”

“No, please.” She cried. “Please, don’t.” She screamed hoping that someone would hear her. 

“ _Silencio_ ” Goyle grinned. “I’ve been wanting to do this for years now, although since you’re a dirty little whore, I might not like what I feel when I’m inside of you, maybe a bit too roomy.” 

He could feel her struggle against him, but she was getting tired and he was bigger than her. He started to push himself inside of her, not caring what entrance he was taking, making sure that she was in complete and utter pain, and he just loved it. 

She tried to scream as loud as she could, but she couldn’t make a sound. She was nearly choking on her tears, but that only made her want to scream harder, hoping that she would actually choke. If she died, then at least this would be over. 

“No brother to protect you,” he said as he trusted inside of her. “No Rose or Longbottom to save you... poor little dirty whore.” Goyle grunted. “That’s what you get from siding with Muggle lovers.”

Dru closed her eyes and stopped fighting, hoping it would soon be over. She tried to shut herself down, her feelings, her emotions, her pain. All she wanted to do now was die. 

Goyle came inside of her and collapsed on top of her for a moment before collecting himself and pulling himself out. “Such a good dirty little whore,” he said as he pulled up his pants and walked to the door. “Get yourself cleaned up and together, you look like filth.” He lifted his curse as he walked out of the door. “See you in a couple of days for another round!” 

Dru collapsed to the floor, crawled under the desk and closed her eyes. She curled herself up like a little ball and hoped she would die soon. 

~~~

“Would you just stop?” Rose said annoyed as she had gotten away from him again. She was a bit slower now that Crabbe was using her for target practise and practise of dark magic, and it hurt - a lot -, but as long as she kept moving, he wouldn’t get too close to her. Maybe he was just wearing her out.

He had taken her wand, which was a smart move, because she would have hurt him. It was forbidden to attack a teacher and a fellow student, but this was Crabbe. She had wanted to get a legitimate reason to hurt him and now her wand was gone. 

“You’re the daughter of Barty Crouch Jr. You’re not supposed to be this... whimpy.” Crabbe shot at her and another unspoken spell followed, making her double over and hit her head on the table. “What would your father say if he saw you like this? Oh! You know what? I saw him over Christmas,” he grinned. “He looked pretty skinny and dehydrated, but that’s what you get for not being able to eat or swallow, or whatever.”

“Shut up.” It was getting harder to ignore the pain. She wasn’t even bothering to get up now, what was the point? She had seen a flash of her future, there was no point in trying to change it because help wouldn’t come in time, they were looking in all the wrong places anyway, and he’d only inflict more pain and probably drive her insane.

“I know what happened,” Crabbe, who still looked like Neville, said as he stood at her feet. “The almighty Rose Crouch became this weak shadow of herself once she started to hang out with the Weasleys. You should have been sorted into Slytherin, you’d have been such a formidable partner to me. Maybe made me a bit smarter too, forcing me to study. But you know what? I never had the patience to study, I loved following orders, and studying wasn’t one of them.”

She tried to kick him again, but he moved out of her way and used the Cruciatus Curse again.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” He said with a sadistic smile on his face. “No Longbottom to take them for you now!”

“Use the other one and get this over with,” Rose gritted her teeth as she curled up in a ball to protect herself. She was angry. She was scared and she wanted to cry. She wanted to get away from him, but whatever she’d try, he’d get her anyway. 

“Oh, I had strict orders to _hurt_ you, not to kill you. And the Imperious Curse would be too easy.” Crabbe was sitting behind her now on his knees and pulled her back on her back. “I would have thought you’d give more of a fight.” He took her hands and held them over her head with one hand. “It’s actually a good thing that the potion hasn’t worn off yet. Or maybe not, because I’m actually bigger than Longbottom, but that doesn’t matter...” he grinned as he fumbled the flask out of his pocket. “It actually doesn’t matter, does it? Because you’re already afraid of me. Even if I had been that Longbottom kid. Or any other boy.” He shrugged and took a sip of the potion. “This would definitely be more fun though.”

She didn’t want to give in to the fear. Rose didn’t want to give him the pleasure of falling apart. She was strong. She was in pain, but she was stronger than the pain. She had given up on struggling, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of getting off on just her struggling against him. She could take this and stay calm and collected, she was definitely able to do that, and deal with the rest of the school year. Easy.

Rose was so deep inside her own mind, hiding, protecting herself, that she didn’t feel how he forced himself into her. She could see ‘Neville’ move, but she didn’t feel anything. For once, her emergency shut down hadn’t been faulty. She kept telling herself that this wasn’t Neville, but whenever she opened her eyes, she was looking right into his and all that made her feel was sick. Crabbe was one twisted, fucked up little prick. 

It didn’t take him long to come inside of her and he pulled himself out of her. “Clean yourself up, you look like shit.” he spat at her, before caressing her cheek in a sweet, endearing way. “I hope that you won’t get knocked up just yet, I had a lot of fun,” he smiled at her and kissed the tip of her nose before getting up and fastening his trousers. 

Rose managed to pull up her trousers and close them again, but other than that, she didn’t move and just kept staring at the ceiling. 

“Rose.” Ginny ran into the classroom and knelled down next to her. “Rose.” She was crying.

“Hey, don’t cry you silly bint,” Rose looked at Ginny and smiled. “Care to help me up?”

“Lavender! Seamus! Warn Neville we found Rose.” Ginny yelled. She looked at Rose again and helped her to sit up. “Are you okay?” she said with a soft voice. 

“Of course,” she said and hugged Ginny. “Always.”

“Don’t lie to me, Rose. I’m too late, aren’t I?” 

“Too late? For what? Catching the spells he shot at me? Yes.” She gave a nod.

Ginny put Rose’s head in her hands. “Rosalie, did he rape you? And don’t lie to me.” 

Rose blinked at Ginny. She was meaning business if she was using someone’s full name. “Then don’t ask the question so that I won’t have to lie,” she replied. “Help me to my feet, we need to go and find Dru.”

Neville ran into the classroom, completely out of breath. He had run four flights of stairs in one minute. “Rose, are you alright? I’m so sorry.” He walked towards her to pull her in his arms. 

“Stay away from me, Neville.” She looked at him in pity as she scrambled to her feet. 

Neville froze. “But Rose..” 

“I know _you_ didn’t do anything, go find Dru, she’s in the potions room, leave me alone.” She pulled Ginny to her feet and put her arm around Ginny. 

Neville looked at Rose for two seconds, not wanting to leave her like this but then his worry over Dru took over and he quickly made his way to Dru. 

Susan and Hannah had gently pulled Dru out from under the desk and before Neville had arrived they had put her underwear back on. They didn’t want Neville to find her like that. “Come on, Dru, you need to get up. We need to take you to the infirmary.” Susan said. 

“No, it hurts too much.” Dru cried while she was holding her chest. 

Susan and Hannah both pulled out their wands again as they heared someone approaching. Even when they saw it was Neville, they kept their wands firmly pointed on him. “If you’re truly Neville, before Hogwarts and the platform, when was the last time we saw each other?”

Neville scowled. “St. Mungo’s.” 

Hannah nodded, lowered her wand and moved away from Dru, so Neville could kneel down next to the girl. “Careful, we think she broke something.” 

“I’m always careful,” Neville said to Hannah and gave a nod before looking at Dru. “Dru? Can Lavender or Ginny fix you up or do you need Madame Pomfrey?” he asked, caressing her hair.

“My ribs, I think I broke two.” Dru panted. The pain was very strong and she found it hard to breathe. 

“If I stay with you, will you go and see Madame Pomfrey?” he asked again. 

She shook her head. “You heard Snape last week. If Madame Pomfrey helps either one of the four of us, she’ll be punished. We can’t risk that.” 

“Alright, then let’s hope at least one of you know how to heal bones,” he said as he carefully lifted her off the floor. “I’ll be gentle.”

Dru groaned with pain, but she let Neville carry her. “Rose? Where’s Rose?” She asked while crying, the pain was killing her. 

“On her way to the common room, don’t worry,” Neville assured her. “I’ll put you down in a bit, just hang on.”

“Neville, promise me something.” 

“Anything.”

“Don’t go looking for revenge. Please, they’ll kill you. Please let it go. Promise me.” she opened her eyes little, so he would look at her when he would promise.

“We’ll talk about this when you’re okay again,” he said, setting his jaw. 

“Neville, NO! Promise now.” 

“Alright, I promise that **I** won’t go looking for revenge.” He said as they walked into the common room.

Dru rested her head against his chest. “Where’s Rose?”

“I’m here.” Rose said as she was getting stuff out of her bag. “Did they break something?”

“She thinks at least two ribs.” Neville said as he gently put Dru on the sofa. He looked around and picked Dru up again. “Dormitory.” He said to Rose. “Seamus, Lavender, take care of the little ones.” He made his way up to the dormitory and gently placed Dru on her bed. “I’m sorry.” He said as he heard her groan from the pain. 

Rose took her stuff up to the dormitory and sat down on the bed next to Dru. “I’m going to pull your shirt off, do you want him to stay?” she gave a nod towards Neville.

Dru nodded. She wanted Neville to stay close to her. 

Ginny looked at Neville shaking her head. “I was too late.” she whispered to him. 

Neville groaned and looked at Rose, who was struggling with Dru’s shirt. Rose was herself still in pain too. “Do you need me to help? I always got cold hands, maybe it will help numb the pain, since we don’t have any cold compresses anymore.” 

“No,” Rose said and took a deep breath before succeeding in getting Dru’s shirt off of her. She gently started to feel around Dru’s ribcage. “Stay still, I need you to stay upright,” she told Dru. 

The moment Rose touched her Dru screamed and tried to sit up and wrestle her way away from Rose. She pulled her hands off Dru and looked at her. “Alright, definitely broken something, and I am going to hurt you a lot in the next five minutes.” she said calmly. “You could take his hand and crush it when you’re in agony but I need you to stay still while I snugly bandage you up.”

Dru looked at Neville with tears in her eyes and nodded. She knew she had to be careful with Rose and Ginny around, but she wanted to Neville close to her. She wanted to be in his arms, to be safe again. 

As soon as Neville had taken Dru’s hand Rose started to put a bandage around Dru’s ribcage and made sure that it wasn’t too tight, but not too loose either.

Dru screamed her lungs out and put her head against Neville’s hands. 

“Hang in there, she’s nearly done, then you can lay down again. I promise,” Neville said softly, watching every word he said to her. 

Rose secured the bandage and then looked for the strips of muggle painkillers and a bottle of skele-pair which she snagged from the infirmary when nobody was looking. She poured a bit of it in a tiny cup and handed it to Dru. “It tastes awful but you’re going to need to have this for a while.” Rose then smiled at Dru. “You’re doing great. Just drink that, and take two of these.”

Dru’s hands were shaking and she was barely able to to bring the cup to her lips. She needed Rose to help her drink the cup before she nearly gagged. “Lovely.” She muttered. 

“Yeah, I know, it tastes worse,” Rose gave a nod. “Lay down. If you need me, I’ll be downstairs.” Rose gently caressed Dru’s hair and walked out of the room, only to run up the stairs to the girls dormitories and got underneath a hot shower. She needed to relax her bones and burn Neville/Crabbe off of her.

“Neville.” Ginny said. “You need to ask her.” Ginny bit her lip, before fleeing the room, she couldn’t bear to hear the answer. 

“Yeah, I don’t want to hear the answer, do I?” He asked softly as he looked at Dru. 

Dru closed her eyes and pulled Neville’s hand close to hers as she shook her head. “You promised, remember?” She knew how angry he could get. 

“I promised I wouldn’t do anything,” he muttered as he caressed her hair. “You know it wasn’t me, right? I mean, this was just... too smart for them.”

“Nev.” Her voice was shaky. “I know.” 

“Apart from your ribs... did he hurt you anywhere else?”

Dru opened her eyes, looked at him and slowly nodded. “But you can’t make that go away.” 

“Alright,” he sighed and softly kissed her lips. “Rest some, I’m not going anywhere, and if I have to, one of us will be here with you.”

“I need to wash.” She slowly tried to get up, but she was finding it very hard to get up. “I need to clean myself.” She started crying again.

“Shh...” Neville said as he gently pulled her back down. “Want me to wash you on the bed or ask one of the girls to do it? I don’t think that Rose would particularly like it if you got your bandages wet.”

“You can do it.” She said. “Please, I don’t want anyone else to touch me.” 

“Alright, let me get some stuff then,” he said and got off the bed. “Stay down.”

~~~~

Rose came into the common room, she was freshly scrubbed, well a few times, had clean clothes on and she had taken an ibuprofen or two. She was surprised to find the first years still in the common room. “Shouldn’t you all be downstairs eating dinner?” she asked and then looked at Lavender. “Why didn’t you take them to have food? They need to eat.”

“Rose, it’s already nine o'clock, they ate already.” She pushed a fourth year out of the chair by the fireplace. She knew Rose always liked that seat. “But Colin and Cormac are trying to find you, Dru and Neville up some sandwiches.” She helped Rose in the seat. “Can I do anything for you?” Her eyes were puffy. Clearly she had been crying.

“Have you been crying?” Rose asked and got out of the chair before pushing Lavender in it. She knelled down in front of Lavender and smiled up to her. “Dru will be alright, she’s in a lot of pain, but she’ll be alright.”

Lavender bit her lip as she started crying again and pulled Rose in her lap. “I’m so sorry. I should have never let her go with him.” 

“You didn’t know that that wasn’t Neville, it’s not your fault. It really isn’t.”

“I just... I’m so sorry.” Lavender sobbed on Rose’s shoulder. 

“It’s not your fault,” Rose said again. “However, I think that from now on we need to have a code word every day to make sure that we all are who we say we are just to avoid this from happening ever again. Someone should tell Neville that.”

Lavender smiled through her tears. “Only you could think of something smart like that while being in so much pain. Well you and Hermione.” 

“I’m not in pain, Lav.” Rose chuckled. “Want me to do a cartwheel to prove it to you?”

“No, I think Neville will kill me if we don’t make you rest.” Lavender laughed. 

“I’ll kill him first,” Rose said with a nod. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“I will still worry but I won’t ask you how you are. How about that?” Lavender laughed.

Rose shrugged. “I’ll take anything,” she then looked for Ginny and crawled her way over to her sister in law. “And how are you?” she asked as she sat down in Ginny’s little corner and put an arm around her. “Dru will be alright, you know that, right?”

Ginny was still crying and put her head on Rose’s shoulder. “Fred and George are going to kill me, then Neville, then Seamus, then Neville again, then Lavender and then me and Neville together.” 

Rose softly caressed Ginny’s hair. “No, they won’t. There wasn’t anything you could have done, you were all in the wrong part of the castle to start with.”

“Rose?” Adrianna knelled down next to her. 

“Yes, Adrianna?”

“What’s wrong with you?” 

“Nothing, just comforting Lav and now Ginny before they drown themselves in their own tears.” Rose smiled at her.

“Did you and Dru get detention again?” 

“Yeah, sort of.”

Adrianna got a chocolate frog out of her robe and gave it to Ginny. “Then why is she crying?” 

This made Ginny laugh. Here she was six years, and a first year that hardly spoke a word all year was now trying to comfort her. “Because Rose and Dru are married to my older brothers, and they don’t like it when their wives get detention.”

“Yeah, still, it’s a bit silly that you’re crying,” Adrianna smiled at her.

“I’m a Weasley.” Ginny said and the laughed as she saw the first years looking at her with a strange look on their faces. “Oh god, there are students that don’t know who the Weasleys are.”

This made Colin and Cormac laugh as they just came in with food and drinks.

“Well then,” Rose grinned. “Let’s show them what Weasleys are.” She fumbled in her pocket and started to throw Whiz-bangs in the air. 

“Here, Rose, we got you some sandwiches and pumpkin juice.” 

“Oh, witches made out of sand!” Rose chuckled at Colin and with a flick of her wand, the sandwiches turned into tiny dancing witches.

The other students were roaring with laughter. Ginny put her head against Rose’s shoulder again. “You really are a wonderwitch.” 

 

“Nah, that’s just your brothers rubbing off on me,” she chuckled as she carefully took one of the packages of juice that the boy was offering her, making sure that there weren’t any holes in them and that it was safe to drink. She took a sip of the pumpkin juice. “Thanks Colin.”

“You’re welcome, where are Neville and Dru? I’ve got them something too. Neville was late for dinner and then rushed off. So I figured he was hungry too.” 

“They’re upstairs. Dru can’t leave the bed and you can take it up if you want.” Rose answered with a smile. 

Colin smiled and walked up. He opened the door and walked in. “I brought you two some food and drinks.” 

“Thanks man, that’s brilliant.” Neville softly answered. “She’s finally nodded off a little.”

Dru opened her eyes. “I can’t sleep with you moving all the time.” She said with a small smile. 

Colin put the food and drinks on the night stand and looked at Neville who was lying next to Dru. He then shook his head a little and walked out of the dormitory, closing the door behind him. 

“What did he bring?”

“Juice and sandwiches. Better that than nothing.”

“Help me up, Nev. I want to drink something.” 

Neville gently helped her up and handed her a package of pumpkin juice. “Dru... I need to ask you something and I know it’s weird and probably inappropriate but I need to know so that I can take care of things.”

“Take care of what?” Dru asked suspiciously as she rested her head on his shoulder. 

“Rose seemed to be pretty hyper, I need to know if she’s truly alright because if she’s not, I need to take care of that and you can look into her head.”

“No, she’s not, but she doesn’t want you near her now, Neville. Let Ginny and Lavender take care of her.” 

“I meant more along the lines of ‘is she going to be a danger to the DA’,” He sighed and reluctantly grabbed a sandwich. “I already noticed the way she was looking at me. Or at the other guys for that matter.”

Dru shifted a little, which really hurt. “Alright, I’m not moving ever again. But I don’t understand what you mean by a danger to DA. In what way?” Dru moved her hand slightly over Neville to try and reach one of the sandwiches. 

He handed her a sandwich and sighed. “You have never noticed it, have you? When Rose is in pain, or something else is bothering her that bad, she folds in on herself until she bursts and everything goes to hell. I want to bet that she’s downstairs right now making everyone feel good and pretend that she’s fine.”

“Of course I noticed that.” Dru rolled her eyes at him . “But that’s Rose, that has always been Rose. I don’t understand why she now suddenly would be a danger to the DA.” 

“She’s more reckless when she is like this, and she’s my right hand.”

Dru sighed and cupped Neville’s face to make him look at her. “You, Neville Longbottom, are the most reckless of us all. Rose will be alright in a few days, when she hears George’s voice on Potterwatch again, she’ll break down, cry and she’ll start to heal a little bit, just enough to get through until she’s with George again and then when he’s with her, he forces her to heal completely. Now stop worrying and make me smile. I need to smile.” 

“Are you sure? Because I could make you laugh and you’ll hurt yourself,” he smiled at her.

“I said smile, not laugh. So none of your corny jokes.” Dru said as she reached for another sandwich. 

“Well, then that goes out of the window,” he shrugged as he handed her another sandwich. “Alright, how about this? You’re even more gorgeous than I thought you’d be,” he said blushing. “I tried not to peek, but...”

“Neville!” She giggled and put her hand on her ribs. “I said smile, not laugh.” 

“Well you giggle, I mean...” he shrugged. “And it’s true, you know. You’re beautiful. Inside and out.”

Dru looked at him and bit her lip, while she shook her head. “You’re sweet. Blind, but sweet.” 

“Blind? Me?” he shook his head. “I haven’t seen things more clearer lately.”

Dru smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Yeah, but I never believe what idiots see.” she teased him. 

“Ah well, it’s the blind leading the blind then.” He nearly fell off the bed when the door opened and Rose walked in with Ginny. 

Rose raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “I told you not to move, you can eat and lay down. If you can’t, start practising.” 

“I need to eat. If I lay down, I’ll choke.” 

“Right, never mind.” Rose sighed and crawled onto the bed. She put the pillow over her head and waited for Ginny to get into so she could go to sleep.

“You won’t believe what Rose did,” Ginny grinned as she kicked off her shoes. “She turned the sandwiches Colin brought back into tiny dancing witches.”

“Brilliant!” Neville smiled as he got off Dru’s bed and helped her to lay down again. “Did she then turned them back and eat them?” 

“No,” Rose replied. “She did not.”

Neville sighed and got the two remaining sandwiches and gave then to Ginny. “Force feed her if you have to, she needs to eat.” 

“I will eat in the morning!” Rose growled. “Get in bed Ginny, I want to sleep.”

“No, now.” Neville growled back. He looked stern at Ginny. “Make her eat of nobody sleeps.” 

Rose still had her head underneath her pillow and had gotten out her wand, pointing it directly at Neville. “I will eat in the morning.”

“Neville, let her go, just this once.” Dru said.

Neville groaned and waved his hands in he air. “Fine, but you better bunker like your brother in law Ron used to do, or you’ll find whiz-bangs in your bed tomorrow night.” he warned her. 

“And you will be dead.” Rose said simply as she put her wand back underneath the covers. 

“Sorry, Neville,” Ginny said as she crawled in bed after putting the sandwiches on Rose’s nightstand. She carefully put her arms around Rose’s waist and closed her eyes. “Go to sleep Rose.”

Dru was now looking at the ceiling, softly crying again. Lying alone made her think about what happened. This time without being safe in Neville’s arms. She put her hand in front of her eyes and was shaking her head trying to get the memories out of her mind. 

“Screw you being married and all that,” Neville said loud enough so that Ginny and Rose could hear it too. “You’re not sleeping alone tonight,” he said as he crawled back into bed with Dru and pulled the covers over her. Much to his surprise, both Rose and Ginny didn’t say a word.

Dru looked at him and gave him a small smile as she rested her head against his shoulder. “Thank you.” she whispered. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” he whispered back.

* * *

The next morning Dru woke up first, she tried to get up, but she could hardly move. Her ribs felt healed, but they were still sore. She looked next to her and saw that Neville had carefully put his arm around her waist. Dru let her finger trace his nose and then his lips. “Neville.” she softly whispered. 

“Morning,” he muttered. 

“Help me up, please.” she asked softly trying not to wake the others. “I need to pee.” 

Neville groaned and sat up. “Women,” he rolled his eyes at her and then helped her to sit up. 

Dru smiled “Yeah, and men never pee right?” She smiled at him as she went to the bathroom. 

Neville went to the bathroom himself and then washed his hands and face. “How are you feeling today?”

“Like a hippogriff stood on me.” Dru muttered as she washed her hands. “Thank you for sleeping next to me last night.” she said softly and gave him a kiss on his cheek. 

“You needed me,” he smiled at her. “Screw them.”

Dru caressed his cheek. “I know, but we still need to be careful.” she looked around making sure they were alone, before kissing him sweetly on his lips. “As much as I want to snog you all day, we can’t. Not yet.” 

“I know, I know,” he smiled with a sigh. “Let’s get Rose out of bed and take everyone to breakfast. You up for that?”

“Well.” Dru bit her lip and smiled. “I could use a little bit of encouragement.”

Neville kissed her tenderly and caressed her hair. “We’re not breaking out the firewhiskey before breakfast,” he smiled at her before kissing her again.

“I didn’t need firewhiskey, just your lips on mine.” Dru smiled and gave him one more kiss, before walking back to the dormitory. She gently woke up Ginny. “Wake up, Red.” 

“Five more minutes.” Ginny said and without thinking she curled up against a still sleeping Rose. 

“That is adorable,” Neville nodded.

Lavender sat up and smiled. “My god, If George only knew his wife is sleeping with his baby sister.” 

“He does,” Ginny replied and sat up but not before accidentally kicking Rose who woke up with a start. “Oops.”

Rose narrowed her eyes on Ginny. “That hurt!”

“Yeah, Ginny kicks.” Dru smiled. “Why do think I make her sleep with Rose?” 

“Seamus, get out,” Neville pulled the sheets off Lavender and Seamus. “Breakfast.”

“I’m not going,” Rose said and shook her head. “You can all go without me, I’m not going out there.”

“Rose, I’m hungry.” Dru whined. 

“I’m not stopping you, go and have breakfast.” Rose hugged her knees to her chest. “I’m not ever going to leave this bed again. Maybe until Easter.”

Neville sighed and sat down next to her. “Rose.” He put his arm around her. 

“GO AWAY!” Rose jumped off the bed, tripping over her own feet and sheets and backed away from the bed. “Don’t touch me!”

“Rose?” Neville asked shocked. 

“Rose, did he keep drinking?” Dru had grabbed her arms and made Rose look at her. 

“I know it wasn’t him but... I...” Rose took a deep breath. “I’m not as strong as I think I am.”

Dru clasped her hand in front of her mouth and sighed. “Lav, Gin, take her downstairs, make her eat. Seamus, keep everyone away from her until I’m back down.” She then looked at Neville, he like the rest of them, had no idea what Rose and Dru had meant. “I need to talk to you.” 

“Come on, Rose.” Lavender put and arm around her. “We’re all going together. You won’t be alone.” 

“Me and Neville are going to try and see if we can find a way to get you home.” Dru assured her friend. “But now I need to talk to Neville alone.” 

“I’m sorry,” Rose sighed, shaking her head. “I’m supposed to be stronger than this, I am...” she muttered as she looped her arm around Ginny’s. 

“Rose, nobody is strong enough for this.” Dru said with a shaky voice.

“I’m supposed to be. At least until you are okay again, somehow and...” she shook her head again. “I will be fine,” she took a deep breath. “Food and first years. I can do that.” 

“Maybe you can make breakfast dance.” Seamus smiled as he followed the girls. 

“I’m going to set the Slytherin table on fire,” Rose’s voice sounded. “Great idea, Seamus!”

“Yeah,” Ginny squealed. 

“What’s going on?” Neville asked as soon as everyone had left the dormitory. “I know they looked like me when they took you yesterday but why is she reacting like that?”

Dru took a deep breath and sat down next to him. “It seems that Crabbe kept drinking the poly juice potion.” She took his hand. “I’m sorry, but he looked like you when he raped her.” 

“That...” He blinked at her. “That... is... oh god... I’m going to be sick.”

Dru put her arms around her and held him close. She bit on her lip because she still hurt like hell, but she needed to there for him now. “I’m so sorry.” 

Neville put his head on her shoulder and couldn’t help himself from crying. All he ever did was trying to keep the girls safe, and not only had he failed miserably a that, now Rose’s was raped by him, well not him, but every time Rose was going to look at him, she was going to remember being raped. He knew that he and Rose could never be friends like they used to be again. 

“Shhh.” Dru caressed his back. “It’ll be okay. Rose knows it wasn’t you.” 

“It wasn’t me, I know that,” he sobbed. “But... don’t you see? I failed to protect the both of you, this shouldn’t have happened at all!”

“Oh, Babe.” Dru held him tighter, fighting her own tears, she couldn’t stand to see him cry like this. “You have done everything you could. If it hadn’t been for you, this would have happened a lot sooner.” Dru gave him a kiss in his neck. “Please don’t blame yourself for this.” 

 

“But really, poly juice potion? They must have had help, they’re not that smart. And it’s clever... I’m the only one you girls trust, well, Rose doesn’t now anymore, she’s going to be a risk.”

“I don’t know.” Dru let Neville go and wiped the remaining tears from his face, with her sleeve. “I’m so sorry.” she gave him a kiss and rested her forehead against his. “I don’t now anymore either....Oh god.” Dru looked away and bit her lip, she realised she had made one huge mistake. 

“What?”

“Goyle, he knows.” She looked at him. “He knows about us. I though it was you, and when we got into the classroom I kissed you...him...you...no, him. He knows we’re back together.” 

“We’re going to obliviate him.” He nodded. “We’ll snatch him and we’ll wipe his memory.”

Dru nodded and looked at Neville. “Are you going to be okay?” 

“I have to be,” he took a deep breath. “I’ll just keep my distance from her and we’ll see what happens, although I...”

Dru kissed him. “It’ll take time, but you’ll be okay. Now let’s go down stairs and talk to Professor McGonagall and try and see if we can have Rose admitted to St Mungo’s. From there George can take her home.” 

“But what about you?” He softly caressed her hair. “I mean... you need to be safe, this shouldn’t happen again.”

Dru shook her head. “I’m not leaving you.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Sick of me already?” Dru grinned at him. “You really trying your best to get rid of me.” 

“I can’t keep you safe, I’ve proven that, haven’t I?”

Dru grabbed Neville’s collar and pulled him into a deep kiss. “I’m safer with you than with anyone else in the world. You’re my hero, remember.” 

“Alright, your decision.” He smiled at her. “But we’re going to have a meeting soon, and I’m going to make it clear to everyone that you are not allowed to be all by yourself anymore.”

Dru swallowed and nodded softly before getting up. “Let’s get some breakfast.” She needed to find some way of being alone, and soon.

Ginny had her hand on Rose’s knee and she could feel that she was shaking like a leaf. She had never seen her show fear or anxiety in public like that and it had her worried. “Rose? Try to have some toast,” she said as she put a piece of toast on Rose’s plate. “They won’t hurt you now.”

“I’m not hungry, Ginny.” Rose said as she took a sip of her tea. “For all we know they could have gone to the kitchens and poisoned it all.”

“Don’t be silly.”

She broke off a piece of toast and put it in her mouth. “See? Eating.”

“Good, don’t want to scare the first years,” she smiled and reassuringly squeezed Rose’s knee. 

“I’m sorry, Ginny,” Rose said softly. “I think I finally had too much...”

Dru and Neville walked into the great hall and sat down with Rose. “Sorry, Rose. We tried, but unless we really hurt you, there’s no way we can get you in St Mungo’s.” 

“McGonagall doesn’t approve you trying to get yourself expelled either,” Neville said. “However, she did say something about Winky.”

“Huh?” Rose blinked. “What’s Winky got to do with things?”

“Elves can do anything, remember?”

“Oh! Brilliant!” Ginny smiled brightly. “That is absolutely brilliant! She can take you home!”

“I haven’t spoken to Winky in years, not after grandfather gave her clothes,” Rose frowned and took another bite of the toast. She _was_ hungry. “Last thing I heard she was an alcoholic elf.”

“I heard Dobby works here too. I haven’t seen him for about five years.” Dru sulked. She had always liked Dobby. 

“Dobby is going to be so helpful in the near future,” Rose nodded. “You’re going to be so proud of him.” she took a sip of her tea. “And it’s okay, I’ll be fine, I don’t have to go home.”

“You’re shaking.” Ginny pointed out. 

“You frighten us all.” Neville said to Ginny. 

“What? She is shaking!” Ginny shot at Neville. “I’ve had my hand on her knee the entire time now since we sat down and she’s not stopped yet.”

“Rose, do you need me to find you another way home, or do you think you’re going to be okay?” Neville asked without looking at her. 

“It’s your call, Neville. You’re our leader.” Rose said as she took another sip of her tea before pulling out her wand, pointing it at the Slytherin table and set the seventh year section on fire. 

Neville looked behind him and grinned at watched as the Slytherin were trying to put out the fire. “It’s not so good as the bald boys, but it’s good none the less.”

“Yep, I’d like to think so.” Rose shrugged and then all of a sudden got lifted out of her seat by the male Carrow.

“I saw that, let’s go.”

“Oi! Let her go.” Neville was pointing his wand at the professor.

“Put your wand down, Longbottom. Unless you want your disciples to be leaderless.”

“Let her go.”

Dru was pulling on Neville’s arm trying to make him sit down. 

“I’m warning you. Let Rose go.” 

“Neville, put your wand down,” Rose said, looking straight at him. “Attacking a teacher leads to expulsion, remember? It’s your call.”

Neville looked at her and nodded as he sat back down.

 _If I stay, I’ll mess things up here,_ Rose looked at Dru. _Do you want me to go or stay?_

_I’m not going to tell you what is right. People have done that enough for me that my life is too screwed up right now, but what about Ginny?_

She dug her heels in as Carrow tried to haul her off. _I trust you._ she looked at Neville again. “Your call.”

“Are you sure?” Neville said worried. Sure, he and Dru had gone to McGonagall to get her home and it failed, and he wouldn’t have even gone to McGonagall if he didn’t have an iffy feeling about Rose’s abilities. He sincerely doubted that she was going to be as clear headed as she had been before yesterday and he was worried that she would end up getting herself killed because she’d overlook something. “Then I’m leaving it up to you.” He said confident. “You’ve trained the girls well, they can do what you do.”

Rose looked behind her and saw that McGonagall and Snape and the rest of the teachers looking at what was going on. The first years looked frightened, but she knew that if she’d stay, she’d do more harm than good. She elbowed Carrow in the ribs and as he let go of her, she jumped away and raised her wand at him. “Yesterday,” she spoke up. “I was ‘selected’ for the breeding program against my will and not only did this person force himself on to me, he hurt me pretty bad. For me to admit this, well...” she chuckled and disarmed Carrow. “I actually think I’ve snapped.”

“Miss Shepherd!” Snape’s voice sounded through the great hall. 

“It’s Mrs. Weasley, professor.” Rose shot at him, not taking her eyes off Carrow. “You see,” she snickered. “I’m just as sane as my father was,” she said, shooting a spell at Carrow, making him stumble backwards, but he wasn’t getting closer. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?” 

“Rose, put your wand down, now!” McGonagall’s voice sounded. “You’re out of your mind!”

“I know, professor!” Rose laughed and then blasted Carrow through the Great Hall, which was followed by everyone cheering. She then put her wand back and looked at Snape. “I take it that I can go home now?”

“Immediately,” he said, grabbing her by the collar and hauled her off to his office.

Dru hadn’t looked at Rose, but was still just staring at her plate. She closed her eyes as a tear escaped her eye. She knew Rose was right for leaving, but she didn’t even had gotten a good chance to say goodbye.

“Someone please tell me that that was just all an act and that she hasn’t actually snapped?” Lavender asked worried. 

“It’s Rose, of course not.” Seamus said, looking at Neville. “Right?”

Neville put his arm around Dru. “Like you said, it’s Rose.” He put some toast on Dru’s plate. “She’ll be okay, eat!” 

Dru gave him a little smile and took her toast and started eating.

* * *

Rose stepped out of the fireplace into the kitchen in the Burrows where she didn’t find anyone and walked into the sitting room looking at a bunch of confused faces. 

“Rose?” George asked surprised, not being able to get off the sofa. He was just frozen.

“But is she?” Fred asked as he raised an eyebrow. 

“What does your favorite toothbrush holder look like?” Arthur asked with a smile.

Rose blinked at Arthur and then pointed at George. “The side of his face. There’s a hole where his ear used to be.”

“Yep, that’s Rose.” Arthur went to the kitchen to get his daughter in law some tea. 

George was still staring at his wife. “What are you doing here?” 

“I snapped,” she replied and walked over to him. She sat down on the couch next to him and snuggled up before she softly kissed him. “I attacked a teacher.”

“You what?” Molly said in her threatening mum voice. “Are you out of your mind?!”

“In my current state of mind? Absolutely.” Rose nodded and winced when George put an arm around her. “I’m not a coward, I promise, I didn’t run because I was afraid, I attacked a teacher because I’m not good anymore. Unreliable. Dangerous. Too much in my head and...”

“You’re safe here.” George said and softly kissed her. 

“I know.” she said softly and looked at Molly, who was looking quite worried.

Fred kept looking at the fire, hoping to see if anybody else was coming out of it too.

“She’s a lot stronger than I am, Fred. You should be proud of her.” Rose said and gratefully took a cup of tea from Arthur. “Thank you.”

“You just left them?”

“They’re alright,” Rose said to Molly. “Well, Ginny is. Dru will be. Uhm... questions later? I uh... I think I truly am a bit mental.”

“You heard, mum. Leave my wifey alone. She needs some rest.” George said as he pulled her closer. 

“But I didn’t attack a teacher, teacher.” Rose winced as George pulled on her. “And it wasn’t really an attack, he wasn’t hurt or anything. And I set a portion of the Slytherin table on fire while I was at it.” She smiled up to him. “And yesterday I made sandwiches dance as witches for the first years.”

“That's my Rosie. Setting fire to the Slytherin table.”

She set the mug down on the table and crawled into George’s lap. She sighed happily as she closed her eyes. “Safe.”

“Safe.” George kissed her.

 

That afternoon, Rose was calmed down enough to make some sense of her thoughts. “Ah, don’t get mad at me,” she said, looking at George and then at Fred. “Because there was nothing I could do about it.” She was glad that Molly and Arthur were out to town together. 

“What happened?” Fred asked. 

“Nev---” she shook her head. “Crabbe.”

“What did he do?” George asked. He was standing next to the fireplace looking at Rose on the sofa. 

“He ah... he...” she took a deep breath. “I ah... he... well he tired me down with spells and...”

“Oh god.” George ran his hand through his hair. “Please don’t tell this is happening.” He looked at Rose and the look on her face said enough. George took a step to her, but then suddenly stormed out of the kitchen, into the shed. He need to fend off his anger at something. 

Rose followed him out, but as soon as she heard noises coming out of the shed she stopped dead in her tracks. When she was certain that things had quieted down, she made her way into the shed and looked at the mess, finding George crying in a corner. She sat down next to him and put her arms around him, pulling him against her. “It’s alright,” she said softly. “I think I’ve made a big enough statement today for it not to happen anymore, not to anyone. Neville and Dru are keeping Ginny safe, I promise.”

“It’s not alright.” George sobbed as he held on to Rose for dear life. “I...I have to go.” He let her go and tried to get up. 

“Go where?” she held on to his arm. “George?”

“I’m going to kill him.” 

“Noble.” She said and yanked him back down on the floor. “But no, you’re not.” 

“It’s not noble. He raped my wife, I’m going to kill him.” 

“And what? End up in prison for the rest of your life without me?”

“I don’t care.” George picked up a radio that was lying next to him and threw it through the shed. 

“Well I do,” she said and crawled into his lap. “Trust me, the entire DA will make the rest of his days at Hogwarts hell. I understand you’re angry, George. But that doesn’t solve anything. I need you. If I had thought I could handle things, I would have stayed at Hogwarts.”

George put his arms back around Rose and hold on to her. “I’m sorry I failed you.” he said softly.

“You didn’t fail me,” she smiled at him and caressed his hair. “If you want to blame someone, you should blame me because I haven’t been looking that much at our own future, I didn’t see it coming.”

“Shut up, Rose.” George sighed. “Please don’t blame yourself. I’m just glad it was only you.” 

“I’m not blaming myself...” she said slowly. “And not just me, but not Ginny.”

George looked at her and then looked at the door of the shed and realised that Fred had been listening. “Freddie.” 

“I’m going to kill him.” Fred’s voice sounded cold. 

Rose groaned. “No, you’re not. You are going to do absolutely nothing until Dru comes home and you will be her rock.”

“Wait, why didn’t she come with you?” Fred asked

“Because right now, she’s more stable than I am and she didn’t want to leave. Or maybe she did, we didn’t really talk about that. I kind of surprised her by going slightly bonkers.”

“You just left her?”

“She didn’t make a move of her own, she could have followed my lead.”

“Why didn’t Neville take care of you like he promised? I’m going to kill him.” George said. 

“He did, it’s been going well, hasn’t it? Until yesterday,” Rose said and took a deep breath. “Crabbe and Goyle had poly juice potion and Crabbe kept drinking it.”

“As who?” George asked.

She swallowed hard. “Neville.”

“Fuck.” Fred said as he slid to the floor. “Unbelievable.”

“Does he know?”

“I think Dru told him, yes.” she sighed. “Because I threw a fit this morning.”

“Fred, we gotta get Dru and Ginny of that school. Now!” 

“They won’t come with you.” Rose sighed. “Just... it’s nearly Easter. Keep them home then.”


	51. Separating eggs from yolks

“So, you’ve cracked then?” George asked as they were in his old bedroom at the Burrows. They were lounging about on his bed and she enjoyed lying against him with his arms around her. It had been a couple of days since she returned and she had avoided talking about everything since she saw both George and Fred so angry that it actually scared her.

Rose just couldn’t take that on top of everything that was going on underneath her seemingly impervious shell. She wasn’t even sure what was going on anymore and had even started to doubt if she had made the right call. She had taken a peek into the future and she knew for a fact that if she stayed that Dru would die. Or if she’d chosen a different thing to do, Ginny would. Or Lavender. Neville, anyone for that matter. There had been no other way, but a part of her still nagged about it.

“Cracked, not broken,” Rose finally spoke and sighed as she tried to climb inside of George, which was of course impossible. “I don’t know how to explain my reasoning without sounding like an arrogant twat.”

“Well,” George chuckled and caressed her back. “I can’t wait to hear what you have to say, usually when you talk you sound like you’re withholding things unless you have to empty your head, but even then, you usually don’t... how to say this? Emote?”

She looked up to him with a smile. “I _emote_. I just don’t let go... well... not that much.”

“Exactly,” he softly kissed her. “But I love you anyway.”

“The fact that I show some emotion is a feat of itself, you know. Grandfather never really cared about how I was feeling and father didn’t really understand why I was upset because I couldn’t tell anyone about him.”

“I know,” he smiled at her and kept caressing her back. “But you don’t have any problems with the feeling of love. Everything you do is driven by love,” he said carefully. “And there’s been anger, you always scare me when you’re really angry.”

“You can easily take me,” she chuckled. “And I’ve done well in the last year or so.”

“Yes, I can easily take mum too if I want to but she’s my mum and I don’t know who’s scarier when angry. You or mum.” George laughed.

“Well, I’ve cracked.”

“Yep.”

“I’m usually good at going on, you know. If I’m afraid, hurt or sad, I just keep going and make sure everyone else is okay. I mean, the day when... I calmly helped Dru with her cracked ribs and then I comforted Lavender and Ginny because they were sad and entertained the first years. When I was in bed that night I was wondering what the hell I was doing, because something _horrible_ had happened and I just kept going. Just like when Grandfather got killed, or father taken away, I just kept going. I cried for a day or two but I shrugged it off. Because other people would need me. I ignored everything about myself.”

“What changed?”

“The realisation that I wasn’t functioning at all. I saw that I had become a danger to my friends if I would have stayed at Hogwarts,” she said slowly. “I mean, there would be errors of judgement. On our first day back after Christmas, Alecto Carrow struck me in the face with her wand and I didn’t even flinch. I didn’t feel fear and she’s one scary lady.”

“You know what I think?” George said after a while. “I think that on top of all that there’s this underlying feeling of guilt, that you think you need to redeem yourself somehow for the things that your father did.”

“A child is not responsible for their parents actions.”

“Yeah, I know, and you’ve been saying that a lot, but I don’t think you believe that yourself. You just keep going and going and...” He sighed and tiredly rubbed his hand over his face. “You’ve been hurt enough. Emotionally _and_ physically. Your grandfather and you have done a lot of good and I think you’ve balanced out your family.”

“He hurt Dru.”

“Yeah, he did, but what did you do in the years after that? You became this force to be reckoned with. I think your head is finally telling you that enough is enough. Let someone take care of you for a while.”

“Yeah...” Rose sighed and closed her eyes. “But I didn’t break.”

“Thank Merlin you didn’t because that would have broken me.”

* * *

Neville had quietly observed Dru for a couple of days and noticed that she was trying to distance herself from everything. He took her to the greenhouses to go and check up on Joey, and when he noticed that they were alone he sat down on one of the tables and watched her play with the plant. “How are you feeling, Dru?”

Dru shrugged. “I’m alright.” she was leaning with her back against the table. 

“Are you?”

Dru nodded and turned around to put Joey back on the table. “I miss Rose.” 

“Yeah, me too.” Neville sighed. “I get it that she felt like she had to leave but I think we could have dealt with her, or with whatever she saw happening if she’d stayed.”

Dru looked at him. She moved and leaned on his legs with her arms. “I don’t know, She needs George too much. She doesn't function well with all this without him.”

“Or maybe she finally realised that she needs to take care of herself first, who knows? We should ask her one day.” He caressed Dru’s hair. “To be honest, she was getting a little bit too reckless.”

Dru shrugged. “She’s always reckless. Just like you.” 

“I’m not reckless,” he chuckled. “I always know what I’m doing, just sometimes it goes a little bit wrong.”

Dru laughed and looked into his eyes. “You are reckless, but don’t worry, I think it’s rather sexy.” 

“Oh really now?” He smiled at her. “Maybe you’re right, but I’m always careful when I’m being reckless.”

“No you’re not.” Dru shook her head laughing. “You never care about yourself when you’re trying to protect someone else.” 

“No, because someone else would be in trouble,” he chuckled and softly kissed her. “I must say though, Rose’s half cracked speech made everyone a bit more careful. I rarely see a student out by himself.”

“Just be careful, I want to enjoy you a bit longer.” Dru smiled as she kissed him back. “Or at least enjoy some of my favourite Neville-parts.” 

“Hey, ever since she went, I have been a good boy. And on top of that, wounds on top of wounds that are already on top of wounds don’t really feel that good,” he chuckled.

Dru smiled and walked to the blackboard to look at some of the notes the younger students were making. “It seems a lifetime ago that we were making our notes.” Dru sighed. 

“Ah, yes, a really long time.” 

Dru closed her eyes and bit her lip. “The world has changed so much. I don’t know how long I can cope in this world.” 

He got off the table and walked towards Dru before wrapping his arms around her. “As soon as this war is over, all will be okay again, I promise.”

“Neville, it’s war.” She turned around so she was facing him and put her head against his shoulder. “War can last years, I don’t know how I’m supposed to make it through that. I’m not that strong.” 

“You don’t have to be,” he smiled and softly caressed her back. “You’ve got me.”

Dru smiled. “Yeah, but if this is going to last years, I’m only gonna be a burden to you.”

“Dru, let’s get one thing clear.” He said as he looked into her eyes. “You never were and you never will be a burden to me, you got that?”

Dru bit her lip, trying to fight back the tears, she didn’t want to say yes, but was not afraid to say no right now. “I...don’t know.” 

“Well, you’d better get used to that then, because no matter how bad you think of yourself, I will not listen because it’s all a lie.” He cupped her cheek with his hand and smiled at her. “And I won’t even get angry with you if you want to take the day off from taking care of everything. Everyone deserves a day off.”

Dru bit her lip as she shook her head laughing. “Alright.” she kissed him. “I’ll try and be nicer to myself. Although I still don’t get why a hero like you want with a trampy girl like me.” 

“Because you’re not a trampy girl,” he caressed her hair. “Whoever told you that you are, will meet up with those words later and it won’t be pretty.”

“You promised you’d leave it alone.” 

“Ah,” Neville gave a nod. “You honestly believe a word that comes out of his mouth?”

Dru shrugged. “He had some true points.” she muttered as she looked at the floor.

“Goyle is a liar, so I doubt it.” he made her look up to him again. “You are not a tramp. You are beautiful and you are loved.”

“Alright, answer honestly and just with yes or no. Are my skirts shorter than everyone elses?” 

“Haven’t noticed.”

“You’re not being honest.” Dru got herself out of his arms and walked back to the table and leaned on it. 

“I am being honest. I don’t know if your skirts are shorter because you’re the only girl I look at and Hannah is a prude.”

“Fine, do I always walk on high heels?”

“Yes, what’s wrong with that?”

“Yes or no, do I always twirl my hair?” 

“Yes, it’s cute.”

“Do I flirt with everyone?” 

“Absolutely not.”

Dru looked at the table. “I do, I flirt and twirl my hair, I walk around on high heels and in short skirts, so he was right. I was asking for it.” 

“No you weren’t. They are sadistic and evil and they were after you for years now just because you’ve switched sides.”

Dru was crying softly, not to let Neville noticed it. She looked to her left and saw the Venomous Tentacula. If Neville had his eyes off her long enough, she could get herself bitten hard enough for it all to over. She moved her arm a little so get in reach of the plant. She bit her lip to prevent her from screaming when the plant would bite her. She took one more deep breath and lifted her arm. 

“Oh wow,” Neville said and pulled her back against him and turned them around so he was between the plant and Dru. “I can’t believe it, you’re actually giving up! Alright, let’s give up. The both of us. Right now. Because the world is shit, everything is shit and will be going to hell soon enough. There’s no future to fight for.”

“Neville...”

“No, I mean it. Let’s quit. Let the Carrows inflict whatever the hell they want on the students at Hogwarts. Oh no, better yet! HA!” He said and made a turn on the spot. “I know! Let’s just go to Malfoy manor and wave a white flag around and do the easy thing by giving up and become mindless drones who won’t be able to feel anything!”

“I can’t feel anything anymore anyway.” she said as she looked down to the floor. 

“Oh, all the better! I’m going to call the boys and tell them that they can have you then.” He spat at her and walked towards the door.

“No!” Dru screamed in fear and let herself drop to the floor. “Please don’t.” Her lip was trembling. “I’m sorry. Please don’t go. Don’t leave me.” 

“See? You do feel something,” Neville said and sat down on the floor before pulling her into his arms. “It’s okay,” he softly caressed her back. “Let it all out.”

Dru put her head in his lap and just cried. “It was so bad. I was so scared.”

“Shh.... it’s okay,” he soothed her. “You’re safe now.”

“I just wanted to die, to make it stop.” she sobbed and moved so she was lying now. She closed her eyes. “He told me he was going to do it again in few days.” 

“Not if I can help it,” he said bitter. “You’re going to be alright, he won’t hurt you again.”

Dru turned on her back and looked at him. “I’m...” Dru closed her eyes. She felt dirty, she could still feel him and she feared that Neville would one day feel the same. 

“He won’t lay a hand on you again, I promise,” he softly kissed the top of her head. 

“Will you?” 

“I said I promise, didn’t I?” he smiled at her. “As for laying a hand on you... only when you’re ready. I promised you that too.”

Dru nodded. “Could you lay your hand on me a little?” she asked softly.

Neville placed his hand in hers. “Wherever you want,” he smiled sweetly at her.

Dru sat up. “Kiss me, the way you used to.” She looked at him before she gently kissed his lips. “But just kissing and feeling me up, nothing more yet” She moved so she was sitting in his lap. 

“Oh, I can definitely do that,” he smiled at her and kissed her tenderly as he started to caress her back.

* * *

George was sitting in at the kitchen table. It was nearly 3 in the morning but he couldn’t sleep. Fred had been sleeping in Ron’s room since Rose got back, giving her and George some space, but George couldn’t sleep, he was too afraid he might hurt her, or touch her the wrong way by accident. He sighed and took another sip of his tea.

“Here you are,” Rose said softly as she shuffled into the kitchen in George’s socks and shirt. “Can’t sleep?” she asked as she sat down next to him and softly caressed his hair. “I didn’t kick you, did I?”

“No.” He chuckled. “I’m more scared of kicking you.” 

“You’re not a kicker,” she smiled at him. “Ginny is, but you? Nah.”

George leant on the table with one elbow and rested his head on his hand. “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable if you slept in Fred’s bed? Or If I would?” 

“Why?” She cocked her head. “I did kick you, didn’t I?”

He caressed her hair. “I’m scared that I might touch you the wrong way and you’ll get another nightmare like you did a few days ago.” 

“That had nothing to do with you touching me, George. Even if you hadn’t touched me, I’d probably had the same nightmare anyway. I want you to touch me, I need you to.” she climbed onto his lap and softly kissed him. “And I can’t sleep if you’re not in bed with me.”

“But I can’t, Rose. If you’re lying next to me, you do things to me.” he gently kissed her and moved her a little bit. He didn’t want her to find out how aroused he was just by having her sitting on his lap. 

“That’s good, doesn’t it?” She said softly as she traced his jawline with her index finger. “That means that you still want me after...”

“Rose, I will always want you.” George groaned. He put his forehead on her shoulder. “But mum told me to give you time, that you would be scared and that I shouldn’t rush things.” 

“I’m scared, yes,” she gave a nod. “But not because of you. And yeah, I don’t feel like... well... myself anymore but that doesn’t mean that I can’t help you out if you need it. All you have to do is ask.” Rose smiled at him. “You’re my husband, you’re allowed to ask.”

He caressed her hair and looked at her with eyes filled with hurt. “How can I ask you to do something like that? I only want you if you really and I mean _really_ want me to.” 

“I... I want your hands on me, George,” she said softly. “And I don’t want you to leave the bed in the middle of the night because I’m all alone then and I think that Nev... Crabbe can get to me still.”

George swallowed hard and nodded. “I won’t leave the bed anymore at night, I promise.”

“If you do something I don’t like right now, I will tell you, I promise, just don’t be afraid. I feel bad enough as it is.”

“Rosie, we don’t need to do anything right now, I mean...I don’t want you to anything because you think I want you. I can help myself. I can’t wait for you to really want me.”

“I have two hands to help you out,” she smiled at him and softly kissed his lips. “Willingly.”

He tenderly kissed her back as he carefully placed his hands on her hips. Trying his best not to hurt her. 

She gently broke off the kiss and finished his tea for him. “Come back to bed?”

George wrapped her legs around him before getting up with her still in his arms. “I am now.” He walked her back to the bedroom, before carefully putting her back on the bed. “Are you sure you don’t want me to sleep in Fred’s bed?” 

She pulled him into the bed with her and pulled the covers over the both of them before she snuggled up to him. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“I’m afraid of myself.” He muttered while carefully putting his arms around her.

“I won’t break,” she chuckled and softly kissed him before running her finger up and down his chest. “I need your hands on me, George. Make me forget.”

George moved so he was hovering over her and kissed her deeply. He wanted her so bad, but he didn’t want her to freak out, because there was a chance his touch triggered a memory. “Tell me what you want me to do to you. Step by step.” 

“Touch me like you always do.” She kissed him and pulled him closer to her. “Don’t worry.”

He let his hand slip under her shirt and caressed her sides as he started kissing her neck. “I always worry.” He chuckled through his kisses. 

She closed her eyes and sighed happily. She needed him to be gentle and soft and caring as he always was. Crabbe had simply tired her out with torture and then just jammed himself into her and she needed George to be just George. 

“Can I take your shirt off?” He asked as he was already unbuttoning her shirt. He had missed her so much, that he was having trouble holding himself back. Right now he just wanted to rip the shirt of her and ravish her, but he knew he needed to take it slow. 

She chuckled and looked at what he was doing. “Seems to me you’re already helping yourself.”

“You’re too beautiful to be hiding away in this shirt.” He grinned as he helped her out of it. “God, you’re gorgeous.’ He sighed happily and placed a kiss between her breasts. “Can I play with them again?” 

Maybe she wasn’t ready for this yet. She took a deep breath and caught him by surprise when she flipped the both of them over so she was sitting on top of him. She kissed him tenderly as she caressed his chest with her finger tips. “I’ll help you,” she whispered in his ear before getting off of him and started to take off his pyjama pants.

“Rose, are you sure about this?” He asked worried as he cupped her chin. “We can stop if you want?” He had felt her hesitation when he wanted to touch her breast. 

“I have no problems with touching you,” she smiled reassuringly. “Let me be a good little wifey and help you.”

George nodded. “Can I caress your thighs?” He asked softly. 

She shook her head as she started to pull off his underwear as well. Rose felt sorry for him. It was so clear that he had physically missed her as well and she couldn’t give him what he needed, not exactly what she needed. She was horrible. 

“Alright Rose, I’ll just touch you in my head. My hands on your thighs, moving up to your side. then cupping those beautiful breasts of yours.” He smiled at her. 

“Stop it,” she said with a small voice and tried not to cry. 

“Rosie.” George sat up and put his arms around her. “I’m so sorry. You said you wanted to feel my hands on you, so I thought if you could picture it, you might get what you need.” He placed a kiss on her shoulder. “Why don’t we just go to sleep, sweetie?” 

“No,” she shook her head as tears were running down her cheeks. “I need to be a good girl and help you.”

“Rose, stop this.” George said a bit angry. 

“Don’t you want my hands on you? Am I that dirty?”

“I don’t want you to touch me because you think you have to. And you’re not dirty. Rose, you can feel my cock pressing into your leg. I want you bad, but only if you truly want me. I would kill myself if I let you do anything like that.” 

“You don’t want me to help you out, to make you feel good?”

George started crying and held Rose close to him. “I just want my Rosie back.” 

“I’ll take a shower if that would help.”

“Rose, stop this.” George sobbed. “I want you, I want to make love to you, you’re still my beautiful, gorgeous Rose. But you don’t want me! I can’t do this.” 

Rose was still crying as she put the shirt back on. “I do want you, but sadly your hands and your attentions aren’t a magical cure and I... if you want me to I can surely try to hold it together long enough for you to get what you want, but that won’t work either. I can’t help but feeling like I’m wrong. Dirty. A whimp. Not worthy of you. Not anymore, because I let you down, I got into trouble and I couldn’t get myself out of it.”

George laid down on the bed and pulled Rose as close to him as he could. “I love you, Rose.” He kissed her neck. “I love you so much.” 

“What if I’m unfixable?”

“Then I will still love you.”

“I just need a bit more time...” she said after a while.

“Take your time. I love you.” he gave her another kiss in her neck. “I love you, Rosie.” 

“I love you too, George,” she smiled as she softly planted a kiss on his chest. “I’m so sorry...”

“Don’t say that. I love you.” 

“I’m still sorry.”

“And I still love you.”

She chuckled and softly kissed his lips. “Are you okay though? I mean... you’re not going to leave the bed to help yourself are you? Because I’m actually a bit tired and...”

“I can’t promise anything, but don’t worry, I’ll only need 15 minutes and then I’m back. Still loving you.” 

“Just warn me then, when you leave.”

“I will.’ George kissed her neck and just held her for while. After ten minutes he kiss her lips. “Rose?” 

“Hmm?” she said sleepily. 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too.”

“I love you so very, very much, I need to go to the bathroom, I’ll be back in 15.”

“Have fun,” she said softly as she felt his weight leave the bed and pulled her pillow over her head. She started to hum the Hogwarts song as she waited until she’d fall back asleep again or George coming back to bed. 

George crawled back into their bed and pulled Rose back in his arms. “Yeah, I loved you a whole lot.”

It was that she had heard the door again otherwise she would have jumped straight out of bed. “Shame I missed that,” she chuckled and put her arms around him. 

“When you’re ready, I’ll make it up to you.”

“When I’m ready, I’ll have to make it up to you,” she yawned. 

“Go to sleep, Rosie. I’m not leaving the bed again.” 

“I love you.”

* * *

It had been a little over two weeks since Rose had left. The seventh years had a two hour free period and Neville and Dru were sitting alone in the common room. Dru was curled up in Neville's lap, while he was softly kissing her neck. Dru sifted and suddenly realised how turned on Neville was.

Neville sighed. "Sorry, Dru. you're just too beautiful to _not_ get turned on."

Dru giggled as she moved again without thinking about how that would cause even more friction on Neville's cock.

Neville groaned and gave Dru a kiss on her lips. "Sorry beautiful, I know Lavender says it's very rude to announce this, but I have to go upstairs and help myself." Neville put her on the sofa next to him and gave her another kiss. "Don't worry, with you in my mind, I don't need that long." he whispered huskily in her ear, leaving her blushing.

Dru saw Neville leave the common room and thought about what he just had said. She knew he wanted to be a gentleman, but she felt it bad for him too. She wanted to help him. She bit her lip as she realised how she could do that and got up from the sofa, before slowly walking up the stairs.

Dru could hear Neville panting outside the dormitory. She tiptoed to the bedroom and slowly opened the door.

Neville was lying on his bed, his pants on his ankles, with his eyes closed, helping himself. He was so busy with himself, he didn’t noticed that Dru was entering the room.

She gently crawled onto the bed, sat down next to him on her knees before removing his hand and put her hand around his cock instead, working it in the same speed he was.

Neville looked up in shock. “Dru, what are you doing?” He asked hoarsely as he tried to sit up, but the buzz in his head was holding him back, the buzz liked her hand working him.

“Shhhh.” Dru said as she pushed him back down again with her free hand. “Let me help you.”

“You’re mad.’ he muttered, but let himself fall back into the pillow. He knew he probably shouldn't let her do this, but it felt so good, so much better then when he or Hannah did it. He couldn’t stop himself from letting her help him.

Dru felt a sudden burst of longing appear in her body. She had been wanting him for so long now.

Neville enjoyed what she was doing to him with his eyes closed, but suddenly his eyes opened wide as he felt her lips on the tip of the cock, he looked at the ceiling and he groaned as she took his erection in her mouth. “Oh god, Dru.” he moaned, trying his best not to buck his hips into her.

Dru had her eyes closed as she was working his length. She felt light headed and the butterflies were working on overdrive in her stomach. It felt so good getting lost into this moment, into Neville. She felt as his hand buried himself in her hair and pulled on it a little bit, giving her more stimulant to work even harder.

“Dru, I’m coming.” He moaned and he felt her lips disappear as she finished him off with her hand. He came hard and panted. “That was amazing.” he smiled, still trying to catch his breath.

Dru had placed her forehead on his leg, she took was trying to catch her breath. It had felt so good. “Yeah, it was.”

Neville popped himself onto his elbows and looked at Dru. Suddenly he realised that she had missed being physically close to anyone, to him. And that what she needed now more then ever, was somebody to make her feel good about being touched again. Somebody to show her again that sex could be nice and gentle. She needed to feel loved in that way again. He let go of her hair and gently caressed it. “Dru.” he said softly.

“I’m fine.” she was still panting. “Just give me a minute.” She didn’t want to let go of the butterflies in her stomach just yet.

Neville sat up, took hold of her arms and gently pushed her on her back, before pulling his pants back up.

“Neville, what are you---”

“Let me help you now.” He said softly before sweetly pressing his lips against hers. He could feel that she was a bit hesitant to kiss him back, and he gently waited for her to kiss him back. he didn't have to wait long, because Dru couldn’t control her longings anymore and soon she buried her hands in his hair, pulling him deeper in their kiss.

Neville unbuttoned her shirt so her upper body was exposed. He left her shirt on, because neither one of them took their clothes off, for anything other than a shower these days. He kissed her just above her breast. “God, you’re gorgeous.” he muttered as he applied pressure on her heat with his hand.

Dru moaned when Neville pulled her panties to the side, before putting two fingers inside of her at the same time. He was a bit more rough with her than Fred used to be, but still in a very loving way that made her feel good about the way he touched her. Her body arched itself to him as he started pumping his fingers.

With his free hand he pushed her stomach down and continued to kiss her torso. He liked the way her body responded to him, how it tried to arched itself to him, it was a real turn on for him, but he had to keep himself in line. He was going to get her off, but that was it. She probably wasn’t ready for more and he didn’t want to risk doing anything she would later regret.

“Neville, I...” She squirmed, as she tightened her grip on his hair.

“Are you okay? Do you want me to stop?” he asked as he brought his face up to her, a bit worried he might have done something wrong.

“Yes and hell no.” She smiled and kissed him fiercely.

“Good.” He chuckled and removed his hand from her stomach and caressed her hair as he started to kiss her neck. He could feel her grasped as her body tightened and released around his fingers, before it shuddered and calmed down again. He removed his fingers, but continued to kiss her neck and her shoulder.

She turned so she could face him and crawled against him. “Thank you, I needed that." she said with with a soft voice.

He put his arms around her and held her close to him. “Thank you.” He gave her one more kiss in her neck and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of having her so close to him.

Dru looked up to him. “I love you, Neville.” It felt strange to say it, it was the first time she had told him she loved him, since they had gotten back together. But on the other hand it felt right, like she was back where she belonged. 

“And I love you,” he smiled at her.

Dru smiled back at him and softly kissed his lips, before sighing. “I wish I could stay like this, for the rest of my life. Just in your arms.” She nestled her head in the crook of his neck. “I’m safe in your arms.”

“As much as I want you to, it’d make our daily life a bit harder, wouldn’t it?” Neville chuckled and caressed her hair. 

Dru chucked and then sighed. “I know but when this is all over, we’re going to spend one day a month, every month, just in bed and not doing anything else.” 

“Deal,” he nodded.

* * *

George came down in the kitchen and gave his mother a kiss. “Rose is still sleeping. I gotta go run some errands. Could you keep an eye on her?” He sounded tired.

“Are you okay, Georgie?” Fred asked worried.

“Nope.” 

Molly walked up to her son and looked up at him. “Has she kept you up all night again? Oh sweetheart, I’m sure Fred could run your errands. Sleep on the sofa.”

“No, she’s been sleeping like the little Rose that she is.” George smiled weakly. “She’s just messed up.” He tried to hold his tears back and looked at his brother. “You need to prepare yourself for the worst when Dru comes back.” 

“Oh, I am,” Fred gave a nod. “And I’m already planning on beating the crap out of Goyle on the platform when I’m going to pick her up.”

He smiled at Fred. “You need to take care of your wife, not Goyle. If she’s a messed up as Rose is, you need to...” George sighed and closed his eyes. He knew tears were coming, fast.

Molly put her arms around him and caressed his back. “It’s alright, sweetheart, let it all out.”

“She told me to put my hands on her again last night, but she...” George put his head on his mother’s shoulder. “I told her no, but then she thought she wasn’t good enough anymore. But she only did it because she thought she had to, for me. I couldn't let her do that.”

“I think it’s very brave of her to at least wanting to help you out,” Molly said as she caressed his hair. 

“No, mum. You don’t understand.” George got himself out of Molly’s hold and sat down at the kitchen table. “She didn’t want to. She was repulsed by the idea of me touching her, but she wanted to do it, because I want her. It felt...if I had done it, I would have raped her all over again.” George let his head rest on his arms and sobbed.

Fred put his arm around her brother and just held him. He didn’t know what he could possibly say to make George feel better right now. When he looked up, he wasn’t surprised to see that Rose was sitting on the bottom of the stairs. He smiled at her, knowing she was probably sitting there the entire conversation. 

“I wanted to give you a handjob and you said no...” Rose said softly from her spot on the stairs. “Of course I feel like I’m not good enough anymore.”

“Rose, you’ve always been too good for me. I could never do anything to hurt you, no matter how much I want you.” George looked up to her, still crying.

“How does me helping you hurt me?” She chuckled as she made her way over to the kitchen.

“Rosie, you didn’t even want to hear me talk about touching you and then you want to give me a handjob while you hate to even look at my wand.” 

“I’ve always loved your weird sense of logic,” she said as she crawled onto his lap. “Touching me or talking about touching me is apparently something very different from me touching you,” she put her arms around him and softly caressed his cheek. “I was doing alright until I freaked out because I kept seeing myself touched by you and... it’s not that I don’t like it, but I... my body is just... I disgust myself.”  
George put his arms around Rose. “And I hate myself when I hold you the wrong way for even a second. You mean too much to me.” 

“Yeah, give me that list of errands and I’ll do them, Georgie, you two make me want Dru back right now.” Fred said as he held his hand out. 

“She’ll be back in just over a month and then she’s all yours again.” George said and smiled at Fred. “There’s no list. I just wanted to be out of Rose’s way.” He held Rose closer to him. “Fred, when this is all over Rose and I are going to look for our own flat.” 

“YOU WHAT!” Fred said. “You told me to not go and I fought with Dru over it, for you, while I was ready to go. And now you tell me you want to leave.” 

“Things have changed now, haven’t they?” He said to Fred.

Fred hit George on his head. “You moron! I fought with my wife for days to help you, for something you wanted. And now all you have to say is things have changed?” 

“Well, Rose wants to move out and I want to make her happy.” 

“Not helping,” Fred shot at his brother.

Rose managed to get off George’s lap and started to make some tea. When did she say that she wanted to move out? Had she been talking in her sleep again?

“Why are mad at me? You wanted to move out with Dru on your own. You told me last summer, so now you can.”

“Georgie, you’re not being fair. You can’t do this to me, I fought with Dru, my wife, over the fact that she wanted to move out and she had me convinced that it was a great idea but _you_ said that it wasn’t and that it was better this way because we’d be together and stuff like that. You’re not being fair. You two are not moving out. Dru and I are.”

“So, then everything is fixed.” George shrugged, not understanding why his brother was mad at him.

“Oh you better hope everything is fixed and not that you’ve cost me my marriage because then you’re dead.”

“Look, I’m doing what’s best for me and my wife. Maybe you should do the same.” George said. 

“Unbelievable,” Rose muttered. “You two are unbelievable, seriously.” 

Both Fred and George looked at her, seeing her leaning against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed over her chest. 

“You two really like to sabotage each other and each other’s lives, don’t you? Has it always been this way or just since you both got girls?” Rose said angrily. “I can’t remember me saying that I wanted to move out, all I can remember is that in the beginning, Lupin said that it would be a great idea if I’d share a flat with Dru, and that was years ago. And on top of that, I’m sorry George, but Fred’s right. I’ve kept myself out of this as much as I could, but _we_ (she could have chosen to say ‘you’ but decided not to) were the main reason that Fred and Dru were fighting during Christmas.” She turned around and continued making tea.

“What did we do? Dru was meddling into things she shouldn’t. Fred and I decided when we are going to live apart, not her. I need Fred. If you wanted to move out and Fred wouldn’t want me to, I would have stayed too.” 

“You both have your priorities wrong,” Rose said simply and took her mug of tea to the den to curl up under a blanket in front of the fire place. 

“Rose, Fred is my twin, my right hand, you know that.” George got up and sat down next to her. “You know how much I need him, after my ear thing, I just couldn’t stand to see him go yet.” 

“George, when I was your girlfriend I could understand all of that. As your wife, I think you have your priorities wrong. Dru was right.”

“Right about what? She married Fred, half of a twin, she of all people should know what that means. She’s half part of a twin, or so she says.” 

“You know damn well that Draco’s not her twin, you idiot,” Rose said and got up. “Who do you go to when you have important decisions to make? Or when you’re thinking about making an important decision and have to talk to someone about the fact that you’re thinking about it? Or, you know, who do you go to when you have an intimacy problem?”

“Well, first Fred or you, depending on the nature of the problem and then to the other. Why?”

“Ask your mother.”

“Mum?” 

Molly sighed and sat down on the sofa, pulling Fred with her as well. “You boys are inseparable, remember all those efforts your father and I made to separate you, make sure you’d do something on your own without the other?”

“We hated it, mum.” Fred replied. “We hated it.”

“Yes, you did,” she gave a nod. “But sweetheart, your wife came to me the day before Christmas to talk about how on Earth she was going to make you see sense that your priority shouldn’t be your brother anymore now that you’ve married. And I told her that I didn’t know.”

”I wanted to move out with her, but George wanted me to stay. What else could I do?”

“Yes, ‘but George’. ‘But Fred’. You wanted to move out with her, so you could have started to look for a flat for you and Dru together and just moved out. He’d still be your brother.”

“Mum!” George cried out. “Are you seriously trying to turn Fred against me?” 

“No George dear,” she smiled at him. “The same counts for you. It’s all about you and Rosie, but if Fred doesn’t agree then you’re not doing it. And if the both of you has something in his life that the other doesn’t like, then you both are willing to do everything it takes to change it and make sure that nothing comes between the two of you. It’s a good thing, family first. But you’re both married now. Both to two wonderful young women and you’re going to start a family of your own. By continuing to throw each other off, you’re risking that your women will end up resenting you.” 

“Rose.” George sat down next to her. “You won’t resent me, will you?” 

“It’s actually quite embarrassing to hear you talk to Fred about the problems we had last night in bed while you could have easily waited for me to talk about it with me,” Rose said softly. “I’m used to a lot and I’m very patient and I know that you and Fred are close but you have to draw a line somewhere.”

“I’m sorry, Rosie.” George pulled her in his arms. “I won’t do it again.” He gave her a kiss on her head.

“She’s already resenting me, isn’t she?” Fred looked at his mother. 

“I wouldn’t know, sweetheart.” Molly said and caressed Fred’s hair. 

“Rose?” Fred asked insecure. “Is she?” 

“Not my bump.” Rose shook her head, remembering the conversation she had with Dru. “You’re going to have to talk to her about that.”

George lifted Rose off the floor. “I’m going to make it up to you today. Where would you like me to take you? Any place you want.” He smiled at her. 

“You don’t have to make up for anything. I just think you owe Fred, and Dru, an apology as soon as Dru gets home.”

“I will, but now I’m going to take my mother’s advice and put my wife first. So London? You always love London? Or the beach?” 

She pointed at the sofa. “Sofa.”

George sighed and looked at Fred and Molly. “I’m willing to take her anywhere and my wife wants to be on the sofa.” 

“I’m not ready to go out yet, George,” she smiled at him. “But surprise me one day.”

Molly chuckled and pulled her son off the sofa. “The sofa is all yours.”

George gently put Rose on the sofa. “Where do you want me, your highness?” 

“No, this is too weird,” Rose giggled and turned beet red, something she hadn’t done in ages. She grabbed one of the throw pillows and put it against her face. 

“What’s weird?” George chuckled as he sat on the edge of the sofa and leaned over her. “I’m just sitting here.” 

“Take advantage,” Molly squeezed Rose’s shoulder reassuringly. “I’m taking Fred out to pull some cauliflower out of the ground.”

Rose lowered the pillow, revealing her red face. “If you want, you can massage my feet?” 

George got up, lifted Rose’s feet and sat down before placing her feet in his lap. “One massage for milady coming up.” After a while George asked Rose. “Do you think Dru will forgive me and things will be alright between her and Fred?”

“I hope so,” Rose sighed and wiggled her toes.


	52. Talking Dirt

“I miss them, you know.” Rose said as she and George were picking vegetables in the garden and using gnomes for target practise. “Despite grandfather being busy all the time, I miss him. And I even miss my dad before he went all crazy again because he finally managed to escape, for which I was actually happy because who wouldn’t be miserable when you were locked up for years under a curse and nearly always underneath an invisibility cloak?” She then looked at George. “Is it wrong to feel that way? I mean, he did some horrible things to people.”

“But not to you.”

“No, not physically anyway. Mind games, sure, but he taught me things too, you know.”

“Well then I say that it’s not wrong to feel that way about your father.”

“But I hate him for taking me to you-know-who under a curse, and making me tell him stuff. And plan the entire year and... hurt Harry and killed Cedric oh and grandfather.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“I could have stopped him,” she said bitterly.

“How?” George laughed. “We’ve been over this before. You were young. Nobody would believe you, even if you’d try hard. Your father fooled everyone, including Dumbledore and he hurt you. You couldn’t have stopped him even if you tried. Children are not responsible for the actions of their parents, remember?”

“I know...”

“Then start believing it,” he smiled at her. “Think of all the things that weren’t horrible, remember him the way you want to remember him and let go of that guilt, it wasn’t your fault.”

Rose smirked. “That balding spell that you like so much? It was one of the first things he taught me when I was able to talk. He gave me a tree branch from the garden for a wand. Grandfather overheard us one day and he wasn’t pleased. It was funny how his face went all red and veiny when he was angry.”

“That was fun?”

“Well, riding horses was fun but I did that all by myself because father couldn’t go with me, Winky well, she’s an elf and grandfather was always at work.”

“When we were little we used to have game nights,” George chuckled. “Dad would bring in these muggle games he found at the Ministry, we would read the rules and we’d try and play it. It was quite fun. We stopped doing it when most of us went to Hogwarts though.”

“Sounds like fun,” she smiled. “Definitely something we could do with our future kids.”

“Yeah, keep that bald spell to yourself at least until they go to Hogwarts though, I like my hair too much.”

Rose chuckled. “They’d have to have a wand to make it work, silly.”

“Got plenty of those fake ones in the shop.”

“George! Rose! Where are my carrots?!” Molly called out.

* * *

“So, what would you like to do?” Lavender asked as the three girls were sitting in the common room. Ginny was playing with a deck of cards that Rose had left behind.

“Potterwatch!” Ginny said and ran to the closet to dig out the radio they were hiding from the Carrows. “Maybe Fred or George will be there.”

Dru was sitting in her favorite window seat looking outside. Ginny had always been hanging out with Rose the last half year, but now that Rose was gone, Ginny had been trying to spend all her time with Dru again, meaning that Dru hardly had any chances to sneak off with Neville. “I thought there was no potterwatch scheduled for another week?” 

“That was last week.” Lavender smiled. “Don’t you want to hear your husband?”

“Of course I do.” Dru said defensively. She did, she like hearing Fred’s voice, to know he was okay. Loving Neville, wanting to be with to be with Neville, didn't mean she didn’t love Fred anymore, just not as much as she loved Neville. 

“Do you think Rose and George will be with Fred when we go home with Easter? On the platform, I mean?” Ginny asked. “It’s a bit weird to go home and Rose is already there.”

“No idea.” Dru muttered. She didn’t like the idea of going home. She wanted to stay with Neville, but she had to. She needed to tell Fred she was leaving him, if she didn’t she couldn’t really begin her life with Neville. But she still didn’t like it, she knew she was going to break Fred’s heart. 

“Have you heard from Ron yet, Ginny?” Lavender asked. “Or Harry and Hermione for that matter?”

Ginny shook her head. “Ron stayed with Bill for a while, but he left months ago now. They could all be dead for all we know.” 

“I’m sure they’ll be alright. They’re ….them. They’re always alright.” Dru got up and sat down next to Ginny. “Don’t worry. You’ll be snogging Harry before you know it.” 

Ginny smiled widely and turned on the radio. They had just missed the long list of names. Ginny didn’t know whether that was a good thing or not. 

_“And now over to the beautiful Lioness, who has a special message for some people.”_

_“Thank you, River,” Rose’s voice sounded through the tiny speakers._

“Rose!” Ginny squealed.

_“I will have to make this short because Rapier and Tentacula are itching to dish out news on you-know-who, but I just wanted to tell some people that they should continue with what they’re doing and that I’m extremely proud of everyone. However, for the next few days stay away from the southside.” Rose took a deep breath and decided to say it anyway. “The next thing is a little bit crazy but it will make some sense to at least someone. Separating egg from the yolk is hard but not everything is lost, there are cracks that need some mending, but it will be okay.”_

_“Yeah, that didn’t make any sense,” George’s voice sounded. “You’re getting crazier by the day.”_

_“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she giggled. “Your turn.”_

“Did she just giggle?” Lavender asked. “Rose and giggling?”

Dru looked down to the ground. Rose had been right. She did know exactly what that meant, but she didn’t know what to do with that information. She wanted to stay with Neville. “I need to go.” Dru got up and wanted to go the portrait hole. 

“But Fred’s coming on now.” Ginny said surprised.

Dru closed her eyes for a second, before turning around and sitting back down on the ground. “I forgot about that.” 

_“So, reliable sources say that he’s living in the sewers,” Fred’s voice said. “Communing with rats.”_

_“No, my sources tell me he’s up in Scotland, Rapier.”_

_“I’d rather have him commune with rats than have him be in Scotland.”_

_“Rats and Scotland, that’s all you two could come up with?” River chuckled._

_“And unicorns and rainbows, but that would have been too over the top, wouldn’t it?”_

Dru chuckled and wiped away a tear, she had missed his voice, which confused her. 

_“Whatever you say, Rapier.”_

_“I saw a garden gnome the other day though, dressed like you-know-who. I kinda wished that I had my Princess with me so she could blast it to bits, maybe it would make her feel a bit better.”_

Dru closed her eyes, and more tears were coming. Hearing how much he missed her, made her feel even more guilty about what she was going to do to him. 

Ginny pulled Dru into a bear hug and caressed her back. “I’m sure he misses you just as much as you miss him, Dru.” she said with a smile.

_”... crater.”_

_“Yeah, that wasn’t funny.”_

_“Alright, we’d better end this right now because we’re about to be found out. Password for our next installment will be Moony and I’m not sure when that will be but keep tuning in. And remember, be safe, take care of those around you no matter what kind of blood that person has. All blood is red, we’re all the same.”_ Lee spoke quickly and then the radio went dead.

Dru looked in fear at the radio. “Did he just find them?” Dru could hardly breathe.

“They’re always in a different spot, don’t worry.” Ginny smiled. “I think that this time they found a less secure space, but they’ll be alright, they have Rose.”

Dru looked at Lavender, who was looked as frightened as Dru was. Dru suddenly scrambled to her feet and fled the common room. Neville had forbidden her to roam around the castle on her own, but she didn’t care. She knew he was in the greenhouses and she need him. She ran in a straight line to the greenhouses and went directly to the secure one. “Neville?” 

“Pancake!” he called out. It was their safeword for the day, to make sure that he was him. “Are you alright?” he said, walking out from underneath one of the tables where he had just been fixing one of its legs. “Oh wait, what was your word?”

“Syrup.” She walked to him and threw her arms around his neck. She just wanted to hold him as close as she could. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked worried and caressed her back. “Have you been crying?”

“I think the family is found out. Lee said something on Potterwatch.” 

“Ugh, I missed that. What do you mean? What did he say?” Neville asked.

“First Rose told me to keep hope in fixing my marriage, oh and that we had to stay away from the southside of the castle for a while. Then Fred and George said that you-know-who was living with rats in Scotland and then Fred made a remark about me and then Lee said that they were about to be found out.” Dru was still holding on to Neville for dear life. “I don’t want to go home next week.”

“I’m sure that they meant the broadcast, and not that the entire family had to go into hiding,” Neville assured her. “Otherwise one of the twins would have said something or even Rose.”

“Can I just go home with you?” 

“As much as I would want you to, I have to say no,” he softly kissed her. “You need to talk to Fred.”

She softly nodded. “I know, but I don’t want to. I mean I want to be with you, but I don’t like breaking his heart.” 

“Yeah but you’re going to have to, it wouldn’t be fair if you’d just come home with me and stuff. If you want a divorce when the Ministry is back on its feet, you’d have to tell him anyway.”

“I know.” She softly kissed him. “If they get mad at me, can I then come and stay with you?” 

“Yes,” he laughed.

Dru looked up to him. “I love you, you know that don’t you?”

“Yes, you silly girl, I know you love me and I love you back,” he softly kissed her. “Madly.”

Dru pulled Neville into a deep kiss while she was leaning against a table. “Just a few more weeks, then we don’t have to sneak around anymore.” 

He lifted her up and sat her down onto the table and kissed her back. “Gran will say that I’ll be going to hell for fooling around with a married woman,” he chuckled.

“I never even thought about your gran.” Dru gently broke off the kiss. “She hates me.” 

“No, she just doesn’t like the idea that I was lusting after a married woman.”

“You were lusting after me?” Dru giggled. “Really? What were you thinking then when I was in your mind?” she kissed his neck alone the thick vain, it had always been his sensitive spot. 

“I’m still lusting after you but since you’re so sensitive to everyone’s thoughts and feelings, I’ve been thinking about garden gnomes with boils on their faces to make sure you don’t walk around feeling turned on all the time.” He moaned.

“I can control myself with your thoughts. Tell me what do I do to you in your dreams?” 

“I don’t want to scare you off.” He smiled at her. “So I’m not going to tell you just yet.” They were still waiting with having full on sex until she had told Fred she was leaving.

Dru whined and moaned at the same time. “But I want to know. It turns me on to know what you want me to do to you. Tell me.” 

“I love you, your entire being, not just for the sex, you know,” he chuckled and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Just holding your hand or having my arm around you makes me feel as if I can deal with you-know-who single handedly.”

“Neville” Du whined as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Play dirty games with me. Come on.” 

He smirked as he grabbed a handful of dirt and put it on top of her head.

She shrieked and pushed him away. “That’s mean.” She shook her head and brushed the dirt of her hair.

“Well, one thought I had was just taking you in the dirt here at the greenhouse,” he shrugged. “I’d gently put your naked body down in the soil and start rubbing some on you and...” he blushed. “Yeah, too dirty.”

Dru giggled and bit her lip as she pulled him close again. “If you tell me, maybe I can make it come true one day.” she whispered in his ear and started kissing his neck again.

“Oh god,” he groaned. “Well, I’d caress your arms, and your legs, avoiding your sensitive spots completely, making sure you’d be all fired up and impatient and all squirmy before I’d take my time caressing your stomach and kissing your breasts.”

Dru gave a slight moan between her kisses. “Go on.” she locked her legs around his waist.

“I’d make sure that you were comfortable, and mumbling incoherently before lapping up your fluids and not letting you climax just yet, before I’d start all over again.”

“Damn Neville.” Dru moaned and bit her lip. “You’re too good at this.” she smiled.

“I’ve had a lot of free time,” he kissed her passionately, he was very turned on himself right now. “You want to know what I’d do next?”

“Please.” her eyes were sparkling.

“I’d lick your nipple,” he caressed her breast over her clothes. “This one. My hand would be working you and I’d make you come with just my touches before I’d pull you slightly over the table so that I’d have easier access to you and I’d make you come again with my cock, nibbling on your other breast.” 

“If you keep this up, you might make me come, just by talking to me.” Dru giggled.

“Challenge accepted,” Neville smiled as he caressed her hair. “Let’s see, where was I? Oh yes,” he gave a slight nod. “I’d thrust inside of you, nibbling on your breast,” he caressed her right breast. “This one. And you’d accidentally start to move, making me accidentally bite down on your breast.”

Dru moaned, biting her lip, his voice in her ear in combination with her gift, making her feel everything he was telling her made her very close to climaxing. She really wanted him to send her over the edge. “What do I do to you?” 

“Your hands are in my hair, tugging and scratching my scalp, rubbing dirt in it. I, on the other hand, start to thrust faster, and harder, even lifting your hips up a little so that I have a better angle for the both of us.”

Dru was breathing fast and she buried one hand in his hair, tugging on it. “Like this?” she let her other slip down to his cock and noticed how turned on he was. “Finish me off and I’ll give you a hand.” she whispered while slowly starting to unbuckle his pants. 

Neville moaned. “You’re mean...” He licked her earlobe and whispered. “I’d still have one free hand, and to make your experience even more explosive, I’d play with your nipple or rub your clit, but not when you’d expect it.”

“Do it, Rub my clit.” she moaned as she tugged on his boxer, making them drop.

He snuck his hand up her skirt and felt how soaking wet her panties were. “Christ!” He breathed. “You’re so wet!”

“I told you, you’re very good at this.” Dru kissed him and put her hand on his erection, holding it firmly, but not moving her hand. “Finish me.” she whispered. “And then I’ll finish you.” 

He pulled her a bit to the table edge so he had better access and moved her panties to the side and started to caress her clit, pressing on it, releasing it again and even teasing her lips down below. 

“Tell me, are you coming yet in your fantasy?” she moaned. 

“You are, and I’d feel your body tighten and release around my cock and that would send me over the edge too,” he said huskily as he kept playing with her pussy. 

“Damn you.” Dru breathed and moaned hard as she came. She then started to move her hand up and down his cock, like she promised him. “You’re a very big boy.” she whispered in his ear. “The name Longbottom is very accurate.” 

“Fuck,” he groaned. It didn’t take him much to come right now, Dru was this magical creature that could make him come by just pointing at him, he was sure of it.

She kissed his neck again, by the thick vein, giving him the occasional lick too. “I want to feel you come in my hand.” she whispered huskily. 

Right on command, he came all over her hand. “Oh... wow.” he breathed hard and put his head against her shoulder. “You’re so magical...”

Dru giggled, as she pulled out her wand and muttered a spell to clean them both up. “This was the best dirty talk ever. We should do this again.” she giggled.

“It’s your turn next time,” he chuckled and softly kissed her. 

“Deal.” She kissed him back. “Although I’m not as good at it as you.” she put her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her again. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he smiled at her.

* * *

Fred was nervous all morning. They were going to pick up the girls (with Lupin and Kingsley) and Aunt Muriel was driving him mad. They had been staying with her for a week. The family had to run and they went into hiding at his aunt, who loved talking filth about her cousins marrying so young. Fred loved that Dru was finally coming home, but their relationship was rocky to say the least and he was worried that his aunt would only contribute to their problems. “How late does the train arrive again?” 

“Not for another three hours, Freddie.” George chuckled. He was sitting on a garden bench outside with Rose, enjoying the coldness and the sun of the first day of spring. They had decided that at least for the time being, Rose would be in charge of what happened between her and him, and that she was in control and she seemed to be doing better without him wanting to make sure that she was alright and if he was hurting her or not. 

He did however, protect her from Aunt Muriel’s insults as much as he could. Rose was still dealing with _stuff_ apart from the rape and he noticed that Aunt Muriel sensed that she was weak somehow. Like a predator watching an injured prey. It was very scary.

“Could we take some small joke items with us and hand out to the first years? At least those in Gryffindor?” Rose asked. 

“As much as you want.” George smiled and pulled her a bit closer to him. As sex was still out of the question, holding her close and kissing was all he could, so he tried to do it as much as he could. On top of that, Aunt Muriel’s house was really just too small for everyone to have their own room so from today forward, they’d be sharing the bedroom with Ginny, Fred and Dru. It wasn’t ideal.

“I just think they deserve a little treat. Adrianna is adorable.”

“You have to introduce me to her.” 

Rose then chuckled. “Did you know that there are actually first years, and some of the second years actually, that don’t know who the Weasleys are? I swear, without you guys in Hogwarts, your reputation just dropped.”

“I blame Ginny. She was supposed to keep the family name high. I think we need to teach her a lesson. What do you think, Freddie?” He grinned as he saw that Fred was still pacing. 

“Yeah, but as if mum and dad will allow her to go back. Dru’s not going back either.” 

“Yeah! I feel a bit bad for Neville. He’s going to be all alone after Easter. I’ve written him a letter, explaining why Ginny and Dru can’t go back. All we need to do is slip it in his bag, so he doesn’t read it till he gets home.” George said. He felt sympathy for the boy who had work very hard at protecting the girls and, according to the girls, even sacrificed himself to keep them from getting hurt, taking as many beatings and torture for them as he could. “But he’ll be alright, won’t he?” 

Rose bit her lip and pulled her knees to her chest as she leaned against George. 

“Yeah, he’s Neville. We’d throw him a big ‘thank you’ dinner if it hadn’t been for us not being allowed to tell him where we actually are.” Fred nodded.

“Rosie.” George caressed her arm. “Neville would never hurt you, keep reminding yourself of that.” he whispered in her ear as he noticed her reaction to his name. 

She looked up to him. “What if Crabbe sees me on the platform though?”

“Then he’ll be dead two seconds later.” George kissed the top of her nose. 

“No,” she chuckled. “Because you’d end up in prison. Promise me you won’t hurt him. You can glare menacingly at him, but don’t hurt him.”

George looked at Fred, who nodded at him. “Fine, I won’t hurt him and Fred won’t hurt Goyle.”

She glared at the both of them. “And no hurting Goyle either.”

“Like George said. He won’t hurt Crabbe and I won’t hurt Goyle.” 

“George! Where’s that little half blood of yours? Make her fetch me some tea!”

“Fetch it yourself, auntie.” He yelled back. “Rose is not your house elf.” 

“I don’t mind getting her some tea, though,” Rose said as she looked at him. 

“Not when she calls you half-blood.” George said annoyed. 

“It’s better than being called a mini-death eater, like she called me yesterday,” she chuckled.

“No, that’s her nickname for Dru.” George said.

“Ohhh...” Rose said and looked at Fred. “You’d better force your aunt to find another nickname because Dru will blow a gasket.”

“Loved to see that.” George grinned.

“I’m just thinking about other things now, like... where can Dru and I be completely alone? I mean, there’s no shed. There’s no place to hide other than the house itself.” Fred was still pacing. “Dru and I need to talk and if we do it in the house, everyone will hear it, Auntie will give snarky comments and ...”

“Take her to the orchard at the end of the garden.” George smiled. “It very secluded. You can talk and then have makeup sex.” 

“If she wants to have sex,” Fred pointed out. “No idea what state she’ll be in.”

“Yeah, but Dru’s strong in a different way than Rose is. You don’t know yet what she might want or not want.”

“Oh I know...” Fred sighed. “But yes, orchard is a very good idea,” he smiled widely.

“I’m going to make some tea,” Rose smiled and softly kissed George before getting off the bench and walked inside. “Who’d like some tea?”

“Thank you, dear,” Aunt Muriel’s voice sounded. “It’s about time you got off your lazy bum.”

“My bum’s not lazy, thanks,” she smiled sweetly as she walked into the kitchen where Molly was trying not to laugh. “Is it?” she chuckled.

“Of course not.” Molly smiled at Rose. “Are you happy that Dru’s coming back? You must have missed her?”

“Yeah,” she smiled at Molly as she put the kettle on. “Although I just hope she won’t blast me to smithereens for not discussing my mutiny with the group first.”

“I’m sure she won’t.” Molly said and gave Rose a kiss on her head. “I know I’ll just be glad to know that Dru and Ginny will be in safety again. I’ve been begging Arthur to take them home earlier, but there was no way we could get to Hogwarts.”

“I know, but I promise you, they’ve been looked after by the other girls and Neville, Seamus and Cormac.”

“I know, but as a mother, I still think I’m better at looking after them then anyone else can. One day when you and George have children, you’ll know what I mean.” 

“I already have that,” she chuckled. “Well, they’re not really my kids but I felt responsible for them to make sure that they were all happy and safe and looked after. I was worried for a while that with me leaving that things would go to shambles but then I remembered that Dru, Ginny and Lavender were just as passionate about those kids as I was.”

“Yes, Lavender...you, Ginny and Dru are speaking very highly of her now. Very different then when she was dating Ron.” 

“Let’s just say that she’s mellowed out,” Rose laughed. “She’s actually very good with scissors,” she nodded and put the hot boiling water in a tea pot and threw some tea in it. 

“Yeah, I’m still going to kill her for cropping off your pretty long hair.” George gave Rose a kiss in her neck. “As death as a doorknob when I’m done with her.” He turned around when he heard Fred snicker. “Although I do like the fact that you told me she has cut Dru’s hair even shorter.” 

“No!” Fred gasped. “Please say it isn’t so!”

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Rose laughed and handed the boys a mug of tea before bringing a cup on a saucer to Aunt Muriel. 

George glared at his aunt, ready to defend his wife if needed.

“Did you spit in it?” She glared at Rose.

“No, I haven’t.”

“She should have though.” George muttered

Aunt Muriel took a sip of the tea and looked at her. “For a half blood you do make a decent cup of tea,” she said appreciatively. “Thank you.”

“Thank you.” Rose said politely and walked back into the kitchen to get her own cup of tea.

“You’re too polite,” Fred laughed.

Rose shrugged. “I think that if I surprise her by not freaking out over her calling me names or be mean to me that she’ll pipe down eventually.” She poked George in his side. “Smile.”

George just growled as he was still glaring at his aunt. 

“Wow, I think I need to dig up my skirt, my husband doesn’t even smile when I tell him to!”

This made George chuckle a little and pulled Rose in her arms, “Please don’t wear your skirt just yet.” 

“I’m not, but just the mention of said skirt made you chuckle,” she giggled and looked at him as she took a sip of her tea. “So that’s a win for me.”

“Your skirt always make want me to ravage you.” George said as he wiggled his eyebrows and took a sip of his own tea.

“Too bad you agreed on giving me control over that,” she nearly choked on her tea when it escaped her lips. “Oh I’m sorry, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.” George chuckled. “But you know I love your potty mouth, remember?” 

“I’m trying to show your Aunt that I’m a decent girl, potty mouths are forbidden,” she grinned and kissed him.

“Maybe you two should go to the Orchard.” Fred remarked. “Is it time yet?”

“No,” Rose shook her head. “Another two hours and 50 minutes to go.” She then looked at George. “Bring your tea,” she said as she tugged on his arm and walked out of the house towards the orchard.

George did what she asked. “So what do you want to talk about?” 

“Who said anything about talking?” she said as she sat down on the wooden table with her warm mug of tea in her hands. 

“Alright. So you want to watch the birds fly by or the grass grow?” He chuckled and sat down next to her on the table, as he took another sip of tea.

“I’d have to lay down in the grass to watch it grow, wouldn’t I?” She smiled at him and finished her tea. “I’m glad to hear that the thought of me in a skirt still turns you on.”

“Rose, you turn me on no matter what you wear.” George finished his tea and put his mug down. “Or not wear.” 

“If I’d give you the chance now, what would you do to me?”

George look at her and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you would like to hear that?”

She nodded. “Tell me.”

“Well, first I’d pull you on my lap, so you were straddling my waist. Then I’ll start kissing your neck, working my way down to your collarbone.” 

“What do I taste like?”

George smiled and closed his eyes. “Very sweet.” Even the thought of her taste was making him horny as hell. 

“What does my skin feel like?” she asked, shuffling over on the table so that she was closer to him and started to open his pants.

“Rose.” he groaned. “Sweetie, I don’t know if I can control myself. If I go too far, use the body binding spell, promise?” 

“I’m in control. You’re not.” She told him. “Now tell me, what does my skin feel like when you’re kissing me?”

“Smooth like silk.” He swallowed hard. “Then I’d help you out of your shirt and cup those gorgeous breasts of yours.” 

She slowly put her hand inside his trousers and could feel how turned on he already was. She smiled at him and gently tugged on his erection. “Then what?”

“Then I’ll remove your bra and suck on one of your nipples.” He groaned. “First gently, but then harder as I open your pants at the same time. Hoping to find you in wet panties.” 

“Hmm...” she said as she nuzzled his earlobe and gave his length another gentle tug. “What if my panties aren’t wet yet? Or, what if I’m not wearing panties at all?”

“Then I’ll remove your panties and lay you down on the table. I’ll kiss your knee, then your thigh and then lick your clit until you’re screaming with pleasure. 

“Fuck,” she said softly and bit her lower lip as she started to move her hand up and down his shaft.

“Rosie, please don’t say fuck like that. It makes me want to push you down and take you right now.” George groaned.

“Too bad I’m in control,” she giggled and licked his ear lobe before kissing his neck, not removing her hand from his cock.

“You are, I’m just begging you not to say fuck.” He was gently caressing her back.

“Keep talking, what happens next?” 

“My fantasy, right?” 

“Keep talking,” she chuckled and tugged on his cock again.

“When I’ve made you come, you flip us over and start to remove my pants, and you moan when you see how big I am.” he chuckled. 

“Oh but you are,” she said as she ran her thumb over the head of his cock. “Sometimes I wonder how it’s possible how I can take all of you.”

“Yeah, but in my fantasy you take all of me, just not by hand. Your lips drive me mad when I feel them move up and down my cock.” 

“Ahh,” Rose smiled. “And what are my hands doing while I’m blowing your brains out?”

“No idea. I’m only focussing on your lips.” George chuckled and then groaned. He was nearly there. 

“What do my lips feel like then, on your cock?” she kept rubbing his leaking cock. She found it strange that she was so turned on by all of this. She loved seeing the look on his face while she was playing with his cock.

“Heaven, like the lips of an angel.” George moved so he was lying on the table now. “Oh Rosie.” he moaned as he felt himself come over her hand. 

She kept moving her hand up and down his cock as he came and smiled at him. He looked so hot and adorable. “Pretty.”

George chuckled as he held onto the sides of the table. He need to do that, to keep himself from touching Rose. She hadn’t given him permission to touch her, so he needed to keep his hands to himself, despite wanting to touch her so much. 

She had shaken most of his spill off her hand but then curiosity got the best out of her and she started to lick her fingers clean. 

“Fuck.” George closed his eyes, seeing her do that made him horny again and he could feel his erection already return.

“Hmm...” she said appreciatively. “Strange, never thought that it would taste so good.”

“Rose, don’t.” George groaned. “This is torture.” he smiled. 

She had already opened her own pants and had discarded them while he had his eyes closed. “Fuck, you look so pretty,” she whispered in his ear as she managed to maintain balance as she was pulling off her soaking wet panties. 

“You’re evil.” George chuckled with his eyes still closed.

She tugged on his cock again and moved so that she was hovering above him. Rose managed to line his cock up to her entrance and slowly started to lower herself down onto him while a loud moan escaped her lips.

“Rose.” George groaned in surprise as he opened his eyes. “Rosie, are you sure?” He didn’t want her to stop, but he needed to be sure. “I want you, I want you bad, but are you really sure?” 

She picked up her underwear from the table and stuffed it in his mouth. “You can have your hands on my hips, but just don’t touch anything else yet, okay?”

Blinking, he removed the underwear from his mouth and sat up to give her a kiss. “I won’t, but if you want me to remove my hand from your hips, all you have to do is say so.“ He gave her another deep kiss, before lying down again and gently placed his hands on her hips. 

Rose smiled at him and slowly started to move. “How does that feel?”

“Like I have my Rosie back.” He smiled happily. “Best high ever.”

“You look so hot,” she sighed happily as she moved faster. “Does this feel good?”

“So good.” He groaned and caressed her left thigh. “Having an Angel ride you feels like heaven.”

“You’ve never told me what I’d do next in your fantasy, with my lips on your cock, giving you a blowjob...” she moaned as she lost balance just a little and had him slip further inside of her. “Fuck...”

“After I come and lick myself off your beautiful lips, I put you back on your back and slowly enter you, loving the feeling of burying myself inside of you, your body against mine. Your beautiful breasts rubbing against my chest and I kiss your neck and start to thrust.” 

“Oh wow...” she breathed as she moved her hips a little bit, making George look at her with big eyes. “Oh, you liked that? Want me to do that again?” she grinned.

“Yeah, do it again.” He moaned. 

She did it again and then continued to move. “I love you, George,” she smiled at him. She was getting so close. “Tell me what happens next in your fantasy?”

“I love you too, Rosie. And I love the fact how you’re squirming underneath my lips as I kiss your breasts, my favorite playthings. Kissing one, while pinching your other nipple. Hearing you say fuck, over and over again. Driving me to the edge.” 

Rose moaned and rubbed her clit a few times as she kept riding him. “Then what?” 

“Then you and I come at the same time and you snuggle up in my arms. And I hold you tight. For hours and hours, just loving the smell of your hair in my noise, giving you little kisses in your neck, tasting your sweet taste. That’s what I love to do the most. Holding you while you sleep in my arms. My sweet Rosie....” He moaned hard as he came inside of her. 

She came hard as he started to spill his goods inside of her and it took all of her strength to keep moving a little and not collapse on top of him. “Fuck... you feel so good...” she breathed heavily.

George sat up and put his arms around her. “Are you alright?”

She nodded as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to steady her breathing. “Did the world explode?”

He kissed her as he chuckled. “It did in my fantasy.” 

“Can’t be too good,” she smiled. “The world exploding, I mean.” She then kissed him tenderly. “Thank you.”

“No no no, thank you. You were fucking brilliant.” 

“No, I wasn’t,” she chuckled and started to blush. “And yes, thank you because you were amazing.”

“You were amazing and if you tell me you’re not, one more time, I’m using the silence charm on you.” he warned as he kissed her.

* * *

Dru and Neville were doing the rounds on the train. it would be another half an hour before they would arrive and Dru wanted to spend that time alone with Neville and doing the rounds was the only way to get him to herself, without raising suspicion with Ginny. 

After they had walked the train twice, Neville suddenly pulled Dru into a empty compartment and drew the curtain down, so they would have a bit of privacy. He pushed her against the door and kissed her passionately. “I’m so going to miss you.” 

“I’m going to miss you too.” Dru said softly and put her arms around his neck. She rested her head against his.

“Just a week.” He said assuring. “Then we can be a real couple again.”

Dru nodded and smiled again. “Then we can go on real dates. We never done that before.” 

Neville chuckled, sat down on the bench and pulled Dru next. He put his arms tightly around her. “What would you have in mind?” 

“Well, Rose said once that London has a nice zoo. Or we could go for a picnic.” 

“That sounds nice. I know at the end of the summer there’s always a huge fair in my town, we could go to that someday.” 

“I’d like that.” Dru gave him a kiss on his cheek, before putting her head on his shoulder. 

“Yeah, me too.” He caressed her hair. 

After a few minutes of just sitting together Dru looked up to him. “I’m going to have give him a kiss when I see him. I don’t want to break up with him on a busy platform. That would humiliate him.” 

Neville nodded. He didn’t like the idea, but he knew it was not fair to ask her not to kiss him, after all, _he_ was the one having an affair with Fred’s wife, not the other way around. “I’ll just make sure I’m not there, I don't want to run into them anyway. They probably still want to kill me for what happened to you.” 

Dru cupped his chin and made him look at her. “It wasn’t your fault.” 

“It was my job to protect you and I failed.” 

Dru gave him a hard kiss on his lips. “They couldn’t have done anything more to stop this than you have.” She gently caressed his cheek. “It wasn’t your fault, and you did protect me. You stopped me from killing myself, remember?” 

Neville shrugged. “But I didn’t stop him.” 

“Neville, stop this. Please stop blaming yourself. I don’t blame you and neither does Rose.” she took his head in her hands and made him look at her. “This wasn’t your fault, do you understand?”

Neville nodded and pulled Dru close against him. “I’m never going to let anyone ever hurt you again.” 

“I know that.” She gave him a kiss in his neck. “Now let’s go and find Ginny, we’re going to arrive in about 20 minutes.”

* * *

“I’m sorry, Rose, but it’s too risky to take too many people.” Lupin explained.

“I know that! But I want to go and nothing will happen anyway.” Rose shot at him. “I want to go.”

“No, Rose. Just me, Kingsley, Arthur and Fred. You need to stay here with George and Molly. Tonks wanted to go aswell, but it’s too dangerous.” 

“Tonks so isn’t going! She’s about to poop out your child!” Rose fumed. Why couldn’t he see that she needed to go?

“Rosie, they’ll be here soon. You only have to wait half an hour longer.” George said as he pulled her in his arms. He knew she had been looking forward to seeing Ginny and Dru, but he understood why Lupin told them no.

Even George didn’t understand. She didn’t want to go because of Dru and Ginny, she wanted to go because of the first years. She kicked against the bag of small joke items. “Fine,” she said. “Then this bag better be empty when you return, and make sure to tell Adrianna’s parents that she needs new clothes that fit in case something happens to her again in school.”

George pulled an envelope out of his back pocket. “Make sure Neville gets this, but that he doesn't read it until he’s home.” 

“And don’t hurt Crabbe and Goyle.”

Fred growled at Rose as he took the bag, but he didn’t take the letter. He had the feeling that Neville would avoid him and he wouldn’t have the chance to give it to him. 

“Fred, tell me that you’re going to leave them alone.”

“No.” 

“Freddie, take the letter and promise my wife that you won’t hurt them.”

“No, Georgie.” 

“We have to go now,” Kingsley said and got the letter out of George’s hands. “We’ll be back soon.”

Rose sighed as she saw the small group leave. “It’s not fair,” she sulked. 

“Help me finish the welcome home cake, dear. It will make time go faster.” Molly said as she patted on Rose’s shoulder. 

 

Dru was holding Adrianna’s hand. “Are you happy to go back home?” The train was rolling into the station. 

The girl nodded. “I just hope that my dad is home as well and not on the run.”

Dru bent down and gave the girl a hug. “You know that half my family is on the run, but that’s better then them being killed. Just be strong and I’ll see you back in a week, okay?” 

Adrianna gave a nod. “You need to be careful.”

Dru looked up at Neville, who was standing nearby. “Can you believe this? This little girl is telling me to be careful.” 

“Well, she’s speaking the truth,” he chuckled. “Like you said, half your family is on the run, you need to be careful.”

Dru shook her head. “I’ll be fine, now let’s go find your parents.” She said to Adrianna as the train came to a halt and the doors opened. “Come on, Ginny. Let’s go to the welcome committee.” Just before she got off the train, she could feel Neville’s fingers in her back. She looked behind her, smiled at him and hopped off the train. 

“Ginny.” Arthur pulled his daughter in his arms. “Thank heavens you’re still alright.” 

“Of course dad, Neville and Dru made sure of that.” she smiled as she put her arms around him. “Where’s mum?”

Fred didn’t like seeing Dru leaving the train followed by Neville, but he was glad to see her again. She looked happy, somewhat nervous and he wasn’t sure why, and he wasn’t sure what to do. He wanted to pull her in his arms and kiss her but what if she wasn’t ready for that? He had seen the smile on George’s face, and it told him that Rose finally had started to deal with it now. “Hello, my beautiful firecracker,” he smiled and gave her a tiny bouquet of wildflowers that he had picked from Aunt Muriel’s garden. 

“Hi,” She smiled and gave him a hug. “I love wildflowers, that’s so sweet of you.” 

“Is it okay if I kissed you?” He asked a little insecure. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Dru gave him a kiss on his lips and put her arms around him. “I’m so glad to be out of that school.” 

Fred chuckled and kissed her back. “I can imagine.”

“Excuse me,” Lupin said as he passed Dru and Fred when he saw Crabbe and Goyle. 

Kingsley followed Lupin and unnoticed by Neville, slipped the letter into his bag as he passed him on it’s way to Crabbe and Goyle.

“Oh, Rose gave me this bag, and told me that you needed to hand these out to the first years now. Especially Adrianna, for some reason.” Fred said and lifted the bag.

“Adrianna!” Dru called out to the first year and motioned for the girl to come over. “Rose didn’t forget you after all.” 

“But why isn’t she here? I thought she’d come and pick you up too!” Adrianna walked over to Dru and sighed. “I haven’t seen my mum yet.”

Dru pulled the girl against her. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you till she comes.” She looked at Fred and bit her lip. 

“You know what? You’re so tiny you can fit in my pocket,” Fred smiled at her. “I’m Fred. How about I put you on my shoulders and you can look for your mum? It’s a bit crowded on the platform, isn’t it?”

“I’ve heard your voice before.” Adrianna said like a light bulb just went on in her tiny head and then looked at Dru. “He’s your husband, isn’t he. The one from the...Radio.” she had whispered the last word. 

He was more hopeful now that he could still mend things with Dru. She hadn’t stopped talking about him, which was a good sign. “Yep, I’m the proud Mr. Dru.” He chuckled and lifted Adrianna up and put her on his shoulders. “Just tell me when you see her.” Maybe with the little girl on his shoulders he wouldn’t go after Goyle and Crabbe, who were now passing them, looking white as a sheet and Lupin with a smug look on his face joined the group again.

Dru took a step closer to Fred as Goyle looked at her as he passed her. She could feel her breathe increasing, but she shook her head at Fred, making sure he wouldn’t say anything with Adrianna there. She then laughed as the sight of the little girl on Fred’s shoulder was a very cute sight. He looked very fatherly like. “That little girl looks good on you.” 

“I might keep her,” he chuckled. “She’s adorable.”

Lupin took a look at the little girl on Fred’s shoulders. “Hello, Adrianna,” he smiled at her.

“Remus!” she giggled.

“I saw your father the other day, you shouldn’t worry, he’s as safe as he can be.”

“Lupin, her mother is not here yet.” Dru looked around her, the platform was almost empty. “We can’t leave her here.” She looked at Fred. “Can she come with us?”

“Yeah, she can,” Arthur nodded. “Muriel loves little girls.”

“Muriel?” Dru and Ginny asked.

“Yep,” Fred gave a nod. “What you say, Adrianna? You come with us until Remus has found your mum?”

“I didn’t even know you knew him, Adrianna, what’s going on?”

“I’ll explain later,” Lupin said. “Right now, we have to leave.”

 

Rose ran out into the garden when she saw the group of people arrive and first bear hugged Dru before doing the same to Ginny. She blinked when she saw Adrianna still sitting on Fred’s shoulders. 

Dru was sit standing in the garden as the rest of them were going inside. She was finding it hard enough to go and tell Fred that their marriage was over, but now they were at aunt Muriel, which made it even harder. She took a deep breath and followed the rest inside. She sat down on the ground next to the fire. There weren’t nearly enough seats for everyone. 

While Molly was making tea for everyone and bringing in the cake, Rose had to listen to Ginny’s rambling about how it was unfair that she left and what not and at the same time Rose made sure that George shut up. Ginny needed to get it out of her system, so Rose let her do it. After Ginny was done, she was nearly choked by Ginny’s massive bear hug that could equally rival her mum’s. 

“Alright, before I go and try to find Adrianna’s mother, there’s something I need to tell you, Rose.” Lupin spoke up after a while. 

“You know her and her family?”

“I do,” he said and looked around the living room. “How about you and I take a walk?”

She narrowed her eyes on Lupin and watched him walk to the door. “Fine,” she sighed. “Why me?” she groaned as she got up from the floor and walked after him.

“I should have told you this a while ago, and I apologize for not telling you sooner,” Lupin said as they were walking towards the orchard. “But I didn’t want to tell you because it would complicate things and maybe it was best if you didn’t know so that you could go on with your life and all of that.”

“Oh, you’re going to drop something big on me, aren’t you?”

“I do seem to be the bearer of important things, yes.” He chuckled. “No, I need to tell you this, in case I can’t find Adrianna’s mother, because her father is a muggle born wizard and is in hiding, and his hiding spot is no good place for a little girl.”

“You’re not going to tell me that somehow she’s my sister or something, are you? Because that would be weird and nearly impossible.”

“Do you see a resemblance between you and Adrianna?”

Rose blinked at him. “Seriously?” She stopped dead in her tracks. “Adrianna is my sister?”

“No,” he laughed.

“Whatever it is, just tell me and don’t dance around the subject as you always do. You always make me guess and I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“Your mother Sarah, was one of a twin.”

She dropped her mug of tea on the ground. “And you didn’t tell me, why?”

“Well, it wasn’t important really. After your mum was murdered, Hailey made it clear to me that she couldn’t take care of you because she wasn’t ready for children yet and therefore you ended up at your grandfather’s. On top of that, she had to go into hiding herself because she was terrified that they were coming after her next.”

“So I have an aunt?”

“You have an aunt,” he nodded. “And she looks just like your mum.”

“Alright... but that doesn’t explain Adrianna.” Rose said slowly. 

“One of Hailey’s protectors while she was in hiding was Ben Freeman, a muggle born wizard, and they fell in love. When the war was over, Hailey and Ben worked on getting their lives together, got married and eventually Adrianna came along. Now, I do have to tell you that once I told Hailey about you and your life and what you had been through, she did wish that she had kept in touch with your grandfather just to see that you were alright, but she hated him for raising someone like your father and getting her entire family into trouble.”

“Adrianna is my cousin? I have a real cousin and a real aunt and uncle?” She sat down in the dirt and shook her head, trying to wrap her head around it all. “And my mum and her mum were twins?”

Lupin sat down next to her with a smile on his face and rubbed her back. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to compromise their safety or yours, considering ever since you and George got together that you’ve been safer than ever.”

“No, I understand, it’s just... I have a family. The little first year that I like so much is my cousin. Oh wow, that does explain why she seemed to be the most daring kid of them all.”

“Yes, Sarah and Hailey were always trying to get themselves in heaps of trouble ever since they were little girls. And they got me into trouble with my parents a lot too, they liked to climb into trees and I’d follow them but unlike them, I was usually too scared to climb out of it again.” 

“You grew up with them?”

“That’s how I know your mum, and you’re just like Sarah in many ways... maybe I’ve been a little bit too hard on you because of that.”

“But basically that means that Adrianna isn’t safe at Hogwarts at all. Like you said, her father is muggle born and Hailey is a muggle.”

“Well, you and Dumbledore’s Army have kept her safe, haven’t you?”

“I got myself expelled.”

“Yes, but you trust the rest of them, don’t you?”

“Ginny and Dru aren’t going back to Hogwarts this year and Neville... well...” she shuddered. “He’s a good guy but he is not superman, he can’t do everything by himself. You need to find Hailey.”

“But if I can’t find her, then what? I can’t take her to her father right now, and Tonks and I will be too busy once the baby arrives.”

“I’ll talk to George.”

“Why do you need to discuss this with George?”

“He’s my husband.” 

“Right, I forgot about that.” Lupin grinned.

“No you didn’t,” she chuckled. “Wow. I have an aunt and uncle and a cousin.”

George came outside with three mugs of tea. “Is everything alright?” He then noticed the fallen mug of tea on the ground. “Is everything alright?” he asked again, this time a bit more worried.

“Everything’s fine,” Lupin smiled up to George. “You know me, I always like to surprise my goddaughter with facts that are relevant to her life.”

“What is it this time?” George asked as he sat down next to Rose and handed out the tea mugs.

“That I have another goddaughter.” Lupin grinned. 

“Blimey mate, you just keep going, don’t you?” George chuckled.

“They were twins, they both wanted me to take care of their girls.” Lupin shrugged.

“He’s speaking in riddles again,” Rose poked George in the side and smiled at him. “Adrianna is my cousin, I have an uncle in hiding and an aunt who is lost at the moment.”

“Right.” George nodded, thought for a few seconds and then shook his head. “Say that again?”

“The little girl in your Aunt’s living room is my cousin.”

“Surely you saw something familiar when you saw Adrianna the first time.” Remus chuckled. “You’ve seen Rose when she was eleven.”

“She did remind me of the little Rose i saw on the train.“ George put an arm around Rose. “This is great, this means I can still trade you in for a younger model.” 

“You’re such a pervert,” she chuckled and leaned into him. “Tonks and Lupin are going to be super busy when she poops out their baby and if he can’t find Adrianna’s mum...”

“Of course she can stay. I need to get to know your replacement.” 

Rose looked at Lupin and smiled. “You have your answer. Now go and find my aunt.”


	53. The Beginning of the End

Dru had put on a cardigan and walked out into the garden. Everybody inside was talking about Rose’s new found family. But all she could think about how she was going to lose hers. It was breaking her heart, but she knew it was the right thing to do, she wanted to be with Neville. 

But when Arthur told her and Ginny that they had to stay in hiding until the war was over, she had felt her heart stop. She had to figure out a way to get to Neville safely, but with all the safety measures, just apparating off the grounds wasn’t possible. Only members of the Order could take people to and away fromMuriel’s cottage. 

She walked into the orchard and sat down on the table. She closed her eyes, trying to think of what to do next. 

Fred had followed Dru out to the garden and put an arm around her. “Welcome home,” he said with a smile. “Are you okay?”

Dru took a deep breath and shook her head. “No, I mean, I am, but we’re not.” 

“I know we’re not, but I just want to make sure you’re okay first before talking about us.”

She looked at him and swallowed, before she looked back to the ground. “Rose told you.”

“Yeah, sort of. I’m just afraid that you’re not okay, that whatever happened with Goyle that it has destroyed you and I just need to know if I can do something or something.” Fred said slowly, trying to find the words. He didn’t really know what to say. He was almost positive that Neville had helped her through it all. “But I suppose that you’ve had help at Hogwarts already to deal with it all, haven’t you?”

Dru nodded. “I...I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there.” 

“I’m so sorry that I didn’t... well couldn’t do anything to get you out sooner. This shouldn’t have happened.”

Dru looked up at him and placed her hand on his cheek. “Fred, this is not your fault, nobody could have stopped this. This was coming for a long time, I’m just sorry that Rose got dragged into this.” 

He covered her hand with his and looked into her eyes. “I know it’s not my fault, but still... I love you, you’re my wife. I should have been there for you,” he took a deep breath. “I want us to get through this, and it’s probably harder now that we’re stuck at Aunt Muriel’s but I promise you, from now on it’s just you and me.”

Dru looked down to her hands. “Fred, I don’t think we can.” 

“Yes, we can,” he smiled at her and caressed her hair. “I know we can, because you know why?”

“No,” 

“Because I love you and you love me and that’s all that matters. You and me. Noone else.”

Dru shook her head and got off the table. “You always say that, but sooner or later you’ll chose George over me again. I can’t do this anymore.”

“No, I mean it,” Fred said and pulled her back towards him. “When the war is over, you and I are going to move to our own apartment, wherever you want it to be. You were right all along and I was just too stupid to see that. We should have moved out the day we got married, which was my original plan but... ”

Dru looked at him. “What?” 

He smiled at her. “George talked me out of it,” he gave a shrug. “But mum was right, George and I sabotage each other’s lives because we really want to stay together and that’s just wrong. I married you, not George. We had a huge row about this a few weeks back, but we both see sense now. You’re my wife. You should come first, always. Anytime, every time and forever. I love you.”

Dru swallowed hard. If he had said this four months ago, she wouldn’t have given in to her feelings for Neville. This was all she had wanted to hear back then, but it was too late now, wasn’t it?. 

“I want us to become a better couple, I am trying to be a better husband and I want this to work. Please give me another chance?” He was on his knees now and had taken hold of her hands. “Please Dru? I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Dru shook her head. “It’s too late. I can’t do this anymore. I mean..” She started crying.

He got to his feet and put his arms around her, pulling him close to her. “I love you, so much, Dru. Please don’t let it be too late, give me one last chance, I’ll prove to you that I can change, that we can be great together.”

“I love you too, but I...I came back to tell you it’s over.” she said softly.

“Please tell me you don’t mean that,” he looked at her. “Please, Dru?”

Dru’s bit her lip. “I...” She just didn’t know what to say anymore. She loved Neville more than she had ever loved him before and it was right between them, but she had never stopped loving Fred. He had always found a way to sweep her off her feet. “I don’t know what to do anymore.” 

“Give me some time to make things right again. If it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t work out, please? I mean, I’ve been preparing a nice picnic with just the two of us in a secluded area of Aunt Muriel’s orchard for weeks and I thought we could do that tomorrow, after you’ve rested a little and settled in? I have all your favorite fruits. Nice sweet strawberries and all that.” He softly kissed her lips. “I want to make us work.”

Dru felt her heart break and started sobbing against his chest. She didn’t know how to chose now. She loved both her men. 

“Remember our vows? I said _I will always remain faithful to you through good times and the bad ones, I will always be at your side, through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together._ and you said that you couldn’t love anyone the way you love me and _no matter what happens as long as I have you with me, I’ll know I’ll make it through_ , you said. Please, Dru. Give me another chance.”

She slowly nodded, biting on her bottom lip. 

He softly kissed her lips and wiped her tears away. “I promise, I’m going to do better,” he said softly and softly kissed her again. 

She put her arms around his neck as she let herself get lost in his kiss. She pulled him closer to her. “But you have to promise me, never to put George before me again.” 

“I won’t, I swear, I won’t.”

She nodded and closed her eyes as she put her head against his chest. She was still crying as she felt how she had broken her own heart in two, but Fred was right, she was married and it wasn’t fair to just give that up, no matter how much she loved Neville. “How long do we need to stay here?”

“I don’t know,” Fred sighed. “To be honest, I’m already fed up with Aunt Muriel and the lack of space, but there are plenty of places in the Orchard that we can use if we want to be alone and out of the wind and warm and all that. I’ve already checked out the best places and for our picnic tomorrow we have a wonderful view of the lake.” He softly caressed her back. “But at least we’re safe here.”

Dru nodded. “Could we stay out here for a bit longer then? I don’t want Adrianna to see me cry.” 

He chuckled and smiled at her. “We can stay as long as you want... well until Mum yells that dinner’s ready.”

She looked up to him and gave him a small smile. “Alright.”

* * *

Dru was sitting on a picnic blanket by the lake. Fred had really pulled out all the stops. Not only had he made a basket full with finger foods that she loved, he also had made their spot very romantic with candles (it was daylight, but it was sweet all the same), and he had covered the ground with red and pink rose petals.

“You’re really have put a lot of work in this, haven’t you?” Dru smiled at Fred, who was lying on his side next to where she was sitting.

“Like I said, I’m going to do everything to be a better husband.” He smiled at her and pulled her next to him and put his arms around her. “I really missed you, Dru.” 

Dru smiled at him. “I missed you too.” She took a strawberry and held it out in front of his mouth, only to pull it away just as he tried to bite into it. She giggled when she saw his pouty face.

Fred grabbed her wrist and bit into the strawberry, it was very juice and the juices were dripping down Dru’s fingers. Fred smiled and licked her fingers clean, making Dru giggle even more. “Hmm, you taste sweet.” 

‘That’s the strawberry's.” Dru giggled. 

“ _You_ taste sweet.” Fred leaned over her and kissed Dru. 

Dru kissed him back. It still felt wrong somehow to kiss him, but she decided to ignore that feeling. She needed to give her marriage a fair chance. She buried her fingers in his hair and raised her knee, which made her skirt ride up.

Fred caressed her thigh and let his fingers slowly slip under her skirt. “You’re so beautiful” 

Dru giggled. “No, I’m not.” 

“Yes, you are and adorable too.” he chuckled as he kissed her collarbone.

Dru moaned as Fred’s fingers were caressing her skin along the line on her panty. 

“I missed you, But I don’t want to do anything to hurt you.” Fred said hoarsely.

“I tell you when to stop.” Dru moaned.

* * *

That night Fred and George had made a fire outside and the two couples were enjoying the night. Ginny was leaning against a tree chunk and Adrianna had curled herself up against her. She was scared that Lupin hadn’t found her mother yet and now all of a sudden, the seventh year student she had looked up too, turned out to be her cousin. “So, let me get this right. Lupin is Rose’s godfather too and Remus’ wife is Dru’s cousin and her guardian.” 

“Yes, so that makes you part of this family too now.” George smiled.

“Just like Hermione and Harry.” Ginny said.

“I still can’t believe you guys know Harry Potter.” Adrianna gushed.

“Ginny used to snog Harry.” Dru giggled.

“You what?” Adrianna sat on her knees and looked at GInny. “You’ve snogged _the_ Harry Potter, the chosen one?” 

“He’s not the chosen one here, here he’s just Harry.” Ginny rolled her eyes at the little girl.

Dru leaned against Fred. Having sex that afternoon had been nice and very familiar, it gave her hope that maybe she could work this out with Fred, even though she did feel a huge void in her heart. “I love these fires outside that you two make.” 

“When we get our own place, we’re definitely going to see if it comes with a yard so we can make these in our own garden,” Fred smiled at her and softly kissed her.

“Or a roof terrace.” Dru smiled. “I need a big kitchen. And we need three bedrooms, one for us, one for our kid and one for our guests.” 

“You’re still only going to have one kid?” GInny asked.

“Maybe two, but not more,” Fred chuckled. “It’s easy to get lost in a big family and we don’t want to do that to our kid.”

“No, I love big family, but I love my figure more.” Dru chuckled. 

“Oh, vanity,” Ginny giggled. “Or something else too?”

“Something like what?” 

She shrugged. “I dunno.”

Rose took a sip of her glass of wine (for some reason Aunt Muriel had a basement full of wine) and leaned in to George. “How many kids do you want?”

“5 or 6.” he chuckled.

“Well, we can try... I mean I’d probably have exploded or cracked when we get to three or four...”

George laughed. “I don’t want 5 or 6 kids, Sweetie. I’m just messing with you.” 

“Shame,” she shrugged. “Would be fun though, never a quiet moment and they can help you guys out in the store too. Free workers!” She took another sip of her wine. 

George smiled as he finished his glass of wine. “You do have a point. If Fred and Dru are only going to have one kid, then we need to have more to even it out.” 

“You know Rose, I read in one of those medical books you’ve left behind at Hogwarts that if one of a couple is a twin or comes from a family with twins that there’s a higher chance that you’ll get twins too. I suppose that now that your family has twins too that it’s an even higher chance.” Ginny grinned.

“Kaboom!” Rose chuckled. “Exploded Rosie.”

“Oh, I’m so not having a kid with you now.” Dru said to Fred.

Fred laughed and softly kissed her. “Yes you are, because you love me and I want a mini-Fred.”

“But that would ruin my figure. I’m only a tiny person.”

“Honey, I will always love you, no matter what you look like.”

“Okay, but what if I have a girl, I’m not naming her Fred then.” 

“Sure you are. Frederika.”

“No.” Dru playfully hit his chest. “Oh, I so shouldn’t have married one of a twin.” 

“Maybe you should have married Neville then.” Ginny remarked as she poured herself another glass of wine. 

Dru looked at Ginny in shock. “What did you say?”

“Our Neville?” Adrianna asked.

“Yep, the old married couple,” Ginny snickered. “Dru is so lucky to have two boys love her so much that they’re both willing to do anything for her.”

“Don’t be so stupid, Ginny. I’m married to Fred, not Neville.” She tried to hold back her tears, she didn't want to be remembered of Neville.

“Ginny, maybe you shouldn’t drink more,” George said.

“Neville did hate it when Lavender tried to cut of Dru’s hair.” Adrianna remarked as she sipped on her pumpkin juice. 

“Yeah, but he didn’t like me cutting off my hair either.” Rose pointed out. “And to be honest, I regret it a little.”

“Yes!” George cheered. “No more cutting off the hair!”

Dru looked at Ginny as she crawled against Fred. She was wondering if Ginny knew more than she should. “Neville is just a friend, Ginny, you know that.” 

“But you did sleep in his bed a few times.” Adrianna said sheepishly. A few of the students went looking for Neville and found the two lying in each other arms on his bed. 

“Alright nosey,” Rose chuckled. “Time to go to bed.” She wanted to get up but maybe had a little bit too much and fell back into George’s lap. She sighed and got up even slower, managing to stand up straight and waited for Adrianna to get up too. “Come on, your bed awaits.”

“Neville was because he didn’t want me to sleep alone if I got depressed, that’s all.” Dru said to Fred, it wasn’t a lie, technically. 

“Yeah, I figured as much,” Fred softly kissed her. “As long as he didn’t get the wrong idea.”

“He didn’t and besides that, I’m not going back to Hogwarts.”

“I trust you, remember?” He smiled at her. “And yes, even when it concerns Neville, he’s done a good job in helping you through all of the shit lately because I couldn’t be there so I should be grateful that you had him.”

Dru nodded and rested her head against his shoulder. “I probably will hardly see him now anyway.”

“After all of this is over we should throw him a thank you party.” Fred smiled. “For keeping the three of you safe.”

“That’s a good idea, but I don’t think he would be up for that.” 

“He’d better be,” George gave a nod. 

“He’s not planning coming near Rose again. He feels so guilty.” 

“Rose knows it wasn’t him, Neville shouldn’t feel guilty.”

“He feels guilty for the both of us. They used him to get to us, because they knew Rose and I trust him more than anyone else at Hogwarts. When he found out that Crabbe was still looking like Neville, it broke him.” 

“Yeah but it’s not like he laid a hand on Rose, so he shouldn’t feel guilty. It’s not his fault, nor yours, nor Rose’s.” George said. 

Dru sighed. “What is they had used your hairs as then had raped Ginny, imagine how you would feel. Neville has been looking at Rose like a sister for years now. And he knows it wasn’t him, but he can’t shake the feeling. I’m worried about him. He’s all alone now.” 

“We can’t go to him, it’ll put him and his grandmother in danger,” Fred said and shuddered. “And yes, I feel sorry for Neville because I just threw up in my mouth a little, thanks for the imagery, Dru.”

“”Well, that’s how our life has been like.” Dru said cold.

Ginny was shaking and crawled to George and sat next to him. “Don’t worry, I know you’d never hurt me.”

He put his arm around his sister and gave her a small smile. “You’re safe now, that’s all that matters.”

Dru scooted a little away from Fred. “You guys just don’t get it.” 

“They’ll never get it, don’t worry,” Rose said, making her way back over to the group. She inelegantly sat down on the other side of George and put her head against his shoulder. “You can try all you want but it’ll only frustrate you and it won’t help anyone.” She picked up her glass again and downed it on one go before reaching for the bottle and refilled her glass. 

After a quiet five minutes George looked at Rose. “Have you thought of names for our kids?” 

She blinked at him and then looked at her stomach before looking back at him. “I’m not pregnant yet.”

“Well, apparently I’m having either Fred of Frederika.” 

Rose looked at Dru and blinked. “Are you pregnant then? How?”

“No, you moron.” Dru laughed. “I’m not having a baby for another three years or so.”

“I just don’t see the point in picking out names before, you know, there’s actually a pregnancy or a kid.”

Dru shrugged. “Fred wants a mini-Fred.” 

“Let’s hope then that Fred can make mini-Fred’s because it could be that he could only make the female versions and then you get mini-Dru’s.”

“I hadn’t thought about that.” Dru looked up at Fred. “Sorry, no mini-Freds for you.” 

“Rosie, they’re just having a talk about the future.” George smiled and winced as Ginny kicked him in her sleep. 

“She’s a kicker,” Rose laughed and reached over to tickle Ginny to make her turn around. “There you go, kick free.”

George scooted over to Rose’s side and pulled her on his lap. “Well, when are we going to start making babies?”

“After May, apparently.” She gave a nod and put her arms around his neck. “I’m drunk,” she giggled.

“I know, I love you drunk.” George chuckled, he too was getting drunk, “So, this May?”

“Yeah, after May. I just said that, didn’t I?” she blinked at him and looked at him for a moment. “Wrong ear? No...” she chuckled and softly kissed him.

“Wait, you’re going to have kids now?” Dru said shocked. 

“Well not before you poop one out.” Rose shrugged. “But after May is a good time to start practising.”

“I’m not having kids for another few years. Fred and I had decided it was too early for kids.” 

“I love pratice.” George smiled as he kissed Rose passionately. 

“Oh, that’s interesting,” Rose said and blinked at George. “I didn’t see that one coming.”

Dru shook her head and poured Fred and herself another glass of wine. “Are we seriously now going to watch them make out?” 

“We’re not going to make out,” Rose said and shook her head. “No, not here.”

“I have a different opinion.” 

“I’m in control. I might be drunk but I’m in control.” She glared at George.

“Ah, but these opinions change when you mix them with alcohol. If both parties are drunk, the control shifts.” George pushed Rose on her back. “Don’t worry, I’m only going to kiss you.” he whispered in her ear, before kissing her neck. 

“No, George, we’re not doing this now.” Rose gently pat his shoulder and made her way out from under him. “Not with them here and not now and...” she shuddered and scrambled to her feet. “Yeah, better stop now because now you can still stop,” she muttered as she walked off to the house. “Don’t forget to bring Ginny inside.”

George sighed and picked up a sleeping Ginny. “Don’t forget to put out the fire, Freddie senior.” He walked inside, nearly banging Ginny’s head on the doorpost.

“Oh, we’re alone now,” Fred chuckled and softly kissed Dru on her lips. 

Dru kissed him back, but suddenly looked up as she felt the DA galleon burn in her pocket. She got it out and read the edges. _Are you really not coming back? N_ Dru swallowed. She and Neville had found out how to spell the galleon so that only they could send message that only their two galleons would pick up. “Neville wants to know if Ginny and I are really not coming back.” Dru said as she saw Fred look at her. 

“George wrote Neville a letter to explain to him that we’re in hiding and that it’s too dangerous for you two to return to Hogwarts. This was a joint decision between our parents, us, and some of the order before we went into hiding. I mean, we could have stayed at the Burrows so that you could return but it’s not safe there, so we went here.”

Dru nodded and turned the galleon in her hand. “I know.” She bit her lip. _We can’t come back_ she patted on the galleon with her wand sending the message back to Neville.

“Don’t worry, Rose knows that he’ll be safe. She told us about a contingency plan you three had that involved the Room of Requirement?”

“No.” Dru shook her head. “Neither me or Neville know anything about that. But Rose was very confused when she left. I think she might have come up with that on her own without telling us yet.” She kept holding the galleon in her hand, wondering if he would send a message back.

“Oh, that’d be inconvenient.”

Dru shrugged. “Neville will find a way to keep everyone safe. He always does.” 

Fred softly kissed her and pulled her back in his arms. “I love you, you know that?” he said softly and caressed her back. “What do you want to do tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. We could hide some Easter eggs.” 

He snickered. “Yes! This place is big enough to keep everyone entertained for hours while we sit back and watch them look!” 

Dru smiled at him and put her head against his chest, closing her eyes.

* * *

The following month passed quietly. Rose was glad that Lupin had managed to track down Adrianna’s mother and he had returned her to her. The day after that, Tonks gave birth to their son, Teddy Tonks and much to Lupin’s relief, the little boy seemed to take after his mother. Rose and Dru had been allowed to leave Aunt Muriel’s place to go and see the new addition to the family. 

Dru took Rose’s hand and pulled her to the house of her aunt. “I can’t believe I have a nephew.” Dru gushed. She knocked on the door. “Oh, don’t freak out. Auntie looks like Bellatrix.” Dru was holding a small package. Rose and Dru had bought some baby clothes last Christmas. 

“Uh... okay.” Rose said carefully. “Got it.”

The door opened and Lupin appeared, looking tired, but he was pointing his wand at them nonetheless. 

“Hello, remus. What were our Boggart when ---”

“It doesn’t work that way, I have to ask you a question but I’m too tired to think of something,” he shook his head. “Oh, Rose, the name of your uncle.”

“You didn’t tell me ---”

“I did.”

Rose thought for a second. “Uhm... Ben Freeman?”

Lupin lowered his wand and took a step back to let the girls in. “Nice to see you two,” he smiled.

Dru walked into the kitchen. “Hello, Auntie Andy.” 

“Dru! You’re looking positively glowing!” Andromeda Tonks greeted her with a warm smile and hugged her. 

“Well, Little Teddy does me a lot of good. This is my best friend and sister in law Rose. I told you about her.” 

“Hello,” she smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Tonks,” Rose smiled.

“So, is Dora in her room?” 

“She’ll be down in a second, don’t worry,” Lupin smiled at her. “She’s just changing his diaper and I was just about to take a nap while she and him were awake.”

“Don’t let us stop you, Remus. We know how tired you are.” Dru smiled at him.

“Are you kidding? My goddaughter is here, I’m not going to sleep.” He chuckled and sat down on the sofa.

“Well I could leave so you could go to sleep,” Rose shrugged.

“Not a chance.” Tonks’s voice sounded from behind her and when Rose looked around she saw a little bundle of baby in her arms.

Dru shrieked and bounced on the balls of her feet when she saw the blue hair. “Dora, you are a mother.” 

“I know!” she chuckled. “Sit down, you can hold him.”

“Rose first, she’s the oldest.” Dru said.

“Oh, age before beauty, isn’t it?” Rose smiled as she sat down in a chair.

“Yep and then I get to hold him longer too.” 

“I knew you two were getting a beautiful healthy boy.” Rose grinned as Tonks carefully placed the baby in Rose’s arms. “Oh look, he’s so adorable!” 

Dru sat down on the armrest next to Tonks and patted her on her shoulder. She suddenly felt a bit down. She was having a lot of ups and downs lately. 

“How’s my favourite cousin?” Tonks smiled widely at her. 

“She’s alright.” Dru gave her a small smile, but she wanted to hide in Tonks’s arms and tell her everything that had happened between her and Neville. She hadn’t spoken about him and only left him cryptic messages over the galleon, she wasn’t brave enough to tell him she had was giving her marriage a second chance. but she couldn't do it with Lupin, her aunt and Rose there. So she just tried to bury her feelings away again. “I’m fine.” 

“As soon as we’ve all settled down a little, taken some few nice naps and all that, you and I are going to have a girls night. Just you and me. I need one. Bad. Please.” 

Dru smiled and nodded, trying her best to not to cry, but she could feel her eyes welling up. “I need one too.” she said with a small voice. 

“Dora, why don’t you show Dru Teddy’s room?” Andromeda suggested. “Lupin can show Rose, when Dru’s holding Teddy.” 

“Great idea,” Tonks gave a nod and got to her feet. “Come on,” she smiled and tugged on Dru’s arm. “Girl talk too.”

Dru followed Tonks to the baby room. It was very colourful, it was filled with about every colour of the rainbow. “It’s beautiful.” Dru smiled. She picked up a teddy bear from the swinging chair. “I’m glad to see you so happy, you and Lupin are going to be such great parents.” 

“You think?” she smiled.

“Of course.” Dru smiled as she sat down at the chair. “You’re going to get every bit of the life you deserve.” 

“Uhuh, I hope so,” she replied. “Once Remus stops trying to save the world by himself and reunite students with their mums.”

“Yeah, but we girls love boys that save to world.“ 

“Oh, do we now?” Tonks said teasingly. “What’s going on inside that pretty head of yours?”

Dru looked down. “I messed up, Dora. I really messed up.” 

“You? Messing things up?” Tonks sat down on the floor in front of the rocking chair Dru was sitting on and smirked. “What else is new? What’s going on?”

“I...I...” Dru closed her eyes. “I’m in love with Neville.” 

“That’s no secret, sweetie,” she smiled and put her hands on Dru’s knees. “You’ve always loved Neville.”

“I’ve been fooling around with him and I had planned on leaving Fred. But then we got back home and I can’t leave there anymore. And Fred begged me to give our marriage a second chance.” 

“Oh, yes, that’s uh... well, I don’t think you’ve messed up at all. Sure, you’ve fooled around with Neville, but there still must be something there between you and Fred otherwise you would have just walked out.”

“I love Fred, I really do, just not as much as I love Neville. I’ve always loved him more, I’ve just been telling myself I didn’t. Everyone always thought Fred and I were so much of a better couple, that I started believing it too and tried to forget that nagging feeling that I wanted Neville back.” Dru slid off the chair and sat down next to Tonks, who was looking at her cousin in absolute shock. “I’m sorry to burden you with this, but I just needed to tell someone.” 

Tonks put her arms around Dru and softly caressed her back. “I understand your dilemma,” she said softly and caressed her hair. “What are you going to do?”

Dru shrugged. “I’m married, I have to give it a shot. Besides I can’t go back to Neville anyway. I’m not a member of the order, I can’t leave aunt Muriel.” 

“I think it’s great that despite everything, you’re willing to give your marriage a second chance. What if it doesn’t work out though?”

“It has to. I mean Fred wants me, he loves me. He needs me to make him happy.” 

“Love has to come from both ways, remember? He still has George.”

Dru shrugged. “I do love him.” 

“Oh, you’re so confusing my poor post-pregnant and post-labor brains at the moment,” she chuckled and hugged Dru again. “You have to do what’s right for you, okay? Even if it means breaking someone’s heart. You’ll always be my cousin, no matter what you do or decide.”

“I’m going to do what’s right by my husband, because that’s what marriage is about. Doing what’s right for you partner. Now I’m going to hold my nephew, that will surely lift my spirits again.” Dru got up and went downstairs. “Alright, Rose, you had your time, now hand him over.” 

“Aw, do I have to? I mean, look at him, he’s so cute!”

“You are starting practise with George next month remember? You’ll have your own baby soon.” Dru held out her arms to take little Teddy.

Rose sighed and carefully placed the little boy into Dru’s arms. 

“Rose, please tell me she’s just kidding.” Lupin said in shock. “You’re only 18!” 

“We’re not starting that again, are we?” Rose chuckled. “Stop with the age thing, it’s depressing. I don’t feel like I’m 18, I’ll be 19 in July anyway and I feel older than I am.”

Lupin shook his head. “I’m having a deja vu.” He muttered. “I’ve had this conversation nearly twenty years ago.” 

“Yeah, mum should have listened to you, dad was bad news.” She deadpanned. “Would have saved everyone some grief too.”

“Yeah, but I’m glad she didn’t.” Lupin admitted with a smile. “I wouldn’t have you if she did.” 

“She should have,” she shrugged. “Show me Teddy’s room?” she smiled at him.

Lupin got up and showed her the baby room. “What do you think?”

“Loud,” she chuckled.

“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t have any say in the decoration.” Lupin smirked.

“Oh most definitely,” she gave a nod. “I figured you wanted it to be decorated with dark, old wood and an old wooden crib and some wooden shutters.”

“Nah, I wanted to make it look like a cave with a lot of stuffed wolves.” He chuckled. “And then a sign that said _Wolfy Junior_ on the door.”

“That would have been hilarious,” she grinned. “But he’s not a lycanthrope, you know that right? He didn’t inherit that part of you.”

“I know, dear.” Lupin put one arm around her, pulled her against him and gave her a kiss on her head. “Rose, the reason we picked Harry to be the godfather is, because one, you two are already Teddy’s family and two, we couldn’t pick between the two of you.” 

“Are you seriously trying to make me feel guilty for not feeling guilty about the fact that I’m not Teddy’s godmother?” She smiled at him. “I’d rather be one of his crazy cousins than responsible for him should anything happen to you.”

Lupin put his other arm around Rose too. “Rose, will you please promise me two things?” 

“Yes?”

“The most important thing is please, please, please, don’t feel guilty for any death will fall in this war. You can’t possibly save everyone.” 

“I won’t.”

“I mean it, Rose.” 

“Yeah I know and I’ll try not to.”

“Good. I would hate it you won’t break under the guilt of something you are not the blame for.”

“Alright, I get it. What’s the other thing?” 

“Please, please, please, please wait a little longer with having kids. You're still my little Rose.” Lupin begged her, making Rose laugh.

* * *

“Dru, wake up,” Rose whispered and tugged on Dru’s arm. “Don’t wake up Fred, come on.” It was the middle of the night around the end of April and she had just woken up from the nightmare from hell. Something was wrong and Neville was going to need them soon. “Dru!” she hissed.

“I’m coming.” Dru hissed back while gently trying to remove Fred’s arm from her waist, which wasn’t easy. “Help me.” 

Rose untangled the sheet and carefully lifted Fred’s arm so that Dru could get out of bed. “Take your galleon with you.”

Dru nodded took her wand, her galleon, her boots, skirt and shirt and followed Rose to the kitchen. “What’s going on?” 

“Neville needs us.” Rose said as she put the kettle on to make some tea to wake the both of them up. “Thank god he thought of the Room of Requirement as a hiding place because I don’t think I’ve told him about it being a good hiding place if things got more complicated at Hogwarts.”

“I did. Fred told me you had told him, so I told him with my galleon.” 

“Brilliant,” Rose smiled at her. “So, we need to pack some food and some medical supplies because they should have run out by now.”

Dru nodded and took her bag out. She had left Rose bag under Neville’s bed at Hogwarts. Just in case. “I’ve got enough medicine.” She put her clothes on and put the galleon in the pocket of her sock. ”How much food are you taking?” She asked as she saw Rose emptying the cupboards.

“Oh, there are about 20 hungry mouths to feed,” she shrugged. “Enough?” 

Dru giggled before taking a deep breath. “Where are we going to, when we’re in the castle?” 

“The room of requirement, hopefully. We can’t just barge in, we have to be extremely careful.”

“What about the common room?” 

“I suppose you could go there, yeah.” Rose nodded and accidentally knocked over a few pots and pans. “Shit.”

“What are you two doing?” Ginny asked as she came down stairs.

“Neville needs our help so Rose and I are going back to hogwarts.” 

“Going back to Neville?” Ginny asked as she narrowed her eyes on Dru.

“Ginny, stop this.” Dru said. Ginny had been making remarks all month.

“The DA needs our help, we’re going to help out.” Rose said with a nod and opened the cookie jar to get a biscuit to nibble on. 

“Yeah but you’re expelled, you shouldn’t even be there.”

“I don’t care, nobody has to know I’m there, I’ll just go straight to the hiding place and start fixing people up and feed hungry mouths.”

“And let Dru take care of Neville in her own _special_ way?” 

“Ginny!” Rose smacked her on the head. “Would you just stop? I woke her up. I said we had to go. Not Dru.”

“She’s seeing him again.” Ginny pointed at Dru. “I know it.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous. She’s married to Fred. No matter what she might feel for Neville. Dru would never act on it.” Rose shot at Ginny. 

Ginny looked at Dru. “Well?” 

“Like Rose said, I would never act upon it.” Dru said. 

“Fine, I’ll let it go.” Ginny started helping Rose pack up the food.

Dru got out the galleon and changed the message on it to _common room_ she put a delayed spell on it so the message wouldn’t show up on Neville’s coin for another hour at least. She needed to tell him it was over between them.

“I don’t want you to go.” George said as he watched the girls move around in the kitchen. “It’s ridiculous.”

“George, I’d never have done this if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”

“Then I’m coming with.”

“No, you’re not. You’re part of the Order, you can’t come.”

“I’ll go and get dressed,” Ginny quickly said and ran back upstairs. 

Dru looked at George. “George, please trust us and take us away before Ginny comes back. Else you won’t be able to keep her here.” 

‘Like hell. If you two are going back, so are we.” Dean came down with Luna. “We’re part of the army too.” 

Dru looked at Rose, not knowing what to do now. “They are part of the army. The three of them.” 

Rose sighed and poured tea for everyone. “Alright, let me see what can happen and can’t happen,” she sat down with her mug of tea and took a few sips. “No, George, you’re still not coming with us, you’ll be asked to go by someone else.”

“Dru is not going back without me.” Fred said.

“Yes, I am.” Dru said harsley. “Neville needs me.” 

“I need you.”

Dru shook her head. “He’s in a warzone. This has to happen.” 

“You’re not coming with us, Fred. You’re part of the Order, just like George is. You both stopped being a member of the DA when you joined the Order. I stopped being a member of the DA when I got expelled but they need me there.” Rose said and looked at Ginny, Dean and Luna. “You can come with, you just have to take another entrance.”

“You’re not taking my wife.” Fred shot at Rose. “I just got her back.” 

“Your wife has responsibilities elsewhere, Fred,” Rose shot back at him. “I need her with me as we go and help Neville and the rest of the DA.”

“Fred, he needs me there, like Harry needed you.” Dru tried. “Please, I need you to support me.”

“No, I’m not going to allow you to walk into Hogwarts like that. It’s too dangerous.”

“She’ll be fine, I promise,” Rose said as she poured herself another cup of tea and then looked at George while she nibbled on a biscuit. “You trust me, right?”

“Yes.” He said reluctantly, he hated that he couldn’t go but he knew better than to fight Rose on this.

“Fine, then you don’t allow me or support me. I’m still going.” Dru said to Fred. “And me thinking you were actually honest about trying to be there for me.” 

“I can’t be there for you if you’re gone, can I?” Fred shot at her. “I don’t want you to go, not without me, that’s all.”

“But I have to.” Dru shook her head. “I understand you’re scared, so am I. But I’ve told you before, Hogwarts needs Neville to survive and he needs us.” 

“Give it up, Freddie,” George said. “Our wives are ready to do this and we don’t have to agree with them but we knew this day was coming.”

“Are we going now?” Dru said annoyed at Rose. 

George pulled Ginny in his arms. “Be careful, sis. I might have 5 brothers, I only have one little sister.” 

“Don’t worry George, I’ll be fine. The trick is to get inside, that’s all.” She smiled at him and gently pat him on the back.

George smiled at her, let her go and hugged Rose. “Please don’t lose any body parts. I love this body too much.”

Rose softly kissed him. “I’ll make sure to lose an ear and not an arm, how’s that?” She stuck out her tongue to him and kissed him again. “Don’t worry, you’ll see me soon again.”

George pulled Rose in deep kiss.

Ginny put her arms around Fred. “Don’t be mad at Dru. We need her.” 

Fred sighed and hugged his baby sister. “I know, but... you just be careful okay? Have her back for me?”

“Always.” Ginny gave Fred a kiss on his cheek. 

“Good,” he gave a nod and then pulled Dru against him. “Alright, but you better be careful, okay?” He said as he caressed her hair. “I want you back in one piece.”

“I’m always careful.” She said as she put her arms around his neck. “I’ll be back soon, in one piece I promise. Can’t leave my husband behind, can I?” 

“No, because your husband doesn’t know what to do without his firecracker,” he smiled and softly kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” she smiled at him.

“So, lift this crazy no-apparating barrier for just a bit so we can take everyone with us.” Rose poked George in his side. 

“No, Fred and I will take you just outside the grounds and then you two can apparate on your own.” 

“Fine, come on, we need to move while it’s still dark.”

George and Fred took them just outside the ground and the girls apparated their friends just outside of Hogsmeade. From there they were going to walk to the castle. 

“Alright, so, we can’t take any of the secret passageways because they’re looking at those or are closed,” Rose said as they were walking. “The best idea is to go straight to the room of requirement without getting caught. Ginny, you take Luna and Dean through the kitchens and work your way up from there.”

“No,Ginny takes Luna and you take Dean, Rose.” Dru said. “You’re not going alone.” 

“Then you take Dean and I’ll go with Ginny and Luna. You’re not going alone either.”

“No, I’m going to the common room. Alone. I need to take care of something. And don’t even try to talk me out of this. I need to do this.” 

“Fine, the four of us will go through the kitchens. Together. Maybe we can convince my former house elf to save us some trouble and apparate us straight into the room of requirement.” Rose glared at Dru before stopping at the gates. “Watch out for patrols.”

“I will.” Dru gave Rose a light squeeze on her arm. It was the first time in months Dru had shown a sign of the close bond she and Rose used to share. They both had hardened a lot with each other over the last year. “I won’t be long, don’t worry.” Dru suddenly pulled Rose in a hug. “Be careful.” 

“You too, you’ll be fine,” she smiled and pat her on the back. “Let’s run our lungs out of our bodies, shall we?”

“Yeah, love the running.” Dru smiled and let Rose go.

“Ready?” Rose grabbed Ginny’s hand, who took Luna’s and she took Dean’s. Rose then grabbed Dru’s hand. “You’re on point Dru,” she chuckled.

“On three. One...two...three.” 

They managed to run towards the castle while ducking patrols that Rose saw coming or Dru heard and then Dru ran off while Rose took the rest of them to the kitchens. It had been surprisingly easy, but then again, Rose knew that this was the calm before the storm and they weren’t expected. At all.

Rose was surprised to find that the elves were still there, and her assessment over the food had been right, the elves were depressed or drunk or both. “Where’s Winky?”

“Students shouldn’t be down here in the kitchen!” One of the elves hiccuped and then burped. “And Winky is a free elf!”

“I know she is,” Rose rolled her eyes at the elf. “Where is she?”

“Miss Rose?” Winky crawled from her hiding spot and Rose could see that she was as pissed as a newt. “What can Winky do for miss Rose? Miss Rose never asked for Winky anymore after Master Crouch gave Winky clothes. Didn’t even care about Winky no more, so what does Miss Rose want?”

“I was wondering if you could apparate us into the room of requirement, Winky,” Rose said and sat down on her knees in front of her former house elf. “That way we don’t have to dodge a few patrols and we’ll be safe.”

“Should you even trust an elf?” Dean asked before he was slapped on the head by Ginny. 

“Don’t listen to him,” Rose smiled at Winky. “He’s a guy.”

“Boys can’t be trusted, Miss Rose. All they want is be mean and have sex.”

“But can you help us? Please? Will you help me?”

“Of course, Miss Rose. I was wondering if I could ask you for something as well.”

“What is it?”

“Could you take back my clothes now that Master Crouch and young master Barty are gone?” The elf asked with a small voice. “I don’t like being free, all the other elves are mean and Dobby is gone. Dobby was a good elf.”

“Maybe she can live with you and George?” Ginny suggested.

“Yeah...” Rose said a bit absentmindedly. It was a good idea but maybe not so much. “Alright, let’s make you a deal. I won’t take back your clothes because I like you to have freedom, but if you want, after this is all over I will treat you as a proper house elf in the apartment that I share with my husband and at this moment also his brother and his wife, they’ll move out when they get the chance. How’s that?”

Winky slowly nodded. “Anything but the Hogwarts kitchens, Miss Rose.”

“Help us get into the room of requirement and I’ll tell you where you can go and hide out okay? I want you out of the castle.”

Winky took hold of Rose’s hand while the other three held on to Rose and Winky apparated the four of them into the room of requirement. Rose bent over and whispered the address for the apartment in Winky’s ear, and Winky disappeared with a smile on her face. When she rose to her feet, she saw that the four of them were being greeted with wands nearly shoved in their faces. 

“Lavender, I want my hair back!” Rose said with a smile. “I came to collect my hair and feed you hungry people.”

“You’ve got fire then?” Seamus asked.

“Plenty,” Rose nodded and opened her bag and turned it upside down. “Medical supplies, canned food...”


	54. It's starting

When Dru got to common room, she saw it was completely deserted. There was a strange vibe about it. Like it had been deserted for a few days now and it wasn’t expecting any of it’s residents to return to it anytime soon. 

She walked around the room, until she suddenly heard the familiar cracking of the portrait hole. She quickly hid at the staircase that went up to the dormitories. She stood as close to the wall as she could, trying not to breathe too loudly. Someone coming into the common room. Dru tried to stay calm but she suddenly got the feeling she had made a terrible mistake coming back to Hogwarts. She was still wanted by death eaters.

“Who is there?” Dru realised she knew that voice, more than she knew any other voice at Hogwarts, the voice she had wanted to hear. She looked around the corner of the stairs, Neville was looking right at her.

Neville felt like his heart stopped and just almost burst out of his chest. Before him stood his beloved girlfriend, the girl he hadn’t seen in over a month. “Dru.” he sighed happily.

Dru gasped as she saw his face. It was bruised even worse than when she left Hogwarts and there were several cuts on it too. “Oh Neville, what did they do to you?” She walked over to him while putting her wand away. She gently held his face and examined it. 

Neville put his hands on her upper arms, he was still in a state of shock. Not just to see her, but she seemed fine, no cuts, no bruises and she hadn’t even lost weight. “Are you alright?” He asked, he still wanted to be sure of it, life on the run was hard.

Dru nodded as she kept examining his face. “Yeah, I’ve been in hiding with Fred and the rest of the family, Rose and Ginny too. But right now I’m more worried about you. What did they do to you?” 

Neville felt his heart almost break, As he had feared, she had gotten back together with Fred. He shrugged his shoulder, “Just the usual.” He had gotten used to the torture and the beatings by now. He was just glad to see Dru again, to know she was still in one piece. He let his hands slowly wander to the small of her back. She was standing so close, he could smell her familiar scent and almost feel her body heat.

Dru hadn’t noticed how close they were standing, she was to busy worrying about Neville, if his face was this bad, how many cuts and bruises would he have on the rest of his body? “Does it hurt?” 

“Not that much.” He said as he gently pulled her a bit closer to him, he know she was too preoccupied with her worries about him to notice what he was doing, but he didn’t care. There was a war going on and he could feel the end of it coming closer and now that they were alone, he had to try, just one more time. He leaned in and softly kissed her.

It took her by surprise and it took her a few seconds before she pushed his face away. “Neville, what are you doing?” His arms were still around her, holding her very close against him.

“Fighting! I’m fighting for the one thing that means more to me than anything else in the world.” He kissed her again, lifted her up and took three long strides before pushing her back against the wall.

Dru turned her head to break off the kiss. “Neville, stop this. I’m married. We can’t do this anymore.” 

“I don’t care. I love you and you love me. You belong with me, Dru.” He whispered huskily in her ear. He gently placed two kisses in her neck, just below her ear while his fingers find a way under her shirt and let them rest on her bare skin. He chuckled when she gave a small gasp. “See, you keep telling you don’t want me, but your body tells me otherwise.” he started kissing her neck again.

“Neville...don’t...I’m married.” She moaned, knowing he was right, she still loved him deeply, more than anything in the world, despite her loving Fred too. And as for her body responding, well, she could help it; there had always been a strong physical attraction between them, but Dru tried everything in her power to try and not give into it. “Neville, I don’t want this.” 

Neville stopped kissing her, but didn’t let her go. He was never going to force her to do anything she didn’t want. But he was going to do everything he could to make her confess how much he knew she wanted him and to make her give in to her own feelings. “You do, Dru.. I can feel it. I feel your body respond to mine.” He pushed his fingers in her back, making her release an involuntary moan. “You want me.” 

Dru shook her head. “My body does, I don’t. Neville, I love Fred and I might never going to love him the way I love you. I have to give my marriage a chance.” she pushed him a bit further away from her.

“Okay, then just give me the chance to say goodbye to you.” 

“Fine, goodbye, Neville.” 

Neville smiled. “Silly girl, I want a kiss goodbye, a real kiss.” He whispered in her ear.

Dru shook her head. “You’re mad. Fred’s going to kill you if you kiss me.”

“Well... then we just don’t tell him.”

“Neville, I love him, I’m not going to cheat on my husband. Not again.” She kept her hands on his chest, trying not to let him closer, even though her body was screaming for him to kiss her, to touch her.

“Dru, there’s a war going on, and it’s getting closer to it’s end. I know it, you know it. I just want closure before it’s too late.” he took another step closer to her, he was a lot stronger than her. He would still never force her, but he knew Dru like he knew his own pocket. He knew she would give in to him eventual. 

“Didn’t you have your closure when you dumped me in St. Mungo’s?” Dru snapped at him, trying to get him to leave her alone.

Neville took a deep breath. “That was the most stupidest thing I ever did in my life and I still regret it every single day of my life. But I’m going to get you back, you’ll see.” 

“So Merlin’s sake. How many times do I have to tell you? I’m married to Fred.” Dru was getting a bit annoyed, partly because because he wouldn’t give up, partly because he was getting to her and she didn’t want him to get to her.

“Do you remember Christmas night after the yule ball? We sat there in that very corner and we made each other a promise.” 

“Yes, I remember that night. You made me promise to always listen to my heart, and my heart belongs to Fred, not to you!” She lied.

Neville took one last step towards him. His body was now pushing hers to the wall. “I promised you that no matter what you said or did, I would never ever stop fighting for you, for us. And I’m going to keep my promise to you.” 

Dru swallowed. “Neville, we can’t... don’t you care how I feel?” Dru tried to convince him to stop.

Neville nodded. “That’s why I’m not giving up on you, because I know deep down you still love me somewhere. And maybe we can’t be together anymore, but if I’d die in battle, you’ll never forgive yourself for not giving me a proper goodbye.” He whispered in her ear. 

“I can’t... Neville, you need to let me go... please.” she was begging him

He moved his face even closer to her. “Just one kiss, nobody will ever have to know.” He knew full well that if he could get her to kiss him, she couldn’t deny her feelings for him anymore. He knew she wanted to be his, all he needed to do is to make her admit it again.

Dru shook her head lightly. She didn’t trust her voice anymore to talk, she was afraid she might say yes.

“One... kiss.” He whispered before gently pushing his lips on hers, sucking a bit on her lower lip. 

Dru couldn’t resist him anymore, she put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss and pulled him closer to him. 

Neville chuckled. “Don’t want me, huh?” he muttered to the kiss.

“Dru broke off the kiss and smiled at him. “Neville?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Shut the fuck up.”

Neville chuckled and kissed her again, deeply, as his hand slide further under the shirt. 

Dru kept kissing him while she opened the zipper on his cardigan and took it off, before she started unbuttoning his shirt. She didn’t care anymore about the war coming and that they always should wear clothes. She wanted him and she wanted him naked.

He couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. It had been easy to make the pretense around Dru fall again and have her discard all the lies she had been possibly telling herself over the last few months and he was currently snogging her face off, trying to open her shirt so he could feel her beautiful skin. 

Dru had taken his shirt off and let her fingernails run down over his chest. She started moving to the sofa. She helped Neville by taking her shirt off and threw it on the floor. 

“I’ve missed you so much,” He said as he kissed her passionately. “So so much.”

“I’ve missed you too.” As she returned his kiss, while putting her arms around his neck. “I missed you more than you could ever imagine.” she broke off the kiss and sat down on the sofa while her dark brown eyes looked up to him, she was feeling a bit nervous. 

“What would you like me to do, Dru?” Neville asked as he sat down on his knees in front of the sofa, gently caressing her stomach with his hands and kissing her neck. 

“What do you mean? I thought you had sex before?” She giggled.

“Quite possibly,” he nodded and gently pushed her down to the sofa. “But I don’t want to do anything you don’t want me to do, unless you say ‘the hell with it’ and I’d take you right now.”

“The hell with it.” She giggled while she bit on her bottom lip. Her eyes were sparkling with desire.

“Yum,” he grinned and started to take off his trousers and underwear before moving her skirt up and placed his hand on her heat. “Oh you feel so hot and wet already,” he said huskily. “You’ve really missed me.”

Dru nodded and started to open the zipper of her skirt. “What are you going to do about that?” 

He kissed her deeply as he removed her underwear. “I’m going to screw your brains out,” he whispered in her ear. “Is that good enough for you?”

“You better know what you’re doing. I’m very high maintenance.” She took off her skirt and kicked off her boots before removing her socks too. “Do you think you have what it takes to please me?” He unhooked her bra and when that fell on the floor, they were both completely naked. 

“I dunno, I’m just this bloke from Yorkshire...” he suckled on her collarbone for a bit while he moved his hand up and down her heat. “Oh... you taste so very good and... so wet.”

Dru buried her hand in his hair, grabbing it tightly while she moaned. “What do blokes from Yorkshire do to please a girl from Wiltshire?” 

“Well normally, we take our time with our pretty lassies and make them feel all floaty and wonderful but this Wiltshire girl that I currently have underneath me? She just gave me permission to just fuck her brains out, which is so incredibly sexy.” He licked her earlobe. “And so hot.” He whispered in her ear.

“I think I like this Yorkshire boy. I want to find out how good he fucks.” Dru moaned and pulled him into a deep kiss. “He’s talks very, very dirty. I like dirty talk like that. It’s sexy.” 

He shifted a little and shoved a throw pillow underneath her ass to make sure that he had a bit easier access to her. He then lined himself up to her and slowly started to make his way inside of her. “How does that feel?”

“Like a whole lot of Neville.” she moaned as she dug her nails into his right bicep. “And Neville feels good.” she giggled before kissing him. 

“You feel so good,” he said while answering her kiss and pushed a little harder. “So so good and you’re so beautiful...”

“You feel good inside of me.” Dru moaned as he hit a sensitive spot inside of her. "I love the way you fill me up! That feels so good!" she ran her teeth down his earlobe. She had been wanting to do this with Neville again for so long and so far it was even so much better than she had even imagined. She sighed happily when he had fully buried himself inside of her. 

He didn’t start moving inside of her just yet as he leaned on his elbows and ran his fingers through her hair as he looked into her eyes. “I love you so much, Dru.” 

“I love you too, Neville.” She tenderly kissed him but when he slowly started trusting, it took her by surprise and she bit down hard on his lip, making it bleed a little. “Sorry.”

Neville thrust a few times harder in response and smirked at her as he licked his own lip, tasting the familiar taste of copper in his mouth. “Don’t apologise,” he told her and started to pick up the pace. 

Dru giggled and moaned at the same time. “Oh, you like it a bit more rough.” She dug her nails in his back as she pushed her head back in the sofa. Her breaths were getting short and ragged. She could feel how the built up of butterflies in her stomach increased rapidly. “Oh god, Neville. What are you doing to me?” She moaned.

“I’m killing spiders with my cock,” he grinned and started to kiss her along the jaw while he kept moving in and out of her.

“Idiot.” Dru laughed and tugged on his hair before she moaned again. “Oh god, Nev!” She was almost climaxing.

He started to thrust harder and tried to get deeper and felt how her body started to play catch and release around his cock and it felt so good when she came, the added stimulant from her body was just what he needed right now to get over the edge as well and when he came, he tried hard not to topple on top of her. “You are so beautiful,” he breathed heavily. 

Dru giggled and pulled him close to her. “You’re my sexy hero.” She gave him a kiss. “I’m never leaving you again.” 

“I’m in heaven,” he smiled at her.

“When school is over, I’m going home with you. Then we’re going to tell Fred together. I’m never leaving you ever again.” She kissed him tenderly.

“School is over, but when this war is done, yes. We are definitely going to do that then.” He gave a nod and softly kissed her lips. “We’d better get dressed and back to the room of requirement.”

“Wait, what do you mean, school is over?” 

“Me and some other students have been hiding out in the Room of Requirement for the last two to three weeks and have survived on cooking from Dumbledore’s brother.”

Dru nodded and yawned. “Wait, why are you here then?” She slowly got up and started picking up her clothes from the floor.

“You told me to come here,” Neville laughed and waved his wand to clean himself up and then cleaned her up with it as well before he started to get dressed.

“Right.” Dru said, “But I didn’t know you were in hiding.” She put her bra back on which was sitting very uncomfortable. “I need a new bra.”

“Rose probably knew, did she come with you? Where did she go?”

“Yeah, the room of requirement. Oh wait, she did tell me you were in hiding. Sorry, I’m a bit forgetful lately.” 

“Nah, you’re just tired,” Neville planted a kiss on her forehead. “Dealing with Fred, your issues, me...” 

“Very tired.” Dru smiled and looked around. “What did you do with my panties?” 

He looked underneath the sofa before pulling them from between the sofa cushions. “Here.”

Dru took them and gave him a kiss. “We really need to do this again. Soon!” She put her panties back on before sitting down and putting her boots on. 

“Yes... did you two bring food? The good food?” He asked as he helped her to her feet and pulled her towards the portrait. “Or at least snacks? And maybe medical supplies to start fixing some cuts?”

Dru laughed. “Yes, all of the above.” She stopped him for a second. “Rose and Ginny are both there. What are we going to do?” 

“We’re going up to the room of requirement and we’re going to pretend nothing is going on,” he softly kissed her. “As much as I love Rose, and Ginny, they both scare the hell out of me and I don’t want them to get angry.”

Dru pouted. “But I want you to touch me again.” 

“Soon,” he smiled. “Right now they need me up there, they might think that I’m laying dead in a corridor if I stay away too long.”

“Alright. We’ll tell them I needed to talk to you alone. That things had became too much for me again.” Dru shrugged. “They’re bound to believe that.” She took his hand and they quickly made their way to the room of requirement. When they were nearly there. “Oh, Rose, Ginny and I brought you a surprise.” 

“You did?” Neville took a step aside when Rose hurried passed to go to what he thought was the nearest bathroom, despite having one in the room of requirement. “Hi Rose!” he whispered, and she only gave a wave to acknowledge him. He then pulled Dru into the room and he was then tackled by Luna. “Oh my god, Luna!”

Dru let Neville's hand go and made her way over to Lavender. “Hi, how have you been?” 

“Great!” Lavender hugged Dru. “So good to see you’re safe!”

Dru hugged Lavender back. “I’m so sorry for abandoning you, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t leave.” 

“Ah, your husband held you hostage until you forgot about our hero?” Lavender grinned and handed Dru some tea. Thanks to Rose they had a small campfire going with a kettle to make tea for everyone. They hadn’t had a kettle before. Or tea. 

Dru looked at Lavender in shock. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I mean, it’s been obvious that at least since Christmas, you’ve been seeing Neville again.” She shrugged with a smile. “Which is totally fine. In fact, I think it’s adorable.”

Dru’s mouth was wide open. “Lavender, you can’t tell anyone. I... I haven’t been able to tell Fred yet.” She whispered. “Wait, you think it’s adorable?” 

“You and Neville are a better fit than you and Fred, everyone knows that,” Seamus said as he joined the girls with a cookie. “Great cookies, did your mum in law make these?”

“No, I did.” Dru smiled. She looked at her two classmates. “Please tell me you are the only two that know this.” 

“We’re the only two you’ve confirmed it to,” Seamus gave a nod. “But don’t worry, it’s not like we’re going to tell anyone and the rest of them don’t even know Fred and don’t want to meddle in other people’s business, like me and Lav, we don’t meddle, we merely observe.”

Dru laughed and shook her head before taking a sip of her tea. She pulled an ugly face and spat he tea back into her cup. “That’s...urgh. I think I’m going to be sick.” Dru sat down and put her hand on her stomach.

“Flu?” Lavender asked. “Or food poisoning? But Mrs. Weasley is a great cook, or hasn’t she been cooking?”

“Aunt Muriel has,” Rose groaned as she sat down next to Dru and took a nice cup of tea. “Ginny’s used to it but Muriel doesn’t allow anyone else to cook.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Seamus chuckled. “So you’re not interested in the can of soup you brought with you either?”

“Not right now, no.” Rose shook her head. “Besides, we brought you food because you guys are starving.”

“Great soup,” Neville nodded as he made his way over with a bowl and sat down next to Lavender, opposite of Rose. “We okay, Rose?”

“Sort of.”

Dru put her head on Rose’s shoulder. “I’m tired.” she yawned. 

“Yeah, we’ve been up half the night,” she chuckled. “Get some rest.” Rose said as she caressed Dru’s back with her free hand. “I’m going to finish my tea and find a spot on the floor too.”

“We got hammocks enough. Every time a new person arrives, so does a new hammock.” Neville pointed at the far corner near a painting high above the floor. “That’s the corner I’ve been sleeping with Lavender and Seamus. The kids know that when one of us sleeps they need to leave us be, so you girls can sleep there without being disturbed.” 

“You guys need to sleep too, it was just safer to travel while it was still dark.”

“We sleep in turns, and I’m ...I’ve got enough energy at the moment.” Neville smiled as he took another spoon of soup.

Rose slowly got up again and helped Dru off the floor too. “Let’s go princess.”

“Don’t call me princess.” Dru hit Rose over her head.

Rose laughed and put her arm around her. “I’m sorry your highness.”

“Stop that, Rose.” Dru pushed Rose away from her. Dru walked over to the hammocks and rubbed her breast. “God, these things are annoying.” 

She laughed and nearly spilled her tea when she got into a hammock. “I’m so glad I kept the fancy stuff at home and got into one of my old ones. George doesn’t like it but with what’s coming up? I went for comfort.”

Dru smiled. “I’m always wearing these kinds. My nipples are just very sensitive.” 

“Yeah, I so didn’t need to know that,” Rose shuddered and took a sip of her tea before placing the mug on the floor. “Go to sleep.”

Dru turned to her side and looked over the side of the hammock to see where Neville was. He looked at her and smiled. She smiled back at him and closed her eyes. She really was tired.

* * *

The next day, Rose and Dru helped Lavender and Ginny to fix up some cuts and bruises and then helped Neville with refreshing everyone’s memory on spells, just how they did it in their Fifth year although when Neville wanted the rest of them to practise duelling, Rose politely declined. 

Dru also declined. She was still feeling nauseous and very tired. She was sitting in the corner of the room fixing some tears in several robes. 

Rose couldn’t help but feeling as if today, May 2nd, would be the day that everything was going to hell. As if this would be the day where they’d make a final and definite stand against Voldemort and it’d be alright. There was something in the air, just a feeling she couldn’t describe. She was heating the remainder of the soup they had brought with them, just enough to feed them all again (although there was something about canned soup that Rose really really didn’t like). 

Dru had stood fixing the robes and was rubbing her arm. The scar wasn’t burning, but it was darker and when she looked at it, she gave a little shriek when she thought she saw the snake move.

“Dru?” Rose looked at her friend. “What’s up?”

Dru shook her head. “Something is wrong.” She suddenly clenched her head. “Oh god. No! The idiot.” she muttered. 

“Dru?” Neville knelled down next to. “Who’s an idiot?” 

“Well, you, but we all know that.” She smiled. When everybody laughed, “Harry’s in Hogsmeade.” She whispered so that only Neville and Rose who were close to her, could hear.

“Oh idiot!” Rose groaned. “I suppose tonight’s the night then.” 

“What?” Dru said scared. “No.” 

“Give me your galleon,” she said as she held out her hand for it. If Harry was in Hogsmeade, then he’d be at Aberforth’s and he’d come soon. If Harry would come soon, he’d need a few more extra wands who were actually a bit more capable than more than half of the students present in the room of requirement. 

“I’ll contact the order by the wireless.” Neville said to Rose and put his hand on her shoulder. “The room provided us with radio stuff. I’ve been keeping in contact with Lupin for a while now.” 

“Neville,” Rose smiled sweetly at him. “Hands off before I break it.”

Neville pulled his hand back. “Sorry, Rose. I keep forgetting.”

“Excuse me,” Rose said as she got up and quickly made her way over to the bathroom to throw up. Why wasn’t Aunt Muriel’s food not out of her system yet? “Damn Aunt Muriel!” she cursed loud enough for everyone else to hear.

“Ah, so it wasn’t me then,” Neville sighed and looked at Dru. “Will she ever tolerate me around her again?”

“I don’t know.” Dru was nearly in tears as she had taken hold of Neville’s arm. “Neville, when the fight breaks out, please stay near me.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be with you. Or maybe you’ll be safer with Fred for this one. He’s the better duellist and his spells don’t actually miss.”

“No.” Dru shook her head. “I want to stay with you.” 

Neville sighed. “Dru, you need to stay with Fred. If he finds out you’re leaving him now, he’ll be upset and unfocused. You don’t want him to fight like that, do you?” 

“No, But you---.” 

“I know you’re mine.” He smiled at her. “But Fred needs you now and you need to be his wife tonight. Look, I know a part of you still loves him very much. Focus on that tonight and forget about me. Kiss him, hold him, get him through this fight and when it’s all over and we’re all still alive, we tell him together that you’re mine now.” 

Dru nodded, she knew he was right. “I love you.” She whispered. “You need to be careful, promise me.” 

“I promise,” he smiled and caressed her hair. “And I love you too,” he then saw movement on the huge painting. “I suppose Ariana is coming to get me.”

“Go.” Dru nodded bravely although she was still holding on to his right arm. 

“You’d have to let me go,” he chuckled.

She nodded and let go of his arm. She knew they couldn’t kiss now, so she just looked down to the ground. “Go.” She whispered. 

“Colin, let Lupin know that it’s time.” Neville called out to the boy behind the wireless and climbed up to the portrait.

Dru watched Neville leave. She was still feeling sick which she blamed on nerves. She looked at Rose coming back, looking like she was almost feeling more sick that Dru. “Are you alright?” Dru asked her friend as Rose sat down next to her.

“I think it’s the chicken we had a couple of days ago or I’m getting sick.” She sighed and pointed at the soup. “That smells horrendous.”

“I know.” Dru put her head on Rose’s shoulder. “I don’t care what anybody says, I’m never eating that woman’s food ever again.”

“We don’t have to after today,” she grinned. “That’s one good thing about today.”

“I don’t want to fight. I’m scared.” 

“You don’t have to fight,” Rose said as she caressed Dru’s back. “You can stay in here if you’d like, no one would think less of you if you don’t.”

“And leave my friends? I might be weak and a coward, but I love my friends.” 

“You’re not a coward and you’re certainly not weak. You’re going to show them who’s boss.”

Du scooted a bit closer to Rose. “I love you, Rosie. You are a good friend.” 

“I love you too,” she smiled at her. “No matter how often we fight, you’ll always be my friend.”

“Do you remember our duel?” Dru laughed. “God, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Yeah, it was funny how we weren’t supposed to really hurt each other and all you did was trying to hurt me,” she chuckled.

“I felt your anger and it took me over.” Dru laughed. “Oh, do you remember, us and Hermione getting ready for the yule ball? That was the first time we really let Hermione in.” 

“Oh the Yule ball...” Rose chuckled and shook her head. “If it hadn’t been for George I would have refused to go despite my father giving me that dress.”

“And I cried myself to sleep for days, because Neville had asked Ginny instead of me. God, that feels like a lifetime ago.” 

“Only four years,” she nodded. “Give or take a couple of months... we’ve been through a lot, haven’t we? Stuff like we have seen should have stuck on to Harry and we shouldn’t have been bothered at all!”

“Only three and four months.”

“A life time ago, because it feels like five.” Rose gave a nod. “I’m 19 in a few months! I’m getting old!”

Dru laughed. “You’re an old married woman.” 

“I don’t mind being that, rather that than crazy old cat lady...”

Dru smiled and looked at the portrait. “Rosie, please do try and let Neville back in. He misses you so much.” 

“I’m fine with him as long as he doesn’t touch me, which is okay, right?” Rose shrugged. “That’s all I can do for the moment, I still don’t allow George to touch me in most places either.”

“Maybe you could tell Neville that he’s still like a good friend to you too. I know he means a lot to you, but he needs to hear it from you. He feels so guilty.”

“Could we please not have this talk right now?” Rose pointed at the portrait. “They’re coming.”

Dru watched as the portrait opened.

“Hey, listen up you lot, I’ve brought you a surprise.” Neville said with a smile on his face. 

“Not more of Aberforth’s cooking I hope. It’d be a surprise if we can digest it!” 

Neville stepped aside and Harry was standing right behind him. When everybody saw him, there was cheering and applause. And while everybody went to hug him. Dru made her way over and pulled Hermione in a hug. “Thank god, you’re still alive.” Dru said. 

“Oh you too!” Hermione returned the hug with a smile. 

Ron gave Rose a hug. “How’s the family?” he asked her quietly. “I though you and Dru were in hiding.” 

“They’re alright,” she smiled as she hugged Ron back. “We were, but we came back yesterday,” she then tapped on her head with an even bigger smile. “And we got you a surprise too, but I’m wondering where it went.”

“Can’t wait.” Ron smiled and let Rose go to give Dru a hug, while Hermione hugged Rose. 

“Okay, okay, let’s not kill him before you know who get the chance.” Neville broke up the group hug to give Harry some space and started hearing him out about a plan or what he needed and Harry didn’t really know what he was looking for or where it was, which had everyone confused. Luna then offered her knowledge on the lost diadem of Ravenclaw and then got interrupted by the door of the room of requirement opening and Ginny walking in, looking surprised to see her brother, Hermione and Harry.

“Harry!”

“Six months she hasn’t seen me.” Ron complained. “I’m only her brother.”

“She has lot of those, mate. She has only one Harry.”  
.  
“Shut up, Seamus.”

"What is it, Ginny?" Neville asked,

“Snape knows that Harry’s been spotted in Hogsmeade. He wants all the students to gather in the great hall.” Ginny replied. 

“Right, well, that leaves a whole lot of us who aren’t going there yet.” Neville said.

“I am.” Ginny said determined. “I am.” she said again as she looked at Rose and Dru. 

“Put on a robe and stay out of sight of Snape and the Carrows.” Dru said. She understood why Ginny wanted to go with Harry. 

“Me and Seamus will keep her safe.” Lavender sat and handed Ginny a robe before following the rest of the students and Harry out.

“Are we having a party here?” George said as he climbed out of the portrait hole followed by Fred and Lee. 

“Aberforth’s getting a bit ratty,” said Fred, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. “He wants a kip, and his bar’s turned into a railway station.”

Dru glanced at Neville before walking over to Fred and waited for him to climb down.

“George!” Rose squealed and ran into his arms. 

“Hello, Rosie. I see you found my baby brother.” He hugged Rose tightly. “Are you okay? No beatings?” He asked quietly.

“Ah, thank you, finally someone who acknowledges my existence!” Ron said dramatically.

“No, we’ve stayed out of trouble,” Rose smiled at him. “I just can’t stomach your aunt’s food though, it’s been playing up a little. Could be the nerves.”

Fred’s feet had barely touched the ground when Dru hugged him. “Hi.”

“Oh hello beautiful,” Fred smiled at her and softly kissed her as he returned her hug. “Couldn’t you just have told me that I only had to miss you for one day? One long and tiresome day?”

“Don’t you think we would have if we had known?” She smiled up at him. She focused on his feelings for her, to drown out her own feelings for Neville and luckily that was working. 

George hugged his baby brother. “Welcome back Ron, we missed you.” 

“And set your room alight.” Fred pointed out and pat his brother on the back while still keeping an arm firmly around Dru. 

“Where is my son?!” Molly Weasley’s voice sounded from the tunnel, followed by some shushing by Arthur.

“Oh boy.” Dru whispered. 

She climbed out of the portrait hole and enveloped Ron into a bear hug. “Welcome back, Ronald dear!” She then turned to Rose and Dru. “And you two! Have you lost your minds? How dare you sneak off into the night like that leaving us all worried whether or not you were alright!”

“I couldn’t stand Muriel’s cooking. Honestly ask Neville. Rose and I have been sick for two days now.” Dru said. 

“Probably her famous chicken,” George and Fred snickered.

“And how dare you to take Ginny with you!”

“They allowed us to.” Dru pointed at Fred. Molly hit both boys on their heads. “Serves you right for making fun of me being sick.” Dru snickered softly to Fred. 

Kingsley, Lupin, Bill and Fleur were the next people coming through the hole. 

“Fleur!” Dru let Fred go and hugged the French girl. She hadn’t seen Fleur for months now. 

“Rose!” Lupin shook his head as he walked up to the girl and hugged her. “Just like your mother, running towards danger instead of running away from it.”

“You shouldn’t be here. You should be at home with Tonks and Teddy.” Rose replied. 

“The order needs me.” Lupin said and shook Neville’s hand. “Did you hear from your grandmother yet?”

“She was brilliant,” Neville smiled widely. “Thinking she was easy prey like that,” he chuckled. “Dolohov is still incapacitated.”

“No anymore I’m afraid. He left St. Mungo two days ago.” Kingsley said as he patted Neville’s back. “But still your grandmother hurt him pretty bad.” 

“I think that we should go to the great hall... Harry’s about to be found,” Rose said softly.

“Has it started? Am I too late?” Percy asked as he climbed down the portrait hole. 

“Told you he’d be back.” Dru said softly to Fred when she saw his shocked face.

“Perce.” George said in shock. 

“Oh Percy!” Molly hugged her son and ruffled his hair. “I knew you’d see sense one day!”

“Come on guys, Rose said we need to get a move on.” Neville said. “And Rosie is always right.” 

“If Rosie has a clear shot of things,” she muttered, took George’s hand and gently squeezed it. 

As they were all walking down the stairs, Percy suddenly walked next to George. “I thought you two had broken up.” 

“Huh?” George said confused. “What made you think that?” 

“Well... you two never showed up for your appointment at the registry office. I’ve waited all afternoon.”

“Ah, well, we got married at the Burrows. Rose thought that was a better idea, with everyone there. Wait, how did you know Rose and I were getting married?”

“I know my brothers, George. I knew that if Fred got married, you would never be far behind, so I checked the books.” Percy blushed. “Congratulations, by the way.” 

“Told you he still cared about you.” Dru said to Fred. 

“I’m sorry for having been an idiot.” Percy roared. “I was a fool! I was a pompous prat, I was a---.”

“Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power hungry wanker,” said Fred.

Percy swallowed. “I was!”

“Don’t worry, Percy. They just really missed you.” Dru smiled at him. 

Kingsley opened the door and they all walked into the hall. Harry was standing in the middle of the hall, looking at Snape. Harry was yelling at Snape about killing Dumbledore. Both Snape and Harry had drawn their wands, but much to everyone’s surprise so had Professor McGonagall, so started attacking Snape. He only defended himself and knocked out both of the Carrows with one of his defensive spells before fleeing the room. 

“Coward!” McGonagall yelled after him. 

The order started walking towards Harry while he talked to Professor McGonagall. When Dru started to scream from the top of her lungs, they stopped and looked at her, mortified. She collapsed to the floor while she held her head. 

Fred was on his knees next to her in an instant, putting his arms around her and held her close. “Dru? Dru? What’s going on?”

Neville looked in horror. He would have done anything to hold Dru now but he knew he couldn’t. 

Rose stumbled backwards into George and covered her ears with both of her hands. She just about managed not to scream out in pain, but it was hard, because it really really hurt.

“Rose?” George looked very concerned and put his arms around her. 

Then more girls started screaming, one by one, before suddenly everybody could hear his voice. 

_”I know that many of you want to fight. Some of you may even think that fighting is wise. But this is folly. Give me Harry Potter. Do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have one hour.”_

Rose whimpered in George’s arms as she could feel his presence disappear. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and looked over to Dru, who seemed to have settled a little too. She took a deep breath and put her arms around George and tried to fight the sudden burst of nausea that had come up.

“What are you waiting for?!” Pansy cried out and pointed at Harry. “Someone grab him!”  
Dru got up and walked over to Pansy and pointed her wand at her. She had always hated her brother's ex. Fred pulled Dru away from the girl and took her back behind the group of people that were now standing in front of Harry. “Let me have her.” 

“No,” Fred chuckled softly in her ear. “Maybe when you accidentally run into her in the corridor, but not here.”

“Students out of bed. Students out of bed.” Filch came running into the great hall with mrs Norris. “Students in the corridors!”

“They are supposed to be out of bed, you blithering idiot!” Minerva McGonagall shot at him. 

“Oh,” he said disappointed. “Sorry Ma’am.”

“As it happens, Mr. Filch, your arrival is most opportune.” She said as she walked towards him, getting her wand back out. “If you would, I would like you please, to lead Miss Parkinson,” she pointed her wand at her. “And the rest of Slytherin house from the hall.”

“Exactly where is it where I will be leading them to, Ma’am?”

“The dungeons would do.”

This caused a massive eruption of cheers coming from the students of the other houses. As the students walked by, Pansy looked at Dru.

“Have fun.” Dru said in her sweetest voice and waved at her.

Harry and McGonagall talked strategies, before Harry turned around. “Hold the fort, Neville.” He pat his old class mate on his arm and left the great hall, followed by Hermione and Ron.

“Mr Longbottom, I need you to blow up the bridge.” McGonagall said to him. 

Neville took one last look at first Rose and then a second longer at Dru, before he followed the professor. “Let me get this straight, professor...”

“George, Fred, could you take the rooftops by the Astronomy tower?” Lupin asked.

“Where do you need us?” Dru asked. 

“Help evacuating the young ones,” Lupin said. 

“No,” Rose said and shook her head. “With all due respect, professor, but the prefects can do that.”

“Since when are you calling me a professor again?”

Rose winced. “Hogwarts does that to a person, sorry.” She then shook her head.

“I’m keeping Rose with me.” George said and took Rose’s hand. “She can help us at the rooftops.”

“Dru too.” Rose said with a nod.

“I’d rather you stay in the room of requirement with Ginny,” Lupin said as he ran his hand through his hair.

“You need us, we’re actually quite decent with spells, you know,” Rose smiled.

“I’m not.” Dru said softly.

“Shut up, you are better than George and me together,” Fred reassured her and took her hand.

“Let’s go upstairs and fight before all the good Death Eaters are taken,” George said as he took Rose’s hand.


	55. The End

Once they were up in the tower, Rose could see how the shield of protective spells came down over Hogwarts. She was a little frustrated by Dru who was being taken over by the emotions of everyone in the castle and as the boys walked to the balcony, she took a hold of Dru and started to shake her.

“Wake up!”

“Rose, I’m awake.”

Rose narrowed her eyes on her friend. “Ignore everyone’s feelings and focus on mine. I’m angry. They’re going to attack Hogwarts. The place that has been more than our home than our own homes over the last seven years. The place where we’ve met our boys. The place where we became friends. People are going to die today. People we love, people we hardly know and people who shouldn’t die but they will. I’m angry, Dru. I am sad for the same reasons but right now I’m just so incredibly pissed off and I’m going to do my absolute best to make sure that whatever Death Eater passes through this tower will be blasted into pieces or at least get injured enough so that they can’t go on. Focus on my anger.”

“Rose...”

“Dru, I need you to focus on my anger. We both know that we both are more than capable of being the best that we can. Even better. Remember how we were in our first two years, well maybe three, here at Hogwarts. We didn’t care about consequences. We didn’t care about hurting people if they were bad people. We’ve grown weak once we started to see boys, did you know that? I mean, I can even control my anger now! But I’m so mad! Focus on my feelings.”

Dru didn’t say anything. Rose shook her again and then slapped her in the face. “Focus!” she growled. “I need you to be your best, I don’t want you to die and I don’t want to have to think about having to protect you from what’s going to happen because you can do it yourself. For Merlin’s sake woman, you’re the child of a Death Eater who’s on the _right_ side of things! You are more than enough capable of taking them out! We’ve been through a lot, you and I. We never fully gave up and we are not going to do that now, you got that?”

“You slapped me!” Dru growled at Rose, she was now gripping Rose by her arms just like Rose had taken hold of her. “I can’t believe you slapped me!”

“You want me to do it again? Because I will! Block everyone else out, focus on me!”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“Oh I am,” Rose nodded. “But now is not a good time to be afraid despite the things that I’m seeing right now. We both know what fear does to us. It paralyzes us, makes us weak. I am angry. I am _not_ letting them hurt more people than they already will. I’m going to blast their faces off because I know I can, and I know that you can too. Focus.”

Dru took a deep breath and then smiled bravely. Her eyes were sparkling with mischief and anger. “We can do this.”

“Yes we can.” She smiled at Dru. “Now, you be a good little Death Eater kid and focus while I’ll be a good little insane Death Eater kid. They will not win. We’re not going to allow them to win. We’re going to focus all our anger and all our hatred towards those Death Eaters and we’re going to make them eat the floor!” She then hugged Dru and let go of her. “Whenever you feel like you’re getting lost again, focus on me and my feelings, got that?”

“Got it,” she gave a nod. “Thanks Rose, you’re brilliant.”

Rose turned around and wanted to walk away. 

"One thing though!" Dru said.

When Rose turned around she received a slap in her face.

"Never slap me again." Dru deadpanned and walked up to the balcony.

Rose laughed as she followed Dru out to the balcony and they were just in time to see the protective shield touch the ground. George put his arm around her and planted a kiss on top of her head. “You okay, Rosie?”

“I am now,” she smiled reassuringly at him. “You?”

“Yeah,” He nodded slowly. 

Dru took Fred’s right hand and stood next to him. She looked next to him and saw Rose and George standing there. She then looked up at Fred, who was looking in front of him. She took a deep breath and decided to do want Neville had instructed her to do, be Fred’s wife and get him through tonight. She smiled as she was looking at him, she did really still love him very much. She caressed his hair which made him look at her. “It’s going to be alright, Fred. We’ll get through this, together.” 

“Yeah,” Fred nodded slowly, echoing his brother’s reply to Rose. He softly kissed Dru on her lips and sighed. There was something on his mind but he didn’t want to jinx things. He needed to tell her something but in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t important right now.

“You okay, Freddie?” George asked as he looked up to the sky again.

“Yeah...”

“Me too,” George smiled bravely at him. 

Rose softly caressed George’s back and took a step back once the Death Eaters started to try and get through the shield. It wouldn’t be long until they had to start defending themselves. She tried to hold on to her feeling of anger, it felt better than being scared. 

“Look, Dru,” Fred sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “Should something happen, you know, like... not making it...”

“Don’t, Fred. We’re going to make it.” Dru looked away from the Death Eaters and looked into his eyes. “We were going to grow old and wrinkly together.”

“I know, but should something happen... I want you to try and see if you and Neville can get back together, I know you still love him and I know he’s the only one who can love you as much as I do,” He said bravely as he caressed her hair. 

Dru swallowed hard. “I love you, Fred. Just... please don’t die on me tonight. You promised me a mini Fred remember.” 

“Yes,” he smiled at her. “I’m sure as hell going to try not to die, but just in case, you know, I just want you to be safe and happy if I’m gone, you know...” he shrugged and softly kissed her. 

Dru kissed him back and pulled him close to her.

“Oi! You two! There’s a war going on here.” George chuckled.

“Shut up, Georgie,” Fred smiled at him and kissed Dru again. “I’m kissing my wife. Could be the last thing I do!”

Dru smacked him hard on his arm. “Stop saying that!” She held him close and she put her head on his chest. “I’ll promise to try and be happy, but you have to promise me that if I die you’ll mourn me for the rest of your life, never marry again and break up all the happy couples, because their love reminds you of me and that hurts too much.” she chuckled. 

“Great!” Fred laughed. “I’ll start by wrecking George and Rose’s marriage.”

“Do that and you’ll be joining your wife in hell.” George remarked after he broke off his kiss with Rose.

“No, Fred, I want you to be happy when I’m gone. I want you to marry again and have lot of babies. Just name your first girl after me.” Dru smiled at him. “Or you could marry Neville.” 

“Yes! I’ll marry Neville!” Fred grinned.

“Ugh, you two are so sweet it makes my teeth hurt,” Rose chuckled.

“Would it make you feel better, Rose, íf I gave you permission to marry Neville, when I’m gone?” George said as he took her hand and looked out of the castle again. 

“I’m not having this discussion with you, George.” Rose replied and took out her wand. “But if it makes you feel any better, I’ll try and woo Charlie when you’re gone.”

“Well at least that way you won’t have to change your surname, Rose.” Fred snickered, which got rewarded with a slap on the head by George.

“Incoming,” Rose said calmly as she walked towards the balcony on the other side of the tower.

George followed her while Fred and Dru were staying put. “You know I love you, Rosie, don’t you?” He said as he held his wand, ready for battle.

“I love you too, George,” she smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to take any risks, unless you take them.”

“Good, and just so you know, you can marry Charlie when I’m gone.” 

“George!” 

George chuckled. “Seriously Rose, Fred’s right. If something happens to me, don’t be unhappy. Find someone else, have kids and stay my bubbly Rose.” 

“Wow, now I know you’re really worried because you just called me bubbly.” Rose frowned and softly kissed him. “Don’t worry George, we’re going to make it through this, I want a lot of mini you’s.”

“We better, because if Fred is having a mini Fred, I have to have a mini George.” He kissed her one more time, took her hand and looked at the sky, before taking a deep breath. “Ready to raise some hell, Rosie?” 

“Oh yes, you have no idea,” she smirked. “You?” She realised that this was the day that had been in her head for so many years and should everything go right (she had absolute faith in everyone, especially Harry and Neville when it came to doing things right), she would never have to see horrible images in her head. Ever. 

“No,” he chuckled and blasted the first Death Eater off its broom. “Now I am!”

“I’m ready to die!” Peeves’ voice screamed out of nowhere, which made George and Fred chuckle. “I’m already dead! Good luck! I’ll be throwing things down below!”

Of course, it didn’t take long before the four of them were retreating down the stairs. There were too many of them coming at them but not a single one had gone through - yet. Luckily, some more students were on the level below them and helped them out, but in the chaos, Rose lost sight of Dru, Fred and George. Maybe she was already too far down the level or whatever, but she couldn’t see them anymore. What made matters worse was that there were two Death Eaters coming from behind her, which she saw in time, but when she turned around, one of them looked like her father, which made her cry out in surprise.

“Hello, Rose,” the Death Eater had even gone as far as imitating his voice and licking his lips.

She knew that they were doing anything to throw students off and to take polyjuice potion and look like someone else was nothing new to her, considering Crabbe and Goyle had already used it to--- Rose shook the fog out of her head, or tried to and didn’t look away from her ‘father’. 

“Lower your wand, Rose, you’re safe now.”

“Oh for the....” she took a deep breath and started to shoot spells at him. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this, to kick my father’s ass, to hurt him for hurting me!” she yelled. “Thank you! You’re making this so easy!” 

It took the Death Eater by surprise for a moment, not having anticipated her behaviour like that and then started to blast spells at her. They came so fast that Rose was getting a bit lost and couldn’t keep up with protecting herself and blasting back, and before she knew it she was flying through the air and got knocked against the wall. She hit her head and the lights went out.

“ _\---- vate_ ”

“Remus!” she cried out before realising where she was. “Ouch...” she groaned as she rubbed her head and looked up to George. “What are you doing here?” she asked confused. “Wait, no, I lost you.”

George chuckled as he quickly checked her over. “Move as a group, remember? You were a bit too quick.”

“Did you see?” She slowly got to her feet and felt a bit dizzy. She remembered getting knocked back against the wall and suspected that she had a concussion, but she had to go on. Rose rubbed her head again. “One of them thought it was funny to look like my father.”

“Did you give him hell?”

“Oh yes,” she smiled at him. “Until I couldn’t keep up anymore!”

“Rose, are you okay?” he carefully touched the back of her head which made her wince. She had various cuts on her already and maybe it was safer if she joined Ginny.

“I’m fine,” she smiled at him. “Don’t worry about me.” She then looked a bit more serious at him. “I... Remus is dead...” 

“George, Rose, we’re moving down!” Lee Jordan yelled. “Come on! Dru and Fred have already gone ahead!”

George pulled Rose with him. “I’m sorry, Sweetie but we got to keep moving.” 

Suddenly they heard Dru scream in the distance. “No! Dora, don’t!” Dru ran over to where she had just seen Dora fall. “Dora, no!” She kneeled down next to her cousin’s and shook her. “No!” 

“Dru, Honey, we can’t stop.” Fred hoisted Dru back up. “She’s gone. There’s nothing you can do for her.” he said with a broken voice.

Dru took a deep breath and nodded. She let Fred drag her along. There was a big blast, which made a part of the corridor collapse. Fred and Dru suddenly found themselves cut off from the rest. 

“The stairs on the south side.” Dru pulled Fred along. “There we can make our way up and get back to the rest.”

They ran up the stairs but when they got up there, they weren’t alone. Fred managed to transfigure one Death Eater and incapacitate another while pushing Dru out of the way from an incoming spell. “Great idea,” he chuckled. “Got any other brilliant ideas?” 

“I’m sorry.” Dru said panicked.

“Don’t panic, come on,” he pulled her back to her feet and started running towards the door. 

“Oh Goyle’s little whore runs away! Too much of a coward to fight back?” Alecto Carrow tried to stun Fred and Dru. “I never really understood why Goyle wanted you so much. You’re just a dirty little whore.” 

“That one of them?” Fred asked Dru while he tried to protect the both of them. 

“Fred, no! Let it go.” Dru saw the anger in his face and she didn’t want him to go back.

“The hell I am,” he muttered and walked back. “She’s been hurting you all year, I’m getting my payback!”

“Fred, NO!” Dru grabbed his hand and tried to pull him back but suddenly she had to duck out of the way when Alecto shot a stunning spell at her. She got her leg stuck and couldn’t stop Fred from going after her teacher anymore.

“Did I offend you? I’m sorry, but at least you’ll be happy to know that Goyle made her a bit more roomy.” 

Fred growled and started to throw spells at the female Carrow. “My Dru, you hurt her and now you’re going to pay for it.”

Alecto let out a chuckle and threw a few stunning spells at him, that all just nearly seemed to miss him. “It’s a shame my brother didn’t get his chance though. After Goyle said how nice it was to see in how much pain she was and how she struggled, he really wanted to have a go at her. Well, he’ll have his chance soon.” 

He managed to severely cripple her before she was joined by someone who was even uglier than she was and two against one was hardly fair. He turned the newcomer into a tea cup and walked backwards, shooting defensive spells while he was trying to get back to Dru and help her out. 

“ _Sectumsempra!”_

“NO!” Dru screamed. She had only just been able to free her leg when she saw Fred collapse. 

“ _Sectumsempra_!” Alecto called again before looking outside almost as if she was been called and just walked away.

“Fred, no.” Dru had made her way over to him and used the healing spell on him. The bleeding stopped just a little, but it wasn’t enough. She had put his head on her lap. “Fred, stay with me, okay? Help is coming.” 

His eyes were rolling to the back of his head and he had a hard time focussing on Dru. “So pretty.” he managed to say and then started to cough up blood.

“No, Fred stay with me. “I love you, please don’t die.” She was crying as she leaned over him. “I love you.”

“Promise me,” he said in between coughs. “Find happiness, for me.”

“No, you’re not dying on me now. Please Fred. I love you.” Dru was sobbing as she wiped the blood from his cheek. “Please don’t leave me.” 

He managed to lift his hand and made an attempt to caress her cheek. “I love you, my firecracker,” he smiled at her. “Let me go, I can’t...”

Dru leaned forwards and kissed him. “I’ll never forget you. I love you.” She closed her eyes. Her face was so close to his, that she could feel his breathing getting weaker and weaker, until it stopped. “NO!” She cried, wrapping her arms about Fred’s motionless body and started to rock him. “No...”

“Fred? Dru? Are you two coming?” Charlie asked as he and Percy walked in. He and his brother were rounding up everyone to gather in the great hall, to get their wounds healed and for a head count. He and Percy had already carried the lifeless bodies of Tonks and Lupin to the Great Hall. 

Fred’s body had become too heavy to hold up, so she had crawled against him, clinging to his body. 

“No...” Percy gasped as he quickly made his way over. This wasn’t happening. 

Dru didn’t want to let Charlie pull her away. “No, I can’t leave him, he needs me.” she sobbed heart broken. 

“There’s nothing we can do for him than to take him down to the great hall,” Charlie said, holding back his own tears. He was the older brother, he needed to keep it together for her. He lifted her up in his strong arms and nudged Percy with his knee. “Move it Perce, we need to get him downstairs.”

“Do you guys need help?” Oliver Wood joined them. “Oh bloody hell...” He was shocked to find his old team mate lying there. He made his way over and helped Percy lift Fred off the floor. 

Dru was sobbing and didn’t even realize that Charlie was walking her downstairs. He was gone, her Fred, her sweet husband was gone. And it was all her fault. _She_ decided to go back up and then Fred tried to defend _her_. She had killed her husband. 

“Dad,” Charlie said softly. He had walked fast towards the Great Hall, maybe to give his parents a heads up of some sort. He wasn’t exactly sure. He set Dru back down on the floor. “Where’s George?”

“Last thing we heard they were on the other side of the castle, they’ll come soon.”

“Fred... he’s uhm... gone.” He said, taking a deep breath as he rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t going to cry. He wasn’t. “Perce and Oliver should be down with him soon...”

Molly gave a scream and was holding on the her husband. “No, not my boy.” She cried. 

Dru started crying even harder now. “It’s my fault. I killed him.” She said softly.

She felt someone put their arms around her. “I don’t believe you could ever kill him.” a soft voice spoke.

Dru looked at Luna and put her head on her shoulder. “He tried to defend me, it’s my fault.” 

Percy and Oliver brought Fred inside the great hall and place him on the floor. Oliver quickly left again, to leave the Weasleys alone. 

“Merlin! Is that Tonks and Lupin?” Bill’s voice sounded as he and Fleur walked to their family.

“Bill.” Fleur saw Fred before he did and put her arms around her husband’s waist, as they walked closer. She wanted to hold him before he saw his younger brother.

Dru had crawled her way back to Fred’s body and was sitting by his head, while Molly was sitting next to him. From the corner of her eye she saw that Luna was staying close. Dru looked at Fred, he looked so peaceful, almost as if he was sleeping. Dru gently caressed his hair. She had stopped crying, she couldn’t cry anymore, she couldn’t feel anymore. It was like she wasn't even there, like this was all like a bad dream and that at any point she would just wake up and Fred would be smiling at her, telling jokes, making her laugh.

“Luna!” Ginny’s voice sounded as she came running into the great hall, but slowed down when she saw most of her family gathered around someone laying on the floor. “Oh no,” she couldn’t really tell who it was yet but gathering from the look on Dru’s face, it was Fred. Fred was gone. She ran towards her family as she cried. “No... not Fred...”

Percy caught her in his arms as she ran towards them. He held her close. ”Shh.” he said and gently helped her get to her knees before letting her go so she could hold Fred. 

George was holding Rose’s hand as they walked down the stairs. “Well...we’re still alive.” He smiled at her. 

“Lupin isn’t. Tonks isn’t...” she sighed as she put an arm around his waist. “And this isn’t over yet, you know, he’s just playing with our minds.”

“I know.” George sighed as he put both arms around her and stopped her halfway down the steps of the last staircase. “But right now, my wife is still alive. And I really need my wife to be alive.” 

She softly kissed his lips and ruffled his dirt ridden hair. “I’m glad that we’re both still mostly in one piece,” Rose smiled at him. “But please, let’s go to the great hall and see if we can get a little pain relief.” She softly kissed him again. “I have about ten thousand midgets dancing on clogs in my head, what about you?”

“Yeah and we need to find Dru and Fred. Let’s hope he lost an ear or his nose. Then at least he’ll stop bullying me.” George chuckled, trying to make her laugh. 

“Yes, Your Holeyness,” she winked at him. “I’m sure they’ll come to the great hall as well.” Rose looped her arm through his and they continued to walk towards the great hall. When they got in, the place was just filled with dead bodies and wounded people, with wounds ranging from severe to just a cut. 

Her heart stopped for a moment when they passed the lifeless body of Lavender, and again when they passed Lupin and Tonks, but it was the group of crying Weasleys that got her attention. “Oh no,” she breathed out and nearly lost her balance when George ran towards his family and lunged himself on top of the lifeless body of his favorite brother.

Dru watched als George cried and Rose sat down next to him, to try and comfort her husband. Dru couldn’t look at him anymore. She looked at the entrance of the hall and saw Neville watching her from the other side of the Great Hall. He looked at her, with tears in his eyes. She took a deep breath and looked back at Fred. Her heart was breaking, thinking about how much she was going to hurt him, how badly she had treated him. And now he was gone and she could never make it right with him again. 

“No.” George cried, “Not Fred, please anyone but Fred.” 

Rose softly caressed George’s back. It was weird to see Fred so motionless and it felt a bit surreal. She moved so she was between George and Dru now and as Dru was still a bit too far away, Rose just took her hand and gently squeezed it while she kept caressing George’s back with the other. There were just no words, and she wasn’t even going to try and find some. 

Dru pulled her hand away and placed Rose’s hand on George and gave her a weak smile. Rose needed to take care of her husband. That was more important now. Dru slowly moved a bit further away from Rose. She didn’t deserve comfort, it was her fault that he was there in the first place. 

George slowly got back to his knees and put his head on Rose’s shoulder and pulled her close to him. He needed to feel her breath and feel her breath on his face. He needed to feel that she was still alive. 

Rose softly planted a kiss on George’s cheek as she kept caressing his back and hair. “I’m so sorry,” she said softly. 

From the noise and voices in the Great Hall George could tell Harry had just walked in. George slowly got to his feet and hugged Ron. He was still crying and after he moved so Ron could hold Fred, he pulled Rose to her feet and held her in his arms. “Never leave me.” he said softly.

“I’m not going anywhere, I promise,” she said as she put her arms around him and put her head against his chest.

Bill was holding Fleur close to him and Charlie was keeping an eye on Percy while Mrs. Weasley was sitting on the floor next to Fred, caressing his hair. Both Ginny and Arthur looked a little lost. 

Rose didn’t know how much time had passed but all of a sudden Seamus was standing next to her with her purple bag and a sad smile on his face. She gave him a small smile and a nod before making George sit back down and she started to check him over, lifting his shirt a little to rub some ointment on his wounds on his stomach and back. When Ginny saw what Rose was doing, she got some ointment and a cloth out of the bag as well and started to clean Dru up a bit. 

But Dru pushed Ginny away. “Don’t. You shouldn’t touch me. None of you should.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Dru,” Ginny swatted Dru’s hand away and continued to take care of her wounds.

“I killed him.” Dru’s voice was soft.

“Did you point a wand at him and throw spells at him?” Ginny retorted.

“No, but it’s my fault we were up there.” 

“It’s not your fault, Dru.”

“It was her, Carrow. She...she started talking about me.”

“Fred was taking revenge, wasn’t he?” Ginny caressed Dru’s messy hair. “For hurting you.”

“She kept talking about what Goyle did to me.” Dru nodded.

“Dru, anyone would have gone back and take revenge for that.” Arthur said as he kneeled down next to his daughter and his daughter in law. “We all would have. Fred was angry at them for hurting you. This is not your fault.” 

“Yeah, I too wanted to get my hands on at least one of them,” George growled. 

“And me,” Ron said.

“Me too,” Bill and Charlie chorused. “Nobody hurts our family.” Charlie added. 

“I have no idea what happened, but if they hurt you, I’m going to say me too.” Percy said.

George chuckled at his older brother and pulled Rose back in his arms. “Take a look later. I need to hold you.” he whispered. 

Rose slowly nodded and started to go through her little bag trying to find the Muggle pills that helped really well with headaches and then tossed the bag to Ginny when she couldn’t find them. She leaned into George and closed her eyes as she put her arms around him. “Not going anywhere.”

Hermione took Ron's hand and lead her boyfriend out of the great Hall.

Dru and Molly changed places so that Dru could caress Fred’s hair. “He told me to let him go, but I don’t know how to do that.” She said softly to Molly and Ginny.

“Then don’t, sweetheart,” Molly said as she caressed Dru’s back. “It’s too soon to let him go, just yet.”

“I really do love him.” Dru said. “I’m so going to miss him.” 

“We all are,” Molly smiled bravely at her as she swallowed her own tears. “We all are going to miss him terribly.”

Dru suddenly felt a flow of nausea come up. She scrambled to her feet and ran out of the great hall to the nearest bathroom. 

“Yeah....mum, I’m taking the girls back to Diagon Alley when this is over. They’re not going eat Aunt Muriel’s food ever again.” George said. 

“There’s nothing wrong with Muriel’s food, dear,” Molly smiled at her son. “Granted, sometimes she undercooks something but she hasn’t messed things up lately.”

“Then we’re just getting the flu.” Rose gave a nod, still keeping her eyes closed. She knew that her current nausea was caused by the concussion. 

“Sorry, Rose. I tried my best.” George whispered and softly kissed Rose.

“But I think we’re all glad to go home and not back to Aunt Muriel’s... if we survive today and if Harry wins.” Molly said.

“Rose!” George said sternly and hit her on her ass. “For once in your life, stop jinxing things.”

“I didn’t jinx anything!” Rose groaned. “That was your mum! Don’t hit me, I’m comfortable.”

“I know you didn’t jinx anything.” George smiled and hit her ass again. “I’m just looking for a reason to touch your ass.” 

“Pervert,” Charlie chuckled.

“Oh come on.” Dru wiped her tears away as she came back in and sat down by Fred’s head again. “If he had been Fred, he would have already dragged me off to somewhere private.” she smiled.

Bill gave a nod and ducked when Fleur wanted to hit him in the head. “What? All this fighting is strangely exciting and Fred doesn’t mind us talking about it because he was the biggest pervert of all.”

This made all the Weasleys laugh. 

“He was. He always tried to have sex in the kitchen while I was cooking.” Dru grinned. It felt good to remind the good things about Fred.

“I walked in on you while you two were having fun on the desk once,” George chuckled. 

“Yeah, just be glad you didn’t walked downstairs to the kitchen last new years eve after everyone went to bed.” 

“Oh ew!” Rose shuddered.

“Wait, _my_ kitchen?” Molly said surprised.

Dru laughed.

“They’ve been in the shed too,” George pointed out.

“So have we, sweetie.” Rose playfully hit him in the chest.

“I like the shed.” Fleur blushed.

“I knew it,” George pointed at Bill. “I knew it.” 

“I want the shed...” Ginny pouted.

“NO!” Her four brothers all said at once.

“Oh you bet!” Her eyes were sparkling with mischief. “Harry and I are back together!”

“Let’s hope you-know-who kills him then.” Charlie muttered.

“Oh come on, it’s Harry,” Rose chuckled. “He barely dares to touch her anyway.”

“True,” Ginny sighed.

Dru took a deep breath, bent over Fred and gave him a kiss on his now cold lips. “I love you, but I need to go now. Else I won’t have the strength.” She took another deep breath before getting up and sitting down at a table. 

Rose wanted to go over to Dru, but George wasn’t letting her go. She then wanted to get up again and go to Lupin and Tonks but George was still not letting her go. She then gave up and nestled back into his lap.

Neville sat down at the table, opposite of Dru, respectfully keeping his distance. There was a big gash on the side of his head and he was limping, but he seemed to be in good spirits, or at least pretended to be. “I’m sorry... about Fred.” he said with a little reassuring smile. “Will you be okay?”

Dru shook her head, but placed her hand on his. The rest of the family was out of earshot. “We can’t...not now.” 

“Just paying my respects to you, that’s all.” He said as a matter of factly. “You’ve just lost your husband and I’m a good spare, remember?”

Dru looked at him. She was hurting and all she really wanted to do is crawl in his arms and be safe. “You’re ….Can you forgive me?” she tightened her grip on his hand. 

“I’m not hurt, Dru. I’m just worried about you now, that’s all.” he gently caressed her hand with his thumb. 

She looked down. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. He shouldn’t have died, not Dora, and not Lupin either.” 

“I know,” he sighed. “Hermione shot Greyback off Lavender’s corpse too.”

“What!” Dru said in shock. “Lavender?” She had been so busy with Fred, she had no idea who else got hurt. She only knew about Lupin and Tonks, because she was near one of them when they got killed. “Oh my god.” Dru started crying again and rested her head on the table. 

He gently caressed her arm. “But the good news is that Seamus and I blew up the bridge, that was awesome though,” he said lightly. A lot of other students had died and it was sad, but it wasn’t over yet. Being sad didn’t help. 

Dru looked up at him. “Please, Neville. Be careful, I couldn’t take it if I lost you too.” 

“You know me,” he smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I’m more worried about you right now. I don’t want you to do something reckless.”

Dru’s face hardened. “If I find either one of them, I’m going to kill them.” 

“Yep, you and that army of Weasleys of yours along with you.” Neville gave a nod. “Let them take care of you, will you?” He nodded into the direction of Rose. “George looks like he’s strangling Rose.”

Dru smiled and nodded. “Just please don’t do something stupid.”

“Like what? Like walking around with this crazy old sorting hat you mean?” he smiled at her.

Dru looked at the sorting hat in his hand and suddenly felt a sting on her arm.” She looked at Neville in shock. “He’s coming here. Right now. To the courtyard. He’s calling all his Death Eaters.”

“Courtyard,” Rose’s voice sounded all of a sudden. “We need to go to the court yard, George, get up.” 

“Court yard it is,” Neville smiled wryly. “What does he want anyway?”

Dru shrugged and watched Neville lead the others to the courtyard. She took one look at Fred, and then followed the others. 

When they arrived at the courtyard, everyone was stunned to see an unconscious or dead Harry in Hagrid’s arms. Hagrid was restrained and he looked really sad..

Draco stood next to Dru and gently caressed her arm. “I’m sorry, sis,” he said softly.

Dru looked at him in shock. She hadn’t even noticed that he was there. “Draco.” She put her arms around him, she had missed him. “You’re still alive,” she sighed happily.

“Thanks to Harry, Ron and Hermione,” he reluctantly admitted. He put his arm around her and caressed her back. “I’m so sorry... for everything... I...” he swallowed hard. 

“It’s okay.” She held him closer. “I still love you.”

Draco took a deep breath and smiled at her. “So we’re alright then?”

“You’re my brother, of course we are.” 

“Harry Potter, is dead!” Voldemort’s voice boomed through the courtyard. 

“No!” Ginny screamed and wanted to run towards Harry but Arthur managed to hold her back. 

“Silence!” He shot a spell at Ginny. “Stupid girl! Harry Potter is dead!” Voldemort spoke calmly. “From this day forth you put your faith in... me.”

Rose could feel how George tightened his grip on her. She gently rubbed his arm and took a deep breath. She knew that Harry wasn’t dead. Over the last few years she had fallen for everything that Voldemort had planted in her head, but she had also learned how to shield herself from him. And to fool him like he had fooled her. She had seen that Harry was going to fight him, so she knew that he was still alive. She had made sure that Voldemort couldn’t see.

Voldemort turned his back on them and walked back to his Death Eaters, his arms wide. “Harry Potter is dead!”

The Death Eaters chuckled, but Rose could sense a hint of fear in most of those chuckles.

Voldemort turned around again and smiled widely. “And now it is time to declare yourself. Come forward and join us!” 

Bellatrix LeStrange almost danced her way towards a large piece of rubble and stood on it, watching everyone until her gaze fell upon Dru. 

“Or die!” Voldemort added.

It was quiet for a moment until Lucius Malfoy called for Draco and Dru. At first, he sounded like the demanding figure he had always been, but when Draco hesitated, he sounded desperate. It wasn’t until Narcissa called for them that Draco stepped forward. 

“No!” Dru cried out and tried to stop Draco from going to his parents. “Draco! No! You don’t have to go with them, it’ll all be alright, I promise! Just stay with me!”

“Come with me,” Draco said with a painful expression across his face. “I can’t leave them, it’ll break mother’s heart.”

“No, you _can_. You’re strong enough. Stay with us, we can protect you,” she pleaded with him. She had tears in her eyes. She didn’t want to lose her brother like she had just lost her husband. “Please, Draco, I need you.”

“Oh boring!” Bellatrix called out to Dru. “Pathetic! I can’t believe that you’re mine! You’re so weak, Druella!”

“Shut up, Bella,” Narcissa shot at her sister. “She’s not yours.”

“As if you’re any better, Cissy.”

“Draco, please,” Dru ignored both of her mothers. Sure, it was easier to give in and run back to her family but she would never chose Voldemort’s side. She’d rather go down fighting than live in a world where he reigned and would inflict more pain and suffering. 

“I love you, Dru.” Draco shrugged his sister off of him and continued to walk to his mother. 

“Ah, well done Draco,” Voldemort said and hugged him awkwardly. “Well done.”

For a split second Dru was slightly tempted to just follow him blindly, but when she looked to her right, she saw that Neville was looking at her in fear. Looking over her shoulder, she saw pain across the faces of her other family. She realised that she had everything and more where she was now, even though her husband wasn’t around anymore. Dru turned around and joined the Weasleys again, this time with Charlie putting an arm around her.

Dru’s heart fell when Neville limped forward next. She wanted to stop him but Charlie held her back.

Unlike the others Rose smiled when she saw Neville walk slightly away from them. She knew he what he was going to do and strangely enough, it filled her with pride.

“Well, I must say, I hoped for better,” Voldemort chuckled. “And who might you be, young man?”

“Neville Longbottom,” Neville replied and took a deep breath. He didn’t seem to care that all the Death Eaters were laughing at him. 

“Well, Neville, I am sure we could find a place for you in our ranks,” Voldemort said amused.

“I would like to say something,” Neville spoke up, still holding the crumpled sorting hat. He lifted his gaze and looked straight at Voldemort. Neville was all beaten up and what not, but he looked taller and more fearless than ever. Rose knew that this was the moment where everyone would see in Neville what she and Dru had seen in him for years. Neville the hero. Neville, the boy who was just as important and special as the boy who lived, and he finally believed it himself.

“Well Neville, I am sure we’d all be fascinated to hear what you have to say,” Voldemort replied. 

“Doesn’t matter that Harry’s gone,” Neville said. 

“Stand down Neville!” Seamus shot at him. 

“People die everyday!” Neville turned to the group. “Friends, family...” he shrugged a little. “Yeah... we’ve lost Harry tonight, he’s still with us. In here!” He put his hand on his chest and gave a little smile. He then looked over to the grief stricken Weasleys, before looking at Dru. “So is Fred.” He then looked at Rose. “Remus...” and then at Dru again.. “Tonks... all of them.” He shook his head. “They didn’t die in vain!” He then turned around and faced Voldemort again. “But _you_ will! Because you’re wrong! Harry’s heart did beat for us!” he shouted at him. “For all of us!” Neville then reached into the sorting hat and pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of it. “It’s not over!” He yelled as he cast the hat aside and took a few steps back towards the group. 

This was Harry’s cue to come back to life and roll himself out of Hagrid’s arms, surprising everyone. He started to attack Nagini, blasting away half of the Death Eaters while he ran to safety.

Rose could feel how George started to pull her back inside the castle once everyone started to move. 

Dru took one more look at the Malfoys before following Charlie.

When they reached the door, Harry had caught up with them too. “Kill the snake.” He said to Hermione and Ron. 

“Neville, no!” Arthur yelled. Neville ran forwards with the sword in hand, but Voldemort sent him back flying through the air. 

“He’s okay!” Rose called out after running over to him with George in tow. “Just unconscious, don’t move him.”

“I told you not to leave my sight!” George said as he took her hand again. 

“I was merely a few steps away from you,” she smiled at him and stunned a Death Eater. “Grab your wand, George,” she said simply. “We’re not done yet.”

Dru wanted to run to Neville to make sure that he wasn’t dead. Her idiot’s luck could run out someday and today would be a bad day for it to do so.

"Dru, don't move him. He'll be alright. Come here!" Rose yelled at her friend and beckoned Dru to follow her.

Dru didn't want to, but her instincts told her to trust Rose and do as she said, so Dru ran back into the Great Hall following the others. Suddenly she fell face down by an all too familiar spell. She turned on her back and saw Bellatrix looking at her. 

“What do you want?” Dru hissed at her. She was angrier than ever, she had seen Bellatrix kill her beloved Dora and Dru wanted revenge. 

"How about a reunion with your husband?" Bellatrix chuckled. She shot a spell at her daughter, but Dru moved just in time. 

"How about I send you to him, so he can kick your ass for all eternity?" Dru's dark brown eyes now matched those of her opponent with the same insanity written into it. “ _Crucio!_ ”

Bellatrix was lying on her back looking at her daughter, but not in fear. She was proud. The spell that hit her was filled with some much anger and the willingness to inflict pain. "Good girl, you do look like me after all." She chuckled in her own diabolical fashion.

“No I don’t!” Dru screamed at her mother. She had her wand firmly pointed at the woman. “You’re mean and cold and you don’t even know what love is.” 

“But why should I, you love enough for the both of us with your two men.” Bellatrix slowly got back on her feet.

“Shut up.” Dru growled “ _Stupefy!_ ” but the spell missed.

“Oh, Longbottom is going to miss you when you join your husband.” Bellatrix sneered “ _Avada Kadava_!”

The spell just missed Dru by an inch. “Tell me mommy dear, did daddy ever know?” Dru’s eyes, if possible, were shooting fire bolts at her mother and her mouth formed a devious smile. She knew she was going to push her mother to extremes, but she didn’t care anymore. She was sick and tired of being messed around with. 

“Know what?” 

“That every time you had sex with him, you were thinking of the Dark Lord. Oh, it must be so hard on you that he never wanted you.” 

“He loves me!” Bellatrix countered. “I know he can’t love me the way I want to love him, but that’s fine.”

“Oh, but why do you spend so many nights dreaming about how he would touch you, make you feel good. You do know don’t you? That he was having sex with other more suitable woman?” Dru bit her lip as she smiled at her mother. She was enjoying to see her mother struggle like this. “Is that why you tried to erase Neville from my mind? Because you know if we got old enough, he would touch me and kiss me like you wanted to be touched and kissed?” 

“Oh shut up.” Bellatrix rolled her eyes at Dru and fired a few quick spells at her in a rapid succession.

“It must be hard to see that two men loved me and wanted me, while _he_ never wanted you, even father will grow sick of you soon and won’t touch you anymore. While I can get all the men in the world.” Dru amusingly licked her lips, the way she had seen Rose do in the past. She was ready to hit her mother with the final blow. “Even the dark lord longed for my body and he fantasized about what he would do to me if he could have me. _That_ is why he wanted me alive.” 

Bellatrix roared and growled at the same time and aimed her wand straight back at Dru. “ _Crucio!_ ” she said with so much hatred in her voice that the spell knocked Dru out cold. “Pity little play thing!” she spat and jumped back when she got hit by a spell coming from the youngest Weasley girl. 

Rose quickly made her way over to Dru and dragged her to safety towards George and Arthur and saw how Ginny was now protecting herself from Bellatrix. “Nobody attacks _our_ Dru!” Ginny growled. All she could do was to protect herself from Bellatrix’ attacks, she was nowhere near as fast enough as the rest of her family but managed to get one shot in before she had to protect herself again. 

Rose growled, _Rennervate_ wasn’t working, or maybe Dru didn’t want it to work. Rose then resorted to gently shaking her friend awake while George had his wand drawn to protect the two girls, just in case. 

“Get back, Ginny,” Molly Weasley said as she moved herself between her and her daughter, throwing up one shielding charm after the other while getting a few spells loose towards Bellatrix. “No, Arthur!” she told her husband. “She’s mine!”

Bellatrix cackled. “What will happen to your children when I kill you?” She taunted, dancing around while managing to protect herself from Molly’s assault. “When _Mummy_ joins _Freddie_.”

“You will never touch any of our children again,” Molly yelled. “That includes our extended children!”

Bellatrix let out a battle cry and started to attack Ginny again, who was now standing closer to George, Arthur, Rose and Dru. Molly swiftly moved between Bellatrix and her family again and kept attacking her, there was no pause, no fear, just one fierce lioness protecting her family. “Not my daughter you bitch!” she yelled as she kept going at Bellatrix, who was actually surprised by the force of mother Weasley. 

Bellatrix shrieked when one of Molly’s spells hit her straight in the chest, freezing her on the spot, and with one other well placed spell, Bellatrix just exploded and disappeared.

“Blimey, mum,” Ginny said releasing a breath she didn’t know she was holding. 

Molly turned to her family and walked back while she straightened her clothes. “Now let’s see to our Dru,” she said with a firm nod as if nothing had happened.

“It’s like she’s shut down or something,” Rose said softly. “I’ve tried everything but...” She swallowed hard. She couldn’t lose Dru too. “Her heart still beats but she’s not coming to!” 

“She’ll be okay.” George kneeled down next to Rose and caressed her back.

She had pulled Dru so that she was lying with her head in her lap and caressed her hair. “I swear, Dru, if you die on me, I will find a way to resurrect you even if it makes me a mad woman in the process and kill you again myself.”

“Can’t you just leave me dead then?” Dru slowly opened her eyes. “It would save us all a lot of hassle, dead, alive, dead again.” 

“You’re worth every hassle,” Rose chuckled and kept caressing her hair. “Welcome back, stupid.”

“Thanks, basket case.” Dru smiled at her friend, “Now help me up. I need to finish killing my mother.” Dru tried to sit up. 

“You’re not going to do anything and just lay down for a bit,” Molly said as she gently pushed Dru back down. “Don’t worry about your mother, dear. Nobody touches my family and gets away with it.”

“Mum killed her for you.” George grinned as he saw Dru’s confused look. “You’re family, remember?”

Dru smiled weakly and rested her head on Rose’s leg. Her head was killing her and she felt like there was something missing. “Rose, are you alright?” 

“Aside from the pain in my head and the rest of my body? Yeah, I’m fine,” she smiled at her. “You?”

“I...I feel different.” Dru said softly as she carefully sat up. The fighting around them was dying down. Most of the Death Eaters were now dead or captured. “I...” Dru looked at Rose. “I only feel myself.” 

Rose frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

“I only feel my own feelings and hear my own thoughts.” Dru rubbed her forehead. “I’ve never only felt myself. 

“You’ve just had a major shock to your system,” she said after a moment. “You were like... I don’t know. I couldn’t get you back, but your heart was still beating, it was as if you were just... I don’t know. Not home.”

“Why don’t you rest a bit and see how you feel tomorrow? Ýou’ve been through a lot today. We all have.” George said reassuring. He gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. 

Neville stumbled back into the Great Hall. He had just witnessed the defeat of Voldemort by Harry’s hand. “He did it!” He called out. “Voldemort is dead!” He was still carrying the sword.

Dru wanted to go to him, but Luna and Ginny were already holding him before she could even try and get up. She let him be hugged by his friends and teachers.

“Neville.” His grandmother walked to him and pulled him into a hug. “I’m so proud of you.” 

George got to his feet and pulled Rose along with him to join the others. 

Neville saw Rose and walked over to her. The joy of Voldemort’s death had giving him a buzz that numb the pain in his leg. Before Rose had even realised what Neville was doing, he had put his arms around her, spinning her around twice and put her down on the ground, before letting her go and taking his distance again. “Sorry Rosie, I needed to hug you.” He grinned.

“I’m proud of you, Neville,” she said as she put her arms around him and hugged him tightly. 

He put his arms around her again and lifted her off her feet. “Thank you.” He said soft. 

“I mean it,” she said as she looked at him with a smile. “I told you that you’d save the world one day.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Harry did. I just killed the snake.” He blushed. “I’m just glad I can hug you again.” 

George put his hand on Neville’s shoulder and gently squeezed it. “That bashful bloke act is getting a bit tiresome, mate,” he smiled at him. “She’s right, you know. You’re just as much the hero as Harry is.”

“Mad, the both of you.” Neville rolled his eyes at them and put Rose back on the floor. “Be careful George, don’t turn into a old mad cat woman, like Rosie here.” he chuckled. 

“Oh yeah, about that cat...”

Rose gaped at George. “I don’t want to hear it. We have a house elf now, you know.”

“Really? Cool!”

Rose looped her arm through George’s and walked towards the canteens of refreshments that had started to appear in the Great Hall to get everyone a little bit to drink. One by one everyone was coming back into the hall, quietly talking amongst themselves, cheering that they had survived and talking about those who had passed in more than one way. 

Dru had waited till George and Rose had walked away from Neville, before she walked over to Neville, put her arms around his neck and held him close to her.

“You alright?” he asked softly as he caressed her back. “In one piece and all?”

“I think so.” Dru whispered. “Could you please just hold me tight?” 

“Of course,” he smiled at her and held her tightly. “Whenever you need it, okay?”

“Are you going to be okay? No permanent damage?” She asked softly.

“I have all the faith in Madame Pomfrey, she’s been eying me the moment I walked in, you know,” he chuckled. 

She had buried her head in the crook of his shoulder, which made it possible to give him a kiss just below his neck. “Neville, we need to stop seeing each other for a while.”

“I know,” he said softly. “Until you’re ready.” Neville softly caressed her hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you all the time in the world if I have to, all the time you need. Just know that I will always be there for you if you need to just talk or if you’re in need of a smile.”

“I love you.” Dru whispered, she knew she need to let him go soon, she was already holding him for a long time and some people were starting to look at them. 

“I love you too.” He smiled and reluctantly let go of her. “I really need to get my leg checked out,” he chuckled.

Dru nodded as she smiled at him. She looked around and saw the Weasleys sitting all together in a corner. She took a deep breath and walked over to them. “Make a bit of room.” She sat down between Rose and Fleur. 

Fleur instantly took some of the food from the table and put them on a plate to put in front of Dru while Rose handed her a mug with pumpkin juice, knowing that lately Dru had an aversion to tea. She was nursing her own mug of tea while Ginny put a blanket over Dru’s shoulders to warm her up. 

“I’m alright, guys.” Dru chuckled. “I’ll be alright.” 

“I know how all of you want to go home and take a well deserved rest but please,” Molly said seriously with a soft voice as she held on to Arthur’s hand. “Please come back to the Burrows with us until we’ve...” she swallowed hard.

“Sent Freddie off to his eternal party?” George piped up after taking a deep breath. “Yeah mum, we’ll stay at the Burrows.”

“Can I come?” Percy asked with a small voice.

“Your room is still the same, Percy,” Arthur smiled and cuffed the neck of his son. “You’ve always been welcome.”

“Charlie?” Dru looked at him. “Do you know where Fred’s wand is?’ 

“Oh honestly Dru. Sex? Now?” Ginny grinned.

“With Fred’s body?” George snickered. “He’d actually see the humor in that.”

“Oh honestly.” Molly said, half laughing, half annoyed. 

“He would!” Charlie snickered and reached into his back pocket for Fred’s wand. “But I think you meant this one, didn’t you Dru?” He gently placed it into her hands. “It’s all yours.”

Dru nodded. “Thank you.” Dru looked at it for a second, before putting it in her boot, next to hers, before smiling. “I’m going to miss Fred’s wand. Especially in the morning. Well at least I don’t have to worry anymore about forgetting the silencing charm on my room.” 

George chuckled as he put his arms around Rose, making her spill a bit of tea on the floor where she sat. “Don’t Muggles have these fake wands, dad?”

“What are you talking about, son?” Arthur said confused. “Muggles don’t have wands.”

Rose nearly choked on her tea and poked George in his sore ribs. 

“Ow!”

“Serves you right,” she deadpanned. 

Dru chuckled, took a deep breath and took her wand. With one flick she conjured glasses for the entire family and took two bottles of firewhiskey out of Rose’s bag and made them pour themselves. She took her glass and held it up. “To Fred, to never stop joking, never stop laughing, to always cause mischief and always looking on the bright side of life, just like he did. To Fred.” She said bravely, while one silent tear ran down her cheek. 

“To Fred.” They all chorused and downed the drink in one go.


	56. The Beginning

“Close the store,” Rose said as she walked down the stairs and looked at her husband who had a bewildered look on his face. 

“What?”

“You heard me, close the store. There aren’t any customers and I want you to close the store.” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“But Rose...”

“George, I know you want to continue on and work as not to miss _him_ , but all work and no play makes Georgie a dull husband and your Rosie a neglected wife,” she smiled coyly at him. “Close the store and take my hand, I’m taking you out on a date.”

“A date?”

“Yes, a proper date. You and me.” She flicked her wand and closed the store before walking over to George with a big smile on her face. “An old theater nearby is showing one of my favorite films and I want to go.”

“Muggle stuff?” George put his arms around her and softly kissed her. 

“Muggle stuff,” she gave a nod and kissed him back before apparating the both of them to the Leaky Cauldron and left the pub Muggle side. It had only been a month since Fred had died and Rose hadn’t been sleeping very well unless George was working in the shop, but she knew that Fred would have wanted them to continue their lives and not waste a moment. 

Dru had bailed on them two days after Fred’s funeral. They had come home from the Burrows after his funeral and she basically locked herself up for two straight days and then had packed her things and left. She had left a letter that she just couldn’t stay at the apartment anymore, or at the store, or look at George without being reminded of Fred and she needed some time apart from the family. 

This had hurt Rose quite badly. Especially since Dru requested that she didn’t want to have any contact with anyone for an unnamed period of time either. One part of her understood why Dru was doing what she was doing, she wanted to heal and grieve in her own way, but another part couldn’t understand it at all. 

Rose didn’t really get the rest she needed with her concussion (she would go to sleep with George and wake up in the middle of the night because he was crying and then she couldn’t go back to sleep but he could once he was comforted down), it took longer for it to go away and heal and she was now having the flu. 

She was extra tired, she felt nauseated and her nose was all stuffy and because she kept blowing her nose she sometimes suffered from nosebleeds. Both Molly and George had told her to just go to St. Mungo’s where they could make her healthy again with just one or two flicks of a wand, but Rose had had enough of magic for a while. Spells at least. She survived the war, she could survive being sick. 

She had missed two periods or something but that wasn’t worrying her. A part of April and the entire month of May had been stressful, she hadn’t eaten well, nor slept well and she was certain that once everything had quieted down some more, it’d come back. At least this meant that she could keep up with Lupin’s wish for her not to get pregnant just yet. To make babies, she needed to have her period!

At first, George didn’t even want to have sex with her because she was unwell, but she could tell that he needed it and she didn’t really care that she wasn’t feeling well because she wanted to be close to him as well, as close as she could. 

If you didn’t count the fact that George wanted to know where she was every second of the day and didn’t really allow her to leave the apartment or the store without him and the occasional tears during the night, he was handling Fred’s death quite well. All his anger and frustration and sadness wasn’t targeted on to stuff, but instead he tired himself out by having sex with Rose (he wanted a quick relief, and she was somehow more responsive to him so he didn’t have to feel guilty if she didn’t get a quick relief as well).

“So, where are we walking to?”

Rose smiled up to him and looped her arm through his. “Enjoy the sunshine, George,” she beamed. “Don’t you just love the feeling of the sun warming your face?”

“We’re in the middle of London, if you want to enjoy the sun we should go to the Burrows.”

“Grumpy.”

“And you’re sick, remember? Maybe we shouldn’t go to this theatre thing.”

“George, I want to go. I want us to have a little bit of fun and do something different. Forget the world for a good two hours while we watch this film.”

He sighed and then nodded. “What’s it called?”

“Dirty Dancing.”

George then looked at her in shock. “What is it? Something raunchy? I thought you didn’t like dancing!”

She laughed and shook her head. “It’s a romantic movie which has some dancing in it along to some great music and it’s just a phrase, ‘Dirty Dancing’... although...” Rose smirked. “And I do like dancing, it’s just that I can’t dance, which is something entirely different.”

“Hmm,” George shrugged. “I don’t mind when you step on my toes.”

“I know you don’t, but I do.”

The theatre wasn’t too far away and after paying for their entrance tickets, Rose bought them some soda and a large tub of popcorn. The theatre’s architecture was absolutely lovely, it had an old feel to it and it was too small to be a regular cinema. Maybe it used to be one in the old days, considering they did have a screening room, but she loved places like these. 

She sat down with George in the best seat of the house and put her legs on his lap, smiling widely. “Our first real date, George.”

“We’ve gone to Hogsmeade often enough.”

“No, a real date, George. Not somewhere allowed to go thanks to our... _boarding school_. Not somewhere... else either. A real, proper date.”

“I offered you to go somewhere before.”

“Yes, but that was when I wasn’t feeling up to it,” she smiled and softly kissed him. “I love you, George Weasley.”

“I love you too,” he softly kissed her back. 

At the end of the film, Rose was sobbing into George’s shoulder and he chuckled. “It’s just a film.”

“But they came together! And she managed to do the lift! And the songs!” she blubbered. “They’re adorable!”

George started to laugh. “No, you’re adorable,” he softly kissed her and gently pushed her legs off his lap. “Come on, let’s go home before you’ll infect these muggles with your flu.”

* * *

It was nine o’clock at night. Dru was lying on her side on the sofa with her head on Neville’s lap. After leaving the flat, she had gone to Neville. He was the only safe place she had left. She couldn’t stay at the apartment any longer. Everything reminded her of Fred. She needed to get away.

She and Neville still weren’t a couple again. They were as close as they always have been, just without the boyfriend/girlfriend thing like Neville called it. She was still having lots of nightmares so she had been sleeping in Neville’s bed. 

Now she was just looking at Neville’s gran knitting, She hadn’t been happy with Dru staying over, but she hadn’t put up a fight with Neville either. She knew how much the girl meant to her grandson and he seemed happier with her around. He too had been having nightmares, where he would wake up in sweats and Dru seem to be able to calm him down. 

Neville was reading a book and at the same time caressing her arm. 

Dru moved so she was lying on her back. “I want to do something.” 

Neville look up from his book. “Like what?” 

“I don’t know. Just out.” Dru sat up. She hadn’t been out of the house since she got there three weeks ago. After a week at the Burrow, filled with people and two days in the flat, inside her old room, and now three weeks in the Longbottom home, it had made her a bit restless. She need to go out and do something. “Can’t we go somewhere in town?” 

“There’s a pub, but it’s a muggle pub.” Neville shrugged. 

“I’ve got muggle money. I got a special money purse with muggle money, from when I lived in London. Rose always liked to go into London, so I made sure I always had some muggle money.” Dru sat on her knees. “Please, can’t we just go?” 

“Sure.” Neville put the book down. “You don’t mind, do you, Gran?” 

“No, you two have fun.” She smiled at Neville. 

Dru got off the sofa and pulled Nevill up. “Let’s go then.” 

While they were walking into town, Dru looped her arms into Neville’s. “Have you ever been to the muggle pub?” 

“The summer I was 15 I just to go there during the day. They have a game called darts, where you throw little arrows, called darts, on a board ot win points. I was quite good at it.” 

“Can you teach me how to do it?” 

“Sure.” Neville smiled at her. Despite that fact she was still having a bit of difficulty with her guilt towards Fred’s death and she was still suffering from the flu, she looked radiant lately. 

“What?” Dru asked when she caught him looking at her.

“Nothing.” Neville blushed a bit and held the door open for her. 

They had a great night. Dru had been drinking a muggle soda that Rose had always been trying to get her to drink, but she always downright refused, but at the pub they didn’t have pumpkin juice or bubble juice, so the muggle soda would have to do. Neville had been drinking muggle beer. 

It was nearly one o’clock in the morning when Dru and Neville got back into the house. Neville was a little tipsy and quite jolly where Dru was giggly and a bit uncoordinated due to the fact that she was a bit tired. She hadn’t been drinking anything that held alcohol, but her emotions had been all over to place lately and it was just easy to giggle right now. 

“Shhh, you’ll wake your gran.” Dru giggled. 

“Nah,” he smiled at her and helped her get up the stairs. “She knows we’ve been out, I think she sleeps with ear plugs.”

Dru giggled as soon as they were into their bedroom, she got out of the summer dress she had been wearing. She pulled out a tight spaghetti top and shorts, that she used as pyjama. She put the short on first and then noticed that Neville was again staring at her. “What?” She giggled at him.

“Well, for one, I’m astounded by the fact that you’re still undressing yourself in front of me,” he said as he got up.

“You‘ve seen me naked before.” Dru shrugged. 

“Yes, but we’re not in a relationship right now,” he said, swallowing hard. He needed to go to the bathroom and help himself. “And two, it’s good to see that gran’s cooking is doing you a world of good,” he smiled at her before moving to the door.

“What do you mean?” She walked over to him and put her hand on the door, to stop him from leaving the room. She then looked down at her stomach. “You think I’m getting fat, don’t you?”

“No, you’re pretty, you were way too skinny.” Neville groaned. “I’m a wee bit drunk, please let me go and relieve myself before I throw you on the bed and do something I shouldn’t be doing?”

Dru looked at him and bit her lower lip, before removing her hand from the door. She wanted him too, she wanted him badly, but she felt a bit scared to give in to her feelings. “I’m sorry, Neville.” 

“Don’t be sorry,” he smiled at her. “You’re beautiful, you’re absolutely gorgeous and I’m a guy, you know, easily excitable. But I’m also a gentleman and I’m your friend so I’ll be right back.”

Dru walked over to the bed and laid down on her back. She couldn’t help thinking about what Neville was doing in the bathroom, and it was kinda turning her on. She closed her eyes and let her hand run down over her own body, caressing herself, when Neville walked back into the room. 

“Oh god...” Neville gasped and turned around again. “I’ll be in the hallway.” 

Dru sat up with a shock. "It’s...it’s alright...I’m not...You can come back in.” She turned to her side and curled herself into a ball. She felt so completely embarrassed and instantly cooled off. 

Neville sat down on the bed with her and softly caressed her back. “It’s okay, you know,” he smiled at her. “I don’t know what made you want to help yourself but it’s okay.”

Dru closed her eyes and pulled the sheets over her head. “Can we please not talk about this, it’s embarrassing.” 

“It’s not,” he chuckled. “I tell you that I’m going to the bathroom. In my own home, now that’s embarrassing,” he gave a nod. 

“No, that’s because I’m in your room, so you can’t help yourself in yourself in own room.” Dru sat up and threw the sheets off of her. “Maybe I should go sleep in the guest room.” She kept looking down, not daring to look at him.

“No, you’re not going anywhere,” he said and shook his head. “Let’s wait until tomorrow to have this conversation because I’m not completely sober and I don’t want to say things that will scare you off.”

Dru looked at him. “Scare me off? When have you scared me off?” She smiled at him. “I’m the scary one, remember?” 

“Yes, I’d say something stupid that might make you want to punch me in the noggin because it’d feel like I’d pressure you into something that you’re not ready to be put into yet.”

Dru laid down on her back and patted on his side of the bed, telling him to lie down. “You would never pressure me into anything, you know that. I mean, I always felt that I always chased after you, not the other way around.” 

“Unless something was going on, I know that, but I might say something that might make you feel guilty and then you’d start making decisions that you’re not ready for so...” he sighed as he laid down. “Let’s just go to sleep and we’ll go for a walk tomorrow and talk.”

Dru nodded and turned to her side and put her head on the side of his chest. “Goodnight, babe.” 

“Goodnight, beautiful.” He smiled and put an arm around her as he closed his eyes.

* * *

“If not for yourself, do it for me,” George said as he held Rose’s hair back as she once again was hugging the toilet and emptying breakfast into the bowl.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t even have to go to St. Mungo’s you know, there are Muggle doctors too.”

“I’m fine,” she said again as she sat up and flushed the toilet. She then slowly got up and started to rinse her mouth and brush her teeth to get rid of the nasty taste.

“Rosie, please go and see a healer. I’m getting worried about you.” George caressed her back. “I mean you look fine. I mean you surely are eating a lot and everything, despite the fact you’re throwing it all out again, but you’re not losing weight, I mean.” 

Rose turned around and glared at him while she was still brushing her teeth. “You think I’m fat.” She stated and then shrugged. It was getting a bit hard to get into her favorite pairs of trousers these days. “I might have gained a little.”

“Who knows,” he chuckled. “It might be something completely benign, like...” he then got this mischievous look on his face. “Ohhh maybe you’re pregnant!”

“Oh for the...” she rolled her eyes at him and slapped him in the chest as she spat out her toothpaste and rinsed her mouth again. “Fine, I’ll prove to you that I’m sick and I’ll ask the doctor to cure me and tell me that I’m not pregnant. I’ve missed two periods but that was because of stress and trauma, not because I’m pregnant. Lupin would kill me if I was.”

“Hold on, you missed two periods.” George looked at her belly and couldn't help it but grin. “Could you be?”

“Women don’t get their periods when they’re under stress or have endured trauma, George,” she told him as she walked out of the bathroom and looked for a skirt to put on.

“Or when they’re pregnant!” He said as he followed her. “I’ll get Ron to look after the shop. I’m coming with you to St. Mungo’s.” He knew she wasn't pregnant, but he also knew if he kept teasing her about it, she’d at least get herself checked out just to prove him wrong.

“I refuse to go to St. Mungo’s.” she said as she got her skirt on.

“Come on, Rosie, I want to see if I made a baby.” 

“And what if, George? What if _we_ made a baby? I’m not ready for a baby, I’m 18!” she countered. “And your parents will kill me.”

George sighed and sat down at the bed. “I know you’re not and neither am I, and my parents would kill the both of us.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Look, we’re not having a baby, but I just want you looked at. I’m having nightmares that you have some weird muggle disease and die on me and I...” George choked up. Those nightmares were keeping him awake for three days now. 

“Alright,” she said softly and sat down on the bed next to him, gently caressing his back. “We’ll go to St. Mungo’s.” Rose softly kissed his cheek. “But I promise you, you won’t lose me.”

“We can go to the Muggle healer if you want, I don’t care. As long as they check you over and help you.” 

“St. Mungo’s is faster,” she smiled at him. “All they do is wave a wand and see what’s wrong. Muggles are so slow.” she rolled her eyes at him. “Slow but so beautiful.”

“Thank you.” He softly kissed her lips. “Wanna go now?” 

“Can we have a cup of tea first?” she smiled at him. Winky had left a week or two before, thinking that this hadn’t been entirely what she wanted and had gone back to Hogwarts in a huff. Rose knew that Winky had left because she had asked her not to get drunk again while she knew better than to change the ways of the old elf. “Maybe with those tiny marshmallows in it that I bought last week.”

“I’ll make some.” George patted her knee, got up and went to the kitchen to make her tea.

Rose pulled on her shoes and looked at herself in the mirror as she walked past. No way she was pregnant. No way. It was going to be something explainable. Not that being pregnant would be unexplainable but it was something else. 

An hour later they apparated into an alley next to the hospital. Rose was still not happy to go, but she wanted George to stop worrying, and she didn’t want him to have nightmares about him losing her too. Not anymore. They had to stop. 

They went to registration and sat down in the waiting room after Rose filled out some forms. It didn’t take long for one of the nurses to come out and call the next patient. “Mrs. Weasley?” 

Rose blinked at George. They had just gotten there! She sighed and got up, holding George’s hand and then saw Dru with Neville walk towards the nurse as well.

“Dru? Neville? What are you two doing here?” George asked surprised. 

“What do you think mate, she’s still sick. I’d be a bad friend if I let her stay sick for any longer.” Neville smiled at him. “All that puke.”

“You were at Neville’s?” George looked at Dru. “Why didn’t you tell us? We have been worried sick about you.” 

“I wanted to be left alone.” Dru said with a small voice and one hand on her stomach. She was still feeling sick. 

“If you would please follow me, ma’am.” The nurse said and Dru and Neville followed her.

George helped Rose back in her seat. “I can’t believe she didn’t just tell us. If we knew where she was, we could have checked in on her, see how she was doing.” 

“I understand,” Rose said softly. “I mean, everything reminds her of Fred. Whether she’s at the apartment or at the Burrows. Or when she sees you, you know... And Neville... well better at Neville’s than Draco’s, really.”

“I wonder if you two are having the same disease.” George put an arm Rose. 

“Highly likely since it all started when we were at Muriel’s, although with that concussion from the battle... I don’t know.” She softly kissed him. “But sweetie, please respect Dru’s decision in going to Neville and not go and badger her every day by showing up on his doorstep to see how she’s doing? If she’s ready, she’ll tell us herself.”

Dru sat down at a table and waited for the healer to arrive. “I really didn't have to come. It would soon just go away on it’s own, you know.” 

“No one knows things for sure, other than Rose in the past. So, you’re here now, you’re going to be checked out and you’re going to be fine.” Neville said determined. “Gran thinks you’re pregnant.”

“Your gran is full of wild crazy ideas.” Dru smiled. “How would I be pregnant? I haven’t had sex in...well not that long, but that was before the battle. Even I had been pregnant during the battle, the amount of cruciatus curses would have made me miscarry. But why are we talking about this? I’m not pregnant, Nev!” 

He shrugged. “If you are, then at least you know you’ll get one kick ass kid, it survived the battle of Hogwarts!” 

“Not funny, Neville.” Dru hit his arm. “Do you seriously want to have a kid? Because you are the last one I’ve...It could be yours.”

Neville turned white as a sheet. “No.”

“Mrs. Weasley?” the healer walked in with a chart and her wand.

“Yes.” Dru said. “I’m fine, but he’s been fussy lately.”

“Nausea, flu like symptoms, throwing up, weight gain... not losing weight... what about dizzy spells?” the healer looked over at Neville and shook his head. “Men, such weaklings,” the healer then chuckled.

Dru looked at Neville. “I’m so not letting you fill out any forms ever again.”

“Well at least I wrote down the truth, didn’t I?” he said smug, still looking pale.

“Right, let me see.” she flicked her wand a few times, looked confused and then tried another to which Dru’s body gave the right reaction she was looking for. “Alright,” she gave a nod. “When was the last day of your last period, Mrs. Weasley?” 

“I don’t remember, but I’ve been forgetful lately and I was at the battle of Hogwarts and ...I’m 17. I’m not pregnant. I can’t be.”

“Well,” the healer said as she performed a few other spells to find out the information that she needed. “I am quite positive that you are, congratulations,” she smiled, not looking up from her notepad.

Dru put her hand in front of her mouth in shock.

“What?” Neville said surprised.

“But we only did it once.” Dru said in shock. “The day before the battle and I got cursed and all. How can I be pregnant?”

“Well, if my information is correct, you conceived somewhere at the end of March, the beginning of April. That makes you around 10 weeks pregnant, if my guess is correct. Of course, the obstetrician would have to give you the right estimate.”

Dru closed her eyes and looked down. “This can’t be happening.” She laid down on the table and curled herself up. She closed her eyes, she couldn’t believe it. She was pregnant, but it wasn’t Neville’s, but Fred’s. 

“When can we see an obstetrician then?” Neville asked, hardly become of the shock himself, but seeing as Dru didn’t ask, he had to. 

“Well, you could make an appointment now, if you like. Just go back to registration. We encourage our pregnant patients to find one of their own. Some just like to have a Muggle obstetrician, others prefer one from the magical community.” The nurse smiled at him.

Neville nodded and looked at Dru, before turning back to the healer. “Could you give us a second?” 

“Off course. Take your time and when you’re ready you can go to the registry. They will help you from there.” She patted Neville on his shoulder. “Congratulations again, I’m sure you’ll be great parents.” 

Dru had opened her eyes again and was pulling fluff from the blanket she was lying on. She was still busy trying to wrap her brain around what she had just been told. “I’m pregnant.” She muttered. 

“Yep,” he gave a nod and walked over to her to caress her back. “Like I said, one kick ass kid you’re going to have. It survived the battle and it’s Fred’s.”

Dru closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying not to start crying. She took a deep breath and sat up. “Can we go home now?” 

“Yes, we can go home now and if you want, we could make an appointment to go and see a obstetrician for you, unless you want to just go home and curl up in bed and forget about everything for a while.” He smiled at her and caressed her hair out of her face.

She nodded. “I’ll come back another day to make an appointment.”

“Alright, then let’s go home.” He helped her off the table and put his arm around her. 

“Do you want me to wait in the tearoom?” 

“Huh?” Neville blinked at her. “No, we’re here for you, not for me,” he smiled. 

“Don’t you wanna go see your parents while we’re here? I can wait in the tearoom or in the waiting room, if you want. I don’t mind.” 

“Are you sure?” He hadn’t been to visit his parents since... well Easter. Before the battle. 

“Of course I am.” She smiled at him. “I’ll just wait in the tearoom for you, I’ve brought a book, so take all the time you need. I know how much you like to see them.” 

“Are you absolutely sure? I mean, you can come with, you know. You just had some pretty important news dumped on you and... maybe it’s just better if we go home.”

“No, you need to go see your parents and I know you want to do that alone.” She had walked them to the ward and sat down on a bench. “Go see them.” She took the book from her bag. “Go, Nev! I’ll still be here when you get back and you can see me from the ward, so you know I won’t run away.” 

~~~~

“The _other_ Mrs. Weasley, please.” the nurse said with a smile in her voice. 

George looked around. “No, Rose, this time it is us.” he chuckled and helped her out of her seat. 

“Damn, just as I thought that your brother might have slipped in with Fleur or that your mum needs to be checked out...” she remarked while they walked towards the exam room.

“Yeah, you would love that, wouldn’t you.” George helped her onto the table and kissed her.

“Yep,” she nodded. “I’m sure that whatever ails me will go away on its own.”

“And I’m sure of it too and now the healer will tell us the same and then we can all sleep.” He nodded and sat down in a chair next to the table. “So how many weeks do you think you are?” 

“Yes, I’d love a full night’s sleep,” she then glared at George. “Alright, if I’m going to humor you? Around twelve or thirteen, but I’m not pregnant.”

“Of course not.” He chuckled. “You would have known by now that you were, hell I would have known. Merlin, my mother’s clock would have told us.” 

“I’m not on the clock and your mum’s clock doesn’t have the setting ‘about to become grandparents’ or ‘help I’m going to be a father’.” she pointed out. “Prison, maybe.” she giggled.

“Back again, Mrs. Weasley?” the healer walked into the room. “Oh, it’s another one,” she said confused and shook her head as she looked at the chart. “Humor me, Mrs. Weasley. When was the last day of your last period?” 

“March 16, but April was particularly stressful and May... well, let’s not talk about May.”

She waved her wand around a few times and smiled. “Well, congratulations, that’s one tough baby you’re going to have.”

“Sorry?” Rose said confused. “What did you just say?”

“You’re pregnant, about twelve to thirteen weeks I’d say, congratulations.”

George was looking at the healer with his mouth wide open. “Pregnant?” was all he could muster to say.

“No, you must be wrong,” Rose said to the healer. “When did that happen?”

“Well, after March 16, and before March 30th.” she smiled.

“Pregnant?” George asked again still in shock.

“I suggest you go and make an appointment with an obstetrician, either one from St. Mungo’s or the rest of the magical community, or a Muggle one, whatever you’re comfortable with, and I urge you to do that fast, you’re nearly out of your first trimester, you do want to know for sure that your bundle of joy is going to be a healthy one.” The healer smiled.

Rose hopped off the table and sat down in George’s lap. “George, you’re going to be a parent.”

“You’re pregnant.” He looked at her and caressed her hair. “We’re having a baby.” He started laughing and pulled Rose close. “We’re going to have a baby, Rosie.” 

“Uhuh...” she smiled at him and caressed his hair. “Lupin is so going to come back and haunt our asses.”

“I don’t care.” He kissed her. “Oh can we please go and tell mum and dad? They could use a bit of cheering up.” 

“I was just going to say that,” she smiled to the healer. “Thank you. I will be choosing a Muggle obstetrician, but we’ll get a midwife from here.”

George stood up with Rose in his arms. “Thank you very much, ma’am. You have made my parents very happy, I can tell you that.” 

“Good luck to you both,” she smiled. “It’s been awhile since we had some new Weasley babies in the hospital.”

“Yeah, but we’ve all grown up now, so it’s time do the new generation.” George put Rose down on her feet and shook the healer’s hand. “Come on Rosie, Let’s go tell me parents.”

"Tonight at the dinner." Rose smiled at him. "Then we can tell the whole family,"

* * *

After Neville and Dru got back home, Neville was sent out to get groceries and Dru decided to take a bath. Mrs Longbottom had taught Dru a spell to keep the water nice and warm for a longer time and she had given Dru bath salt that kept filling the bath with new bubbles. Dru had pulled her hair up in a messy bun and was soaking with her legs sticking out of the tub, listening to the birds chirping outside. There was a knock on the door. "Dru, gran wanted me to bring you some tea. Can I come in?"

Dru giggled, it was adorable to see Neville trying so hard at being the perfect gentleman. "Of course you can, silly. The door isn't locked."

“Yeah but I meant, are you decent enough?” His voice sounded from the other side of the door. “Like covered up with pretty bubbles and such.”

"Yes, Neville, I'm covered up, unless you can't stand to look at my knee and lower legs." Dru laughed. 

Neville opened the door and came into the bathroom. He put down the tea and chuckled as he saw Dru smiling at him. "You like baths then?"

Dru nodded. "Love them." 

"I'm glad to see you're feeling a bit better. I'll leave you to soak in the tub."

"Don't go. Can't you keep me company?" Dru pointed at the chair next to the tub. "Please? We were going to talk, remember? You said so last night." Soaking in the tub had cleared up her mind and what made her see what she wanted and needed to do.

“Yes, but... now you’re making it hard for me to talk to you because I know you’re naked under there,” he blushed. “I’m still a guy with feelings, you know.”

“Fine then.” Dru spat at him. “Then we don’t talk, I don’t care.” She pulled her legs back into the tub, crossed her arms while she glared at him. 

“You’re adorable,” he chuckled as he sat down on the chair.

“Shut up.” Dru said. “That’s not funny.” She kept glaring at him. “Weren’t you going? If you can’t talk to me, you don’t have a reason to stay.” 

“You’re absolutely adorable when you’re angry,” he chuckled again and crossed his arms over his chest.

Dru growled and started to splash a lot of water over Neville, who was laughing now and not moving from his seat whilst getting wet. He always knew how to push her buttons. 

“Alright, let’s talk,” he roared with laughter. “You win.”

“No! I don’t want to talk anymore.” She sulked and crossed her arms again.

“Yep, adorable,” he nodded. “Look, if you want to sleep in the guest room because I make you feel uncomfortable then by all means do it, but I thought we agreed on sharing my bed at least until you were nightmare free. As for walking in on you while you were... well, we’ll just have to find a way to tell each other that we want some privacy. I don’t mind sharing my room with you, not at all.”

“That’s what you wanted to talk to me about?” Dru asked with a soft voice. She had been hoping he was going to try and win her back. 

Neville smiled at her. “Yep. You’re not ready to hear the other thing yet. It’s far too soon.”

Dru sighed. “Fine. Then it’s my turn. I’m going to back to live with Rose and George.” 

“What? Why?” he asked shocked.

“Because I’m pregnant.” 

“That’s not a reason.”

“Yes it is. I’m pregnant, I can’t keep living here.” 

Neville thought for a moment and nodded. “I can understand that, but I don’t want to be without you. I need you, Dru,” he smiled softly at her. “You know that they’re rebuilding the ministry, right? And how there are still Death Eaters out there? A week after the battle Kingsley asked me if I wanted to come and join the Aurors. Get a proper training. They’ll even spring for an apartment to start me off with. Let’s do that together.”

Dru shook her head. “I can’t ask you to do that. I’m pregnant, I’m going to be a burden to you. You’re only 17 Neville and I saw your face when you thought you and I were pregnant. You don’t want a child. I’m not going to ask you to take care of the child of another.” 

“I am going to do that because I do not want you to go back to Rose and George for purely selfish reasons,” he said determined. “And the child you’re carrying is not just any child, it is the child of a hero, Dru. It’s the child of someone whom you loved and was married to and it’s yours.”

“But you’re just 17.” 

“And so are you,” he pointed out. “We’ll be 18 next month. We can do this, Dru,” he smiled at her. “I promise you that we can do this, I mean, how hard can it be? We’ve survived a war!” he managed to chuckle.

“But we’re not even a couple anymore, and I understand that. I mean, I’m getting fat and I’m pregnant with the kid of another guy and you’re a hero now and you can do so much better that a 17 pregnant girl.”

“Would you stop for a second and listen to yourself and realise how ridiculous you sound?”

“I don’t.” Dru looked at him. “I mean, what do I have to do? Yesterday I spent the entire night flirting with you, I undress myself in front of you, I even invite you into the bathroom while I’m naked. How much more do I need to do for you to understand I want you back?” 

“Oh, my sweet Dru,” he smiled at her and squatted down next to the tub to look at her. “I’ve noticed, believe me I have noticed and there would be nothing more that I want for us to be a real, proper couple,” he cupped her face with his hand and kept smiling at her. “And in my heart, we will always be a real, proper couple, but you need more time. I know you’re going to say that you’re ready, but you’re not. So, to invest in our future and to make sure that we both can stand on our two feet without the meddling of Rose or George or even Gran, I’m going to say yes to the offer of starting Auror training and get us our apartment.”

“But that will mean you’ll be gone for weeks on end. I heard Harry tell Ginny that.” 

“Well I didn’t say that you’d have to stay at the apartment all the time, I mean you could go and visit Rose, or Ginny, or anyone else,” he smiled at her. “I will be helping with the rebuilding of our community, getting your uncle and your father off the streets, to make sure that your child is going to have a safe world to come in to.”

Dru bit her lip and nodded. “Can I help pick the apartment?” 

“I want you to pick the apartment,” he smiled. “You can even decorate it.”

“WIll you make me one promise?” 

“Anything.”

“Since _I_ can’t decide when I’m ready to be your girlfriend again, will you kiss me the minute _you_ decide I’m ready?” 

“Oh yes,” he smiled widely at her. “Don’t you worry about that.”

* * *

“Are you almost ready, Rose?” George was sitting on their bed. Rose was getting dressed in the bathroom. She had bought two pairs of jeans that were a few sizes bigger than the ones she usually wore and obviously she felt slightly embarrassed by it. “Come on Rose, we’re going to be late.”

“We’re not going to be late,” Rose said as she opened the door and pulled her shirt down. “You know very well that your mum won’t allow anyone to eat something until everyone’s home.”

George chuckled at the side of Rose trying to hide her slight baby bump. “Do you have a top that’s a bit more tight? I want to look at my baby.” 

It astounded her that George was so willing and ready to accept the fact that she was pregnant with his child. She still wasn’t sure what to think. “Your baby is the size of a snitch. You’re a beater, you won’t be seeing it for quite some time until it’s the size of a bludger.”

George pulled Rose close to him and lifted her shirt. “Still my baby.” He gave her a kiss on her belly. “And I can still see it.” 

“Your mum is going to kill me, you know that right?” she said as she pushed his head away with her finger.

“You’re going to give mum her first grandchild. If you weren’t her favourite daughter in law, you’re going to be that now.” 

She softly kissed him and ran her fingers through his hair. “Let’s just go and see what happens, I’ll use you as my shield.”

He smiled at her. “Oh, I can’t wait to see Fred’s face, He’s....” George’s smile disappeared. He suddenly realised that this was the first time he couldn’t share an important moment with his twin brother. He put his head against Rose’s belly and started to cry.

She pulled him close and caressed his hair. “It’s okay George...” she said softly. “Let’s go and tell him first anyway.”

George nodded. “I miss him.”

“I know you do, and you should,” she smiled at him. “I miss him too, I miss cleaning up after his ass.”

George chuckled. “If we have a boy, can we call him Fred?” 

“Of course,” she nodded. 

“Or we could call her Frederika?” He smiled at her. “Or Winnifred?” 

“Don’t push it,” she chuckled. “None of that.”

“Why not? Winnifred is cute.” He pulled her closer to him. “I like Winnifred, we could call her Winky is she’s naughty.” he laughed.

“We have a couple of months left to discuss names if luck would have it that we made a girl, let’s just go,” she hit him in the chest. 

“Yes, mummy.” George let her go and got off the bed. “I can’t believe you’re gonna be a mummy now.” He put his hand on her belly. “I love you.”

“Knock it off, George.”

George caressed her hair out of her face and frowned. “I know you’re still in a bit of shock, but you _are_ happy too, aren’t you?” 

“Right now I’m just a bit annoyed,” she gave a nod and softly kissed him. “Can we go? I’m hungry.”

“Alright, mommy dear.” He took her hand and apparated them before she could react.

_crack_

They arrived at the paddock at the Burrow. It was a nice and sunny late afternoon, the sun was going down behind the trees and it was quite peaceful. His parents had made the right decision to have Fred buried on the grounds, he would have loved it himself. George took a deep breath before looking at Rose. Visiting Fred’s grave was very hard on him. 

“Hey Fred, George is a little bit sad still, but we have something to tell you,” she said as she looped her arm through George’s. “George and I...” she smiled up to him. “Are getting married.”

This made George chuckle.

“Now, we’d have loved it if you were our best man but...” she shook her head. “Forgive me, George and I are already married and you were our best man. What were we going to tell him, George?” she said playfully. 

“You’re becoming an uncle, Freddie,” George chuckled. “You’re the first to know that Rosie is pregnant. It’s weird, you know. This. Something major is going to happen, or is happening and you’re not here. Wish you were though, because Ron has these crazy ideas for the shop it’s driving me bonkers.”

“Who’s driving who bonkers?” Ginny’s voice sounded from behind them. “Thought I might find you two here, are you coming? Mum’s done cooking.”

“I’ll be back some other day, Fred, right now our sister is being a pain in the neck,” he chuckled and walked towards Ginny to hug her tightly while Rose followed closely behind. “Hey Ginny, how are you doing?”

“Still here, enjoying the sun, being mum’s little errand girl, come on, she’s impatient,” Ginny laughed and hugged Rose before taking their hands and dragged them away from the paddock towards the house. “Mum! They’re here!”

“It’s about time. Dinner is almost ready.” She hugged George first. She looked at him, while caressing her hair. “How are you?”

“I’m having a good day. “ He looked at Rose. “A very good day.” 

Rose gave a shrug. “I allowed him to take me to St. Mungo’s.”

“Do they know what’s wrong with you?” Molly asked.

“She’s has a parasite.” George grinned at Rose. “It will be over in a few months. We will tell you about it, when we all sitting down.” 

“A parasite?” Molly said worried. “Oh dear!”

“What’s going on?” Arthur walked into the kitchen. “George!” He smiled widely and hugged his son.

“Ugh, I swear, they keep hugging us,” Ron muttered as he finished setting the table. “You could have told me you weren’t going to return for the rest of the day, I would have closed the store.”

“You can have the day off tomorrow, Ron,” Rose smiled at him. “Go and do something fun with Hermione.”

“Just because I’m not there, doesn’t mean the shop has to close, Ron. There are still customers to take care of.” George smiled at his brother.

“Don’t mind him, he’s a bit annoyed.” Hermione smiled at her boyfriend.

“He found out I’m starting my auror training next week.” Harry sat as he sat down. “He’s a bit bummed out he said no to Kingsley.” 

“Yeah and with Hermione going back to Hogwarts I feel a bit left out.”

“Cheer up, Ron,” Rose smiled. “You’re a very valued co-worker and brother in law.”

“And I’m really going to need you this year, Ron. With Rose having the parasite inside of her, I’m going to have to take of her too.”

“What kind of parasite?” Hermione asked as she put some salad on her plate.

“Not a harmful one. It’s about the size of a snitch, but it will grow and they’re probably going to get it out by half december.” George shrugged.

“No!” Ginny said astounded as she put her fork down. “You... no!”

Rose laughed “I told you Ginny would get it first.” Rose smiled at George. “You with your Hermione.”

“You are a real disappointment, Granger. Now I have to dishes for a week, thanks.” 

“Would you two just please tell me what’s going on?” Molly said a little annoyed.

“Can I?” George looked at his wife.

Rose nodded as she nibbled on a piece of lettuce.

“Mum, Dad, brothers, sister and the rest (waving at Harry, Hermione and Fleur) Rose and I are going to have a baby.” 

The entire kitchen fell silent and all eyes were on George and Rose. “At least I’m not sick, right?” she smiled a little.

“Is this one of your jokes?” Bill asked. 

“No.” George chuckled. “Rose is almost three months pregnant. That’s why she had been throwing up since she left aunt Muriel's.”

Molly was just speechless as she looked at her son and his wife. Out of everyone she had expected that they would have waited a while longer and that Bill and Fleur would grant her and Arthur their first grandchild, but another part of her told her that this was exactly something for George, always wanting to be the fastest, the better one of all his brothers, especially with Fred. She then smiled widely and hugged her son. “You’re going to make me a grandmother!” she sobbed.

“Well, Rose is. She’s pregnant.” George chuckled. “I contributed a little bit.” 

“Congratulations.” Hermione hugged Rose. “I can’t believe it. Rose, the girl that hated boys and never even wanted to make friends, is now married with a baby on the way. I had never expected out of the ten Gryffindors that _you_ would be the one pregnant at the end of our school career.” 

“If you put it like that...” Rose said and looked at George. “George, I’ve changed my mind, let’s find some magical way to get this little pea into Hermione’s belly.”

“NO!” Ron said shocked. “That’s my job.” Ron started blushing. “I mean...well..” 

“Oh good heavens, no,” Hermione chuckled. “Unlike you, Ron and I still have a lot of work to do. You’re actually settled and stuff, no, it’s great, really.”

After everyone congratulated them, Rose quietly continued to eat her dinner. She suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable and small. After dinner, they all moved to the den and had a celebratory glass of wine (or in Rose’s case a cup of tea).

Hermione sat down next to Rose and put an arm around her. “You miss her, don’t you?” 

Rose nodded. “I saw her today at the hospital but I didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know either.”

“So how was she? Did she tell you where she’s staying?” Hermione caressed her hair.

“Yeah I know where she is,” she smiled. “But she needs time and she’ll come back when she’s ready, we shouldn’t go over there and do things.”

“I know, but if you know where she is, you at least know how to reach her if you needed her. Or you could write Neville and asked him how she’s doing.” She smiled when she saw Rose’s face. ”Harry and I had figured she had gone to him the moment she was gone, but like you said. She needs time. And to be honest, none of us can take care of her the way he can. She’ll be okay sooner when she’s with him. “ Hermione have Rose a kiss on her cheek. “You’ll get to tell her soon, I’m sure.” 

“Yeah I know,” she nodded. “Maybe it’s good, you know, to have some time apart from her anyway... it’s just weird.”

Hermione nodded. “Look, I’m not Dru, but you’re not alone, We’re friends too. I mean...We could go shopping for some baby stuff together...I mean...if you would like that.” 

“Thanks, Hermione,” she smiled at her.

“Now, just so you all know, just because George and Rose are expecting a baby, doesn’t mean that you lot, all of you, should fall pregnant too,” Arthur said as he looked at his kids.

“Well, Fleur can.” Bill said. “We’re married.” 

“Well, yes, and you’re definitely old enough, but the rest of you?” 

“Sorry, Ginny. No shed for us then.” Harry smiled at his girlfriend.

“Oh, you’re not going to deny me the shed, Harry Potter.” Ginny glared at him. “We’ll just be extra careful and buy those condom thingies.”

“Ginny!” Molly said.

“I think there’s some in my nightstand upstairs. I don’t really use them.” George grinned.

“I noticed,” Ginny snickered.

“Ginny!” Molly said again.

“Don’t worry mum,” she rolled her eyes at her mother. “It’s not like I’ve showed Harry every corner of the shed this morning.”

Harry started to blush furiously. 

“Maybe you should show me that shed.” Hermione whispered in Ron’s ear.

“Most definitely,” Ron swallowed hard. “Let’s go.”

“Ron, nightstand first.” George grinned at his brother as he pulled Rose on his lap. ”Merlin, you’re getting heavy.” 

“George, nothing has changed since this morning other than the fact that we know that we’re expecting.”

“No, but I didn’t want to bring it up sooner.” George chuckled as he caressed her stomach. “I’m just kidding. You’re beautiful and still a light weight.”

“I can make you some maternity clothes, dear,” Molly smiled. 

“No thanks, I’ll be fine with regular clothes.” she eyed George. “I don’t want to be huge.”

“You’re going to eat. Don’t make me go get Neville.” 

“I eat what I have to, yeah, but I will cut down on the tea with marshmallows and other sweets and what not because you’ll say that I’m fat and that I’ll be ugly and I don’t want you to have a fat and ugly wife.”

“Rosie.” George whined. “Stop being so ridiculous. I’m only joking.”

“No! Ever since you heard that I’m pregnant, all you’ve been going on about is weight gain, George!”

George sighed and put Rose on her seat. “Fine, if you’re going to be like that.” He wasn’t in the mood for her stubbornness. 

“I’m going home,” she said, swallowing her tears and got up to hug Molly. “Thank you for dinner.” 

“Don’t go home, dear.” Molly hugged Rose. “He didn’t really mean it.”

“George is making fun of me in front of all of you and I told him that I don’t want that!” she started to cry as she put her arms around Molly. “I’m going to be fat and ugly and he will hate me!”

“Oh sweetheart.” Molly shot a angry look at her son. “See what you have done?” 

“I said I was joking.” George shot at his mother. “She shouldn’t be so weird. I always make fun of her.”

“I’m going home,” she said sobbing. “This is embarrassing enough.”

“Fine.” George got up. “Let’s go home then.” 

“No, you stay here because you’ll hate it when I undress in the bathroom without you there and you’ll hate it when I get into my jammies because I’m cold and you’ll only poke fun of me.”

“It’s my home, you can’t tell me not to go home. But don’t worry I won’t make fun of you. You know what I just won’t talk to you at all.” 

_crack_

Rose started to cry. “I can’t go home now!”

“Of course you can. I’ll bring you home and talk some sense into my brother.” Bill said.

“No, I shouldn’t be having... I shouldn’t have started this... he... he needs me and I shouldn’t cry.” Rose started to rub her eyes, to try and stop herself from crying. “I mean, it’s just my weight, who cares, right?” she said, unable to stop. “If he feels better by poking fun of it then it should be alright. I’m a bad wife.”

“Alright that’s it. I’m taking you home and talk to George.” Arthur said and took Rose’s hand.

_Crack_

George was pouring himself a firewhiskey in the kitchen. He had always hated Rose’s mood swings, but lately he couldn’t handle them anymore. She was getting on his nerves. 

“Rose, you go up and have a nice bath, alright?” Arthur said as he gently steered her towards the stairs. “Go and relax, take all the time you need.”

Rose nodded and was still sobbing as she walked up the stairs. 

Arthur walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of firewhiskey as well. “Sit down, George, it’s time you and I talk.”

“This is my house, you can’t tell me what to do here.”

“You’re my son, and I know you’re still hurting because of Fred, we all still hurt, but we need to have a different conversation. Sit down.” Arthur sat down at the kitchen table. “And maybe bring the bottle.”

George sighed, grabbed the bottle and sat down next to his father. “What?” 

Arthur chuckled and pointed to the ceiling. “You think this is bad?”

“She’s always having mood swings but I just can’t deal with them right now.” 

“You’re going to have to for the next six months, George.” His father said and took a sip of his whiskey. “Your wife is pregnant and it’s not just her body that’s changing, she’ll have a hard time dealing with her hormones and keep her emotions in check.”

“Dad, I really don’t need a biology lesson.” 

“George, I’m married to your mother. She had six wonderful pregnancies, I’m the expert here and I’m telling you, it’s going to get worse. If you can’t deal with that, you’ll just have to suck it up. Your Rosie is a very special young lady and she is carrying your child. She just can’t control her emotions.”

“I know, but I can’t do anything right, I joke, not good, I’m sweet, not good, I make up names, not good. She’s been angry with me for three weeks now. I mean...she blames me.” 

“Did she openly say that she blames you for something?”

“She keeps telling me that it’s because I remind Dru of Fred, that Dru’s gone. And she’s right. It is my fault.”

“No, it’s not your fault son,” Arthur smiled at him. “Dru just needs time, she has her own way of grieving.”

“I suck at being a good husband, I suck at being a good brother and I suck at being a good brother in law.” George rested his head on his hands. “I’m letting Fred down. I’m supposed to take care of his wife.”

Arthur refilled George’s glass. “Drink up.”

George took a deep breath and did as his father told him. 

Arthur refilled George’s glass again. “Again.”

George frowned at his father, shrugged and downed the glass in one go. 

Arthur refilled both their glasses and took a deep breath. “George, we all miss Fred. We all have a different way of dealing with his loss and I am sure that you feel a lot of guilt, but there’s nothing to feel guilty about. There wasn’t anything you could have done to help him and no one’s blaming you for his death. A lot of people have died that day, George, and you’re doing the best that you can to go on.” Arthur downed his glass and refilled it again. “Dru made the decision to go elsewhere to deal with her grief and you should respect that. Also, with the knowledge that she’s at Neville’s, you should be relieved as she’s safe and with someone who knows how to deal with her.”

George looked at his father, “How do you know she’s at Neville’s?”

“Harry and Hermione suspected as such,” he smiled at him. “When she’s ready, she’ll come back.”

“But I failed them. I failed Dru by not being able to be the big brother she needs, I failed Fred by failing his wife and I filed Rose because it’s my fault she can’t tell her best friend she’s pregnant.”

“George, it’s not your fault. You didn’t fail Dru, she just chose to grief and mourn Fred somewhere else where she doesn’t get reminded of him, and I think that it was a smart move, for her. Not for anyone of us, but for her. Neville will take care of her. You only have to think about yourself and your wife. And right now, on top of all the pain you feel, you have to deal with an extremely hormonal wife because she’s pregnant with your child. It’s not going to be pretty, but she needs you and she doesn’t mean the things she says. All you can be is supportive when she has moods like these.” Arthur pointed at George’s glass. “Drink up.”

George did what his father told him to. “Can you go home now? I’m going to make this right again.” 

“I suggest you let her just do what she wants, within reason. Don’t push her into anything because there will be hell to pay,” Arthur smiled at him and downed his glass. “She thinks she’s being a bad wife to you for crying because you talked about her weight gain and she thinks that you’re doing it because you miss Fred.”

“Dad, I know. Don’t worry. I know how to take care of her.” George said as he got up. “Bye dad.” 

“You’re welcome son, good night,” Arthur smiled at him and gave him a pat on the back before disappearing.

George looked to the ceiling and decided he had a lot to make right and he need a bit of help and he knew just where to get it. 

_crack_

“Neville?” George knocked on the back door.

Neville walked into the kitchen and blinked when he saw George standing at the door. He opened the door and frowned at him. “George? What are you doing here? Is everything alright?”

“I need your help. I made an ass of myself and I need to make it right with Rose, but it’s late and the shops are closed. Do you have some flowers for me?” 

“What about your mum’s garden? Plenty of those there.”

“I made a really really big ass out of myself, I need beautiful flowers, something that will wow her.” 

“Alright, let’s see what we have in the greenhouse then,” Neville nodded as he lead the way. “How are you doing George? Other than having made an ass out of yourself.”

“I’m....a mess. I’m having a lot of bad days and good days with bad trips in them, but it’s getting a bit better. How are you doing?”

“Yeah, fine, I suppose. Dru’s at the stage where she wants to deal with her grief the wrong way but don’t worry, my hands are above the table at all times.”

George looked at Neville. “Neville, did Dru tell you what Fred told her to do before he died?” 

“No, but it would probably be somewhere along the lines of her having to find someone else that can make her happy and what not. But she’s not ready, George. She’s far from being ready and it’s been only a month.” Neville opened the door to the greenhouse. “I did promise her though that when I think she’s ready I’d kiss her, but that’s only when I’ve asked for your permission.”

“How about you get Fred’s?” 

“Bit impossible, innit?” Neville chuckled. 

“Fred literally told Dru to try and get back together with you if he died. He knew she still loved you and you are the only one that could ever love her as much as he did.” George sighed and leaned against the door. “Look, Neville, Rose and I want to tell Dru something, something good, so could you please ask her to come by when she’s ready or we could come by or we could meet somewhere.” 

Neville was stumped. He had never thought of Fred being such a... he didn’t really know the right word. Romantic, maybe? It was good to have that in the back of his head, but Dru wasn’t ready, not by a long shot and he didn’t want to mess her up, not now. “Uh... sure,” Neville gave a nod. “I think she has something to tell you guys too. It’s a bit weird to have the girls separated from each other now that there’s no school and now that she’s not living with you, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” George grinned. “I think they haven’t been apart from each other for three years now.” 

“But you know, it’s a good thing for Dru... she’s doing better and well, we might move somewhere closer to you sometime soon. I’ve decided to become an Auror and invest in Dru and my future. It’s easier for you, settled with a good store that sells good stuff but we mere mortals have to work hard,” he grinned and opened one of the glass hutches.

“Neville, would you mind writing me now and again, telling me how Dru’s doing? It would make me feel a lot better if I know how she was and I know Rose would feel better too.”

“If you promise me to stop feeling guilty about not being there for Dru, she made the choice to leave, and it wasn’t your fault.”

“I’ll try.” George smiled. “Wow, Neville, those are beautiful.” Neville handed him a bundle of flowers. “I think I might be a good husband again with these.”

“Ah, she’s having one of her mood swings, isn’t she?” Neville chuckled. “I just got out of a full blown mood swing from Dru myself, hard to say the right things.”

“Rose is a handful when she isn’t in a good mood. Thank you for the flowers, but I’d better go home now. Rose is still in the bath and I didn’t tell her I left. Thanks again.” 

“You’re welcome,” Neville smiled. “Good luck!”

_crack_

George went into the bathroom. “Rosie?” He held the flowers behind his back.

“Don’t worry, the whale will leave the bath in a second,” she said with her eyes closed. She had managed to stop crying about ten minutes ago but she was still furious. 

“I only see an angel in the tub.” George squatted down next to the tub. “Can this wanker say sorry to his beautiful wife and join her into the tub?” he gave her a kiss on her shoulder.

“I should be sorry, George,” she sighed as she looked at him. “I don’t know what happened but I was wrong.”

“No I was.” He smiled at her and pulled out the flowers from behind his back. “I’m really sorry.” 

“Oh! Those are pretty!” she smiled widely and softly kissed him. “Where did you get those?”

“Neville.” 

“You went to Neville?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry I didn’t even see Dru. I stayed outside and in the greenhouse. He promised me he would write us updates on how she’s doing.” 

Rose softly kissed him. “Get into the tub you sexy beast.”

George grinned and quickly got out of his clothes, before sitting behind Rose and putting his arms around her. “Neville is going to join the auror training program.” 

“He’d make a great auror,” Rose said as she leaned into George and closed her eyes again. “Have you been drinking?”

“Dad made me.”

“Since when do you do what your father tells you to do?” she looked up to him with a smile.

“Since I’m going to be one.” he smiled at her.


	57. Restart

It had been a week since Dru found out that she was pregnant. She wanted to tell Rose since the day she found out, but she didn’t know if she could get herself to go to her. After a week of thinking about it she still hadn’t made up her mind. 

She was sitting on the sofa with her legs across Neville’s legs. She kept noticing that his Gran was looking at her. Dru might not be able to feel anybody’s else feelings anymore of read their minds, she just knew the woman didn’t like her. Dru decided that if she wanted Neville back, the first step was to make his grandmother like her again. “Mrs. Longbottom, did Neville ever tell you how I fell in love with him, the first time?” she said out of the blue.

“You’re only going to break his heart again.”

“Gran!” Neville shot at his grandmother. “Alright, that’s enough,” he said angrily and put his book down.

“No wait.” Dru shushed him. “Why do you think I’m going to break his heart?” Dru asked friendly.

Neville groaned and put his hand on his face. “Because I’ve been acting like us breaking up in the first place was your fault and then I’ve been complaining about you and Fred and she was just tired of me moping... What can I say? I was thick.”

“No, babe. It started earlier than that.” Dru gently rubbed his back, while she smiled friendly at his gran. “You thought I was going to break up with him when we’re still 14. Rose told me that. Why did you think I was going to do that?” 

“In my experience, beautiful girls don’t fall for boys like my Neville, although I can fully understand why you’d be with him now, now that he’s proven himself.”

Dru smiled. “I thought you were going to say that. That’s why I wanted to tell you about how he made me fall in love with him. To show you that this Neville, the one next to me now, is the Neville I loved since I was 11.” She smiled at Neville for a second before looking back at his gran. “You were right about the fact that Neville wasn’t being seen as popular or heroic or anything other than a shy boy, but did he ever tell you what he did on my first night at Hogwarts?” 

“That was nothing special.” Neville said as he looked at Dru. “I can’t even believe you remember that.” 

Dru smiled at him. “Of course I do.” She looked at his gran. “When I got sorted into Gryffindor I was heartbroken. I knew my parents would be furious and since Draco had already been fighting with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, nobody in Gryffindor was waiting for the Malfoy girl to join their house. I sitting in the window seat crying and Neville came and sat down next to me and tried to make me feel better, even offering me his last chocolate frog. Out of all those people he was the only one who noticed me. This shy boy, that was blushing through the entire conversation, was the only one trying to be friends with me.” She caressed Neville’s hair. “I’ll never forget that. And then at the end of the year Draco was bullying Ron, who started to fight with him. And because it became three against one when Crabbe and G...joined in, Neville was the only one of the entire Gryffindor stand that went and helped Ron. Despite knowing he would get his butt kicked. I still remember him telling Draco he was worth ten of him.” Dru giggled, not taking her eyes of Neville. “I knew I loved him then. Shame it took him another two years to finally kiss me.”

Neville was blushing furiously.

“Teenagers,” Gran rolled her eyes at the two with a smile on her face. “Alright alright, I shall stop meddling.”

Dru crawled against Neville and put her head on his shoulder. “I just want you to know that Neville is special to me, more special than anybody else has ever been or ever will be.” 

“I have a tiny request for you two,” Gran said as she grabbed her bag. Ever since the battle she had a hard time walking for a long period of time and Dru and Neville did most of the shopping. “I seem to have run out of my favourite warts cream, could you two be dears and pop into Madame Pimpernelle’s in Diagon Alley and get me some?”

“Gran!” Neville groaned. “We’re not going to buy you cream for your warts!”

Dru hit his chest. “What your grandson mean was we would loved to, do you need anything else?” 

“And some sweets from Sugarplum’s sweet shop, any would do really,” she smiled. “To satisfy my sweet tooth, the muggle sweets are just horrendous.”

“Come on, lazy bum, let’s get your grandmother what she needs.” Dru got off the sofa and tugged on Neville’s arm. “And after we’re done you can buy me an ice cream, I hear that Florean has returned and opened his shop again.” 

“Alright,” he sighed and got off the sofa after getting money from his gran. He then took Dru’s hand and apparated into Diagon Alley.

“Marshmallows, Ron!” Rose grinned as she danced around her brother in law. “Those tiny little things and if they don’t sell them there I will kill you.”

“No, you’ll go to the Muggle store and buy them there, there’s no need for bloodshed.” Ron said annoyed. “You’re perfectly capable of going off on your own, you know. Why do we have to tag along?”

George walked by Ron and hit him on the head. “Do as the pregnant lady asks, Wonwon. Or we’ll both be sorry.” 

“You’re on your lunch break Ronald,” Rose grinned. “First marshmallows for me, then the Leaky Cauldron food for you two.”

“Neville! Good lad!” Ron shouted to his friend. “Save me from these insane people!”

Dru was holding Neville’s hand. She was nervous, but she wanted to see Rose. So she asked Neville if he would go with her to the shop, but for them to actually walk in the street too was a bit scary.

“Dru!” Rose squealed and ran over to her to hug her tightly. “Dru!”

Dru put her arms around Rose. “Hi Rose.” She said shyly.

“Rose, don’t run. You need to...ah.” George sulked. He was having a overprotective mood today.

“George, it’s fine,” she smiled at him and then hugged Dru again. “Hi Dru!” Sadly for George, Rose had been hyperactive all day, maybe it was the sugar from the marshmallows that she liked in her tea or maybe she was just in a very good mood and it was slightly amusing, but also quite the rush.

“How are you, Rose?” Dru let Rose go and took a step back. She wasn’t comfortable around any Weasley and Rose came with two today. Besides Rose was a Weasley herself now. She felt a lot of guilt towards them all pitying her because of Fred’s death, while noone knew she was cheating on him and planning on leaving him. 

“Never felt better,” she smiled and looked at Neville for a second before hugging him too. “You?”

“I’m alright.” Dru took a step so she was closer to Neville when Ron made a move that suggested he was going to hug her. 

“Ron, get her those marshmallows,” George told his brother softly and handed him some money.

“Good seeing you, Dru, Neville,” Ron nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets as he made his way over to Sugarplum’s.

“You look good, Dru,” George said with a smile on his face and placed his hand on Rose’s shoulder as if trying to contain that bundle of energy. 

“Neville said you two wanted to tell me something.” Dru asked.

“We do,” George said and got a still image from his pocket before handing it to Rose. They had gone to the obstetrician that morning and heard the baby’s heartbeat after the obstetrician yelling at Rose for not coming in sooner or going to the doctor’s sooner when she was sick. 

Rose held on to the image but grabbed Dru’s hands and placed them on her own stomach with a big smile on her face. “It’s the size of a grapefruit now but there’s a mini-George or a mini-me inside of there!”

Dru’s mouth fell wide open. “You’re pregnant?” 

“Uhuh,” Rose smiled and handed Dru the image. “We found out last week and I’ve been doing so much better. I went to a Muggle obstetrician this morning and I’m due around Christmas.”

“So that mean you’re 13 weeks now.” Dru said. Her mind was racing before she smiled a little bit. “Unbelievable.” she muttered.

Neville started to laugh uncontrollably. “Oh this is too funny,” he hiccuped. “I should have known, really.”

“What is?” George asked confused.

Dru unbuttoned her jacket and put Rose’s hand on her belly. “I’m 11 weeks.” 

Rose looked at Dru in shock and then smiled widely. “We’re both pregnant,” she grinned.

“That’s ….that’s so Fred.” George laughed. 

“Like I said mate, I should have known. You and your brother never did things on your own!” Neville chuckled. “Congratulations you two with your baby and congratulations for becoming an uncle and an aunt while you’re at it.”

Dru closed her jacket again. She still wasn't comfortable with her being pregnant. “Neville, we need to get going.” 

“Will you two join us for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron?” George asked as he put his arm around Rose. He could tell that she was disappointed for Dru wanting to leave already. Truth was, he was astounded by Fred’s timing, as if he wanted to have the last laugh or something and it would be a great story to tell the kids one day but he promised Rose to keep his distance from Dru until she was ready. “You don’t have to, of course but it would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

Dru was hesitating. She had missed Rose and George, but she didn’t want to talk about the baby. She had been avoiding Neville’s request to go to an obstetrician, despite Neville telling her he was going to do this with her, she still felt like she was on her own with this. 

“Yeah, that would be great.” Neville took advantage of Dru’s hesitation. Maybe Rose and George could talk some sense into Dru. 

“Great, we’ll just tell Ron he has to eat on his own today,” George gave a nod. “I think that the two of us is enough for now to deal with, isn’t it Dru?” he smiled at her. “I’d say that I don’t bite but then again, I haven’t had lunch yet.”

Rose playfully smacked George in the chest. “Shut up George.”

“How about we meet at the Leaky Cauldron in half an hour? We still have something of Dru’s that she might want to have returned into her possession.” George suggested as he took Rose’s hand.

“Great,” Neville smiled. “Gives us plenty of time to buy Gran’s wart cream,” he said with a disgusted look on his face. He then watched George and Rose walk towards Gringotts and turned to Dru. “You okay?” he asked as he caressed her arm.

“I don’t know.” She said as she looked at the floor. “I’m still not used to the fact there’s something growing inside of me.” she said softly. “And now they know. Why was I so stupid to tell them?” 

“Not stupid.” He lifted her chin up with his finger and made her look at him. “Not stupid at all.”

“Nev, I don’t know if I can do this.” 

“Don’t worry, I’m with you and you can do this,” he smiled at her. “Of all the Weasleys, they understand. Well, Rose understands what’s going on inside that pretty little brain of yours. You saw them just now, giving you some space.”

“But they’re going to hate me when they learn I’m not going to keep it.” 

“Sorry, what?” Neville asked confused. “You’re carrying the baby of your late husband and you don’t want to keep it, are you mental?”

Dru took a step back. “I’m going to carry it to full term and then I’m going to find it a good home, one with two loving parents that can take care of it.” 

“Dru, I told you, I won’t leave you and I will help you with the baby, I love you and I will love that baby because it’s Fred’s.” He then thought for a second. “Okay that sounded perverted but you know what I mean. You’re more than capable of being a great mum. In fact, I know you’re going to be a great mum because you’re a great and loving person.”

Dru shook her head. “I’m not.” She looked around her and realised that people were looking at them. “Can we talk about this another time?” 

“Fine, but we’re going to buy gran her stuff and then meet Rose and George for lunch.”

Dru nodded.

Half an hour later Dru and Neville were waiting in the Leaky Cauldron for Rose and George. Dru had taken a seat next to Neville. She had hardly spoken a word after their conversation. “Please don’t hate me for doing this.” She said softly. 

“I don’t hate you, you just need a confidence boost,” he smiled at her and caressed her arm. “And some more time to think about it, it’s been only a week since you found out.”

She put her hand on his. “I just know I’m not cut out to be a mother. I was only considering it because I had Fred with me to be the father, but I can’t do this on my own.”

“You’re not alone, idiot.” he looked at her. “If you were alone, I wouldn’t have sent Kingsley my acceptance letter to do the Auror training so we can get an apartment and I can kick some Death Eater butt for you and the little seed in your belly,” he then smiled at her. “Plus, I don’t think you’re ready for the other thing yet.”

“Oh I’d say she’s more than ready,” George said as he snuck up behind them with a big smile on his face before planting a kiss on Dru’s cheek. “Definitely.”

“George, stop being such a goof,” Rose chuckled as she pulled him away before pushing him down in a seat opposite of Neville and Dru.

Dru looked down at the table and pulled her hand of his. She blushed as she felt she was busted doing something she shouldn’t be doing. 

George gave her a friendly nudge with his feet. “You know that he wanted this, Dru. It’s okay, it’s how he wants it.” 

Dru nodded, but she felt like she was going to cry. 

“So, tell me, how was it at the obstetrician?” Neville asked. 

“Oh she was really nice,” Rose smiled. “I didn’t really want to go but the nurse at St. Mungo’s was really angry with me for not having gone earlier and I should have gone sooner and blablabla...” She shrugged. “I thought I was sick and it would go away.”

“Tell me about it.” Neville pointed at Dru. “I can’t get her to make an appointment.” 

“Neville.” Dru hit his arm.

“Not only was it so incredible to hear its heartbeat,” Rose gushed for a moment. “It actually made us both cry...”

“Oi!” George objected.

“George was crying harder than I was,” she nodded. “She also gave me some advice on how to stay healthy, get my energy back and basically told George that I have free reign, that I can do and eat what I want and god, I’m craving for some lasagna with whipped cream right now.”

“That’s not what she said.” George shook his head. “She told you that you could eat like normal, just stay away from a few things, not to have lasagna with whipped cream. I swear, Neville, these craving are disgusting.”

“It’s not! I mean, tea with marshmallows is amazing!”

“You usually put those marshmallows in hot cocoa!”

Dru smiled at Rose. “You’re disgusting.”

“If you want, I could take you to my obstetrician? I like her. She’s nice and her waiting area is actually warm, not cold.” Rose offered Dru. “I promise you, it’s not scary at all and she’s needed to make sure that the baby stays healthy.”

“That’s soon like a good idea.” Neville caressed Dru’s arm. “We could do that.” 

Dru shook her head. “I...I...” she had started to cry. “I told you I can’t do this.”

“What does she mean? What can’t she do?” George asked concerned.

“Oh you know Dru...” Neville sighed as he caressed her back. “Not seeing what’s right in front of her.”

Dru looked at Rose. “Could you help me?” 

“Always, you know that,” Rose smiled at her. “I always have your back.”

“You two could raise the baby, together with yours.” Dru said suddenly smiling. “You two are going to be great parents. You could give the baby a good home.” 

Rose looked at Dru in shock. 

“See?” Neville sighed. “Dru being Dru.”

“Shut up, Neville,” Rose told him and shook her head. “Dru, I can understand that you might think that you’re too young or that you’re not cut out to be a mum, but sweetie,” she smiled. “You are! You have Neville to help you and you’re going to be this amazing, loving mother.”

“No! I’m not cut out to be a mother. I don’t have it in me.” Dru was nearly crying again and was shifting in her chair. She need to use the bathroom.

“You know what. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Of course we will.” George smiled at her. “Now go and pee.” 

Dru leaned over the table and gave George a kiss on his cheek, before she got off her chair and went to the bathroom.

“Are you mental?” Both Rose and Neville said to George.

“Look, let her think the baby will go to us and it will all be okay. That way she doesn't have to worry about it and she’ll relax. Meanwhile she’ll get used to be pregnant and slowly get used to the idea. And as soon as Neville sees that she falls in love with the baby, we’re going to talk to her again and let her know that she should raise the baby herself with Neville. Then she will love the baby and it will be easier to see what’s in front of her.” 

“That is actually brilliant,” Neville smiled at him. “Absolutely brilliant!”

“I’m only saying yes because I want that baby to be healthy so yes, and I will take her to the obstetrician tomorrow.” Rose said as she looked at the menu. “Damn, they don’t have lasagna.”

Dru came back and sat back down at the table. “Have you guys ordered yet?” her mood was a lot better.

“No,” Rose pouted. “And they don’t have lasagna anymore.”

“Let Neville ask. He’s a war hero. People do a lot of extra things for him.” Dru smiled as she looked at the menu. “Hmmm, what are you having, Nev?” she caressed his arm. “I want steak.” 

“No steak, you can’t have raw meat.” George said.

“Oh.” Dru pouted. she looked at the menu again. “I want an mushroom omelet then or I’ll try the lasagna too.” She looked at Neville, cocked her head and pouted. “Could you get us lasagna?” 

“Oh mushroom omelet! With the lasagna!” Rose giggled. 

“Yeah, I think I’ll just order lasagna for all of us then, what do you say, George?”

“No way, Rosie will eat my lasagna too. And yours.” 

“She’ll just has to try and take it from me,” he said smug. “Lasagna it is.”

“With whipped cream.” Dru smiled at him. “Please?” 

George chuckled. “This will be a very long six months.”

* * *

The next morning George woke up first. He have had another nightmare that night and it had taken Rose a long time to fall asleep again. He carefully removed the sheet and pulled up her shirt, so he could look at the little baby bump. 

He had heard the baby’s heartbeat the day before and it was the most amazing thing he had ever heard. He and Rose had made a little person. He caressed her belly and gave a kiss on her belly button. 

Rose moaned in her sleep and curled herself up against George, putting her arm around him.

“Uh, Rosie.” George whined softly. “I was kissing the baby.” 

“Yes, I want to make babies,” she muttered.

“We already did.” George whispered in her ear and kissed her neck as he put his arms around her and pulled her close. “We made a beautiful baby...well...I hope that the baby will be beautiful.” 

She woke up a little and tenderly kissed George on his lips as she started to caress his chest. “With someone as handsome and hot as you, the baby will be a heartbreaker, whether its a he or a she.” 

“He or she better, else I’m trading it in.” He chuckled.

She kissed him again and moved a little so that she had better access to him. “Good morning,” she said with a wolfish grin on her face and placed her hand on his cock. “I want that for breakfast.”

“Ah, more cravings.” George grinned and kissed her. “But that’s not a good idea.” He said and removed the sheets, so he could get out of bed.

“Why not?” She whined and put her arms around him so he couldn’t leave the bed.

“Because you’re pregnant.” 

“George, the baby will be fine. It’s nowhere near the place where my breakfast will go and it’s tougher than you think.” She pulled him down on the bed again and sat down on top of him. “I want you.”

“I want you too, I always want you, but what if the baby sees it? It will be scared out of it’s mind.” He chuckled as he closed his eyes. Rose was making him horny as hell, but he didn’t want to hurt the baby. She had already been through so much during her first trimester. 

She shifted a little so she was on top of his growing erection. She then pulled off her shirt and grinned. “The baby is 3 months in the making, I doubt it has eyes yet,” she whispered in his ear, pressing down her breasts on to his chest. “I want you,” she said as she nibbled on his earlobe. “Take me.”

George sighed. “Alright, I’ll take you.” He flipped them over and kissed her deeply while removing her underwear. “You are sure it’s okay to have sex?” 

“You’d better take advantage of it now, who knows how I will feel about it when there’s this huge bump in the way?” she batted her eyelashes at him.

George started kissing her neck and slowly worked his way down to her breast. They have only been having quick fixes over the last month and the months before that they hadn’t been in the opportunity for foreplay either. And he had missed driving Rosie crazy. “Hm, my favorite playthings.” 

“Oh,” she moaned and arched her back into him. “Highly sensitive playthings.”

“Oh this is going to be so much fun.” George grinned and sucked on one nipple, while his thumb caressed the other one. Her body was squirming underneath him and that was a heavenly feeling. He started sucking on her other nipple while his hand slowly made his way down below. 

“George!” she moaned and fisted the sheets. “You’re not being.... oh...” she sighed happily as she closed her eyes and felt his hands all over her body.

“I’m not being what?” George smiled at her while he gently put some pressure on his heat with his hand. 

“You’re mean,“ she moaned. “Fuck me already!” she said impatiently.

“No, not yet.” George started rubbing her clit and kissed her neck. “I’m sending you to heaven first, before pulling you down and sending you up there again.” 

“Mean, mean, mean!” she pulled his head up and kissed him longingly. 

“I know.” George kissed her more intensely while still massaging her clit. “Come on, Rosie, be the little angel I know you are.” 

She grinned up to him. “You’ll have to work a little bit harder, Georgie, I’m not there yet.” She stuck out her tongue to him.

George playfully tried to bite her tongue, as he slipped a finger inside of her, making her moan. “Tell me, angel, what do you want me to do, without fucking.” 

“Fuck, I want you to fuck me,” she nodded. 

“Not going to happen, unless you come first.” he grinned as he slipped a second finger in and stimulated her clit with his thumb before claiming her breast again with his mouth. 

“Fuck.”

George chuckled and playfully bit her nipple before looking up to her again. “Be a good girl and let me see you come, it’s so sexy to see.” He pinched her other nipple and he knew that she was trying to be stubborn and not coming just to fool around, but she _was_ overly sensitive right now and he knew that she was fighting her body hard not to come. “You’re so beautiful,” he said as he ran a fingernail over her clit, sending her right over the edge. “Glorious.” he grinned.

“Fuck...” she sighed happily as she felt as if she was flying.

He started to kiss her neck again as he removed his fingers from her and caressed her breasts as she was coming down from her high. It didn’t take long for Rosie to be squirming underneath him again, making little noises, no longer fighting herself. “You are so beautiful and you’re so hot...”

“Take off your underwear,” she panted. 

“No,” he grinned.

She put her legs around his and pulled him closer to her. She then managed to pull his boxers down with her feet and looked him in the eyes while she did so. “Perk of being tiny,” she told him.

George kissed her passionately and kept fondling her breasts before helping her to get rid of his boxers. “You little minx,” he growled. “You’re so incredibly sexy and I’m going to be really careful when I...”

“Don’t hold back,” she said, kissing his lips. “Baby is safe, your wand won’t go anywhere near it, I promise.”

“I’m still going to be careful,” he chuckled and moved so that he could enter her. “Are you comfortable?”

“George.”

“What?”

“Shut up and take me.”

* * *

Dru was lying on the bed, reading old version _The Quibbler_. She was bored, she looked at Neville, who was sitting on the floor reading a book. “Nev, I’m bored.” 

He looked up to her with a smile. “We could go and see if the dartboard is available in the pub?”

Dru got up from the bed. “Let’s do that. I need some fun.” 

“You look so pretty in that summer dress of yours,” he smiled at her as he got up from the floor. “Do you want me to find you your cardigan?”

Dru frowned at him. “It’s on the chair. Why are you-- Never mind.” Dru got her cardigan and put it on. Neville had been very attentive that day, helping her with everything and giving compliments, but Dru felt there was something else going on. “You’re not going to ask me if it’s okay if you pop over to Hannah’s for a quickie, are you?”

Neville blinked at her and didn’t say anything until they had left the house. “Well... no? Because uh... well... maybe.”

Dru stood still and her bottom lip was quivering. “You want to go to Hannah?” 

“No!” he chuckled and put his arm around her. “We might not be in a relationship - yet -, but it would be wrong of me to go to Hannah.”

“But you were thinking about it, aren’t you?” Dru looked down to the street as they continued their walk to the pub.

“Honestly, until you’ve brought it up I was perfectly fine,” he gave a nod. “How was it at the obstetrician today?”

“Weird, they used a machine to look into my belly and look at Fred’s child.” 

“Rose took you to a Muggle?” Neville laughed and shook his head. “Typical.”

“Yeah, well, you and her always like muggles, don’t you? I mean, Hannah is a halfblood.” 

“Yes but liking muggles and taking you to a muggle doctor while you’re having a magical baby is a bit... weird.” Neville shrugged. “But what was it like when you saw that little squirt?”

Dru took the picture out of her pocket. “It doesn’t move, but that’s apparently is what it looks like inside my body. I only see grey stripes to be honest.” She handed to photo to Neville. “I wanted to give it to Rose, but she told me to keep it.” 

“I see a little blob.” Neville pointed at the round thing. “Is that it?”

“Yeah.” 

“What was it like to hear the blob’s heartbeat?” He smiled at her. “Must have been something!”

Dru shrugged. “Rose was nearly crying, but then again, that’s only logical. I mean, it’s going to be her child.” 

“I think it’s amazing,” Neville said as he handed her back the image. “You’ve got a life growing inside of you, that’s just amazing.”

Dru gave a little smile. “Yeah, it is.” 

“So, let’s call it the blob.” He laughed as he opened the door to the pub for her. “For now, because it looks like one!”

“If you want.” She went inside and looked around, there were a few dartboards free.

“What would you like to drink, Dru?” Neville asked her as he helped her out of her cardigan and placed it over a chair.

Dru looked at him, there he was being over attentive again. “Just a cola.” She said softly. She sat down as he went over to the bar. Clearly he wanted to go over to Hannah, because she was now getting fat with the _blob_. 

He got them their drinks and put them on the table near the dartboard. “Coming?” He smiled at her. “You’re going to love this.”

Dru got off the chair again and walked to the dartboard. “Okay, I just throw them right?” She had seen other people play the game the last time they were in the pub.

“Yep, just make sure you hit the board and not poke someone’s eye out with the dart,” he smiled as he picked the darts off the board and handed them over to her.

Dru was hopeless, whatever she tried, the darts wouldn’t stick and he was hitting the bullseye nearly every time. He could tell that she was getting frustrated so at one point, he just stood behind her and pulled her close to him as he gently took her hand with the dart in it. “Breathe.” He liked being close to her and if it hadn’t been for Fred and his memory, he would have kissed her already. He didn’t want to be disrespectful, but right now he just wished he could stop thinking and snog her face off.

“I am breathing.” She could feel his breath in her neck and was giving her the good kind of goosebumps, but he didn't want her anymore. 

“Yes, but focus on your breathing,” he smiled as he gently brought her hand up and aimed it at the board. “You need to concentrate if you want to get this dart into the bullseye.”

Dru growled a little, it was hard to concentrate with him so close by. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath, before opening them again. “I’m focused.” 

He gently moved her arm to show her how she should move and then had her throw the dart. The first time she missed, the second time the dart got stuck to the edge of the board. “See!”

“Let’s do it again.” Dru was getting a bit excited again.

He grabbed the darts and stood behind her again. “Alright, slowly,” he softly said in her ear. “Think of where you want the dart to end up and then gently throw it at the board.”

She nodded, and threw the darts. The first one was on the edge again, the second somewhere near the right on the board, but after a very deep breath, she managed to throw the dart into the bullseye. She jumped up and down, while giving an excited shriek, before she turned around and kissed Neville ful on his lips. The kiss only lasted 3 seconds, before she broke it off and turned her attentions back to the game. “Alright, wanna start a new round?” She asked if nothing had just happened.

“You mean darts or that kiss?” Neville said a bit surprised. 

“Darts.” She said in a small voice, she could kick herself for kissing him. She shouldn’t have done that.

“Screw that,” Neville said and turned her around before kissing her full on on her mouth. “I want another one.”

Dru took a step back, grabbed her cardigan and walked out of the pub. 

Neville groaned and followed her out. “What? What did I do now?”

“Nothing. I just want to go home.” Dru crossed her arms as she started to march back to the house. “I’m sorry alright? I shouldn’t have done that.” 

“But I like kissing you...” Neville said as he followed her. “I just didn’t do it before because... I don’t want to be an insult to Fred’s memory.”

“Yeah, that’s why we shouldn’t be kissing.” Dru wiped a tear from her eye. “We can’t do this to Fred, it’s not fair on him.” 

“But then again, George told me what Fred has told you, the day of the battle.”

“Yeah...well...he didn’t know I was cheating on him, did he.” 

Neville sighed and slowly nodded. “Alright, fine. Let’s not kiss.”

Dru suddenly stopped, turned around and put her hands in her sides, while glaring at him. “You would like that, wouldn’t you? That way you can go over to Hannah and kiss her.”

“The only person I want to kiss right now is you, Dru.” He sighed. “I want you, and no one else, and I will wait until you are ready, but you made me promise that I would kiss you when I thought you were ready so I kissed you because I want you and I want us.”

“No you don’t! You think I’m fat. That’s why you wouldn’t kiss me, and now you only want to kiss me, because you need to get laid and I’m the only one.around.” Dru shot at him and walked back into the house. She ran up the stairs and into the bedroom. 

“I hate women,” Neville muttered under his breath as he passed his Gran and walked up the stairs to find Dru lying on his bed and crying her eyes out. Sighing, he sat down next to her on the bed. “I think you’re gorgeous, to be honest.”

“Why should I believe that? You haven’t touched me in ages and don’t give me that crap about wanted to wait until I’m ready. I don’t turn you on anymore, because I’m a _blob_.” 

“You’re not a blob, the baby inside you is a blob, a tiny, little blob, that will grow into something spectacular,” Neville said and caressed her back. “And I haven’t been touching you because we weren’t in a relationship, but in just a friendship. Because you’ve lost your husband and I wanted to be respectful towards you and him. And you make it so hard for me to control myself, Dru, because you do turn me on, you haven’t noticed but I’ve been spending more time in the shower than I usually do.”

Dru sat up. “Then stop controlling yourself.” 

“I did that in the pub and you blew me off!”

“I’m sorry.” Dru started crying again. “But I’m so fat and ugly and pregnant and you’re a hero and you _should_ be with pretty, thin girl like Hannah, not with a fat girl like me. No wonder you don’t want me anymore.” 

“But I don’t want anyone else other than you,” he smiled at her and gently wiped her tears away with his sleeve. “I want you, no matter how big you’re going to get, you will always be sexy to me.”

Dru let herself drop on her back and looked at the ceiling. “I’m not sexy.” she muttered. 

“Let me be the judge of that,” Neville said sternly. “So, permission to kiss you again?”

Dru shrugged.

“Me and George should start a support group,” he chuckled and softly kissed her lips as he caressed her stomach. “The Poor partners of pregnant women.”

Dru slapped him on the head and turned on her side away from him. “Then don’t be a partner of a pregnant woman.” 

“But I want to be the partner of a pregnant woman because she’s all I want for the rest of my life. Yes, I’d even give up eating and drinking just to be with you.” He rolled her back onto her back and kissed her again. “You know, I’ve heard that they’re going to turn the demolished shops in Knockturn Alley into apartments,” he said before kissing her again. “And they’re going to re-name the street to something more pleasant, maybe Horizon Alley?” he snickered and kissed her again. “Would be a great place to live, wouldn’t it, once they’ve cleaned it all up?”

“Neville?” 

“Yes?”

“Has anyone ever told you talk too much?” she smiled at him.

Neville chuckled and kissed her tenderly and caressed her stomach as he did. “I’ve missed doing this with you.”

“Uh.” Dru groaned. He was starting to frustrate her. “There we go again, with the talking. Too much talking and too little kissing...unless it’s dirty talk.” She bit her lip. “I don’t mind a lot of dirty talk.” 

“Well I could do the dirty talk, you want me to lock my door?” He asked as he moved his hand over her clothes towards her breasts.

Dru got out her wand and locked the door. “Only your hands and your mouth for now.” she said shyly. “Just not...not all the way yet, okay?” 

“Don’t worry,” he smiled and softly kissed her. “Everything in your own pace, and I happen to like touching you so, I’m a very happy Neville,” he kissed her again. “What do you want to hear today?”

“What would you do if we were locked in a pub and there were still other people there?” She would still get a kick out of the thrill of being caught just like when she was 15. 

“Hmm... I take it that it’s cold and snowy outside and that there’s fallen a lot of snow outside and the doors can’t be opened anymore?”

“Yeah, something like that.” 

“Well,” Neville thought for a second as he kissed her neck. “We’d all be sitting huddled around the fireplace in the pub and you’d be happen to wear this gorgeous dress that shows off all your good assets like your beautiful breasts and it would also give me easy access to do what I want with you without people really noticing what I’m doing to you,” he softly spoke in her ear. “I’d slip my hand underneath your dress and start caressing your inner thighs, drawing little circles with the tip of my fingers, like this...” he said as he placed his fingertips over her clothes onto her thighs and started to make little circles.

“That’s not under my dress, Neville.” She giggled. “If you going to show and tell, you need to do it properly.” 

“As you wish,” he smiled and moved his hand underneath her dress and started to draw little circles on her inner thigh with his fingertip. 

“Alright and then what?” His fingertip was cold and she had always loved his cold hands. 

“I’d tell you that you can’t let anyone know that I’m actually touching you because that would be a little embarrassing, wouldn’t it? All those old people looking at us,” he grinned and softly nibbled on her earlobe. “I’d nibble on your earlobe like this and move my hand up further, while my other hand would conveniently dangle over your shoulder and brush your breast over your clothing with my fingertips.”

“What if I wanted a bit more than that?” 

“You mean like this?” he asked as he moved his fingertip from her thigh to her already burning heat. 

“That’s a start.” She said as her breathing became more ragged. “Go on, tell me more.” 

He moved his hand over her underwear and smiled. “There’s this old lady in the pub that looks at us funnily at the moment that I move my hand over your breast and squeeze your nipple,” he said as his other hand slid down her shoulder towards her breast and he softly kissed her neck again as he squeezed her nipple.

“Don’t worry, we obliviate her when we done. Tell me more.” Dru was fighting the urge to arch her body to him. She wanted his touch to last as long as possible. It made her feel alive again. 

“Well, if we’ll obliviate everyone in the pub I could just as well start to undress you.”

“I’m okay with that.” 

“Well then,” Neville said as he moved her skirt up and shifted so that he could kiss her stomach. “I’d lay you down on a table then, and start kissing you all over, starting with that beautiful belly of yours.” He softly kissed her stomach.

“We don’t have a table, but we do have a desk here.” Dru blushed as she bit her lip, while looking at him, with sparkling eyes.

“You’re already on the bed, pretend it’s a table,” he chuckled with his lips on her stomach, sending vibrations through her entire body. He started to kiss his way up and whined when the dress was becoming an obstruction. “Alright, your dress is offensive now.” He said as he sat up. “Get it off.”

Dru pulled the dress off, laid back down on her back and looked at him. She wanted him to do other things, but she felt a bit shy to ask him. Especially not with him looking at her like the way he was.

“It’s like looking at a painting,” he smiled widely at her. “So beautiful.”

“Idiot.” She giggled, before taking a deep breath. “Alright the dress is off, now what are you going to do to me?” 

“I haven’t decided yet,” Neville said as he sat on his knees, just looking at her. “I mean, I could start with your breasts, or I could actually just start downstairs.”

Dru nodded her head eagerly. “Downstairs.” It was like he had read her mind.

“Then, the question remains, would you want me to use my hand or my mouth?” He cocked his head as a Cheshire grin appeared on his face. 

Dru took a deep breath and decided to be bold. “How about your tongue?”

“Excellent choice,” he nodded and started to strip off her underwear while he kissed her stomach. He once he had gotten rid of her underwear, he started to kiss his way down her body towards her center, and flicked his tongue against her clit.

Dru arched her body into him as she moaned hard. “Again.” 

He chuckled as he nuzzled her clit with his nose and started to lick along her lips. “Hmm...”

She was holding onto the sheets with both hands and she arched her body again. “Oh Neville.” 

He didn’t stop with what he was doing, and used one hand to tease her breast. “You taste so sweet.”

“Then lick some more.” she giggled and blushed at the same time. “Oh god, that was bad.” 

Neville laughed as he kept licking, sending more pleasurable vibrations through her body. “Give me some more bad lines.”

She moaned. “Enjoy the buffet.” she said softly, feeling a bit embarrassed, but he seem to like it. 

Neville burst out in a fit of laughter but didn’t remove his mouth from her clit, instead started to lick her clit and applied pressure on it while he was still laughing his ass off.

Dru put her arms over her face. “I’m never doing that again.” she muttered.

“I love your bad lines,” he chuckled and squeezed her breast. “I love everything you say.”

“Alright,” she moaned. “How about this one? Hurry up and finish your plate, the restaurant is closing.” She grinned. 

“Check please!” Neville grinned as he kissed his way up over her body and moved his hand down to her core, teasing her clit with his fingertips.

“I’m not finished yet.” She whined and pouted at him. “Come on, Nev! That’s mean, finish me off.” 

He freed one of her breasts from her bra and started to lick her nipple as he started to work her clit with his fingers. “I’m having an appetizer first.”

“Fine, but you better leave me a good tip then.” she smirked as she unhooked her bra and threw it on the floor. She buried one hand in his hair and gently tugged on it as she was coming close to her climax. 

He playfully bit her nipple. “What if I don’t have any money to pay for all this luxury? I mean, I was a student, fresh out of Hogwarts. No wait, I didn’t even graduate! I don’t have the money to pay for this feast, so don’t even think about that tip.”

Dru laughed. “Well, maybe I could feast on you?” she asked with a small voice.

“Ordering off the menu now, are we?” 

“Oh god Nev.” She moaned hard.

“Come on, pretty lady, come for me and I will allow you to have your popsicle for dessert.”

Dru laughed, before she gasped and she felt her body release all the pent up feelings she had inside of her. “You should come eat here more often.” she panted.

“I plan to, I really enjoy the food.” He chuckled and crawled up to caress her hair and kiss the tip of her nose.

“I feel good.” she said softly as she put her arms around his neck. “Thank you.” she kissed him tenderly.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled widely and pulled the covers over her to stop her from cooling off. “ _Thank you_.”

Dru got a devious smile. “I haven’t done anything yet.” 

“Are you kidding, I had a spectacular buffet thanks to you!”

Dru pushed him on his back. “So where is my popsicle? It better be a big one.”


	58. Pool Party

“Sweetie,” George said as Rose was digging through her closet to find something fitting to wear. She had refused to start buying maternity clothes in the last month and had insisted that she could keep enlarging her jeans but that was virtually impossible now. “Why are you so stubborn? You know mum has offered to make you some new clothes.”

“She’ll only make skirts and I don’t like skirts.”

“You might be a bit more comfortable. Why won’t you go shopping for new clothes? I mean, Dru’s been walking around like she’s bursting out of her clothes soon too.”

“I don’t care what I look like, I just want it to fit!”

“And you just said that you don’t want to take mum’s new clothes because she makes skirts,” he laughed. “Picky!”

She threw a ball of socks to George’s head. “I’ll wear your shorts.”

George laughed. “How about that red summer dress that you used to wear? Maybe you could wear that?”

“I got that dress three years ago, George, doubt I still fit in that.”

George chuckled. “Sweetie, all your clothes are from before you got pregnant, and the dress was from the stretchy stuff you like.” He looked into the wardrobe and pulled out the dress. “Try it on.” 

She looked up to him and growled. “What’s wrong with your shorts?”

“I want to show how my wife is very beautiful and very pregnant with our first child. What’s so wrong with that? It’s only family and a few friends.” 

“Why so many people though? I turn 19, not twenty.”

“Because everybody wants to celebrate good things. And your birthday just happened to be first, but don’t worry, Neville is throwing Dru a birthday barbecue for their birthday next week and the birthdays of Harry, Percy and Ginny are coming up soon too. Now be a good girl and put on this pretty dress for you loving husband, who has been a good boy and got you more of those marshmallows this morning.” 

“I love you!” she smiled widely and got out of George’s shirt in which she had slept. She walked around the mess of clothes on the floor to look for a bra (she needed to buy a new one, she knew that but didn’t want to accept it) to contain her bigger breasts (which George seemed to love).

“Wait!” George suddenly said.

“I’m not going naked.”

“Damn.” 

She smirked. She knew him all too well. She wiggled her ass as she bent over to pick her bra from the floor and slowly got up again to put it on.

George sneaked up behind her and put his hands on her belly. “You look so beautiful.” He started kissing her neck. “Maybe you should stay pregnant.” 

“Maybe not,” she shook her head and pressed her ass into his groin area before turning around with a wolfish grin on her face. “You want me to get dressed or do you want to make out with me?”

“Yes, but mum is going to kill me if we’re late again.” He said and kissed her before walking to the pile of clothes and started to pick them off the floor. He knew she had made the mess, but if they would come home that night with the mess still there, he was going to end up paying for it.

“And it’s okay if I go upstairs to take a powernap, yes?” she asked as she pulled on the dress, whining when she couldn’t get it to close. She then started to look for her wand to make the dress bigger.

“Come here, it’s not too tight, there’s a bit of fabric stuck.” George helped her to zip up her dress. “Of course you can nap.” he kissed her cheek. “See, I told you you look pretty in that dress.” 

“I feel as if I’ll topple over if I’d move wrong though,” she sighed and pulled on the fabric. “Fine, I’m going to drag Dru into London tomorrow and buy maternity stuff.”

“Good, but sweetie, you look beautiful and you’re not that big, honestly. You hardly notice the bump.” He said sweetly.

“Marshmallows, you said?” she smiled widely.

“Yeah, but please don’t eat too many or else our baby will turn out to look like a marshmallow and I hate to have to protect my kid from being eaten by his mother.” he chuckled. 

“I’m not a wild animal, George,” she said to him and then crossed her arms. “Fine, no more marshmallows, prepare for mayhem.”

“Rosie dear, I said not too much, not that you couldn’t have them, just tried to stick to one bag a day.” He kissed her softly. “I’ll take a bag with us to mum’s.” 

“Wait, you did tell Neville that he’s not allowed to buy red meat for Dru’s barbecue, right?” 

“He’s buying it but you two just aren’t getting any.” 

“The temptation will be so big,” she sighed.

“Don’t worry, he’s getting enough other stuff that you and Dru can have.” George frowned a bit as he put the last of the clothes away and found Rose a pair of flip flops. “I’m more concerned about how the family is going to react to Dru being with Neville now and her being pregnant. I mean Bill, Percy and Charlie would understand but I doubt Ron and Ginny will.” 

“Well, we’ll see,” she smiled at him and put her feet into her flipflops. “We were both there when Fred told her to go and see if she could fix things with Neville should anything happen to him and both Ron and Ginny should respect that.”

“I hope they do. You girls shouldn’t be put under any stress.” He softly kissed her and took the bag he prepared with a few things for Rose, her marshmallows, her two favorite cardigans (for if she was fussy, and one of them wouldn’t be the right one anymore), her favorite pillow and blanket and their bathing suit for if she suddenly wanted to swim. “Are you ready?”

She smiled widely and put her arms around him before tiptoeing and softly kissed him. “You’re too good for me, George Weasley.”

“I like to take care of my wife and child.” he grinned. He loved using every opportunity to bring the baby up in the conversation. 

“I’m going to get you your own tea mug with the text ‘proud papa’.” she chuckled and kissed him again. “Ready when you are, my gorgeous husband.”

He kissed her and took her hand.

_crack_

George walked into the kitchen. “Mum, your grandchild has entered the building.” 

“Inside its nice and snug womb,” Rose added as she walked in after him. 

Molly hugged her son and then Rose. “Happy Birthday, Rose, how are you feeling? Ankles not too swollen? Nausea? Tired? Headache? Come, sit down sweetheart.” Molly helped her to sit down in a very comfortable kitchen chair that she hadn’t seen in the kitchen before. “How’s that? Are you comfortable?”

“Mum?” George put his hands on Rose’s shoulders.

“Yes, George dear?” Molly smiled at him.

“You’re smothering her and my child with it.” he said simply.

“Your wife and your child have survived a war, George.”

“Yes, only to be killed by my loving but very overbearing mother.” George kissed his mother on her cheek. “Besides it’s my turn to fuss over her.”

“Baby!” Ginny squealed as she ran into the kitchen and sat down on her knees in front of Rose, putting her hands on Rose’s belly. “Baby!”

Rose groaned and rubbed her eyes. She knew that she was just as bad with Tonks when she was pregnant with Teddy, and now couldn’t believe that Tonks hadn’t killed her off for it. She took a deep breath and looked at Ginny. “Mummy of baby says hi.”

“Hi.” Ginny smiled up and Rose, before smiling deviously and looking back at the belly. “Congratulations with your mummy’s birthday, baby.” 

“Harry!!” Rose called out for him. 

Harry came walking into the kitchen. “Oh god.” He pulled Ginny on her feet and away from Rose. “I told you to leave baby alone.” He said sternly before sitting down on his knees in front of Rose and carefully put his hand on her stomach. “I’m sorry baby!”

Rose growled playfully and pushed Harry away with her knee and then tried to get out of the far too comfortable chair, feeling restless all of a sudden. 

There was a crack outside and a small voice could be heard. “Rose!” 

“Adrianna, don’t yell.” 

“Sorry mum.” Adrianna ran into the kitchen, only to stop halfway. He mouth fell open and she pointed at Rose. “What did you do?” 

Rose started to laugh and hugged the little girl after finally getting out of the chair by herself. “I don’t know, one day I woke up and I had this bump, weird huh?”

“You’re huge.” Adrianna said with a smile. “Mommy, daddy, come look.” 

A blonde woman walked in. She seemed a bit nervous. She shook Molly’s hand since she was the closest. “Hello, I’m Hailey Freeman, Adrianna’s mother and this is my husband Ben. Thank you so much for taking care of our daughter last Easter.” 

“How very nice to finally meet you,” Molly smiled warmly at the two adults. “And as much as I’d love to take credit for taking care of your beautiful daughter, I’d have to let you in on a little secret,” she gave a nod. “Your niece Rose and her husband George did most of the caring with the help from my daughter in law Dru.”

Rose was just gaping at Hailey. She had seen images of her mum, thanks to Lupin and some old photo’s she had found in her father’s old books but she looked just like her, a bit older sure. She still couldn’t actually believe that she had family of her own still and now they were standing in her other family’s kitchen and it was just a little surreal. 

“Mum, look at Rose’s belly.” Adrianna pointed impatiently at Rose’s belly. “She’s having a baby.”

“Hi, George Weasley,” George said as he introduced himself to Mr. and Mrs. Freeman and shook their hand. “I second my mother’s emotion, it’s great to finally meet you.”

“Come on, Ginny,” Harry said quietly as he pulled her out of the kitchen. “Let’s go outside and let’s help the others with getting ready otherwise they’ll think we’re lazy bums.”

Rose moved herself behind George and shook Hailey and Ben’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr and Mrs. Freeman,” she smiled at them. “Remus spoke very highly of the both of you.”

“Forgive me for staring,” Hailey finally said, half stuttering. “It’s just that you look so much like Sarah if she had dark hair,” she chuckled. “And of course, there’s a lot of your father but... wow...”

Adrianna looked at her mother and then at Rose and then rolled her eyes. “Honestly, I think that Rose’s lioness ate her tongue and wit.”

“And you had too many big mouths for breakfast, young lady,” Ben chuckled.

There was a knock on the kitchen door. “Hello.” Luna came walking into the kitchen. “My my Rose, no eating problems anymore, I see.” she stated with a smile. 

“Luna!” Rose smiled widely and hugged her friend. “You look great, how’s your travels going? Found anything interesting yet?”

“Oh, plenty,” Luna replied in her sing-song voice. “I thought about bringing you a Muggle Puppy for your birthday but Neville told me that it was a bad idea and now I can see why,” she smiled. “Congratulations you two.”

“Thank you, Luna.” George gave her a hug. “We’re very happy with our marshmallow.”

“Oh!” Rose smiled widely at George before walking over to the bag and lifted her bag of marshmallows out of it. “Who wants some?”

“Rose, only one bag remember.” George said sternly

“Right, it’s all mine then,” she nodded and hugged the bag to her chest before sitting down on one of the normal kitchen chairs. “And Adrianna’s.” she gave a nod when Adrianna pouted. She opened the bag and gave Adrianna a handful of the marshmallows before looking apologetically at her aunt and uncle. “I am sorry for the inconvenience of having to deal with her on a sugar high in your near future.”

“Why don’t you two sit down and we can all have a catch up over a nice cup of tea?” George suggested. 

“Last time I was here I got bitten by a very cute garden gnome. Wanna see if we can find one now?” Luna smiled at Adrianna.

“Did it hurt?” Adrianna asked Luna as they walked out of the kitchen.

“No, Gnome Saliva is very beneficial, so don’t worry if you start to feel extremely happy when you get bit.” 

~~~~

Dru was lying on the bed trying to put on her boots. She was struggling with the high heels on her boots lately, but she didn’t had any flats. 

“Isn’t it about time you stopped walking around on those heels of yours?” Neville asked with a smile on his face as he sat down on the bed next to her. 

“I always wear high heels.” Dru shrugged. She, like Rose, had downright refused to change her wardrobe for the baby. Dru was now wearing a pair of tight low jeans, the only one that she still fitted and one of her tops, that was stretched around her belly. 

“Yeah but it can’t be good for your back,” he chuckled and reached underneath his bed to fetch a shoe box with some beautiful flat ballerinas in it. “Here, I got you something.”

Dru looked at the shoes and got tears in her eyes. “You don’t think I’m sexy anymore?” 

“I think you’re very sexy but I also think that you should think of your back,” he softly kissed her. “I will always find you sexy, remember?”

Dru nodded but still found that hard to believe. She reluctantly removed the boots she had just put on. “But you always liked me in heels.” she muttered. 

“And I always like you in anything you’ll wear,” he smiled at her. “But it’s better for your own health and the baby’s too.”

Dru nodded and put on the ballerinas and looked down to her belly. “I’m getting fat.” 

“You’re beautiful,” he smiled. “Take Rose shopping tomorrow so the both of you can buy some pretty clothes that fit. I know you love to shop.”

“Hey, it’s not like you’re going to see me in them.” she sulked. Neville was going to start training and that included a two week program where he couldn’t go home. 

“That’s in a couple of months, so I am going to see you in them and I want you to feel comfortable. You don’t look too comfortable in your jeans right now.”

Dru got off the bed. “I’m fine, but if I don’t look right, I’ll just stay home and you and Gran can go on your own.” She crossed her arms.

“I’m just saying, you don’t look comfortable.” He softly kissed her. “I think you look pretty no matter what you wear but just because you’re pregnant shouldn’t stop you from wanting to dress in pretty clothes.”

“You don’t think I’m wearing pretty clothes now?” 

“Oh for the love of...” Neville sighed and rubbed his eyes. “You look gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Now please, let us go downstairs and see how far Gran is so we can get to Rose’s birthday and tell that husband of yours he’s expecting a baby.”

Dru walked down the stairs and took her grey bag from the sofa. Mrs Longbottom was already ready to go. “We’re ready to go, Mrs Longbottom.” 

“Oh don’t you look pretty today,” Gran smiled. 

Neville looked at his Gran in shock and violently shook his head.

“Thank you, mrs Longbottom. that’s really nice to hear.”

“I’ve been giving you compliments all morning and you didn’t even say thank you to me!” Neville said surprised as he helped his gran off the sofa.

“You say that I always look the same.” Dru sulked. “I need to pee.” She walked out of the room.

“Gran!” Neville sighed. “I swear, I can’t do anything good these days.”

“What exactly did you say?” She smiled at him.

“Well I told her that she looks gorgeous, and that she’ll always look gorgeous no matter what she wears or looks like.”

“I believe that in Dru’s ears that’s ‘I don’t care what you wear, I don’t notice it when you do something to look pretty’.” She smiled at his confused face. “Stop telling her she always looks pretty and only talk about how she looks right now. Maybe that will do the trick. Now, when she comes back, say sorry and tell her how beautiful she looks today and compliment her on something she’s wearing at the moment.” 

“Are you ready?” Dru asked as she walked back into the room.

“You women are confusing,” Neville sighed as he took Dru’s hand. He softly kissed her and smiled. “I really like that top you’re wearing.”

“Really?” Dru smiled sweetly at him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.” 

“Come on, let’s save Luna from the garden gnomes.” He smiled at her.

_crack!_

“Dru! Neville!” Adriana ran towards them. 

“Adrianna! What are you doing here?” Neville chuckled. 

“It’s Rose’s birthday.” She rolled her eyes at them, before pointing at Dru’s belly. “You too?” 

“Yes, me too.” Dru hugged the little girl. “How are your mom and dad?” 

“They’re in the kitchen, talking to Rose and George. I swear, it’s like Moggy, Crookshanks and your Holly ate mum’s and Rose’s tongues.”

Dru smiled at her. “I guess that’s a Shepherd curse then, be careful they don't get your tongue next.” 

“What’s going on, did I miss something? Again?” Neville asked confused.

“I didn’t tell you, did I? Rose’s mum had a twin sister, and guess who's mum that is?” Dru pointed at the little girl.

“I should have known,” Neville rolled his eyes. “I thought I saw something familiar in those mischievous green eyes of Adrianna!”

“Oi!” Adrianna glared at him. “I bet Rose never had too big clothes!”

“Oh, scary, same glare and everything.” Dru chuckled at Neville. “Adrianna, could you take Neville’s gran to the party, Neville and I need to do something first.” 

“Of course,” she smiled and held up her finger. “Luna found me a garden gnome.”

Dru chuckled and watched Adrianna walk off with Mrs. Longbottom. She then took a deep breath. It had been more than two months she had been at the burrows and she hadn’t been to Fred’s grave since the funeral. She took Neville’s hand and put her head on her shoulder. “I’m scared.” 

“Why?” he asked as they slowly walked towards the paddock’s edge where Fred was.

“I don’t want to fall to pieces.” It felt strange to miss Fred so much, when she loved it so much to be with Neville. She was afraid that Neville would doubt how much she loved him. 

“Well, I think you’re entitled to fall to pieces and I’ll be here to glue you back together.” He softly planted a kiss on her head. 

When they arrived at the grave, Dru felt a big lump in her throat. she didn’t know what to do next. “Hi.” She shook her head. “This is weird.” 

“It’s not weird,” Neville smiled and put his hands in his pockets. “I’ll start.” He nodded. “Fred, you’re missed mate. Not just by Dru or me, but everyone else. I can even tell with George, he’s not the same anymore but he’s dealing, I suppose. I just want to say that I’m grateful that you’ve given your blessing for me to take care of Dru for you. I know how much you loved her and it’s an honor to at least try and make her as happy as she was with you.”

“He’s been really good to me.” Dru kneeled down. “I miss you, Fred. I miss your jokes, your voice, your smile.” Dru could feel the tears filling her eyes. “Dammit, Fred. Why did you have to go after her? Why didn’t you just listen to me? We needed you and now we...” Dru took a deep breath. “George and Rose are going to have a baby.” She looked down at her own baby bump. She couldn’t tell him. How do you tell a grave he’s having a baby. “Well....I have to go, goodbye Fred.” she tried to get up.

“You’re going to be a father, mate.” Neville said as he helped Dru to her feet. “Which is funny because George managed to beat you to it by just two weeks. You two always did things around the same time, didn’t you?” He smiled and put an arm around Dru and caressed her arm. “Dru’s going to have your baby, oh... the world is doomed. With your kid and George’s? God save us all!”

Dru laughed and leaned against him. “Does it get easier, talking to someone that doesn't respond to you?” 

“No, never,” Neville shook his head. “But the more often you do it... well I suppose the words come easier. I like to think that in the back of my parent’s minds, they know what’s going on. Same with Fred. I mean, he might be gone, but he’s still here, just not visible and I bet that he’s currently throwing a party with Remus and Tonks and Lavender where he is because you’re carrying his baby.”

Dru nodded and gave Neville a kiss on his cheek, before looking at Fred’s grave. “I’m doing my best to keep my promise. I’m never forgetting you, but I’m trying my best to find happiness. I’ll try to come by soon again.” 

“It’s Rose’s birthday, I’ll have an extra glass of alcohol for you,” Neville nodded towards the grave. “And I will continue to try my hardest to make Dru happy and keep her healthy and safe.” He gently squeezed Dru’s shoulder. “Ready to go?”

Dru nodded. “Bye Honey.” she touched the headstone for a second and then turned to walk towards the house. By now everybody, except for George, Rose, Hailey and Ben, were outside and enjoying the party. 

“Ah, there they are,” Luna smiled widely. “Don’t they look lovely with the sun in their backs?”

“Uhh...” Bill squinted. “Better get mum a chair, I think Dru has something to tell us.”

“Hi.” Dru said shyly when they had joined the others. 

“Hi!” Bill said and carefully hugged her. “Congratulations, sis.” He smiled at her. “It’s one of his last miracles, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, took me by surprise.” she smiled. 

“That’s so....” Fleur pulled Dru in tight hug. “You look so beautiful.” 

Dru smiled shy and looked at Molly and Arthur, wondering what they were going to say.

“It’s good to see you, Dru sweetheart,” Molly smiled as she hugged her daughter in law and then gently caressed her stomach. “Congratulations,” she was still smiling but a hint of sadness was now visible on her face. “Is it Fred’s?” she asked carefully.

Dru nodded. “I’m 15 weeks now, I got pregnant around his birthday.” 

Molly started to sob as she held Dru tightly. “Why are my boys so typical?”

“I’m going to a grandfather twice.” Arthur said with a big smile. “Unbelieveable.” He hugged Dru and shook Neville’s hand. “Thank you for taking care of her.” 

“It’s an honor to take care of Dru, Mr. Weasley,” Neville smiled at him. “Fred’s a hero.”

“So are you and it’s Arthur. Do you want a butter beer?” 

“Yes, sir.” Neville gave a nod. “Oh and please.”

Dru smiled, before looking at Ginny and Ron. They seemed to be speechless. 

Harry made his way over and hugged Dru. “Great to see you again, Dru.” he smiled at her and then whispered in her ear. “Watch out for Ginny, Rose already wanted to kill her today for being excited about a baby.”

“I will and thank you, Harry.” She whispered back. “I heard you helped Draco stay out of Azkaban. Thank you so much for that.”

“Your brother is annoying, but he didn’t deserve to go to Azkaban because he didn’t do anything,” he smiled at her. “And you’re welcome.” He then dropped to his knees and rubbed his hand over Dru’s baby. “Hi baby!” he grinned.

Dru took a step back in surprise. “What are you doing?” 

He laughed and looked up to her before raising to his feet again. “Preparing you for Ginny.”

Dru took another step back, now scared. Neither she or Neville ever talked to the baby. “Who are you and what have you done with Harry the twat?”

“Harry the twat became Harry the idiot after he made sure that this evil person was erased from existence,” Harry gave a nod. “Enjoying life.”

“Good for you.” She smiled before turning to Ron. “Where’s that pretty girlfriend of yours?” 

Ron pointed to a corner where Hermione sat with Teddy, reading a book to him. “She thinks that it’s important to read to a baby to stimulate their brains or something,” he shrugged and then hugged Dru. “It’s good to see you again, Dru. I’ve missed you.”

Dru blushed a bit, she had expected that the Weasleys would be glad to be rid of her, but they all seemed to have missed her. 

“What?” he smiled widely. “You’re going to call your baby Ron, aren’t you? If it’s a boy?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

“Fred or Frederika, more likely,” Ginny grinned and hugged Dru before dropping to her knees and rubbing Dru’s belly. “Hi Baby!”

She took three steps back. “Please stop doing that.” It was seriously starting to freak her out. 

Ginny sighed and got to her feet again. “Rose called for Harry when I did that to her, you two are no fun. It’s a baby! Should be celebrated and made part of the family immediately,” she nodded.

Dru was seriously looking spooked right now and she wanted to run away from the burrow. She knew she was pregnant, but since they had agreed that George and Rose were going to raise the baby, she didn't talk too much about the baby and neither did Neville or his Gran. They mentioned about her being pregnant, but not the baby. 

“Pregnant lady, coming through!” George’s voice sounded.

“George!” Rose hit him on the head.

“Ow!”

“Hormones.” Neville chuckled at George and handed him a butter beer.

“No, annoyance,” Rose said and hit Neville on the head too before hugging Dru. “How are you Dru?” she smiled at her. “Ready to kick Ginny and Harry yet?”

“They keep touching my belly. I don’t want anybody to do that.” 

“Oh I know!” she sighed and looped her arm through Dru’s and beamed at her. “I have a great idea for the both of us to do tomorrow. Or the day after, depending on how we’re feeling tomorrow.”

“What?” 

“Retail therapy.”

Dru gave a smile at Rose and nodded. “I need to get new shoes. Neville’s is going to hide all my high heels so I’m going to need new ones.” 

Rose chuckled. “I need a new bra or two, I swear, my boobs are nearly falling out of this one. Oh! Did you bring your bikini?”

“Hmm, no?”

“Shame,” she sighed and looked longingly at the pond.

“What’s wrong Rosie?” George asked as he and Neville joined the girls. 

“That pond looks so great right now, but Dru didn’t bring her bikini and I’m not going in there all by myself, that would look stupid.”

George look at Neville. “I thought I told you this was going to be a swimming party. I told everyone to bring bathing clothes.” 

“And if she had just checked her bag, she would have seen that there’s a bathing suit, a bikini, a handful of fluffy towels, slippers and a pair of swimming trunks for me in there.” Neville nodded.

“Problem solved, Rosie.” George smiled at his sulking wife. 

Rose held up her half bag of marshmallows and showed it to Dru. “Want some?”

“No.” Dru looked at the table of snacks. “No chocolate cupcakes?” she asked with a sad face.

“Chocolate?” Rose blinked as she munched on a marshmallow. “Ew.”

“Ginny, did mum make those Chocolate cupcakes?” George asked. 

“Yeah I’ll get them... she told me not to get into the kitchen while you were there with Adrianna’s parents,” she nodded and headed inside. Upon her return, she handed the basket filled with cupcakes to Rose who looked disgusted.

“Give me.” Dru took the basket and started eating one of the cupcakes. 

“Neville, I think you and I need to start a new club,” George said as he put his arm on Neville’s shoulder and leaned on him as if he was a statue. “No, even better, we should write a book.” He nodded.

“About what?”

“How to anticipate your pregnant partner’s desires without being a seer.”

Dru stopped eating and looked like she was going to cry. “Am I so difficult?” 

“You both are,” George nodded.

“We should write our own book then, ‘How to deal with impossible husbands and boyfriends during pregnancy’.” Rose said and shook her head as she walked inside to get changed. She wanted to get into that pond right now. 

Dru took her bag from Neville as he took his swimming shorts out of it. “I’m sorry if I’m difficult.” 

“You’re not, he’s just a wanker.” Neville smiled at her.

Dru smiled smugly at George before walking inside.

“Thank you for having my back, mate.”

“I do, I just don’t want to be yelled at again today.” Neville chuckled.

“What was it this time?” 

“I said that she’d always look gorgeous, always. No matter how she looked.” He sighed and took a sip of his beer. “Apparently I have to stop using the world always around her.”

“Yeah, like Rose wanted to strangle me for suggesting this dress looking better on her than my shorts.” 

“That dress is the only thing that still fits, isn’t it?” he chuckled.

“Yep, but... why is Dru wearing such tight jeans?” George grinned, already knowing the answer.

“Well, her dresses are too tight... the skirts can’t be pulled over her cute little bump anymore and...” he shook his head. “I _think_ that Rose is taking Dru for some retail shopping, but knowing the both of them they’ll just buy something that will be extremely uncomfortable. I can see that Rose really likes being pregnant and I hope she rubs some of that feeling off on Dru because I think that Dru’s reluctance to buy bigger clothes is holding Rose back too.”

“We shouldn’t have put them together,” he sighed. “They’re terrible.”

“But hot and cute and adorable and amazing for having something grow inside of them that’s going to be even more cute and adorable.”

“Definitely, I love touching that bump.” George grinned, “It’s so amazing to talk to the baby, the obstetrician told us the baby can hear us already.” 

Neville nodded. “I caress Dru’s stomach when she’s asleep and I whisper to it so that Dru doesn’t wake up. She still doesn’t like it very much.”

“Stop talking about us and strip.” Rose said from behind them. Both she and Dru were wearing their bikini’s and had their arms crossed over their chests.

George grinned and pulled down his pants right on the spot, which earned him to receive wolf whistles from most of the females at Rose’s party.

“He’s taken,” she smiled appreciatively. 

“Nev?” 

“In front of all these people?!” 

“No I was going to ask you to please don’t follow George’s poor attempt at stripping. You can do so much better,” she smiled coyly.

“Shirt.” Rose pointed at George.

“I’ll be right back.” George kissed her, pulled up his pants and went inside with the rest to get changed.

15 minutes later they were all walking to the pond together. When they were near the edge of the pond Harry and Ron grinned at each other and they both lifted their girlfriends off their feet, before running into the pond with them. This left Hermione shrieking. 

George carefully helped Rose into the pond. 

“Heaven!” Rose smiled widely once she was in the water. “This feels so good, let Neville help you down, Dru, this is wonderful!”

Dru looked a bit unsure, but let Neville take her hand and gently got into the water. Her unsurety went away the moment she was in the water. “This does feel good.” She smiled. 

“Out of the way!” Adrianna yelled as she came running towards the pond in her bathing suit and then jumped in, splashing water all over everyone.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have done that.” Seamus grabbed the little girl and threw her a few feet away, which lead to Adrianna squealing in delight.

Dru put her arms around Neville’s neck. “I like swimming.” 

“And on a hot day like this it’s even better,” he smiled at her. “You look amazing, by the way.” 

Dru smiled shyly and splashed some water in his face. 

“Oh,” he grinned and splashed some water back at her. “You shouldn’t have done that, now you’re going to be in so much trouble.”

Dru quickly tried to swim away but she never was a fast swimmer. 

Neville laughed and quickly caught up with her and tugged on her foot. “Tag, you’re it!”

“No! That’s no fair.” Dru tried to catch Neville, but he was too quick, she then swam to Fleur. “Tag you’re it.” Dru quickly swam back to Neville. 

“What is ‘tag’?” Fleur asked confused.

Bill swam away from Fleur. “You have to touch someone and then he has to and so on.” 

While the others started playing George pulled Rose into his arms. “Liking your birthday?” 

She smiled up to him and nodded. “Nice and relaxed and just... great,” she softly kissed him. “Thank you.”

“Happy birthday, Sweetie.” he kissed her back when he got tagged by Adrianna. He looked at Rose. “Sorry, but since you’re in my arms, that means you’re it now.” 

“Oh really?” Rose smirked and looked around. Without cheating, she could possibly tag Dru. “I’ll be over to you in about ten minutes, Dru. This whale can’t swim so fast.”

“No, help me.” Dru hid behind Neville, hanging on his shoulders. 

Rose grinned when she had finally made her way over. She pat Neville on the head. “Tag!”

Dru quickly swam away, which was easier now because Dean was pulling her along. 

“George, I smell a conspiracy.” Neville nodded.

“Yeah, like our lives aren’t hard enough now.” George pulled Rose back into his arms. “But just to make sure you play fair.” George swam away and pulled Rose along too. 

“Yes, conspiracy,” Neville nodded and started to swim after Harry, who was laughing and already swimming away. 

After a while they were done playing with tag and Dru was next to Rose. “So tomorrow.” 

“Yes, if we’re both feeling up to it,” Rose nodded.

“Okay.” Dru smiled and thought for a second. “I’ve talked to Fred and yelled at him.”

“Did you feel better after yelling at him?”

“Yeah. I needed to get it off my chest.” 

Rose smiled and pulled Dru into a hug. “Good. Well, if we’re feeling great tomorrow, we’re going to a store where they sell all kinds of chocolate so you can just be very happy and buy a lot of it.”

“Hmm I love chocolate.’ Dru smiled. 

“Makes me feel sick,” Rose chuckled.

“I love Neville too.” 

“I know,” she smiled. “And I think you two are adorable together.”

“Yeah.” Dru smiled at Rose, before swimming back to Neville. “Neville.” She smiled and put her arms around his neck. 

“Yes babe?” he smiled as he put his arms around her.

“I love swimming.” She smiled at him. “I want to swim more often. I want a pond in our flat.”

“Well I don’t know about a pond,” he chuckled. “But we can try and see if we can get a big bath tub in there?”

She pouted. “That’s not the same.” 

“Muggles have swimming pools where you can go swimming indoors even when it’s raining.”

“I like that. Will you take me there?” 

“Yeah sure,” he smiled at her. “It’ll be fun.”

“Everything with you is fun.” she caressed his hair. 

He chuckled and softly kissed her lips. “Good to hear, are you feeling okay? You need a nap or something to eat? Or are you okay?”

“I need another kiss.” She said coyly and batted her eyelashes. 

Neville softly kissed her again. “How’s that?”

“Longer.”

He caressed a strand of wet hair behind her ear and kissed her again, longer this time. “Better?”

“No, you keep stopping.” 

Neville blushed. He felt a little self conscious as he was surrounded by a lot of Weasleys and despite George and Rose, and to an extend Arthur and Molly knew about him and Dru, he didn’t want to get himself or Dru into trouble for showing affection for each other.

“Oh come on, Neville, we’ve seen you do worse at Hogwarts a few years ago, don’t be bashful.” Seamus grinned.

Suddenly everybody in the pond was looking at Dru and Neville and most looks were not friendly. 

George gave Neville an encouraging nod, making sure he knew that George had his back.

Neville gave a nod back and smiled at Dru before kissing her long and deep, caressing her hair as he did. After a while, he softly kissed her on the side of her head. “You’re so beautiful,” he said softly in her ear. “I don’t care what they think.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Ron asked Neville.

“Kissing my girlfriend, Ron.” Neville said as he protectively put his arms around Dru. “What’s your problem?”

“She’s my brother’s wife.” 

“And she’s carrying his child.” Ginny said

“And Neville has been nothing but respectful towards Fred since Dru went over to his place to mourn her husband,” Rose said.

“And this is what Fred wanted.” George said.

“You knew about this?” Bill asked his brother. 

“I told him to try and get her back.” George said.

“Are you mental?” Ron shot at George.

“How could you say a thing like that to him, George?” Bill asked surprised. 

“I knew it,” Ginny spat. “Neville the hero, my ass. Neville the creep, waiting for Fred to be out of the picture so he could get his girlfriend back.” 

“Ginny!” Luna said in shock. “How could you say a thing like that?”

“Look,” Rose sighed and shook her head. “For some reason, Fred had a bad idea about the battle and he was getting sentimental towards Dru. George and I were there, you know. He wanted to know for sure that Dru was going to be alright and taken care of. It was his idea.”

“To take care of her, yeah, but Neville mate, not sleeping with her.” Harry said.

“Shut up,” George said to Harry. “Neville has been nothing but respectful towards Fred’s memory and he knew that if there was one person that could love Dru as much as he did, that if there was one person who could help her heal and make her happy that it was Neville.”

“Fred told me to get back together with Neville. He literally told me to do so.” Dru said as she put her arms around Neville’s neck. She looked at him, she could tell Ginny’s words had hit him hard. “Are you okay?” 

He nodded slowly. “It was to be expected, I guess,” he gave her a brave smile. “But like I said, I don’t care what everyone else thinks. As long as you and I know what’s going on and what the real truth is.”

“He’s not even dead for two months.” Ginny said.

“So, Fred didn’t even wait 6 days before going after Dru.” Dean said to Ginny.

“It makes sense,” Hermione piped up. “It totally makes sense!” she had a big smile on her face. “Fred loved Dru and he didn’t want her to end up alone, so he wanted her to get back with Neville. Look at her, she’s looking so happy, well until you lot jumped on them saying that it was wrong. Rose always said that Dru would end up with Neville eventually anyway, didn’t she?”

George frowned at Rose. “You did?” 

“I didn’t know how, I swear.” She said and shook her head. “If I had known that something was going to happen to Fred I would have done something to prevent it. All I knew back then was that both Neville and Fred were good for Dru, that without either of them she’d be... gone, the bad way and that at the time, it didn’t matter but...” she bit her lip.

“Maybe this is how it was meant to be. Fred’s death could have never been avoided and this way a part of him lives on, in his child. Something he would have never have had and Dru had stayed with Neville.” Luna said. “I mean, everybody knows Dru and Neville were always meant to be, like Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione or George and Rose.” 

“But it makes sense,” Hermione nodded. “I mean, Fred wanted Dru to be happy even after he was gone. Who better than Neville would be up for that? Neville’s a good guy and I’m sure that he wouldn’t have started something with Dru if he wasn’t sure that she wasn’t ready. It’s creepy how well he knows Dru.”

“First time I saw them I thought he was her boyfriend.” Adrianna said.

“Fine.” Ron nodded and pulled Hermione in his arms.

“You know, Bill, I still remember the yule ball, where there was this pretty girl in a green dress and a boy who couldn’t keep his eyes of her, even though he was dancing with your sister.” Fleur said. “I used to see them all time as a couple around the school. They work well together.”

“Mum and Dad know and they’re okay with it too,” George said with a nod. “It’s what Fred have wanted and to be completely honest, and this may sound like I’m a complete ass or something, but it’s what I would have wanted if Fred hadn’t said anything. You can’t keep two people who love each other so much apart.”

“I’m fine with it, I’m just...well...I don’t know Neville that well so I guess I didn’t see it coming, that’s all.” Bill said. 

“Well, then we’ll just have to start going out with everyone more often so you can get to know Neville too. He’s a great guy, Bill, he had so much shit thrown in his face and he just kept marching on and he and Dru don’t deserve the crap you guys are giving them right now.” George said. “So best to get over yourselves and apologize and accept that Neville’s an honorary Weasley.”

“I don’t need anybody to apologize.” Neville said. “Everybody is entitled to a shock reaction.” 

“My Hero.” Dru kissed him on the cheek and hugged him tightly. 

Rose climbed out of the water and wrapped herself into one of the towels before quietly making her way back to the house to pull her dress back on and have a drink. For some reason she felt guilty and she wasn’t allowed to feel guilty, Lupin had told her that, but she couldn’t help it. She should have tried to see why Dru was going to be with Neville in the end, maybe that would have shown her what would happen to Fred and maybe she could have done something to prevent Fred’s death, which would ultimately lead to Neville being miserable, which would lead to Dru being miserable because her best friend was miserable and that would make Fred miserable because his wife was miserable and things would go from bad to worse and probably years of hell would follow for all three of them and something would happen, like a death or a divorce and then... 

She shuddered as she quietly walked outside again to get a drink, smiling politely to Neville’s grandmother before taking a seat at the bonfire that Arthur had started. 

Then again, Neville and Dru were always more than just best friends after Neville broke up with her and after Dru got together with Fred. Especially in their last year at Hogwarts, their year of horrors. Dru had always been the one to take care of Neville. Dru had been more worried about Neville than about any other student. They patrolled together. When Dru was crying, Neville comforted her, she wouldn’t even allow Rose or Ginny to come close. And after the thing that Goyle did to Dru, the only person she allowed to touch her was Neville.

Combined with the conversation Rose had with Dru around Christmas last year, it hit her like a ton of bricks. Dru had been wanting to leave Fred for Neville for a while now. 

Nursing her glass of bubble juice, Rose decided that she shouldn’t feel guilty for Fred’s death because this would have happened one way or the other. Rose also decided not to tell anyone about the discovery she had just made and just be grateful that Fred was so open minded. Or that he knew that his marriage was failing anyway. 

Maybe for once, the universe had known what she was doing after all.


	59. Ghosts from the past

Rose was dead tired after her party and needed a few days to get back into the spirit of things and get her energy back. She didn’t feel guilty because Dru was as wiped as she was. It was the day before Dru’s birthday and the day that Neville had started his Auror training at the ministry and Rose knew that Dru could use some cheering up. She kissed George before apparating to Yorkshire and knocked on the door of Neville’s home.

“I’ll get it.” Dru said to Mrs Longbottom and walked to the door. “Rose, what a lovely surprise, come in.”

“I actually came to pick you up,” she smiled widely. “Retail therapy! I need a bra!”

“Brilliant, I just tell Neville’s gran, I’m going out for a while.” Dru went into the sitting room. “Mrs Longbottom, Rose is here. She wants to get some pregnancy clothes for herself. Would you mind if I went with her?” 

“No, you two have fun dear. Maybe you can find something you’ll like as well.”

‘I’ll see.” Dru smiled. “I can still wear most of my tops, but maybe some bigger pants. Do you need anything from London? Some sweets or something?” Dru asked as she put on a jacket and took her purse. 

“No dear, I’m good. You two enjoy yourselves.”

Dru walked over and gave Mrs Longbottom a kiss on her cheek. “I won’t be too late. Bye.” 

Rose frowned when Dru closed the door behind her. “I thought you two didn’t get along?”

“We had chat and I told her how I fell in love with Neville and why he’s so special to me. I think she finally realised that I really do love him.” 

“Wow,” Rose smiled and took Dru’s hand. “Ready?”

“Nah, I just put her under an imperius curse. It’s easier that way.” 

“I said ready, not really,” Rose snorted and apparated them into the Leaky Cauldron.

“Alright, so what do you need?” Dru looped her arm around Rose’s and they left the pub to walk towards the underground.

“If it’s up to George, a completely new wardrobe,” she chuckled. “He hates it that I’ve been stealing his shorts or old pairs of jeans because it’s not ‘womanly’.” She shook her head. “Maybe he’s right...”

“Yeah, I’m only getting a few new pair of jeans, that’s it. I...I gotta watch my spending.” 

“My treat, not money from the store, but my own money.” 

“Still, I need to watch my money. I want to get Neville a few new things aswell, to get him out of the clothes his gran buys him. But nothing too expensive. We need the money for... never mind.” 

She smiled as she paid for two one day travel cards for the London underground and headed down to the trains. “We’ll just see... but we’re not going to stray off Oxford Street, I want to stay close to bathrooms.”

“That’s fine.” Dru smiled as she looked into her purse with muggle money. “I have three hundred pounds left. I think I can buy a few things with that.” 

“You walk around with that much muggle money? We should get you a muggle bankcard instead!” Rose said in shock as they boarded the train. 

“No need, this is the last of my money and wel, Neville’s going to start on a trainee salary, and the with all the other cost, I won’t have a lot of money left to put on the bank.” 

“What other cost?” Rose asked her. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing.” Dru blushed. “It’s nothing.” Dru and Neville hadn’t told anybody yet about them trying to get their own apartment. Neville was going to hear more about it that day from Shacklebolt. 

“Alright, then don’t tell me,” Rose smiled as they got off the train and started to make their way out of the train station. “I really like your shoes.”

“Yeah?” Dru looked at them. “Neville got me those. He doesn’t think I should wear heels anymore while I’m pregnant.” 

“Well, at least not as high as you usually wear, it’ll be more comfortable for you once your belly starts to grow, won’t it? It’s extra weight you’ll be carrying.”

Dru sighed. “I know, but heels are the only thing that makes me feel a little bit sexy these days.” 

“I feel sexy in George’s shorts but he’s not allowing me to continue to wear them,” Rose pouted.

Dru smiled at her. “Because they look awful on you.” 

“So?” she shrugged. “It’s not like I wear them when I have to be down in the store or walk through the store to the workshop to make new things.”

“Do you guys need more potions? Because I could always make some, we could really use the money.” 

“Dru, even without you helping out at the store you’re earning your money,” Rose chuckled.

“No, I don’t. The deal was that I get paid if I make the potions.” 

“That was until you married Fred and started to own half the store with him,” Rose pointed out. “And now that he’s gone doesn’t mean you stop earning, haven’t you checked your account at Gringotts? I’ve been making weekly deposits into your account.”

“I don’t have an account.” Dru said. “Never had one.” 

“Oh!” Rose smacked herself in the head. “Of course, we never... well, a few weeks after Fred passed, George set up an account for you at the bank, depositing half of the earnings of the store over the last year into it to get you started, and ever since then, we’ve been depositing half of the weekly earnings into it, because you know, you have the right to have that.”

“No.” Dru shook her head. “That’s George’s money and yours. I have no right to that money. I don’t want it.” 

She chuckled. “And a moment ago you said you needed money,” she shook her head. “Fine, if you don’t want it, then you don’t want it but we’re keeping the account in your name anyway, because it’s rightfully yours.”

“I ...I need money, but I don’t have a right to Fred’s money.” 

“You married him, didn’t you? You were still married when he died so...” she shrugged again. “I don’t see the problem.”

“Never mind.” Dru shook her head. “Look, keep the account and put it on the name of the baby. Then you and George will have enough money to take care of it.” 

Rose sighed. “Alright, you can make your potions but you’ll get a big fat bonus for it.”

“Good.” Dru smiled. “So where to first?” 

“Do we dare to walk into a store with pregnancy clothes?” Rose wondered.

“Well, I need to. I hardly fit these jeans anymore.” 

“I know,” Rose groaned. “I suppose we could get that over with and then go shopping for other stuff,” she nodded. “Like sweets.”

“If you want, but no more sweets for me, or chocolate. I need to watch out I don’t blow up.” 

“If you want chocolate, then you should eat chocolate, it’s what the baby needs or something,” Rose waved her hand. “I don’t want any marshmallows anymore myself, I’ve switched to crackers with jam.”

“I’m hardly hungry the last few days. I mean I eat, Neville makes sure I do, but I’m just not hungry.” 

“Yeah I know what you mean and I kind of wished I could have stayed in bed the last few days just to laze about or sleep, but I couldn’t do that to George, you know. It’s not fair that he and Ron work their asses off and I am being a pig.”

“I wish I had a job to keep me busy now that Neville’s starting his training, but he told me not to. He’s worried that I might do too much.” 

“You can always spend time at the store, you know that.”

Dru shook her head. “No, not yet.”

“Read books on pregnancy!” she laughed.

Dru growled. “Rose, I don’t like being pregnant, I don’t want to be pregnant and I don’t want to read about being pregnant.”

“Fine,” Rose sighed and was happy that there was a clothing store that sold pregnancy clothes nearby (it was being loudly announced on posters and whatnot). She knew that muggles just loved being pregnant and celebrate it as George celebrated it, but with Dru not being happy about it Rose wasn’t sure how to feel. Dru’s moodswings gave her a whiplash.

Inside the store, they sort of split up for a while to get what they wanted or needed. Rose wanted to fit a couple of bra’s and a few shirts and skirts. She could always buy new pairs of trousers if she desired but if she had to be completely honest with herself, she didn’t like the way it was constricting her from moving around and skirts were easier. She thought for a second and decided to go and fit a pair of trousers anyway when she saw them, the elastic band in front of it looked very inviting.

When she met up with Dru at the changing rooms, she saw that her friend had her arms full of clothes as well and she didn’t look too happy. “This will be your kid, you’re going to pay for my clothes,” Dru growled. The clothes were a lot more expensive than Dru had thought they would be.

“Fine,” Rose shrugged. As they walked into the stalls, Rose could have sworn she heard people moo or something like that. She knew she wasn’t big, but still, it made her wonder if it was directed towards her and Dru. She was just about to pull off her shirt and try on one of the bra’s when someone barged into her cubicle, roughly turned her around and put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming. _Blaise Zambini_

“Hello Rose.” 

She just closed her eyes and shook her head. This wasn’t happening. 

“Don’t worry, Rose. I won’t hurt you.” He smirked. “Unless you don’t listen to me and don’t keep quiet.” 

She shook her head again and felt how tears were streaming down her cheeks. This wasn’t happening, she’d just wake up and be safely in George’s arms soon enough. Rose was scared shitless and didn’t even dare to move.

“I’m in need of some fun, Rose.” He whispered in her ear. “And I heard you’re a lot of fun and you don’t even struggle.” 

She tried to move away from him but with his hand still on her mouth and her practically boxed in in a corner, she couldn’t do anything. _Wake up Rose!_ , she told herself.

“The only problem is that I have to do it myself.” He moved his hand over her bra. “I don’t have polyjuice potion of Longbottoms hair.” 

She looked at him in shock. _Home! NOW!_ she yelled inside her head and all of a sudden found herself standing in the middle of her own living room and just collapsed on the floor, crying and shaking and at a loss for breath.

“Hold on, Ron, maybe I left it upstairs.” George said as he walked up the stairs. “Rose?” He saw her the minute he came upstairs and quickly made his way over to her. “What’s wrong? I thought you were going out with Dru?” 

“Dru... oh... no!” she hiccuped. “I.... I was so scared George, I... I.... she’s still there!”

“Take a deep breath, Rose. What’s wrong?” 

“Zambini... he... he...”

“Breathe.” George sat down on the floor and pulled her into his arms and softly caressed her back. “Tell me what happened.”

“Took Dru to shop and we found some stuff...” she said slowly, forcing herself to slow down but her head was going miles a minute. She was safe now, wasn’t she? “Changing rooms. Zambini... oh George! I left her! I... I left her and I didn’t even fight back! I just left!” she started to cry again.

“Which shop?” George got back to his feet. “Think Rosie, which shop?” 

“The one you showed me to buy stuff in.”

“I’ll get her.” 

_crack_

George was gone for two minutes, before he apparated back. “She has left too, her stuff was gone. I looked around but I couldn’t find her.” George kneeled down and handed Rose her shirt that he had taken with him from the shop. “Maybe she saw what happened and went home too. Look I tell Kevin to watch the store and I’ll have Ron look for Dru.” 

~~~~

Dru had just hanged up the clothes she was going to try on, until she suddenly felt uncomfortable. She turned around and nearly collapsed when she saw Gregory Goyle in her stall. “Go away.” 

“I just want to apologize.” He said.

“I don’t want to hear it.” She shook her head and backed into the wall, she took her bag from the chair next to her. 

“Oh, come on, Dru. How long do we know each other? I never meant to hurt you.” He took another step closer to her.

“Well you did, now go away.” she said bravely, before taking a deep breath and suddenly tried to get past him, to get out of the stall, but he grabbed her and pushed her back into the wall. 

“It will hurt a lot less, if you just cooperate this time.” He moved his hand on her belly. “You let that Longbottom touch you, I can do it so much better.” 

Dru suddenly felt like a wild animal was unleashed inside of her. She would not let him do that to her again, not while she was carrying Fred’s child. Dru’s rage made her stronger than she had ever been and she pushed Goyle of her and he smashed into the wall on the opposite side. 

“That hurts, you bitch.” He hit his head and closed his eyes as he rubbed the back of his head. 

Dru seized her chance and ran out of the stall, out of the shop and made her way to the public restroom that led to the ministry of Magic. She ran straight to the lift and to level 2. She ran through the corridor, but she had no idea where to look for Neville. Suddenly she heard Shacklebolt’s familiar low voice. “...that when I told him ‘No, Allistor, you can’t take a yeti to Azkaban just because it looked at you in a funny way.’ Of course, he didn’t like me for that one.”

Dru followed the sound of Neville’s and Harry’s laughter and burst into the office and the end of the corridor and ran straight into Neville’s arms. 

“Woah, uh...” Neville stammered as he automatically put his arms around Dru. “What are you doing here?”

Dru was shaking as she was holding onto his shirt. “He...He found me.” She softly started crying. 

Neville shot Kingsley and Harry an apologetic look before looking back down to his girl. “Who?”

“Goyle. He walked into my stall in the store.” 

“I’m going to kill him,” Neville muttered and caressed her back. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “He threatened me too, but I ran out of the store.” She suddenly realised he was still working. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come here. You’re still working.” 

“Dru, you’re scared and it’s okay.” Neville smiled at her. “We were taking a break anyway.”

“I am sorry, Dru.” Kingsley said. “I wish that we had succeeded in putting him in Azkaban a few weeks ago at his hearing, but he has too many people lying for him and we can’t prove that they’re lying. Unless, I don’t know, you wish to go on record and give a testimony about what happened, maybe then we’re able to put him away for at least a while.”

Dru shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.” she muttered to Neville. 

“That’s okay,” he soothed her and then looked at Kingsley. “Permission to take her home, minister?”

“Of course, but maybe for now don’t let her go shopping on her own.”

“I thought she was going out shopping with Rose but...” 

“Oh no, Rose.” Dru gasped. “I left her in the shop. I freaked out and just ran.” 

“I’m not really following your conversation but if you want I’ll swing by George’s place and see if she’s home,” Harry offered. “If not, I’ll go and look for her, I promise.”

Dru nodded. “Could you please?” 

Harry nodded. “I’ll even come over to yours to tell you when I’ve found her.”

“I’m really sorry Dru, it takes time to weed out the bad seeds, especially when they are slippery like the Goyle family, but I promise, I’ll do everything I can.” Kingsley assured her. “Now Neville, you go and take care of her and Harry do what he just said and I’ll see the both of you back after the weekend. Great first day you two.”

~~~

George had urged Rose to take a bath. After about a half and hour later he came in with a cup of tea. “Rose, Dru’s fine.” He smiled at her. “She’s with Neville.”

“Okay, good,” she nodded and shuddered. “Are you sure she’s alright?”

George took a deep breath. “Goyle found her, but she made it out alright. He didn’t hurt her.” 

“Oh no! Why can’t he just leave her alone?” She hugged her knees to her chest, well as good as. “And... and...”

“It’s alright, sweetie.” George squatted next to tub and caressed her arm. “Harry told me, she was a bit shaken up, but she looked like she was going to be fine. Neville took her home and if you want, I’ll go see him first thing tomorrow morning to check up on Dru.” 

“It’s her birthday tomorrow, her 18th!” 

“I forgot about that.” George smiled. “Little Dru turning 18.” 

“I thought Neville was arranging a birthday barbecue for her?” Rose asked puzzled and softly kissed him. 

“Yeah, he is. For both their birthdays. It just slipped my mind.” George softly kissed her back. “Are you feeling a bit better?”

“So she’s not celebrating it tomorrow?”

“No, she is, I think.” George shook his head. “Now I’m confused.” 

Rose grinned. “Hormones.”

“Yeah, I’m such a good husband, I’m having hormone problems just like my wife.” He snickered and kissed her.

“If you get any cravings, there a still four bags of marshmallows left.” 

“No thanks.” George grinned. 

She unplugged the bath and got up before reaching for a towel and wrapped herself up in it. “You still have store things to do, don’t you?” she asked as she stepped out of the bath.

“Harry’s helping Ron out. I’m all yours for the rest of the day.” 

“I’m terrible,” she sighed. “I freak out, I get really upset, then you make everything just right and now I’m just very sleepy and you just said you’re mine for the rest of the day. Terrible.”

“I could be your teddy bear while you’re sleeping.” He suggested as he gently caressed her hair. “I’d like to be your teddy bear.” 

“I like it that you like to be my teddy bear because you’re the best teddy bear there is,” she smiled at him and took his hand as she walked to the bedroom. “Just wake me up when I start kicking you again.”

“Nah, your kicks are cute.”George laid down on the bed and opened his arms to her. “Teddy bear is ready.” 

She dropped the towel to the floor. “One naked pregnant wife ready to cuddle the teddy bear,” she smiled as she crawled into bed and pulled the covers over her before snuggling up to George. “I love you,” she softly kissed him. 

“I love you.” He eagerly kissed her back. “And I love naked pregnant women.” 

“I’m still not staying pregnant for the rest of our lives.”

“I’ll just have to get you pregnant again as soon as it’s possible.” he grinned.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “We’ll see, I just feel like a discarded wet towel right now, pretty much useless. Might be the last baby we’ll ever have, I want my energy back.”

George softly kissed her. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel less like a discarded wet towel?” 

She shook her head and tightened her hold on him. “You’re perfect.”

“Only when I’m around you.” He kissed her tenderly. “Go to sleep, sweetie and don’t worry. I’m going to watch you sleep to make sure nobody hurts you.” 

~~~

As soon as Neville had taken Dru home, she went to bed. The entire experience had exhausted her and she could do with a few hours of sleep. She woke up slowly, because she could feel something touching her stomach. When she opened her eyes, she saw to her surprise that Neville had gently lifted her shirt and was caressing her bump and was whispering to it.

“I swear to you, little blob, your mummy is the most beautiful mummy is the world. You’re so going to love her.” 

Dru propped herself on her elbows. “Neville, what the hell are you doing?” 

“Talking to the baby,” he blushed and then softly kissed her belly. “Sorry little blob, I think we were talking too loud!” He said in a whisper. “I’m in trouble now!”

“Why?” 

“Because I know you don’t like people caressing your beautiful stomach and talk to the baby.”

“Why are you talking to it?” 

“It has ears.”

Dru sat up. “It’s …” She couldn’t explain why she didn’t like it or why she was scared to talk to the baby. 

“Look, I know you want George and Rose to take care of your baby once it’s out, but I’ve been reading some books while you were sleeping, about babies in bellies and you know what?” He smiled at her. “It’s better for its development to talk to it, even if its in the belly still.” He said before adding in thought, _And bond with the baby and make it love your voice..._.

“Okay.” She nodded. “So I should go over to Rose and George and let them talk to the baby.”

“They have their own baby to talk to and I’m sorry but I think that we have to do it for them,” he nodded. 

“Neville, I know what you’re trying to do.” Dru said softly. “But I’m not ready to be a mother yet. “I’m only turning 18 tomorrow.” She was on the verge of crying. “I...I just never thought I would in this position.” 

“I’m not trying to do anything,” he softly kissed her. “And I know you’re scared and you have all these emotions running through your body but you’re not alone, Dru. I’m right here with you.”

“What if I do something stupid?” Dru laid down on her back again and looked at him. “I mean, What if I dropped it?” 

“I’d be right there to catch it before it falls on the floor,” he smiled at her and crawled up to her to kiss her again. “Besides, from what gran told me, I know that you’re going to be amazing, but I completely understand that you’re scared. I’m scared too, I never thought I’d be having a girlfriend who was pregnant with her first baby that’s not even mine, but I love you and should you decide in the end that you do want to keep it, then we will make it work.”

“Fred would hate me, would he? If I wouldn’t keep it.” 

“I don’t know. I think he would be disappointed though.”

“Are you really sure you want to do this? I mean, your life will completely change and it’s not even your baby. I don’t want you to end up resenting me or the baby for you not having the life you could have if you just walked away now.” 

“You’re an idiot.” Neville told her and softly kissed her. “I love you and I love the baby already, yeah don’t look at me like that, I’m a sucker, I like little babies and kids and...” He shrugged. “It’s Fred’s baby and I’ll never be as great as Fred, but I sure can be the cool ‘mummy’s boyfriend’ because honestly? You’re everything I’ve ever wanted and everything I’m doing now is to make you happy.”

“So are we really doing this? Keeping the baby, I mean? Raising it together?”

“It’s your choice. Not mine.”

“But if it were your choice, what would you do?” Dru put one hand on her bump and looked at it. “Would you keep it?” 

Neville smiled at her. “It’s a part of you, even if you’d have to have surgery to remove your leg or something, I’d even keep the leg.”

“Neville!” She hit him over the head. “I’m trying to be serious here.”

“I am being serious, Dru. I love you, therefore, I will love the baby. Whether or not you want to keep it is your decision.”

“Could you for one just tell me what you would do and stop being mister right. Just tell me what you want.” 

“It’s your decision. I don’t want _you_ to end up resenting it because you decide to keep it because I want it.”

Dru grew very frustrated with Neville at this point. She knew in the back of her head, he didn’t want to influence her decision, but she needed to know for sure he wasn’t doing all of this, just to please her or out of guilt towards Fred. 

She got off the bed and started pacing the room. “I want to keep the baby, but I don’t want to lose you again. I need to for sure you want this. And I don’t mean just because I want this. I need to know you would want this, even if I didn’t want this. That you want this, not out of guilt to Fred or obligation to me. I need to know you sure about this.” She rambled. 

He got up and stopped her from pacing and pulled her in his arms. “I am not going anywhere. Yes, I want to keep the baby and not out of guilt or as an obligation but because of the simple fact that I love you and the baby is a part of you and during my talks with the little blob, I’ve fallen in love with it too. So there.” He gave a nod. “I want to keep the baby but I understand that---- wait, you want to keep it too?” he smiled at her.

Dru nodded. “When Goyle touched my bump, I freaked out. I didn’t care if he’d hurt me, but not the baby. I needed to protect it.” 

He softly kissed her. “Then we’re keeping the baby and then the apartment should hurry up so we can start making our home for it.”

Dru nodded with a smile and kissed him. “We’re keeping the blob.”

* * *

Rose had been awake for most of the night. Not because George had one of his nightmares that had woken him up, but more of her own. Zambini had triggered something inside of her that she had been trying to forget and something she thought she had dealt with but apparently she hadn’t and the worst part was that she was now dreading to go to Dru and Neville’s birthday because of Neville and that was so wrong. 

George turned to his side. “Are you okay, sweetie?” 

“Of course I am,” she smiled at him and softly kissed him. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, my lovely wife.” He softly kissed her back. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“No, but you were adorable in your sleep.” She smiled and caressed his hair. “I kept myself up last night.”

“Rose, I’ve been thinking about this for a long while. What if I just obliviate the memory from your mind?” 

“There will be no obliviating, George,” Rose shot at him. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, because I do, but ... no.”

“Sweetie, I know it’s a sensitive subject with you because of what your father did, but I’m pretty good at it. I mean Neville and Dru are still alright, aren’t they?” 

“Sorry, what?”

George closed his eyes. “Damn, I forgot we didn’t tell you about that.” He took a deep breath. “Look, something happened and I obliviated Neville and Dru, together with Fred. But they’re alright, aren’t they?”

“You obliviated Neville and Dru?” Rose backed away from him. “You obliviated our friends? Why the hell did you do that?!” 

“It was for their own good.” George sat up. “Do you remember the love potion incident in your sixth year?” 

“George, you just don’t obliviate people!”

“They had sex, Rose.” 

“Still not a good reason to obliviate people!”

“It was Neville’s first time and he was heartbroken of the fact that it was with the girl he loved, but she only did it because she was under a love potion. He felt like he had done it against her own free will. Fred and I just couldn’t let him live with that feeling. That was not fair on him. Dru had told Fred he asked her a hundred times if she was sure about it, but she kept saying yes. He had no idea she was under a love potion. Honestly we did it to help him. I mean think about it, would you have let him walk around with the idea he had sex with Dru against her will?” 

“No but how do you know it was against her will?” She had gotten off the bed and was looking for something to wear now.

“It wasn’t against her will, but she hadn’t wanted to happen either. But that’s not the point. _Neville_ thought it was against her will. _He_ felt like he had basically raped her. Letting him walk around with that feeling would have been cruel.” George shot at her. 

“You used the most cruel spell ever thought up on our friends, George.”

“What do you want me to do? I can’t change it back, now can I?” 

She knew that he was right but he should never have told her this in the first place. “I wish you hadn’t told me this.” She said as she pulled on a pair of pyjama bottoms because nothing was fitting and she didn’t want to put on the dress anymore. 

“Oh, so that’s the way it goes now, is it?” he spat at her, while he put on his clothes. “You’ve told me the most horrible things and I listened and tried to understand where you’re coming from, but when I have something, you just have a go at me.”

“It’s not the same!” she shot at him. “Don’t you get it? You could have taken them to the infirmary and have Madame Pomfrey obliviate them, or have someone else do it for you, but you did it. You and Fred. And probably out of the goodness of your own hearts and I understand why you want to do it now but it’s not the answer. There will be always something left, a remaining idea or feeling in the back of your head that tells you that you’ve forgotten something. It took me a long time to put the pieces back together after father obliviated me. And I have a sneaking suspicion that at some point Draco did it to me too, I don’t want this. I don’t. And... you... you did it to them George... and it’s... it’s sweet and it’s kind but you did it.” she was sobbing as she pulled on one of her shirts. “And I look ridiculous!”

George snorted. “Then put on a pair of my shorts. And look, I told Fred to take them up to the infirmary, but he didn’t want to Dru or Neville get into trouble. Having sex in the history of magic classroom on the teacher’s desk is not exactly something that the teachers encourage at Hogwarts. Plus I don't think the teacher would understand the need to do it, but when Fred and I found Neville, he was crying, like he did when Dru lost his memories, it broke our hearts and all we could think about was that he had done nothing wrong and he should not be feeling this way.” He took a deep breath. “But if you want I’ll tell Neville and Dru what we did.”

“Neville having sex on a teacher’s desk? Wow.”

George chuckled. “Yeah, that amazed me too, not even Fred and I would do something like that.” 

“Don’t tell them.”

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah... I mean... if you tell them now it’ll be a bad feeling... uhm... I don’t know how to explain but... yeah, it’d destroy them.”

“Alright.” George pulled Rose to him and looked up to her. “I trust you, and don't worry. I’ll promise I’ll never do it ever again.” 

“It’s the most cruel spell ever.”

“Well, it’s not the spell, but the way it used on you and Dru in the past that’s cruel. So I understand how you feel about it. But then you have to promise me not to turn away from Neville again.” 

“I’m not turning away from him, George. Like I said, I kept myself up last night by having a nightmare but he wasn’t in it.”

“Liar.” George softly kissed her.

“All I’m telling you that it had Crabbe and Zambini, but not Neville.” She said softly and sighed. “And you in Fred’s place.”

George pulled Rose on his lap. “I’m going to make sure that Zambini and Goyle will stay away from you. Crabbe is dead, luckily for him. But I’ll find a way to deal with the other two.” he growled.

“It’s okay, really...” she gave a nod. “I’ve told you before, it’s honorable, but I don’t want you to end up in prison. I’ll just... never go out shopping again.” She then groaned. “I want a hamburger.”

“Well, then let’s go over to Neville and see if he can make you one.” he needed to have a little chat with Neville anyway.

“No, a real hamburger. With chips and ketchup and more ketchup and I’m not going to Dru’s birthday in a pyjama bottom. So before we go, can we go to that store and get me something new?”

“Of course we can.” He softly kissed her. 

“Good, and at the same time we can pick up some for Dru because she was really into buying something for herself yesterday until... well. She’ll love us for it.”

George frowned at Rose. “Dru? Really? Well, let’s pick up something for her anyway. Just one or two things, then she can pick out the rest herself.” 

“Well... I think she’s running out of clothes now too you know...” she softly kissed him. “And after clothes, I’m going to treat you to a nice hamburger with chips and ketchup and muggle soda for breakfast,” she smiled widely at him.

“No, you will not.” 

“Fine, you can have their breakfast croissant.”

“No, I want the hamburger, but I’m buying you one. Your reward for looking so beautiful today.” 

“I look ridiculous,” she snickered. “But thank you.”

“Come on, wifey, let’s go.”

* * *

Neville was balancing a tray with breakfast and a bundle of flowers as he opened the door to his bedroom and managed not to trip when he got in and sat down on the bed after he had put the tray on a chair next to the bed. They really needed to get their own place so that he had more room in his bedroom.

He softly caressed Dru’s hair and kissed her lips. “Good morning birthday girl, it’s time to wake up.”

Dru stretched herself out, much like a cat, and looked at him. “Good morning.” 

“Happy 18th birthday,” he smiled at her and gave her the bouquet of flowers he had picked from his greenhouse. 

“Oh, Neville. That’s so sweet.” She sat up and kissed his lips. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome,” he smiled at her. “How did you sleep?”

“Not a lot, but I only had one nightmare, so that’s good.” She kissed him again. “You were tossing and turning all night, did you get any sleep at all?” she looked a bit worried at him.

“Yeah, I don’t need a lot of sleep,” he smiled and softly returned the kiss before breaking it off again. “I’ve made you breakfast. I did it, not gran.”

“My hero.” She gushed, making him blush a bit. She loved that he could still turn back into the shy Neville. “Well, come sit with me and let’s have breakfast.” she patted next to her, before she put her pillow against the wall and leaned back. 

He gently placed the tray on her lap and sat down next to her. The tray contained boiled eggs with soldiers, toast with jam (not marmalade, Dru didn’t like the taste of it) and a bowl of breakfast cereal and milk with a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea.

“Neville, you spoil me.” Dru started with the soldiers. “It’s a long time people cooked me breakfast. It reminds me of my old home. When Dobby used to make me breakfast.” 

Neville smiled. “And gran taught me how to make a very decent Shepherds Pie and how to make Yorkshire puddings, unfortunately, that’s where my culinary career ends, but I will better myself, I promise.”

“If you want I could teach you so other dishes.”

“Oh, you in the kitchen and seeing you work your magic? Yes please,” he smiled widely.

Dru kissed him softly. “I’m going to be so happy with you, I just know I’m am.” 

“And I’ll do everything to make you stay happy with me,” he smiled widely at her and kissed her back.

“I know you will and I will do the same to you.” She closed her eyes. “But now I need to eat, before I feel nauseous again.” She started on the toast and handed Neville half of it. “But I still want you to keep your promise to me.” 

“I’ll never leave you.”

“I know, but that’s not the one I mean.” She smiled at him.

“I’ve made you so many promises and I will not break them... if I remember them.” He grinned.

Dru laughed. “Alright I’ll help you out, it has to do with what we’re doing right now.” 

“Make you breakfast in bed more often?”

“No, but now you have to do that. No, you made me this one back in Hogwarts, after I ...helped you for the first time.” 

“Oh, a long time ago then.” He said, munching on the piece of toast. “You know, since then I’ve been knocked about a few times and hit my head.”

Dru decided to tease him. “I can’t believe you don’t remember that. Did it really mean that little to you?” 

“Apparently,” he nodded with a playful smile on his face.

“Neville Longbottom, I gave the best blowjob you ever had and you just forget about it?” Dru glared at him.

“Is everything about sex?”

Dru bit the bottom of her lip and looked at bit disappointed. “You took me in your arms and when I told you I’d like to stay in your arms forever, you’d promised me we were going to spend one day a month just in bed the entire day.” 

“I know,” he chuckled and softly kissed her. “And I hate to say it but today’s not that day, I have a garden to empty out from weeds and set up chairs and the barbecue for our party.”

“Soon then?” she pouted.

“Tomorrow.”

Dru shook her head. “No, not tomorrow. Tomorrow I want to be alone. Maybe the day after that.” 

“Alright, the day after tomorrow then,” he softly kissed her. 

“Alright.” Dru put the tray back on the chair. “So, is it present time yet?” she smiled at him. 

“Hmm... depends on which present you want.”

Dru crawled on his lap. “You.” She tenderly kissed him. “How about I open the restaurant again?” She whispered in his ear. 

“Oh!” He grinned and eagerly kissed her. “Is it an all you can eat buffet?”

* * *

It was nearly 4 o’clock in the afternoon and Neville had set up everything in the garden for the barbeque. Dru and Mrs Longbottom had made a few salads and baked some fresh bread. Dru took the bread and put them on the table, before walking over to Neville, standing behind him, putting her arms around his waist and giving him a kiss on his shoulder blade. 

“Well, how does it look?” He asked her. He had been spending most of the afternoon getting rid of the weeds (he should have done that earlier so that he didn’t have to work on it for hours. He could have used magic but he liked using his hands when it came to plants and weeds) and cleaning everything up, including cleaning the windows of his greenhouse to make it look better. He then had gotten the fairy lights from the attic and some streamers and had put them all over the place for when it would get a bit dark. 

“Perfect.”

Neville turned around and put his arms around her before kissing her sweetly on her lips. “Good, because it needs to be perfect.”

“It’s looks absolutely beautiful. Thank you for making such an effort.” She put her head against his chest. “If we get a flat, I want at least a roof terrace, so we could set up a little greenhouse for you there.” 

“If we don’t get one, I’ll turn one of the bedrooms into one!” He grinned and caressed her back.

“Oi, the blob is not sleeping in a greenhouse. it’s probably going to be scared of plants anyway.” she teased him.

“I’m going to make sure that the blob will be well prepared for Herbology at Hogwarts to give it a head start and I’m going to make sure that George won’t teach it to fly.”

“Well, with Fred being the baby’s father, it probably will come out of me flying.” 

“On a mini broomstick,” he burst into a fit of laughter.

Dru laughed too and kissed him again as she put her arms around his neck. 

“Neville, she’s already pregnant.” Harry smirked as he and Ginny walked into the garden. 

“That’s like the worst opening line, ever.” Ginny remarked, she had looped her arm through Harry’s to make sure she wasn’t going to do anything stupid (nor he for that matter). 

“You guys made it.” Dru said half surprised. She had invited all the Weasleys to come, but she wasn’t sure they would come. 

“Of course! You’re family Dru, and you’re our friend,” Ginny smiled and temporarily let go to hug her. “Happy 18th birthday!”

“Thank you, Ginny.” Dru hugged Ginny firmly. “I’m so glad you’re here.” 

“I’m so glad you’ve gotten over to your aversion of celebrating birthdays,” she nodded before hugging Neville. “An advanced happy 18th birthday from me!”

“Thanks, Ginny.” Neville smiled and shook Harry’s hand after he hugged Ginny back. “Well, welcome to our garden.” 

Dru looked at Ginny. “Well?” 

Ginny poked around in her bag and fiddled a package out of it and handed it to Dru. “I went creative and made this myself,” she smiled widely.

“That’s really sweet, but aren’t you forgetting something?” 

“Nope,” Ginny shook her head and put her hands in her pockets.

Dru put her own hands on her bump. “The Blob is going to feel left out if you don’t say hello to it.” Dru pouted, making Neville laugh.

Ginny’s eyes went wide in shock before dropping to her knees and put her hands on Dru’s belly. “Hello baby!” she squealed.

“Blob, this is your auntie Ginny. A fair warning to you. She’s absolutely mental.” Dru chuckled. 

“I think ‘blob’ is a horrible nickname for you, baby.” Ginny gently caressed Dru’s stomach before getting back to her feet with a big smile on her face. “What about ‘bludger’?” she giggled. 

“I’m not going to call our little blob bludger.” Dru shook her head at Ginny. “Neville here doesn’t even want Blob to learn how to fly.” 

“Don’t mind Ginny, she’s been having these crazy ideas about trying out for a professional Quidditch team next year after graduating,” Harry smiled.

“Oh, that’s brilliant Ginny. You should definitely do that. I was surprised Harry didn’t do that himself.” Neville said as he handed Harry and Ginny both a cold drink. 

“Well, I wanted to, but I decided that I wanted to help Kingsley out for a while. Doing the right thing shouldn’t stop by defeating Voldemort.” Harry shrugged. “Maybe in a few years.”

“Our heroes, aren’t they?” Dru smiled at Ginny, before kissing Neville sweetly on his cheek. She then unwrapped her present. “Oh Ginny, that’s so nice. I love taking baths.” 

“It’s for the both of you, mum let me in on a little secret,” Ginny winked at her.

“What secret?” Dru was curious. She had no idea what Ginny was on about.

“Ginny!” Harry shook his head.

“A secret,” she grinned. “Which I’m not telling.”

“Alright, well, thank you both anyway.” Neville shrugged. “I’m going to get the barbeque on.” 

“Need some help?” Harry asked as he followed Neville to the barbeque. 

“Hello.” Bill, Fleur and Percy walked into the garden.

“Hi.” Dru greeted them with a smile. “Wow, you’ve made it!”

“Wow, she’s surprised that her family shows up on her own birthday!” Bill chuckled and hugged her tightly. “Happy birthday Dru.”

Dru blushed furiously. “Well, I thought maybe...” 

Fleur smiled. “You’re still family to us, no matter what.” 

Dru hugged Fleur, before hugging Percy. “Well, come on in. Neville and Harry are starting on the meat, but we have salads and bread on the table and drinks too. So you can help yourself.” 

Slowly the rest of the guest were arriving. Most of the DA was there and to Dru’s surprise all the Weasleys did show up. 

George and Rose arrived just before 5 o’clock. “Hello birthday girl.” George smiled and hugged Dru. 

“Hi.” She hugged George first, before hugging Rose more tightly. “Are you alright? I’m so sorry I left you in the store like that.” 

“I left you in the store like that!” Rose said and shook her head. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am. More than okay exactly.” Dru glanced over to Neville. “So, how’s your little marshmallow doing today?” Dru asked with a big smile as she took Rose’s hand and took her with her to a bench that was just out of the sun. 

“Ugh, marshmallows,” Rose groaned as they sat down. “Guess what?” she smiled widely. “You’ll never believe what I did today.”

“Well, since I’m never going to be able to guess again, maybe you should just tell me.” Dru put her feet on a little table that was in front of the bench.

“I had a hamburger with chips and ketchup for breakfast.” She beamed.

“Oh, that’s soo yummie! But I had eggs with soldiers, cereal, toast with jam, tea, orange juice and a beautiful bouquet of flowers when I woke up.” Dru gushed. “And I had it all in bed.” 

“You had breakfast in bed?” Rose said surprised. “That is so romantic and so nice!”

“I know. The day after tomorrow, Neville, me and the blob are going to spend the entire day in bed. No wait, then it’s monday.” She sulked. “Well, we’ll have do it next saturday then.” 

 

“You’ve nicknamed the baby?” She smiled widely. “That’s brilliant!”

“Neville did when he saw the picture.” Dru smiled. “And the name sort of stuck.” 

“I have another appointment at the obstetrician on Monday. I’m dreading it because she’ll just yell at me again. I’m taking George with me so he can yell back.”

“We’re pregnant. Nobody’s supposed to yell at us.” Dru pouted. 

“Baby!” Ginny walked over and put her hands on Rose’s belly. “Oh, my two little nieces sitting next to each other.” 

Rose shook her head with a smile and tapped Ginny on her head. “Who says we’re getting girls? I mean we could get boys or there’ll be one girl and one boy”

“I want nieces!” Ginny pouted. “There aren’t enough Weasley girls in the family and I don’t want to be alone anymore.” 

“You have your mother.” Rose pointed out.

“That’s my mother!”

“I don’t care what we’re having as long as it’s healthy, but if you want I can tell you on Monday what I’ll be having.”

“I want a boy.” Dru smiled. “I mean I’d be happy if it was a girl, but I’d prefer a boy so I could call him Fred.” Dru lovingly rubbed her bump.

“That is... yes!” Ginny nodded, smiling widely. “You can have a boy then. Rose gets a girl.”

“It’s decided then,” Rose chuckled. “Now, let’s hope that Mother Nature thinks so too.”

“Maybe there’s a spell you could use.” Hermione chuckled as she brought over two plates of food for Dru and Rose. “Here.” 

“Oh, could you find me a spell?” Ginny asked Hermione eagerly. 

“No, and come and get your own food.” Hermione chuckled as she went back to the barbecue.

Ginny pouted as she walked after Hermione. “I still want Rose’s baby to be a girl!” she called after Hermione. “I’ll just cut off his man parts!”

“Do that and I’m cutting of Harry’s.” George deadpanned.

“Ouch!” All the boys in the garden chorused. 

“Yeah, well maybe I should snip off all of your man parts.” Ginny said defiantly.

“If you do that and Rose has a boy, you won’t be able to get anymore nieces.” Luna stated solemnly. 

“Damnit. Why do we need men to make babies?”

“Thanks, Luna.” George smiled at her. 

“You’re going to have do it by yourself anyway if you keep this up.” Harry smiled at Ginny.

“Why?” Ginny asked surprised’.

“Cause you’re scaring me.” Harry softly kissed her. 

Rose groaned when she felt her intestines play up while she was nibbling on a piece of bread. It didn’t feel as if something was stuck or anything, but there was just this annoying little feeling that kept popping up from time to time and it was just weird. “Bubbly intestines again. Yay.” she muttered to herself.

Mrs Longbottom had sat down in a chair next to the girls. “Are you alright, Rose?” she asked. 

“Yeah,” she smiled at her. “Just this weird sensation sometimes that makes me think that something is wrong with me.”

“I know, like something is tickling on the inside.” Dru said. “I felt it two days ago and just now.” Dru pointed at the side of her bump. “Just here.” 

“Well,” Mrs. Longbottom smiled widely. “You know what that’s called? It’s called the _quickening_ , the first time you feel you baby move inside of you and it’s just wonderful. And as it grows bigger, the sensations will increase and other people will be able to feel it too if they put their hands on you.”

“That’s my little blob I’m feeling?” Dru asked with a big smile. “Oh, blobbie.” Dru cooed as she put her hands on her belly. “Come on, move again.” 

Rose was surprised by the sentiment that Dru was expressing. Just yesterday she had appeared to show no interest into the baby whatsoever and now she was cooing at it. Well, maybe this was a good thing and that it would result on Dru expressing her feelings about hopefully keeping the baby herself. 

Neville brought over a plate of food for his gran. “Here you gran, do you girls want anything else?” 

Dru nodded and handed Neville her plate. “I just felt the blobbie move.” She gushed at him.

“Really? That’s great!” Neville smiled widely. “Blobbie wishing you a happy birthday!”

“Aw!” Dru was gushing even more now. “Well, Blobbie, mommy loves your birthday wish more than any other she has gotten today.” 

Neville smiled at the shocked looking Rose and nodded. 

“Neville, maybe it’s time you get down your old crib from the attic, so we can refurbish it.” Mrs Longbottom smiled at her grandson, she too was very happy to see Dru showing interest in her child at long last. 

“That would be great.” Dru smiled. “We’re going to need a crib to put little blob in after he’s born.” 

“So, does that mean you’ve decided to keep it then?” Rose asked carefully, she was screaming of joy on the inside, but didn’t want to show it, out of fear of scaring Dru off. 

“You don’t mind, do you? I mean I know I said---”

“No! We want you to keep it, I mean, well we wouldn’t mind to take care of it but a baby is always best off with their own mum.” Rose smiled at her.

“Yeah, it just took me awhile to realise _I’m_ the only exception to that rule. I mean that rule might not apply to me, but it does for my baby.” 

“Great,” Rose smiled widely as she finished eating her bread. She wasn’t really that hungry but she knew she had to eat something. She wanted red meat, Mrs. Longbottom had a steak that Neville had cut up for her and just the smell of it made her want it. 

Neville had baked one steak through and through so that it wasn’t red anymore. He put it on a plate and then handed that plate and a plate with for chicken wings for Dru to Luna. “Could you bring these to the girls, please.” George was helping him on the other barbecue and he wanted a moment alone with George to tell him about Dru’s change of heart. 

“Of course, Dru’s got the chicken right?” Luna asked in her singing voice, before walking off.

“Well, George, your plan worked.” Neville said as soon as Luna was out of earshot. “Dru wants to keep the baby.” 

“Alright,” George gave a nod. “That’s good news, but I won’t believe it until she has the baby in her arms and she still decides to keep it,” he chuckled. “I know Dru, she likes to change her mind a few times.”

“Let’s hope not.” Neville put some corn on the grill. “A baby should be with his parents if possible.” 

“Yep,” George nodded. “But for now, that’s just great. I wanted to talk to you about something too.”

“Shoot.” 

George handed Harry a piece of meat and saw him toddle off again. “Goyle and Zambini.”

Neville growled. “What about them?” He was still furious that Goyle was walking around freely and after Harry told him what happened to Rose, the only thing he had wanted to do since Kingsley arrived at the party was have a go at him, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to ruin the party. 

“Now, there’s a problem. I want to go after them but Rose forbade me to.”

“Same here,” Neville sighed.

“But we can tell someone else what happened, someone who’d be even more pissed off than we are.” He said with an all knowing smile. 

Neville frowned at George. “My girlfriend and your wife, who could possibly be more pissed off?” 

“What if your little sister got raped by your best friend?” 

“Malfoy?” Neville nearly dropped the corns that he was turning over. “You want to get Draco Malfoy involved?” 

“Yes,” George said simply. “Our hands are tied in more ways than one,” he gave a nod into the general direction of Kingsley. “But Malfoy loves Dru and he’s made more than enough attempts of trying to get Rose to love him too. Thank god she knew he was a slimy git, but we need a slimy git right now.”

“Well, if you’re sure. I mean, I don’t have a problem with it, it’s not my girl he used to be in love with.”

“I want them off the streets so that our girls can walk them freely again. We can’t do anything, he might.”

Neville handed two pieces of corn to Bill, before turning to George. “Alright, I’m in. What do you have in mind?” 

“We’re going to knock on those gates of that huge manor he lives in, or used to live in, and see if he’s home. If he’s not, we’ll go looking for him.”

“We’ll get shot on sight mate,” Neville chuckled. “Are you insane?”

“Indeed I am, Neville dear boy, I’ve done it before.” George grinned at him.


	60. The boys are back

Draco was sitting in his livingroom. He knew that aurors were on their way over to the mansion. They wanted to check the house over for evidence of dark magic. They could be doing that a lot over the next few years. That was part of the agreement for Draco to go free. 

His mother had agreed to it. She wanted to do that so she could to keep her son of Azkaban and it would show good will and maybe her husband would get a reduction on his sentence. 

“Mister Malfoy, there are visitors at the gate. the Auror Dawlish and two other men.” The house elf said.

Draco sighed and got up. “Well, open the gate then.” He spat at the house elf who immediately did as he was told.

Draco was looking at the door and saw Dawlish come in with two very familiar people behind him. “What are you doing here?” he sneered at them.

“Potter and Longbottom are Auror in training and will be assigned to your case from now on as part of their training.” Dawlish looked at Draco. “So, you’ll be seeing them a lot around here, is that understood?” It wasn’t a question, but more a demand, leaving Draco with little else to do than to agree to it. 

Draco took a deep breath and tried his best to put on a smile. “Welcome to my house then. My mother is in the garden if you need to question her.” 

“Potter, if you would follow me to Mrs Malfoy. Longbottom, you stay with Mr Malfoy and you two behave yourself.” Dawlish didn’t like the look on any of the young men faces. None of them like the situation very much.

After Dawlish and Potter made their way out of the living room, Draco and Neville stood there, just looking at each other and not saying a word.

Two minutes later, Draco couldn’t bare the silence anymore. “So, they asked you to become an Auror then?” 

“Yeah well, I refused at first,” Neville shrugged. “You look good, Draco, how have you been?”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “My father is prison and my mother is a nervous wreck, because as much as we look we can’t find Dru anywhere. I suppose you know where she is, but you’re not going to tell me, are you?” 

Neville shrugged. “Maybe in a while, but she’s safe and she’s doing great and she’s actually the reason I’m trying to have this pleasant conversation with you.”

Draco was intrigued. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll return tonight, I can’t say anything right now because... well, I’m supposed to be doing Auror stuff. But I’m taking George Weasley with me.”

Draco growled. “Why him? Take Potter with you. I don’t want Weasley in my house.” 

“Then we’ll have a conversation on your beautiful lawn, but if you want to know why... it concerns Rose too.”

“Is Rose alright?” Draco asked concerned.

“Yeah, I’d say she’s more than alright for the most part but we’ll talk about why she and Dru aren’t alright tonight, okay?” He pointed at Dawlish who was just returning from the garden.

“The fireplace is open.” Draco with a nod.

“That’s good, because Harry and I don’t like to knock and will make unexpected house calls,” he winked at Draco. “Don’t want to get bounced back. Just tell your mother that Dru is safe and that if she wants, I won’t stop her from visiting you. But that’s all up to her.”

“Thank you. Could you tell her we miss her and please wish her a happy belated birthday?” 

“Of course.” Neville nodded.

* * *

Rose blinked when the obstetrician told George to leave the room after her examination. Everything was alright with the bump for now but she had already expressed her concerns about Rose’s high blood pressure and the fact that her blood panel wasn’t a fluffy tale either.

“Why did he have to leave the room?” Rose asked confused as she looked at Jane, her obstetrician.

“Are you and Dru Weasley in trouble?”

“Sorry?” Rose asked confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, you both have the same last name and you’re both very young and I shouldn’t be doing this at all but I’m worried so...” Jane took a breath. “Your blood panels, yours and hers, are worrying me. Added to the fact that last time I noticed that Dru’s blood pressure was off as well... I’m worried that you girls are into trouble. You’re showing signs of endured periods of stress, you wince whenever I touch you somewhere you are particularly sore and ...”

“We were in a car crash,” Rose offered. “The both of us, it’s a miracle that the babies survived.”

“Yeah, you’re lying though and I’m wondering if you’re in trouble with your husband. You can tell me, you know, everything is confidential and I can contact the authorities for you if ...”

“You think that George...” Rose swallowed hard. “My husband would never do anything to hurt me.”

“That’s what they all say, sweetheart.”

“What?” Rose glared at her. If she could, she was shooting fire out of her eyes right now. “One, don’t call me sweetheart and two, George would never do anything to hurt me. He loves me. Now, what’s wrong with my blood pressure and what can I do to fix that and my blood panel?”

“If he hurts you, he might hurt the baby too.” 

“My husband isn’t hurting me, stop saying things that aren’t true.”

“Well, then what about your sister in law. Rose, dear, if he got her pregnant, you need to tell me. Dru told me she the baby is not involved and I understand why she would say that. I saw how your husband was with her.” 

“Don’t call me dear,” Rose growled. “You and your mu--- soap operas. You really like your drama, don’t you?”

“If George got his own sister pregnant, you need to leave him and take her out of the same situation, she’s still a minor, which I actually need to report to child services.”

“Oh for the...” Rose hopped off the table and looked for her bag. “Dru and I were in a car accident where her husband died, George’s twin brother. Now, stop getting all these wild ideas and tell me how to fix the damn problem of having the wrong blood pressure and that blood panel or I’ll---” Rose yelled looking for her wand. She was going to blast this woman into space and then curse herself for wanting a Muggle obstetrician.

George burst into the office. “What the bloody hell is going on here?” He looked at Jane. “What did you do?” He pulled the upset Rose in his arms. “She’s pregnant.” 

“Oh wow, Mr. Obvious,” Jane shot at him. “How dare you to draw this innocent girl into your miserable life and get her and your sister pregnant around the same time! She’s under constant duress, which is not good for the baby at all and child abuse, I should report you to the authorities!”

“My sister? First off, you’ve never even met Ginny and the only one who will get her pregnant is her boyfriend, which if he does will be rewarded with me killing him. And where on earth did you get the idea that I’m sleeping with my own sister. Are you completely mental? I should report you for such inappropriate behaviour towards your patient and her husband.”

“You need to stop abusing your wife. I can’t stop you from hurting her unless she leaves you on her own, but I can stop you from hurting Dru.”

“Dru? Why would I hurt Dru?” George asked confused. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

“Both Dru and your wife show signs of long term exposure to stress and pain. It’s not the car crash they keep talking about, it’s not just that.” Jane said, then noticing that George was truly confused. “If you’re not abusing either of them, then I don’t know what’s going on. If you’re not abusing them then I’m sorry to have made such an accusation but someone is hurting them and I think it’s you so I will have to report you to the authorities because Dru is still a minor, and you just informed me you have another sister so I will have to make sure that she stays safe.”

“Another sister? Hold on.” George looked at Rose. “Does she think Dru is my real sister and I got her pregnant.” 

“I already told her that her husband, your twin brother, died in that accident.” she said, still shaking but feeling victorious for having found her wand in her bag.

“Please let me use the cruel spell.” He whispered. 

“I wanted to use the cruel spell on her myself,” she said softly. “Then get our medical records and hand them to an obstetrician to whom we _can_ talk freely to.”

George nodded and got out his wand. “ _Oblivate_ ”

Rose quickly grabbed her file and looked into the closet for Dru’s and then put her arms back around him. “She’s mean.”

“Mean? The woman is insane! Let’s get out of here.” George took her hand. “Wait, the envelope with the sex of the baby.” 

Rose growled and swiped the envelope off the desk. “We can go now.”

_crack_

George put Rose on the sofa and went into the kitchen to make her some tea. “The nerve of that woman.” He slammed a few doors of the kitchen cupboards. 

“I’m sorry,” Rose said softly. “I should never have gone to a muggle obstetrician but I didn’t want people talking about me and Dru...”

“It’s not your fault, Rose. You could never have predicted that his woman would …” He got so angry that he threw one of the tea mugs against the wall. “I can’t believe her.” He fumed. 

She got off the sofa and made her way towards the kitchen. She then put her arms around him and softly kissed him. “Breathe.”

“Rose,” He pushed her arms away from him. “She accused me of raping my sister. How could she think I would do a thing like that?” He sat down on a chair. “How could anybody do a thing like that?” 

She sighed and sat down on his lap, putting her arms back around him. “Because these days it’s sadly a common thing for muggles. Young women get drawn into cults or brothers raping their sisters or...” she shook her head. “And the victims usually tell little lies to hide the truth, to protect themselves and their abuser.”

He look at the ground and suddenly realised he could take full use of this situation. “Sweetie, I’m going to take Dru’s files with me tonight and take Neville out for some drinks. I need to make sure he and Dru find another obstetrician. And I could use his company to relieve some tension by yelling some obscenities about Jane and we don’t want our marshmallow to get a potty mouth do we?”

“Sure,” she gave a nod. “I’m still not sure why it’s wrong to have a high blood pressure and stuff though...” 

“Maybe you should go to mum and talk to her about it? I wish I could help you, but I’m not sure what to do either.” George softly kissed her.

“Can we go and have dinner at your mum’s today?” she softly caressed his hair as she kissed him back. “Ginny wants to know if we’re getting a girl that she so desperately desires.”

“I want to find out ourselves first.” George lifted Rose up and walked into the sitting room. He bent down so Rose could take the envelop of the table. “Well?” 

“Well,” Rose shrugged as she looked at the envelope and turned it around in her hands. “It’s an envelope.”

“Rosie.” George whined. He really wanted this to be a romantic moment by holding her in his arms, but since she was 18 weeks now and her belly was expanding, she was also getting a bit heavier and he didn’t know how long he could hold her up for. But he didn’t want to make the mistake to tell her. He had sworn to himself, never to say anything about her weight ever again. He had learned his lesson.

“Sit down, Georgie,” she smiled at him, still flipping the envelope and wanted to observe it from all sides. “You can’t keep this whale up forever.”

“You’re not a whale and you’re not heavy, but I wouldn’t mind if you’d hurry up.” He smiled at her. 

Rose huffed. “Why do you want to know? Even if it’s a boy we can’t call it Fred because Dru wants to call her kid Fred if it’s a boy.”

“Because I love to know if we’re having a girl or a boy. That way we can start on decorating the nursery.” 

“What’s wrong with having the crib in our bedroom? That way we can save some money.”

“For the first few weeks maybe, but the baby should have its own room.” George finally decided to sit with her, she was stalling and with Rose that could be a while. 

“But...”

“I don’t get it, money isn’t an issue, Rose. Not anymore. We’re doing great. You saw that when we opened that account for Dru. You know it because you’re doing the books now. Why do you insist on saving money on things?” He asked as he caressed her hair. “Babies need nurseries.”

“Because it’s better to save some in case something happens and...”

“Nothing will happen. That nursery is going to happen, but that’s it. Now open the envelope or I will do it for you.”

“Meanie.” Rose pouted as she opened the envelope. “Well, _daddy_ , you’ll be getting a son somewhere in December.”

“Are you serious?” George kissed her. “A little boy?” 

“Yep, and we shall call him Georgianna.”

George’s eyes grew big. “Georgianna? We’re having a girl?” 

“We’re having a girl,” Rose chuckled. “Oh god, we have to keep Dru away from her or she’ll be turning into a real girl!”

George pushed Rose on her back and kissed her deeply. “We’re having a baby girl!” 

“We’re having a girl,” Rose laughed and kissed him back. “Now you can fume tonight and celebrate the coming of a new Weasley girl.”

“I love you, Rose.” 

“I love you too, George,” she smiled at him and kissed him tenderly. “Happy Anniversary.”

“Happy Anniversary.” He kissed her back, deeply. “I can’t believe we’re having a girl. That means a pink nursery.” 

“Ugh, pink.”

“Oh come on, Rosie. Our little Georgianna will love a pink room.” 

“That’s still up for discussion,” she chuckled and softly kissed him. “Pale yellow and pale red is beautiful too.”

“Nope, pink, hot pink.” 

“I’m doomed.” She kissed him. “Alright, let’s go to your mum’s and have dinner there and tell Ginny that she’s getting a niece.”

“Let’s have an appetiser first.” George grinned. “It’s our anniversary. And for once nobody to disturb us on the sofa.” His hands found their way under her shirt.

* * *

“You’re sure he said that the fireplace was open?” George said to Neville. “I mean, I don’t want to be bounced back or squashed, my baby needs me.”

“I’m sure. Besides you’re already missing one ear, what difference will a squashed face make?” Neville was standing in his livingroom with George. He had asked his Gran to take Dru out for a stroll, so she hopefully wouldn’t notice that he was gone.

“Classy, very classy.” George eyed him. “Well, you go first, I don’t want my face to be blasted off when the git sees me.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t too happy when I said you were coming.” Neville stepped into the fire place. “Malfoy Manor.” He stepped out of the fireplace and into the same living room he was that afternoon. Draco and Narcissa were both sitting on chairs waiting for them. “Good evening.” Neville took a step to his right to make room for George. 

“Good evening,” George greeted as he stepped out of the fireplace. 

“So, what’s this about then?” Draco asked with his arms crossed over his chest. “They’re not sick, are they?”

“A good evening to you too, Draco,” George said with a smile.

“Good evening.” Narcissa said. “Now, where’s my daughter?”

“All in time.” Neville sat down on the sofa. “Aren’t you going to offer us drinks?” He asked Draco.

Draco sneered. “Watch it, Longbottom.”

“You watch it, you don’t want me report anything on you, do you?” He then grinned at George, who couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“Right, so...” George put his hands in his pockets and looked at Draco. “We need to have a little chat about your friends.”

“If you want to take revenge on my friends for what ever petty thing they did to you, you can count me out. I’m not ratting my friends out.” 

Neville balled his fists and shot Draco an angry look. It probably was a good thing he and George had decided that George would do the talking. 

“It’s not about us, mate.” George rolled his eyes at him. “If it had been about us, we wouldn’t have been here but would have kicked their asses by now. Didn’t Neville tell you that it’s about Dru and Rose?”

“I don’t understand,” Draco said as he cocked his head. “You hate me for going after Rose all the time, for me having feelings for her and yet, here you are.”

“We hate you for being a lousy foul git.” Neville hissed.

“Neville,” George warned him. “We don’t want any trouble, remember? Play nice.”

Neville shot George a look.

“Anyway, back at Hogwarts... well you probably know what Goyle did to Dru. And thank Merlin Crabbe’s already dead but...”

“Wait,” Draco was pissed. “You’re happy because my _friend_ died? Wow, George, a bit rich coming from you isn’t it?”

“Draco,” Narcissa said calmly to her son. “Let him explain.”

“What did they do?” Draco groaned. He didn’t like being confronted by ghosts from his past. 

“Goyle raped Dru.” Neville hissed.

“He what?!” Draco shot at Neville. “Are you serious?”

“Are you?” Neville got up, he was fuming. “That friend of yours has been after her for years, he attacked her twice while in our fifth year.” 

“I fixed that!” Draco growled. “They were only messing with her, they would never go that far. She just completely misunderstood.” 

“Yeah well, Crabbe raped Rose while looking like Neville, how’s that for a misunderstanding?” George moved towards the sofa and put his hands on Neville’s shoulders to keep him from doing anything stupid. 

Narcissa was sitting in shock. “He raped her?” 

“Yes, Goyle raped Dru.” George said calmly, squeezing Neville’s shoulder. “Crabbe raped Rose and the both of them were really messed up by it. They still are and that’s why I’m happy that Crabbe is dead.”

“I’m happy too, so you want us to kill Goyle?” Narcissa asked, her voice was steady, but her eyes were filled with tears. 

“Yes.” Neville said. 

“No, well... no.” George thought for a moment. “Here’s what happened... the girls were out shopping the other day, you know how Dru loves her clothes,” he thinly smiled. “They were having fun, I mean, real fun, doing so. For the first time in a long time they went out shopping together as if nothing was wrong, I mean, I even let Rose out of my sight and I haven’t done so since... well... since...” He shook his head as if he was trying to get rid of the fog in his head, he was doing so well. “Anyway, Goyle found a new best friend after Crabbe, namely Zambini and they decided to ‘mess’ with the girls in the changing rooms of the store they were shopping in.” He took a deep breath as he saw the looks on Draco and Narcissa’s faces. “Look, I’m man enough to take care of this myself, so is Neville, but we’ve promised the girls that we wouldn’t go after them.”

“We’ll take care of them.” Draco exchanged a look with his mother. “They won’t bother the girls again.” 

“How’s Dru doing?” Narcissa asked.

“She’s alright, trying to rebuild her life.” Neville said.

“She’s doing better than expected, we’re not entirely sure if she’s ready to come and visit you yet.” George added. 

“Can’t I come and see her?” 

“No.” Neville shook his head. “I want to be sure you can be trusted before you can come near her.”

“What Neville’s trying to say is that she’s still a bit too fragile for that.”

“Stop talking for me, George. What I mean is that I’m not letting you people near her, until I know you can be trusted around her and won’t try to kidnap her again or wipe her mind of her memories of me.” 

“We deserved that,” Narcissa gave a polite nod. “Thank you for informing us about Goyle and Zambini, we shall make sure that they won’t come near them again.”

Neville looked at Draco. “You know where I work, let me know how it goes.” 

“Wait, can’t you tell us a little bit how the girls are doing? I mean... Are they going back to school, or are they going to work? Anything?” Draco asked.

Neville looked at George. “We can’t keep it from them for a lot longer since she needs to go to ...” 

“Alright,” George took a deep breath. “Rose is pregnant with my child,” he said with a smile. “She’s having a baby girl.”

Draco’s mouth fell open. “She’s pregnant?” 

“Yep, big belly and all, and mood swings, let’s not forget about those. And weird cravings.”

Draco just stared at George before he smiled. “Rosie, pregnant. Who would have ever thought that?” 

“That seems to be the general consensus,” George chuckled. 

“Well, tell her congratulations from me.” 

“I will,” George blinked. That was not the reaction he had expected. He half expected Draco to get up and beat him up but he’d take nice Draco over bad Draco anytime. “Anyway, that’s not all. Fred... well, he left Dru with a parting gift.”

“Dru’s 16 weeks pregnant.” Neville looked at Narcissa. 

“Your brother got my sister pregnant?” Draco blinked in shock. His mother was too much in shock to politely respond.

“She was married, Draco, but yes, in complete twin fashion his brother got her pregnant shortly after Rose got sperminated.” Neville chuckled. 

“Neville!” George hit him over the head. “What the hell happened to the shy little boy who never opened his mouth? I’d like him back now.” 

“For one, I started to hang out with Dru and Rose. And then you came along, you’re a nightmare.”

George hit Neville over the head again. “That’s it. I’m taking you to mums for a lesson in manners. She still blames me and Fred for Ginny’s potty mouth, but I’m starting to think she got it from you.” 

“Quite possibly,” he gave a nod. “They were my girls, after all.”

“Please tell me that you two are looking after Dru?” Narcissa spoke. “I mean, get her to a healer or an obstetrician and make sure that she rests enough? Her body has gone through so many things in the last few months... years even... it can’t be good.”

Neville looked at Narcissa, it was the first time he saw why Dru still loved her mother so much. “I’m doing everything I can to make sure she gets enough rest and that’s she’s doing alright.” He put his hand in his pocket and got the image out his had been carrying around for the last 6 weeks. “She had this pictured made of the blob taking 6 weeks ago.” He handed the image to Narcissa. 

“Oh wow,” Narcissa just stared at the image. “You took her to a muggle obstetrician?”

“Rose did. But I’m going to take her to St. Mungo in a few days time. Like you said, her body’s been through a lot and I don’t want to take any chances.” 

“So, you’re the one taking care of her now?” Draco asked. “I though his family would do that.” 

“We are, but she needs Neville more than she needs us, so yeah, he’s taking care of her.” George smiled as he saw Draco looking over his mother's shoulder at the image. It was what he had seen his family do.

“Keep the image if you wish,” Neville said. “We have a few of those.”

“Thank you,” 

George could see that Narcissa had a hard time with not breaking down in front of the boys. “Don’t worry, Dru’s well taken care of.”

“Could you tell her I so sorry for everything, and that I miss her very much and that I would really like to see her?” 

“She’ll come when she’s ready,” Neville said again. “And until I’m sure that you can be trusted.”

“But will you tell her?” 

“I will.”

“Come on, we’d better go back before Ginny suffocates Rose.” George said to Neville before looking at Draco and Narcissa. “Thank you for hearing us out.”

“I’ll take care of Goyle and Zambini. You tell the girls not to worry and again, congratulations.” Draco said. “Just don’t let my sister get near your daughter or you’ll have yourself a real princess.” 

“Wait, you guys are having a girl?” Neville had missed it the first time George had said it.

George chuckled. “Yeah, Rose said as much, Draco,” he then smiled widely at Neville. “We are having a girl,” he nodded with an even wider smile. “A cute little Weasley girl.”

“Oh, mate, that’s brilliant.” Neville patted him on the shoulder. “Ginny must be so happy with that. Just don’t make the nursery all pink and Purple. Rose won’t like you for that.” 

“I know, which is why the nursery will be in hot pink!” He roared and waved at Draco and Narcissa before stepping into the fire to go to the Burrows.

Neville chuckled and stepped into the fireplace and went to his own home. 

Dru looked up as Neville stepped out of the fireplace and into the living room. “There you are! Where did you take off to?” 

“I was with George.”

“And you couldn’t have just told me that?” Dru was curled up at the end of the sofa, reading one of the books Neville had gotten about pregnancies. 

Neville gave a shrug and sat down on the sofa with her. “You know where I went this afternoon for work?”

“No, tell me.” Dru put the book down on the table. 

“As part of our training, Harry and I have to make sure that your mother and brother don’t have any dark magic in their home and we have to check up on them from time to time. I swear, Draco threw a fit when he saw me and Harry standing in his living room.”

“My mother and Draco?” 

Neville nodded and smiled at her before taking one of her feet and started to massage it. “They wanted to wish you a belated happy birthday.”

“How were they?” Dru asked with a small voice. 

“They’re great, all things considered. Your mum was a nervous wreck because they weren’t able to find you but I assured them that you were alright.”

Dru nodded. “Well, did you guys find any dark magic?” 

“Nah, the house actually looks quite... I don’t know... pleasant? There was some color in the living room, I kid you not.”

“It’s a cold house. I never really got that until I left there, but I don’t want me house to be like that. I want a comfy house. Not cluttered but comfy.” 

“Which is why you’re in charge of decorating our apartment when it’s ready,” he smiled at her and softly kissed her. 

“So, why did you went to see George?”

“Oh you know, he wanted to do a little bit of venting about that muggle obstetrician of yours and he didn’t to upset Rose by his... well... colorful language.”

“What happened?” 

“Don’t worry about it. We’re going to find you a nice obstetrician who you don’t have to lie to here in our world. Muggles are stupid.”

“Okay.” Dru said a bit confused.

“I mean, I love muggles but...” he shook his head. “What she did was just taking things a bit too far.”

“Alright, shame though I would have loved to make another one of those images.” 

“I know,” he smiled at her. “But not to worry, in a couple of months you’ll have the real thing in your arms.”

“That’s a scary thought.” she giggled and softly kissed him. 

“I know, right?” he chuckled and eagerly returned the kiss.

Dru scooted over so she could sit a bit closer to him. “I do wish that our apartment is ready by then, did you get any more news on it?” 

“Yeah, we can start decorating it in a couple of weeks.”

Dru caressed his cheek. “Are you a bit nervous about moving?” 

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I’d never imagined I’d be leaving gran so soon, but that’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“Yes, you do.” Dru softly kissed him again. “I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Neither am I,” he smiled at her. “Except move to that new apartment with you and the blob.” He was so happy about the news that George had shared with him concerning Rose’s baby, but he felt it was inappropriate for him to tell Dru. “You need to go and visit Rose tomorrow.”

“Why?” 

“She’ll be wanting to share something with you.”

Dru narrowed her eyes at him. “Neville, why do you keep talking in riddles?” 

“Because!” he said excitedly. “I know something that you don’t and it would be unfair of me towards Rose, to spoil things for her by telling you what she probably really wants to tell you.”

“I wish I could still read minds now.” Dru pouted.

“Well, last thing I heard was that they were at the Burrows, you could go over and ask Rose what happened at the obstetrician and then have her tell you something exciting.”

“No, it’s their wedding anniversary.” 

“Is it? George didn’t say anything.” Neville thought for a moment. “Oh! I’m such an idiot, aren’t I? That was the reason why you wanted to be alone yesterday!”

“Yeah, it was. But it’s okay. I never expected you to remember everything.” 

“No, I should have remembered, I’m so sorry,” he softly kissed her. “I should have remembered and you have all the right to be mad at me.”

“Neville, it’s not your anniversary.” Dru chuckled. 

“No, but I spent all day in the greenhouse yesterday because you told me you wanted to be alone and... I just... I’m such an idiot.”

Dru smiled and softly kissed him. “Well, you’re still my idiot. Honestly I didn’t mind you forgot, this way I could be alone with my thoughts and everything.” 

“Are you okay?” he caressed her hair. 

She nodded. “I’m fine.” 

Neville put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. “Alright, would you like to go out with me tomorrow night? I’ll take you out to dinner and then we can do something fun together.”

“That’d be nice, but only if you’re not too tired.” She smiled at him. “You need your rest.”

“So do you,” he nodded and got up from the sofa before he scooped her up in his arms. “How about a nice bath for my beautiful girlfriend and her blob?”

“Will I have to go alone?” 

“Well you’ll never be truly alone until the blob decides it wants to come out.”

“Nev!”

“Well, I suppose that if you want to have a little bit more mature company I could always come with.”

“Really, are you mature then?” she giggled.

“I said ‘more mature’.” He pointed out as he started to walk the stairs with her. “Right now I’m dating an older woman.”

“Okay, that’s it, you’re not coming with me.” She said.

Neville put her down in the bathroom and started to run the water of the bath. He then slowly started to undress her while he kissed her neck. His fingertips ran down her arms as he pulled her shirt off and lowered it to the floor before he unhooked her bra.

“I thought I was going to take a hot bath, not getting prepared to take a cold shower.” Dru smiled. 

“What’s the point of taking a hot bath when your body hasn’t warmed up yet?” he smiled and after he moved, he started to kiss her collarbone and his way down her chest as he opened her jeans. “Hello blob.” He said as he came to her stomach and softly kissed her stomach.

“Nev!” She pushed him away.

“The baby! Not...” he sighed as he looked up to her from the floor. “What did I do now?”

“You’re getting me turned on, making me all hot.” 

“Oh, that’s good then,” he nodded and got to his knees to continue stripping her from her jeans.

“Not if you then talk to the baby!” She shook her head. “That’s a bit disturbing.” 

“Well, if you think of it that way then we’ll never have... uhh never mind, forget it, I think I just put my own foot in my mouth.” He pulled down her underwear and softly kissed her lips below. “Oh the restaurant is open!”

“Neville.” Dru moaned and got down to her knees and kissed him full on while she started to take his shirt off. 

“Closed, I see,” he sighed while not breaking off the kiss. Instead, he gently caressed her sides up to her breasts and gently squeezed them.

“You could think of something else to do.” Dru giggled. “But you got me naked now, so I’m getting cold.” 

“The water is still rising in the tub,” he said and rubbed both nipples with his thumbs at the same time.

“So warm me up in a different way.” Dru smiled as she started his neck along the thick vein.

“I’d love to but I don’t want you to be on the floor and we’re both on our knees now so I can’t actually do something... apart from this...” he moved one of his hands down to her centre and softly pressed his palm into her heat. 

“Really? I thought you had more imagination than that.” 

He narrowed his eyes on her before getting to his feet and turned off the tab. He made sure it wasn’t too hot but not too cold either and then threw in some bath salts. “Your bath is ready, milady.”

“Help me up then.” She sat as she stretched out her arms to him. 

Neville pulled her up and pulled her close to him to greedily kiss her before lifting her up and gently lowering her into the tub. “How’s that?”

“Lovely.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “I like being in the water.”

“Did gran show you where the muggle pool is on your stroll today?”

“Yeah, she did.” She opened her eyes again and smiled up at him. “Well?”

“Well what?” He smiled at her. “Oh, you still want more mature company in the bath?” He asked teasingly.

“No, I was wondering when you were going to bring me refreshments.” she giggled and splashed a bit of water on him. 

“Okay, what would you like?”

“You.” 

“Ah,” He nodded and then shrugged. “Guess I’ll have to pull off my pants and get naked too then.”

“Yes, please.” she nodded eagerly.

He tugged on the hem of his trousers and then unbuttoned it. “Gah, too tired to actually do that, you know, it takes a lot of effort to unbutton.”

Dru pouted. “Well, that that means no sex for you, shoot, and I was going to give you a nice massage too!”

“Sex?” he said surprised with a big goofy grin on his face before dropping his pants and got out of his underwear in record time.

“No that kind of sex.” Dru blushed. 

“I’ll take what I can get,” he grinned and gently got into the bath, sitting down behind her. He pulled her against his chest and softly nuzzled her neck. “Hmmm... hot bath, hot woman... my night is complete.”

Dru rested her head against him. “This is nice.” 

“Next saturday, we’re going to stay in bed _all day_ after stocking up on snacks and drinks and hoard them in my room.”

“And locking the door.” Dru giggled. She gave him a kiss on his cheek. “I love this, us. I’m so glad you’re in my life again.” 

“I love this too because you know what? I love you.”

“I love you, Neville. I really, really do.” Dru closed her eyes. “I love you so much.” 

He softly started to caress her breasts as he kept kissing her neck. “I know.”

“Tell me what you want.” She whispered.

“You... or your hand on me... whatever,” he stammered. “I’m just okay with just sitting here with you.”

“Come on, babe. Don’t be shy?” She turned around so she was on her knees now. “What do you want me to do?” 

He swallowed hard and blushed. “Your hand on my cock would be heavenly.”

Dru put her hand around the shaft and gently tugged on it. “Like this, you mean?” 

He groaned. “Uh... just like that.”

Dru started working his length as he leaned back and closed his eyes. “You like this?” she asked as she kissed his neck and shoulder. 

“Very very much,” he nodded. “So good.”

“That’s good to hear.” Dru smiled. She liked seeing him like this. She had noticed he hadn’t been feeling well for a few days now and she wanted to wear him out a little bit, so that hopefully he’d get a better nights sleep. “You’re so sexy like this.” 

“I’m completely at your mercy... this is weird.” He had his hands on both sides of the tub and he had been in control of himself, his emotions and everything else. To have her do this for him made him stop thinking for a second and forced himself to shut down a part of his brain telling him to take care of Dru. 

“I like having you at my mercy.” She grinned. She started working him a little harder. 

“Oh... god your hands are so .... talented. I missed your hands on me like this...”

“I know, but you don’t need to miss them anymore, babe.” She leaned into him a bit and kissed him. “If you ever want me to touch you, all you have to do is ask.” 

“Noted,” he said with a moan. “Oh this feels so good...”

“I know.” Dru was getting turned on by the pure pleasure Neville had written all over his face. Dru brought her free hand to her heat and started stimulation herself now too. 

He opened his eyes and saw that she was helping herself too. His hands never left the edges of the tub, mostly because he knew he’d want to have her _right now_ , in the tub, and she wasn’t ready for that. She hadn’t given her permission for him to do so and it was really hard not to give in to temptation. “You look so hot right now.”

Dru smiled at him and kissed him full on his lips. “You want more, don’t you?” she whispered huskily in his ear.

He groaned and nodded eagerly. “Not pressuring you, but yeah... I want to take you in this tub right now.”

“Well, then.” she gave him another hard tug. “You got my permission, take me.” she whispered, before she pulled her hand away from herself and started kissing his neck. 

“What? Here in the bath?” he asked surprised.

“Well, you said that was you wanted.” She looked at him. “What?” 

“You’re pregnant and... god, I’d love to take you in the tub but I imagine that would be so uncomfortable for you so...”

“Fine, then you don’t.” Dru sulked and got her hand off his cock.

He pulled her in his lap and kissed her eagerly. “You could always just ride me, that way you can control everything that happens.”

Dru looked at him and smiled. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” 

Neville nodded and kissed her again. “Besides, that way we won’t splash that much water over the edge of the tub too,” he grinned.

Dru moved so she was straddling his waist and kissed him. “Alright then, one super hot bath ride coming up.” 

He kissed her full on on her mouth and started to caress her sides, moving his hands up to her breasts as he did, he couldn’t believe this was happening.

Dru was kissing him back with full force. She had been wanting for them to have sex again for months. She had placed her hand on his biceps and enjoyed feeling his hands on her, there had always been something about his touch that made her feel so good.

“You feel so good,” he said while they kissed and he flicked his thumb against one of her nipples before moving his hands to her lower back, caressing her gently as he pulled her closer against him.

Dru started to kiss his neck, giving him the occasional playful bite. “Your hands....oh god.” she moaned softly. She then moved a little to make it easier for him to enter her. 

He put one hand on her hip and with the other he held his cock and gently started to guide her down onto him and when his tip was inside he remembered that he probably should have opened her up for him first because this was probably the first time she had sex in a while but what was done was done and he just hoped that she wouldn’t kill him for hurting her.

Dru gasped as he entered her. With them being in the water he slipped inside of her a lot faster than normal. She kissed him tenderly before she slowly started moving.

“You feel so good,” he said again and put his arms around her to keep her firmly in place.

She started moving faster and put her head on his shoulder. It was exciting to do this in the tub, she had never done that before and Neville was so sweet holding her the way he did. “I love you.” she whispered in his ear. 

“And I love you, so very very much,” he moaned as she shifted a little, making him slip in even further. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“Only in a good way.” she moaned back as she buried one hand in his hair. “God, you feel good inside me.” 

It didn’t take Neville long to come and Dru followed him quickly. Afther they both finished riding out their orgams, they just sat there still in each others arms. “Oh god, that was good.” Dru breathed quietly. She put her arms around his neck and held him even closer to her. “I love you so much, Neville.” 

It took him a moment to catch his breathing as he caressed her back and softly kissed her. “I love you, Dru.” 

Suddenly there was knock on the bathroom door. “Are you two nearly done? I’d like to take a bath.”


	61. Stopping Rosie

August had already halfway passed and the summer was already ending with the fall setting in and the weather becoming terrible. 

The store was about to close and George was sitting in the office going over the books. Rose usually did it, but George had insisted she’d take nap, which was hard to get her to do lately. She seemed to be really hyper and restless and she kept the apartment quite spotless. Sadly that meant that she wasn’t resting enough and her mood was still all over the place. There was a knock on the door which made George lookup. “Ah, Ron, did you close up?” 

“Yeah mate.” Ron nodded. 

“Good, are you staying over for dinner?” 

“I dunno, will Rose throw things at me again like yesterday?” He smiled as he sat down in the chair opposite of George’s. 

“With Rosie you never know.” George grinned. “But she’s taking a nap now, so hopefully she’s in a better mood.” 

“I heard noise coming from upstairs, I don’t think she’s napping.”

“Damn.” George rested his forehead on the desk and groaned. “The nurse told her to rest a lot and what does she do? The complete opposite!”

Ron laughed. “I think that you just have to use the full body bind curse on her.”

“Can’t, she’s preggers, remember.” 

“Right... hmm... knock her over the head with a heavy object?”

“And suffer through headaches for the next week?” 

“I know!” Ron said with a big evil smile on his face. “Take her to mum’s! You know how mum is, she won’t even be able to wiggle her toes!”

“I’m afraid that by the end of the day you can’t come home because Rose will have burned it to the ground.” George groaned. “I should have just joined the Auror program. Neville is going abroad for two weeks and he doesn’t have to deal with Dru for those two weeks.” 

“Don’t mention the stupid Auror program,” Ron muttered and crossed his arms over his chest. “I feel like I’m not doing anything but helping you which is doing something but it’s... weird enough I miss getting beaten up.”

George looked up at his younger brother. “Ron, I love the fact that you want to help out and you have been a great help, but maybe it’s time you clear off.”

“Not while your wife is still pregnant, George. Someone has to keep an eye on Verity and Kevin.”

“Alright, I just have to endure seeing your ugly mug until Georgianna is born then.” 

“Pfft, what about me? Looking at you makes me glad that at least my face is symmetrical.”

“Careful Ronald.” George warned. “I’m still older than you and you might have fought you-know-who but I can still kick your butt.” 

“You can say Voldemort now, you know,” Ron pointed out. “And I’m not afraid of you.”

“Fine, I’ll just tell Rosie that you’ve been bullying me.” George grinned. “Let’s see how my very hormonal wife takes that.” 

“Alright, even when she’s not crazy because of the hormones she scares me so ...” Ron said, giving in. 

“So, staying for dinner then?” 

“No.” Ron chuckled. “But, if you like, I could send mum over to have a chat with Rose about not resting when she should be resting. Mum’s a lot scarier than you are.”

“You really want me dead then?” 

“No, but it’s my idea, not yours, so I’ll be dead.”

“Please send mum over then.” George closed the books. “I better go upstairs, see what Rose is up to. See you tomorrow, Ron.” 

“Good luck,” Ron grinned and disapparated.

“No, Dru, you need to rest. Sit.” Rose said as she pushed Dru back on the sofa. 

“Me? You’re further along and your blood pressure is higher.” Dru said and managed to get off the sofa again. Neville had just brought her over because he was leaving that night and he didn’t want her to stay alone with his gran. “Neville, tell her to stop mothering me.” 

Neville was looking frightened between the girls and wished that George would come up because Rose looked as if she was going to explode any minute. Dru was taking a lot better care of herself now that she had felt the baby kick and Rose just kept going and going and kept getting yelled at by the nurse at St. Mungo’s. 

“Rose, I told you to take a nap.” George said as he came up the stairs. “Ah, Neville, you’re here already.” 

“George!” Neville quickly jumped up and walked over to him. “Your wife should stop mothering my girlfriend.”

“Tell her yourself.” 

“Look, George, I know that I’ve survived the battle of Hogwarts and Voldemort and what not but Rose is scary. You want Dru to lose someone she loves again?”

“I don’t care, I’m more scared Georgianna won’t have a father.” 

“Well if she continues like this, you might not have a Georgianna, you know that, right?” Neville pointed out.

“You do know, we’re still here, right?” Dru had her arms crossed over her chest and glared at the two men. 

“Uh... Nev?” George said as he leaned into him to talk quietly, not looking away from Dru. “Can’t you just stay, I’m not sure if I’ll survive two weeks with two pregnant women.”

“Trust me, if I could I would. Besides Dru is sweet. Just do what she wants and she shouldn’t give you any trouble.” 

“Neville!” Dru had her hands on her hips right now and she was looking really angry.

“Alright, dinner. What are we having?” George said as he walked into the kitchen and opened the oven. “Ah! Scorched roast!”

“George!” Rose growled. 

“Yes, dear?” He softly kissed her. “I love scorched roast, it’s my favourite.”

“Baby is not happy.” She pouted. “She’s making me feel sick, I’m going to take a nap.”

“Good, dear.” He kissed her again. “We have our personal chef back, so she can finish dinner.” 

Rose looked at Dru, who was still really pissed. “Think again,” she smiled at George. “I think you’re going to have to make a trip to the Leaky Cauldron and get us some food.”

“Alright, I will. Neville, are you staying too?” 

“Uh, yeah, I think that if I leave now she won’t let me return.” Neville said as he sat down in a chair and pulled Dru into his lap. 

She ruffled George’s hair and smiled. “I’m sorry for scorching the roast... but Dru didn’t want to stay down on the sofa! She looked so tired.”

“Don't worry. I’ll get some food for us.” He softly kissed her. “First try and get some rest, Rosie. You need to be taking things slow.” 

“I can’t take things slow, the apartment needs to be clean and I need to help you in at the store and I’ve started to dig out the small room so we can make the nursery there...”

“I’ve got Ron, Verity and Kevin in the store and I can clean the apartment and Bill’s coming over tomorrow to clear out the small room. You need to take care of our little marshmallow.” 

“I’ll rest,” she sighed and kissed him again. “I love you and I’m sorry for being the worst wife ever right now.”

“Worst wife ever?” George shook his head. “You’re making me a daddy, that makes you the best wife ever.” 

“I love you,” she smiled at him.

“Would you stop being so angry?” Neville softly asked Dru and watched Rose wobble up the stairs.

“He just wants me to be here for the cooking.” Dru started crying. “Please, can’t I come with you?”

“Honey, you don’t have to cook if you don’t want to, you know that and no, you can’t come with me because we’re going to a super secret place for Aurors and Aurors in training like me.”

“I’m good at keeping secrets.” she pouted.

“You could always go to your aunt’s,” he softly said in her ear. 

“Why? Are you going to be at my aunts?” 

“No, but I can imagine that things would be a lot more peaceful there... and Teddy is there too.”

“You don’t love me anymore, do you? You leaving and you’re not coming back.” she sulked and crossed her arms over her chest, while she was still crying. She had been up all night, because Neville was having a few bad nightmares and she was really, really tired, which made her very very crabby. 

“Yes, I’m leaving you to make sure that we can stay in our pretty new apartment and to make sure that the world will be a better place, eventually, for the little blob. You’re right, I don’t love you anymore,” he smiled at her and softly kissed her lips. “Take a nap.”

“No,” She put her arms around his neck. “I want to stay with you for as long as you’re still here.” 

“Then go and take a nap, I’m not getting up from this chair for a while.”

“Need a blanket for that one?” George asked Neville, pointing at Dru, who had fallen asleep in his lap. 

“Yeah, sorry mate, she hasn’t been sleeping very well lately because of me.”

George put the blanket over Dru and sat down on the sofa. “Why haven’t you been sleeping?” 

“Nightmares are back,” he shrugged. “Auror training is really tough and on top of that I keep dreaming that every Death Eater that I catch looks like the blob or that once I’ve killed one in my sleep that it looks like the blob or even Dru.”

“Oh scary blob.” George chuckled. “The blob is not coming anywhere near my Georgianna.” 

“That’s going to be hard,” Neville chuckled. “Since their mum’s are best friends and all.”

George grinned. “Yeah, that would be hard. Imagine if you two are also getting a girl. Then we would have mini Dru and mini Rose.” 

“I pity you, George,” Neville chuckled. “Two of Rose? Yikes. Two of Dru? Not that bad.”

“Really, two Dru’s having a tantrum at the same time?” George frowned at Neville. 

“Just very adorable.”

“Neville, I don't know what you’re on, but I want it too.” he laughed. 

Dru stirred a little, crawling deeper in Neville’s arms. 

“Can’t believe the girls only have 4 more months to go.” George sighed as he got up and walked to the kitchen. “Butterbeer?” 

“Please, and lighten up, we’re half way through. Only a couple of months to go.”

_Crack_

Molly usually didn’t just apparate into her son’s apartment anymore, but since Ron had said that George needed her, she did just that, into the small room upstairs. She sighed when she saw that only a small attempt had been made to clear it out and softly walked down the stairs. “Good afternoon George. Oh hello Neville!” she smiled widely.

“Hi mum.” George walked into the sitting room with two butterbeers. “Do you want something to drink?” 

“I’m good dear, thank you. Tell me what I can do for you, would you like me to cook?”

“Well, I was going to the Leaky Cauldron, but if you insist.” George said with a huge smile on his face. 

Molly chuckled. “Alright,” she gave her son a peck on his cheek and disappeared into the kitchen. “Oh my, burnt roast?”

“Yeah, Dru and Rose were fighting about who was more in need to sit down.” 

“They both are.” 

“We know, they don’t.” Neville chuckled. 

“Mum, do you think you can maybe talk to Rose to take things a bit slower. The nurse told her to take more rest, but she only keeps herself busier. It’s like she’s running out of time, but she still has four months left.” George sat down on the sofa. He himself was exhausted. “And she’s not listening to me, why isn’t she listening to me?”

“I will, sweetheart, don’t you worry. Mummy’s going to take care of you and your wife.”

“And Dru.” George sighed. “Dru’s staying with us for two weeks.” 

“If you need a place to hide, you know where I live,” she chuckled as she started to clean up the kitchen. “Why’s Dru staying over?”

“I’m going abroad for my Auror training and my Gran is not as young as she used to be.” Neville said. 

“It’s the same training Harry’s doing, mum. I told you about that remember?” 

“Good on you, Neville,” Molly smiled. “I’ll have a talk with the girls, I promise.”

Dru opened her eyes. “You’re still here.” she muttered and closed her eyes again. 

“Checking up on me now, are we?” he chuckled and softly caressed her back. 

“Stay.” she said softly.

“Can’t, I have to leave tonight. There’s nothing else I can do to support you you know, I have to.”

“I know.” she sulked. “But you can’t blame me for trying.” 

“I don’t.” He softly kissed her forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

“Wake me when you leave.” 

“I won’t have to leave until after dinner, so don’t worry.” 

Rose was coming down the stairs again. She was still wearing her clothes but had wrapped herself up in George’s robe to stay warm. She was feeling restless and couldn’t sleep while she knew that she had to. “Do we have crackers?”

“Rosie.” George whined. “I just put you down.”

Neville started to laugh. “Wait until you have kids, George.”

“It’s not funny!” George shot at him.

“It so is!”

“Just wait, you’ll be having the same problems with that one later on.” 

“George, do we have crackers?” Rose asked again. 

“Cupboard, sweetie.” He put Rose on the sofa. “I’ll get them.” 

“No,” she shook her head and managed to get off the sofa. “I’ll get them, I want something to drink too and I promise I’ll take it all upstairs and go back to bed.”

“I’ll get it and then you go back upstairs.” He put her down on the sofa again. “What do you want to drink?”

“I want to get off the sofa and why can’t I get it myself? Are you hiding something in the kitchen?”

“Because you need to rest.” George was losing his patience a little bit. “Can’t you for once just do as I say?” 

She crossed her arms over her chest and put her feet on the sofa. “If you had just let me go into the kitchen and allowed me to get what I wanted, I would have been back upstairs already,” she noted as she watched him walk into the kitchen. “If I’m such a pain in the neck, I’ll just go somewhere for a while and leave you alone.”

“Yes, go to mum, there you can rest. Take Dru with you as well.” George groaned. 

“Dru’s not doing anything, but sure, I’ll go and pack me a bag and go to your mum’s for a while if that makes you feel any better. Whatever you want,” she said calmly. 

Molly was looking at George, she had to admit he was making things harder for Rose than he probably should be doing. “You can’t come to the Burrows right now, Rose, I’m already here.”

“George!” Rose got off the sofa and walked to him. “You and I have a disagreement and you call your mum?!”

“No, I didn’t. She just showed up here.” He let himself sink in the chair. Rose had been in a bad mood all week and he didn’t know how much he could take anymore. He never was good with her moods and little sleep. “You know what? Just yell at me. Who cares.” He sighed and closed his eyes. 

Rose grabbed her crackers and got a glass of water and walked upstairs back to the bedroom. She gently closed the door and crawled back in the bed before grabbing a cracker and started to munch on it, trying to swallow her tears. She was trying to behave, she really was but this was crazy. She softly caressed her bump. “You’re going to be an only child, Gianna,” she told her baby. “No matter how high daddy jumps for a new baby, you’re going to be an only child.”

It seemed like an eternity before she finally nodded off and only a short time before someone was gently shaking her to wake her. “Rose, sweetheart, you need to wake up now and have some dinner. If you continue to sleep you won’t get your rest tonight.”

“Thanks Mrs. Weasley but I’m not hungry,” Rose said softly as she opened her eyes. “Gianna is a bit upset.”

“I told you to call me Molly,” she said with a smile and softly caressed her hair. “How are _you_ feeling?”

“I’m not being my best,” she wasn’t even attempting to sit up, she was extremely comfortable the way she was now, rolled up in her duvet with a few pillows to ease the discomfort in her hips. “I’m being horrible towards George and I am really trying to keep it together and make sure that I’m not being completely horrible but I am... He works all day and then he has to deal with me during that same day and when he’s done working... things have to be made and I have to take care of him and make him a good meal and... then we go to bed and I’ll be sleeping for a couple of hours before I wake up to pee and then can’t get back to sleep. Just as he was getting rid of his nightmares and get a decent night’s rest, I’m too restless to go back to sleep and unintentionally keep him awake too. And I suggested I’d sleep in the other bed or on the sofa or that he’d do that but he doesn’t want me to be alone.”

“You’re resting even when you’re laying down.”

“Restless.”

“Well, okay, that makes it a little bit harder to stay still,” she chuckled. “But how about reading a book when you’re awake? George won’t wake up from that.”

“I’m trying to be my best,” she said softly. “I’m keeping the apartment clean, I do the books for the store and make small batches of stuff that needs to be made to fill up the shelves and I am trying ...” She sighed. “He’s treating me as if I’m breakable, and sure, it’s nice sometimes but...”

“George is extremely happy that you’re pregnant with his child,” Molly smiled at her and kept caressing her hair. “To be completely honest, I’m really excited that I’m getting not one but two grandchildren this year, after all the bad that has happened, and at least one of them is a girl. But sweetheart, I know that the nurse must have told you this, but you have to remember that you’re not a healthy young woman and you can’t keep going on until you drop because if you do, it might be forever or you can lose your unborn daughter.”

“I’m f---”

“Oh don’t you start telling me that you’re fine.” she shot at her. “Don’t you dare. I know that you’ve been putting others first ever since we’ve met, and that you’ve always been taking care of others and that you’ve been blessed, well cursed in this particular instance, with a very high pain threshold, but you are not fine. From what I know, in the last few years you’ve been under constant stress, you’ve been the victim of multiple curses and spells, you were kidnapped, raped, flung across the room and smacked into a wall, you have been taking corporeal punishment and on top of that you’ve been ignoring your own needs because you deem others more important than yourself.”

“But...”

“You think you deserved all that? You still think that you somehow have to take it all because your father was a horrible man? You still think that you’re not important as a person? You need to stop wallowing in those feelings because the answer to those questions is ‘no, you did not deserve to be put through what you’ve been put through. No, you should not have to take it all because of your father, children are not responsible for their parents’ actions and that feeling of guilt that you have shouldn’t be there.’ And another thing, you _are_ important. You matter and you deserve to be loved the way that George loves you.”

Rose didn’t know what to say and it didn’t seem like Molly was going to shut up anytime soon.

“You have us all worried, Rose. You don’t have to be hyper vigilant anymore and be at the ready to fight. You can relax. You need to relax and let things just take its course. Your inability to control your mood swings probably comes from not enough rest. Your high blood pressure can harm your internal organs or even become so toxic that it could kill you and your baby. If it’s not the blood pressure, it will be the stress that you’ve endured in the battle that could kill Gianna. You don’t have to make things for the shop, both Ron and George are more than qualified to make them too, some of the ingredients are just too dangerous for you to work with. On top of that, you have been a little underweight for a few years now and that’s not a good start to have a baby inside of yourself.” Molly continued, speaking loud and clear. “I will probably have to give Dru the same speech but please, Rose, start taking care of yourself. I urge you from the bottom of my heart, to start taking care of yourself and the baby. If it’s not for yourself, then do it for George.”

Rose slowly nodded and swallowed her tears. “Do I still have to go downstairs for dinner?”

“You bet,” Molly smiled at her and started to unwrap Rose from her comfortable cocoon. “Would be rude not to, Neville and Dru are still downstairs. Go to the bathroom and splash yourself in the face with some water and then come downstairs. I’ve made you guys some chicken with roasted potatoes and a nice cucumber salad.”

“Thanks, Molly.”

“You’re welcome dear.”

George knocked on the open bedroom door. “Can I come in?” 

“It’s safe to come in, sweetheart,” Molly smiled at him. “Rose will be down in a second, she’s just freshening herself up in the bathroom.”

“Thanks mum.” George gave his mother a weak smile. “I’m just really worried about her. I don’t think she realised how fragile she is and how much she could hurt the baby. And I know she would kill herself if anything happened to our little girl.” 

“She understands now.” Molly said and then shrugged. “Well I hope. If she doesn’t, you just drop her off at our place and I will make sure she listens.”

“I’m sorry, Georgie.” Rose said softly as she stood in the door opening.

“Come here.” He opened his arms for her.

She walked over to him and put her arms around him. “I’m really sorry.”

“I’m not angry at you, sweetie.” He softly caressed her back. “I’m just really worried. I don’t know what to do if I’d lose you too.” 

“I’m sorry, I’ll do better, I promise,” she smiled up to him before planting a kiss on his cheek. “Let’s have your mum’s fabulous cooking and then I’ll see if Fred’s room is decent enough for Dru to sleep in.”

“No, I will do it,” Molly said sternly. “Go downstairs you two. Eat. I’ll change everyone’s sheets.”

George took Rose’s hand and took her with him downstairs. Neville and Dru were already sitting in the dinning room waiting for them.

“How was your nap, Rose?” Neville asked.

“Short,” Rose smiled. “Yours?” 

“Well, I didn’t nap, but Dru at least rested a little.” Neville smiled at Rose as he poured her and George some water. “Do you think you could do something for me while I’m away?”

“Don’t worry, Neville, Dru will be okay and we’ll be going swimming in the pool often.” Rose said as she sat down with a big smile before looking at Dru. “You’re going to love it.”

“Well, Dru forgets to nap and when she does, she gets up way too soon. Maybe if you napped with her, at least she’ll get some rest.” 

“Dru, Molly just told me that it’s important to nap. If we don’t, we might kill our babies or die ourselves.” Rose said in the same belittling voice that Neville had just used on her before she took a sip of her water. “Now could we please stop talking about naps and dying and stuff?”

Dru shook her head at Neville. “Babe, I know you’re trying to help George, but this is not the way.” Dru _had_ been napping, but Neville figured to play his old trick of making sure the girls would take of each other, like he did with their eating habit in their seventh year. “Now they think I don’t take care of myself.” 

“I’m not thinking anything at the moment,” Rose shrugged as she waited until everyone had filled their plates before filling their own. The food smelled good and she knew she had to eat something but the baby was still upset and it wasn’t a great feeling.

“Rose, if you want I could make Dru’s chicken soup tomorrow. She could sit in a chair and tell me how to do it. Would you like that?” George gently caressed her back. He could tell she still wasn’t feeling good and he remembered how much good Dru’s soup did when one of them wasn’t feeling well.

“Sure, if you’d like,” she smiled at him. “And if she agrees.”

“Of course I will.” Dru smiled as she wanted to take some more salad, but she was going to wait until Rose had finished her plate. Instead she started to caress Neville’s leg. She knew he had to go, but she was really going to miss him. “You will be careful, won’t you?” she asked him softly.

“Yes, I will be careful,” Neville smiled at her. “I promise.”

She nodded. “I want you home in one piece. No losing ears or other body parts.” She caressed his cheek. 

“Only I lose body parts in this family.” George chuckled and put some chicken on Rose’s plate. “I know you not hungry, sweetie, but please try to eat some more.” 

“I’ll make sure we have super glue, just keep the body parts that have fallen off nicely chilled.” Rose said and poked her chicken before cutting it up and eating it.

“Or just push Harry to the front for the dangerous stuff.” Dru suggested. 

“That’s an idea, but I doubt that Ginny would like it. Don’t worry, Dru. I’ll be fine.” He smiled at her and gently caressed her hair. 

Dru nodded and squeezed his leg. “I’m sorry, Nev, I know I’m a nag right now, I’m just really going to miss you.” She softly kissed him. “But I’ll stop now, no more naggy Dru.” 

George had finished his plate and was leaning back in his chair, while gently caressing Rose’s back. “Rose, I know I promised I’d take you girls swimming tomorrow, but Bill’s coming over to help me clear the nursery, so Fleur is taking you girls and Ginny and Hermione wanted to spend some time with you two before they head off to Hogwarts so they’re coming too.” 

“We can go by ourselves, you know.” Rose smiled at him.

“You know that I don’t want that.”

“Nor me,” Neville added. 

“Alright, we’ll go swimming with Fleur and her perfect figure and our two bumps.” Rose shrugged and took a piece of cucumber to munch on. 

George took a deep breath. “Fine, I’ll call of Fleur and stay up tonight to clear most of the room, so I’ll be finished in time to take you girls to the pool myself.” George smiled at Rose.

“George, it’s fine. Fleur can take us.” Dru was feeling bad for him, clearly he was at the end of his wits. 

“Good grief George, I was only joking.” Rose rolled her eyes at him and then looked at Dru. “You. Are you okay to sleep in your room or do you want to sleep in ours?”

“No, it’s fine.” Dru said. “I’m doing better now.” She was a bit nervous about sleeping in her old room, but she thought it was important that Rose was comfortable in her own bed. “I’ll be okay.”

“If not, it’s fine, you know that right?” Rose smiled as she gently pat her friend on the back and started to clear the table and do the dishes.

“Yeah, then you two can crawl into bed with each other and George can have a bit of sleep, by himself.” Neville smiled. 

“Rose, sit down on the sofa with Dru. Neville can help me clear the table.” George smiled at her. “You’ve done enough, let me do something too.” 

Rose was just about to strangle someone. She hadn’t done anything today other than sleep, but mostly just walking around and she just wanted to do the dishes because Mrs. Weasley was still upstairs doing the bedrooms too. “George, I’m fine, the baby is fine. You’ve worked all day just go and put your feet up.”

“Sweetie, why don’t you show Dru the yellow and red paint we bought for the nursery?” George said as he handed her the paint steels. “We’ll do the washing up.” 

Neville put his hands on Rose’s shoulders and brought her to the sofa. “Give in to him, Rosie. I think he’s going to cry if you don’t start taking it easier.” He said softly. 

“Stop this right now.” Rose said as she flicked her wand into the direction of the kitchen. “There. Washing up is being done. Sit down, all of you.”

George took a seat next to Rose. “I love you, you know that? And I know I’m driving you mad, trust me I know. You did it to me, remember? After I lost my ear.” He softly kissed her. 

“Yeah well, you had this ear problem and your balance. I’m having a baby. Two completely different things and I hate it that you talk to me like I’m a five year old because it only makes me feel worse.”

“Yeah, it’s completely different, Rosie, I had problem walking straight. You are in danger of losing our baby and your life. So I’m sorry if I’m trying my best to keep you both alive.” George pulled her in his arms. “Now, please, can’t you just enjoy me pampering and spoiling you for a little while?” 

Neville chuckled as he put his arms around Dru and softly kissed her. “I’ll have to go in a bit.”

Dru put her arms around his neck. “I’m just going to spend the next two weeks in bed. Waiting for you to and join me.” she pouted.

“Well, at least you’ll be getting enough rest then,” he smiled at her. “And if the both of them get on your nerves just go to your aunt’s.”

“Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine, you just take of yourself and no sacrificing yourself for others.” She softly kissed him. “I need you.” she whispered in his ear. 

“I told you, I’m not leaving you,” he smiled at her. “Well, now for a couple of weeks but I promise I’ll be a good boy.”

Dru tenderly kissed him. “You better go, before I change my mind and tie you to the bed so you can’t go.” 

Neville grinned. “You can tie me to the bed when I get back, how’s that?”

“Hmm... I think that will work for me.” Dru smiled at him

He got out of the chair and gently placed her back into it. Neville then kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Dru pulled him down to his knees. “Be careful and kick some butt.” She kissed him tenderly. 

He gently placed his hands on Dru’s belly and kissed it. “Be nice to your mum, blobbie.”

Dru giggled. “We’ll be fine.” She caressed his cheek. “Come home as soon as you can.” 

Neville gave her kiss and stood up. “See you in two weeks.” 

_crack_

Dru took a deep breath and smiled bravely at Rose. “He’ll be fine.” 

“Of course,” Rose said with a smile and then softly kissed George. “I’m going to see if your mum is ready to come down yet, it doesn’t take that long to change the sheets.”

“Alright, but no helping her.” George kissed her back. 

“I’ll come too.” Dru said and slowly got out of the chair. “Oh, blobbie like that. He kicks like a garden gnome.” 

Rose snorted as she got up from the sofa and started to climb the stairs. “I can’t wait until the baby gets big enough for George to start feeling her kick.”

“I know, I wish I could let Neville feel the blob kick. He would love that.” Dru giggled. “I keep waking up to Neville whispering to my bellie.”

“I keep waking up at night because I have to pee or I’ve got a crampy foot or well, when I can’t sleep anymore, which is not good. Maybe I should be hit over the head with a hammer or something,” she chuckled. “Mrs. Weasley, are you okay?”

“It’s _Molly_ , Rose,” she replied as she walked out of Dru’s old bedroom. “I’m sorry, it’s just... uhm.. the first time I’ve been into that room since... a long time and uhm...”

Rose put her arms around Molly to give her a hug. “Yeah, we’ve kept things as they were because Dru has to decide what to do with the rest of his things... sorry.”

Dru took a deep breath and was still at a distance from the room. This was harder then she thought it was going to be.

“But like I said, Dru, George and I don’t mind sleeping in your old room.”

“Yeah, cause George will like that more than I do.” Dru rolled her eyes at Rose. “No, I just have to bite through the sour apple.” 

“We could drag the mattress into the little room?”

Dru shook her head. “I need to get over this, Rose. I can’t keep running away from this.” Dru took another deep breath and walked into the room. As soon as she did, she could smell Fred. His scent still filled the room. Dru gave a little smile. “It’s like he never left.” she muttered. 

“Let’s give her some time,” Molly said as she put her arms around her son and her daughter in law and turned them away from the room. “Now, what else do you need?” she asked with a big smile. “Bill’s coming by tomorrow to help you with the small room, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, then I can finally start decorating it.” George smiled. 

“Well just make sure that the paint fumes won’t run through the entire house dear,” Molly smiled at her son. “Are you going to do everything by hand or will you use magic?”

“Whatever Rosie wants.” George smiled at his wife, before looking back at his mother. “She picked out this beautiful pale yellow and pale red for the nursery. Georgianna is going to love her room.”

~~~

Dru sat down on the bed and looked around before closing her eyes. She had a bad feeling about staying with George and Rose, but she hadn’t told them or Neville about it. She couldn’t, not without revealing the true reason of her leaving the apartment. She hadn’t told anyone why she just couldn’t stay there anymore. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again and what she thought would happen, happened. 

She swallowed. “Hi.” 

“Hi.” 

Dru smiled at him. Looking at Fred’s ghost, standing in the corner of the room, made her realise how much she missed him. “You’re still here.” 

“You’re not.”

“I couldn’t.” 

“I scared you?” 

“Well it’s not every day your dead husband’s ghost comes back and haunts his own bedroom.” She gave a faint smile. “I went to your grave.” 

“I know.” He smiled at her. “I hear you.”

Dru looked down to the floor. “I’m sorry I yelled at you at your grave. I shouldn’t have done that.” 

“You were angry at me. I understand that.” 

‘I’m angry at the world. I’m angry at myself.”

“Stop blaming yourself, Dru. You couldn’t know what was going to happen.” 

“I never wanted you to die. I really loved you, you know.” The chill on her left side let her know his ghost had moved and was now beside her. She knew she couldn’t touch him or he touch her, but it was comforting to have him close by her, and at the same time it was freaking her out a little bit.

“I know you love me.” 

She took a deep breath. She figured he’d probably knew by now, but she still had to get it of her chest. “I was going to leave you after the battle for Neville.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Fred sighed. “And I don’t blame you.”

“I do.” 

“Why? I mean, I love you, I really do, but I should have been a good _spare_ and made sure you and Neville were going to be okay and not be a _jerk_ and steal you from him.” He then smiled widely. “Although our son is going to be amazing.”

“Wait? Son?” Dru looked at her bump. “We’re having a boy?” 

“Yeah, didn’t you ask Rose about it?” He grinned, if it was possible she could have sworn that he was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Who needs a muggle obstetrician when you’ve got a seer at your disposal?”

“She lost her gift, like I have.” 

“No she didn’t, she learned to shut up about it.”

Dru blinked at him. “Oh.” 

“And she can see me, but she ignores me, how bad is that?”

“Why can’t I see you outside of this room?” 

“Because this is where we were always happy,” he replied. “This is my happy place.”

Dru nodded. “I miss you so much, Fred. If I could do it over...”

“Hey, none of that, remember?” He smiled at her. “I’m fine and I’m so glad to see that you and Neville are back together, that you’ve actually listened to me.”

Dru couldn’t stop herself from crying. “I just keep thinking, maybe if we hadn’t gotten married, we would still be okay, or if we talked more. If I hadn’t cheated, then you wouldn’t have been distracted and …”

“Honey, I wasn’t distracted. I died because I did what any good husband or boyfriend would have done. Had it been George and Rose in our place, he would have done the same. Wow, you know, it’s weird how much perspective being dead brings you.”

“Jeez, Fred.” She chuckled. “I’m glad you’re so happy you’re dead.” 

“I’m not happy that I’m dead, I mean, it hurts to see everyone cry, but I’m okay with it now. I’m just glad that I’m the only one of the family that’s dead, you know.”

“I wish I could bring you back. I miss you, our talks, your laugh, me feeding you ice cream.”

“And I miss you too and I promise that I will never be too far away. I’m always with you, I just...” Fred sighed and then shrugged. “When you get to your new place, is it okay if I drop in on our son every now and then?”

“You can be with him 24 hours a day, every day. It makes me sad that our son will never get to see you, so if you can show yourself to him, please do. I want the blob to know how great his father is.”

“Was.”

Dru closed her eyes and started crying a bit harder. “God, I wish it could have been me and not you. You would have been such an amazing dad. You’re the only reason I ever wanted to have children in the first place.” 

Fred chuckled. “You’ll do more than fine on your own. Neville is a great guy and he will make sure that the blob knows... well... I suppose Mum and dad will tell our son embarrassing stories about me and... he will know who I was, but this moving on thing that you’re doing? You’re doing great.”

“I will tell him all about you. And two days ago, Neville was telling the blob about how you and George used the aging spell to fool the goblet of fire to enter the triwizard tournament.” 

“That was ridiculous,” Fred laughed. “But brilliant.”

“Yeah, the beard was brilliant.” Dru chuckled. “Listen Fred, I... I’m really sorry for everything. I should have never done what I did. It was wrong of me.”

“Yeah, it was wrong, but...” he sighed. “I think that I kinda drove you there...”

“I think we just should have never married. I mean, that’s when our problems started. We were just too young for it.”

“I know, but in the grand scheme of things? Marrying you and making our son? Best thing I’ve ever done... apart from doing some amazing stuff with George and be one of the best beaters Hogwarts ever saw.”

Dru smiled up at him. “I don’t regret us, I would never change what we have, I love you, it just....” 

“I know.” 

“So, will you ever forgive me?”

“I will always forgive you, honey,” he smiled brightly at her. 

Dru smiled. “Will you stay with me tonight?” 

“Well yeah, of course,” he was still smiling brightly. “Now that Nev is gone, who’ll look after you, huh? Can’t trust my brother or his ... can’t believe I’m going to be a father and an uncle.”

“Can’t believe he’s getting his mini George, well the female form then.” Dru looked at her bump and caressed it. “And we’re having our mini Fred.”

“Yeah...” he chuckled. “He’s going to be brilliant.”

Dru laid down on the bed. “I just hope he doesn’t like flying. If he gets on a broom, I’ll never be able to catch him.” She chuckled. 

“Well, just tell him he’s not allowed to fly outside the Burrows,” Fred shrugged. “George, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Harry all fly. He’ll be safe.”

Dru chuckled. “Fred, can you let me see you in the new flat? Like in the baby room? George and Rose can’t keep this room like this forever, but I would like to see you from time to time.” 

“Yeah, we’ll see,” he smiled. “I’m just showing my face now because I am just so proud of you and our blob.”

“I’m sorry I ran away last time.” 

“Would you stop saying sorry for that? I completely understand why you did it and it was the best decision you could have made.”

Dru closed her eyes. She was dead tired. “I love you, Fred.” 

“I love you too, firecracker, now go to sleep. I’ll be around.”


	62. Girls day out

The next morning Dru got up and despite that it wasn’t Sunday, she started making pancakes. She hadn't done that in a long time. It didn’t take long before the smell of her pancakes woke up Rose.

“Pancakes!” she grinned. “So if my husband starts complaining that I didn’t sleep in today despite going to bed early, I can blame you, can’t I?”

“Yes, you can. Or you can say that you needed to get up early, because you need let your breakfast settle for an hour before we go swimming.” Dru put a pancake on Rose’s plate. “You want the regular one of my strawberry pancakes?”

“Ohhh...” Rose smiled widely. “Strawberries! You’re too good for this world.”

Dru laughed. “I had some good news yesterday, I wanted to celebrate it by making pancakes.”

“Really? What did you hear?”

Dru crossed her arms. “Something you already knew.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rose said as she took a bite off her pancake.

“I’m having a boy.” Dru smiled as she returned to the stove.

“Oh that’s great! Congratulations!” she giggled. “So you’ve seen Fred then?”

“Oh, so you do see him?” Dru asked sarcastic.

Rose shrugged. “It’s hard to get over someone when you see him all the time, so I chose not to and I didn’t tell you because of the same reasons. We have to learn how to live without him, won’t work if he keeps showing his face.”

“He’s the reason I left the flat, but I told him, he can show his face around the new flat. He wants to check up on his son and I like to see him, just to remember his smile.” Dru sighed. “It’s selfish but I don't want him out of my life. This way he can still be a part of it and of the blob’s. You know what I mean?”

“I know,” Rose softly smiled. “And it’s great, it’s your decision.”

“So, how do you feel today?” Dru put a strawberry pancake on her plate. “Little Georgie still upset?”

“Gianna is asleep, thankfully.” Rose said and pointed at the chair opposite of her. “Next pancake is yours.”

Dru chuckled. “No, I’m having fruit and I making myself eggs with soldiers. I’m not hungry for pancakes right now.”

“Are you sure? Because these pancakes are just heavenly.”

“Yeah, I’m not in the pancake mood.”

“How are you feeling today? Was it weird to sleep in your old bed?”

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine. I’m getting the key to the flat in a few days and maybe If I put my shoulders under it, the flat will be done by the time Neville gets back. Seamus and Dean are coming to help me.”

“Good, because I just wanted to say that you shouldn’t be doing everything by yourself.”

“Dean is making a mural on one of the walls in the nursery. An early baby present.”

“Oh that’s great,” Rose smiled. “Do you know what kind of furniture you’ll be getting? Would you like your bed?”

“No.” Dru shook her head. “I don't think that would be a good thing for my relationship with Neville, sleeping in my marriage bed. Maybe I should put it in storage somewhere.”

“Well it can stay here, I mean, Gianna has her own room, we won’t be needing your room.”

“I’ll talk about it with Fred, I’m not going to use it anymore, so it’s up to you and George to decide what to do with the room.”

“We’re not going to anything with it for at least a long while, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not.” Dru sat down next to Rose. “I need to keep moving on. To start a new life with Neville and the blob. And the first step is letting go of my old room.”

“Alright,” Rose smiled. “I put your box with the dollhouse into your clothes closet, I had it out of the vault and I couldn’t be bothered by taking it back.”

“Wait, my dollhouse?” Dru had completely forgotten about it.

“Duh, I don’t have a dollhouse.” she then grinned. “You can have mini-Fred play with your dollhouse.”

“No way. That thing is very expensive. Can you keep it for another few weeks, until the flat is ready?”

“Of course, it’s safe here, you know that.”

“Um, there’s one more thing. The vault you and George got in my name, could you change it to Fred’s?” Dru laughed when she saw Rose’s confused face. “I mean baby Fred. It’s his money.”

“Yeah, we’ll just keep it in your name for now, okay?” Rose chuckled. “When baby Fred is old enough we could always change it, but a baby isn’t old enough to deal with money and you are.”

“I know, but it’s his father’s money, so it belongs to him. Neville and I opened our own vault last week. I want this to be his and I’m going to put Fred’s old broomstick and his wand in it as well. that way it will be waiting for him until he’s old enough to use it. Oh and I really want you to stop putting half of your week's earnings into it. That’s way too much.”

“No it’s not, you would have gotten it anyway.”

“But Fred’s not here and I’m not working for the shop anymore. So I want a lesser cut. You, George and Ron do the work now. So what If I get ten percent of the earnings over a month, that seems more than fair to me. You and George need your money for your own kids and little Fred is not going to use that money for years to come.”

“I’ll talk about it with George,” Rose shrugged.

Dru nodded. “So are you looking forward to swimming?”

“Oh yes! Just a couple of hours not having to feel the weight of Gianna is heaven!”

“Oh, I’ve missed swimming. The pool in town is closed for remodeling and their doing it the muggle way, so it’s taking forever.”

“This pool has these whirlpool baths aside from the normal pool. Warm and bubbly.” Rose gushed. “And all pools are muggle run, so yeah...” she gave a shrug. “Everything is slower.” she then smiled. “It’s awesome how George is starting to like doing things the muggle way.”

“Oh, I like the muggle way and Neville too, but something just go too slow, like remodeling and such things.”

“Do I smell pancakes?” George muttered sleepily as he walked into the kitchen. “Or am I still asleep?”

Rose chuckled and got up from her chair to kiss him. “Good morning sweetie, have a seat.”

“And some pancakes.” Dru smiled. “I’m sorry to say you only get regulars, your wife ate all my strawberry ones.”

“Good,” he nodded and kissed Rose back. “Where are you going?”

“Bathroom!” she rolled her eyes at him and went to the bathroom.

“Did you sleep well, Dru?” George was slowly beginning to wake up some more.

“Fine, you? Neville told me you’ve been having nightmares?”

“No, I’m good. It’s just that Rosie gets restless during the night and keeps tossing and turning, but last night I’ve slept just fine.” He smiled at her.

“You know, you and Fred shared the same face. I could always tell when he lied as well.”

“Let’s just say that I’m giving her a week to slow down before I drop her off at St. Mungo’s for forced bed rest. I keep dreaming about losing her and the baby,” he smiled at Dru.

Dru smiled at him. “It’s been hard on you, hasn’t it? The last few months?”

“It’s like the nurse said; the both of you weren’t healthy enough to have babies in the first place. At least you’re seeing sense and are taking better care of yourself.”

“I don’t have a choice. Neville is not the guy to say no to and neither is his gran.”

“Good.” George chuckled.

“Rosie will be fine, George. She’s not an idiot, she knows when to stop, she will never do anything to hurt little Georgie.”

He blinked at her. “Oh god, I’m the male version of my mum, aren’t I?”

“No, the male version of your wife.” Dru chuckled.

“Oh, that bad, huh?” George winced as he polished off another pancake.

“Nah, she needs someone to show her the dangers, so she can stop.”

“I think mum did yesterday, so let’s give her a few days to change her ways.” He smiled and kissed Dru on top of her head. “Thank you for the pancakes, but you’d better get dressed, Bill, Fleur, Ginny and Hermione can be here any second and I think Harry and Ron are coming with too.”

“Well, I doubt Harry will come, but I’ll get changed.” Dru chuckled and put the plates in the sink.

“Oh yeah, right, the auror thing.” George said as he shook his head and went upstairs. “Rosie, did you fall over?”

“No!” Rose’s voice sounded from the bedroom. “Well, maybe but I fell softly on the bed!”

“Rose, try lying down while getting dressed, it does wonders for your balance.” Dru chuckled as she went into her bedroom to change.

“I wasn’t even getting dressed!” Rose laughed and put her arms around George who had crawled onto the bed to see what was going on. She giggled and softly kissed his lips. “I really love you, you know that, right?”

“Oh, god, what did I do now?” George grinned.

“Nothing,” she smiled at him and pulled him down for another kiss.

“Hmm, you’re in good mood, I see?” He kissed her eagerly. “You want a quickie before my family shows up?”

“No,” she giggled and kissed him again. “You know full well that you can’t do a quickie with a whale...”

“Sure I can. With you on top of my world, we sure can.” He started kissing her neck. “And you’re a very cute whale.”

“You two are gross,” Dru chuckled. “Get dressed.”

“We’d better listen to her, she made us breakfast.” Rose giggled and softly kissed George.

“I don’t care.” George flipped them over so Rose was on top. “Come on, Rosie, I missed you.”

“I’m going swimming today,” she smiled at him as she caressed his chest. “How about we do this tonight?”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” George sat up and softly kissed her.

She got off the bed and walked to the wardrobe to get some clothes out of there. “Don’t worry,” she smiled. “Unless Gianna misbehaves, we’ll have our fun.”

“Georgianna, behave yourself, your father wants sex.” George had made his way out of the bed too and kissed Rose’s bump.

“Are you done dressing yet?” Dru asked as she appeared in the doorway. “Bill and Fleur just arrived.”

“I’m trying!” Rose chuckled. “We’ll be down in a sex... uhh sec.”

“Oh god, I miss Nev!” Dru chuckled and went downstairs. “Hello people.” She smiled. “Mr and Mrs George Weasley will be down soon, as soon as they get over the fact that they have no time for sex this morning.”

“Oh god, really? With a bump? How can you have sex with a bump?” Bill asked and then looked at Dru who was looking at him with a big smile on her face. “No, no, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”

“Girls on top, right Fleur?” Dru grinned at her. “Works like a charm.”

Fleur laughed and pat Bill on his shoulder. “I’m glad Gabrielle is too young for stuff like that.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, she’ll be ready for that in no time.” Bill grinned at his wife.

“So, where is the crazy auntie?” Dru asked as she put two towels in both her and Rose’s bags.

_crack_

“Baby.” Ginny squealed and immediately got down on her knees and put her hands on Dru’s belly.

Dru shook her head at Hermione and laughed. “Unbelievable.”

Hermione chuckled and gave Dru a kiss on her cheek. “How have you been, Dru?”

“Great, little Freddie is real kicker but fortunately only I can feel it it for now.”

“Uh, I wanna feel Freddie kick.” Ginny pouted.

Dru chuckled and pat Ginny on her head. “How have you been, Mione?”

“Good. Ron’s a bit sulky now that it’s almost time for me to go back to Hogwarts. It will be weird going without him and Harry though.”

“You’ll be okay, you still have Ginny and Luna.” Dru gave Hermione a kiss on her cheek. “And something to look forward to, Hogsmeade weekends, the Christmas break, Ron’s letters.”

Hermione smiled. “If I can get Ron to write me.”

“Don’t worry, if he doesn’t write enough, send me a letter and then I’ll send Rosie on his tail.” George chuckled as he came down with Rose. “Where is my little brother anyway?”

“He apparated straight into the shop, he needed to restock a few things he didn’t get to yesterday.” 

"Good, then Bill and I can start on the nursery." George softly kissed Rose. "Be careful and have fun." 

"I'm always careful." Rose chuckled and softly kissed him back.

Ginny and Dru exchanged a look. They were both already missing their boyfriends.

"Don't worry, George, I will look after her." Fleur smiled and gave Bill a kiss, before handing Dru and Rose both their bags.

* * *

Rose decided that because of everything, they were going to a spa; a place where muggles got pampered with facial masks (Fleur: “If I wanted mud on my face I would have gone to the Burrows and stick my head into the mud between the vegetables”. Ginny: “Ew!” Hermione: “Oh this is so great! Best idea ever!” Dru: “I think baby Fred is laughing his ass off.”) and massages (Fleur: “I should send Bill to massage school.” Ginny: “He’s got the hands for it.” Hermione: “Ron too!” Dru: “Neville definitely has the hands for that!”) before skipping the sauna (both Dru and Rose didn’t want to get suffocated) and just drift in the water of the swimming pool for a while. 

After lunch the girls decided that they had enough of the water and Rose took them to the McDonalds for a “real lunch”. Rose was happily munching away on her chips after dipping them into the ketchup. “That was fun,” she smiled. 

“I love water, makes me feel less like an elephant.” Dru smirked as she took a sip from her cola.

“Oh honestly.” Fleur rolled her eyes at Dru. “You and Rose look so beautiful, I wish I could look as pretty as you if I ever get pregnant.” 

This made Ginny look up. “Are you and Bill trying?” 

Fleur nodded. “No luck yet though.” 

“Stop trying and wish you won’t get kids for another few years and then you’ll get pregnant in no time. Worked like a charm for me.” Dru grinned, while she checked her DA galleon again. Neville had uses it the night and that morning just to tell her he was still alright and that he loved her.

“That’s great, Fleur,” Rose smiled. “You and Bill will be great parents.”

“Is everybody having kids now?” Hermione chuckled. “I’m just getting used to having a proper boyfriend.” 

“Ah, the time of just having a boyfriend and screwing his brains out every chance you get. I miss that time.” Dru chuckled as she eat a few more fries. 

“And you’re not now?” Hermione asked surprised.

Dru shook her head. “My back hurts a lot lately and my bump has started to be a bit of a hassle. So, I do, but not as often as I would like. It’s okay though. I have other ways to keep Neville happy.” She smirked.

“Ohh,” Ginny grinned. “Share!”

“Nothing special, handjob if we’re in the bath of blowjob if we’re in bed.” Dru smiled. 

“You give blowjobs?” Hermione asked shocked.

“What’s that like?” Ginny asked with a smile.

Dru looked at Ginny. “What? Didn’t you give Harry one yet?”

Ginny shook her head. 

Rose just took a big bite out of her hamburger and swallowed it with a lot of soda before taking another big bite out of it. 

Dru suddenly blushed as she realised that Ginny and Hermione were really expecting her to tell all. “Well, it’s just...I don't know, I just do it.” 

“Blowjobs are great,” Fleur suddenly piped up. “Bill loves getting a blowjob and he...” she giggled. “He’s...” she nodded with a big smile on her face. 

“Big?” Dru giggled.

“Muggles have a saying, yes? Big hands and big feet?” Fleur chuckled. “It certainly fits with his height!”

“Ew” Ginny buried her face in her hands. “That’s my brother.”

“Yeah, you should have thought about that before you made friends with the girlfriends and wives of your brothers.” 

“So, Big Bill, then.” Dru smiled at Fleur.

“Big Bill,” Fleur chuckled. “But I can take all of him.” She nodded with pride and the furiously blushed.

“Oh god.” Hermione nearly choked on her drink. “That’s so....Rose, say something.” 

“Oh, Rosie has a very big man herself, doesn't she?” Fleur nugged Rose.

Rose sheepishly looked at the others and then shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, George has been the only one so far.” She said diplomatically. Which was kinda wrong because she had been raped by Crabbe looking like Neville but she didn’t want to remind herself of that.

“Ron too.” 

“So is Harry.” 

“Well, I had other boyfriends, but Bill was my first.” Fleur said.

Dru stopped chewing and looked around the table, before she swallowed her food. “Are you guys kidding me? Am I the only one who had sex with more than one guy?” 

“Yeah. So spill...is Fleur’s theory correct?” Ginny laughed. 

Dru bit her lip before shaking her head. “Well, it’s true, but that doesn't mean the taller the guy has the bigger... wand.” 

“Oh, god.” Hermione shook her head. “No I can never look Neville in the face again.” 

“You asked.” Dru waved her hands.

“I’m going to get another burger,” Rose shook her head. “Anyone else?”

“Me!” Dru bounced in her seat.

“Chips too?” she smiled widely as she rose from her seat. “Ohh with ice cream? Maybe we can dip the chips into ice cream!”

Dru nodded eagerly. “I’m starving, mini Fred wants food.” 

“Chips with ice cream?” Fleur asked.

“Oh, you should try lasagna with whipped cream, that’s so good.” Dru smiled at her.

“Or tea with marshmallows although I haven’t had that in a while.” Rose said as she walked off towards the counter to get them some more food.

Ginny grinned as she saw Rose walk off. “You saw how quiet she became when we started to talk about blowjobs?”

“Ginny, that’s not that funny.” Dru said sternly.

“No it’s not, Ginny,” Hermione said with a nod. “The fact that she’s married and with George is already a miracle.”

“I meant with everything that happened to her.” Dru sighed. “She....” Dru looked behind her to Rose who was still at the counter. “Crabbe was a lot more cruel in the way he..” 

“And I meant that I never imagined Rose with a boy, the way she was eight years ago,” Hermione chuckled.

“That’s true.”Dru giggled. “God, I remember that first Friday night that Lavender and Pavarti started to round up the cute boys.” 

“Oh, Rose was disgusted with them, she looked like she was going to blow heads off people’s shoulders at any moment because they wouldn’t allow her to just walk away,” Hermione laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Rose asked when she returned with a tray with chips, ketchup, ice cream and a few more burgers. She placed it down on the table and wiggled herself back into her seat. 

“You are,” Dru smiled. “Do you remember the first Friday night at Hogwarts, when Lav and Parvati started gushing about the boys?” 

Rose smirked. “Do you remember that Saturday morning when Lavender and Parvati showed up for breakfast with rotten looking teeth?”

Hermione and Dru laughed. “Oh god, Lavender was so embarrassed.” Hermione said.

“Or that Friday Night the week after when there were no boys in sight?” Rose said as she dipped a chip into the ice cream and stuffed it in her mouth. “I told them that all of the girls had some innocent muggle sickness that was easily transferred and that it would be lethal to the boys.”

“Oh, that’s brilliant.” Fleur smiled. 

Dru smiled. “Lavender did turn out to be great.” She missed the Lavender she had gotten to know over the last few months. 

“I wish I had gotten my chance to make my peace with her.” Hermione said.

“Yeah, I apologised to her for all the crap that I had given her over the years,” Rose nodded. “Oh god, this is so good.” Rose dipped another chip into the ice cream and stuffed it in her mouth.

Dru did the same and moaned. “Heaven.” 

“Alright, now I wanna try.” Fleur said and took one of her chips and dipped it in Rose’s ice cream. “Oh.....this is good.” She smiled.

* * *

George and Bill had cleared out the nursery and Bill was using magic to paint the room and George was putting together the crib. Bill leaned against the doorway and looked at his younger brother. “How’s it coming together?” 

“Fine.” George said and turned the crib on it’s side to fasten the screws. “I just hope I get it done before Rosie gets home. Maybe if the room is done, she will calm down a little bit.” George wiped the sweat of his forehead with the back of his hand and looked at Bill, who was smiling. “What?” 

Bill chuckled. “It nice to see the good changes Rose has made in you, that’s all.” 

George grinned and got to his feet. “Alright let’s see if I did a good job.” He turned the crib and put it on it’s legs and admired his work. “I think little Gianna will like her crib.”

“I still can’t believe you are having a daughter. “Bill stood next to George and put his hand on George’s back. “Fred would be so proud of you.” 

George nodded. “He would be at first and then he would take the mickey out of me for not having a boy first.” he laughed. 

“Yes, he would.” Bill chuckled. 

George closed his eyes for a moment. “It’s going to be so weird to see my Gianna and little Freddie grow up together. I mean...” Tears started to run down his cheeks. “We were supposed to do this together, Fred and I.” 

“I know, George.” Bill put his arm around George. He knew that George hadn't been okay since he found out he was having a girl, but Bill also knew that George had done his best to try and keep it together for Rose. The pregnancy was physically hard on Rose and George didn’t want to upset Rose and make the situation worse. 

“I miss him so much.” George turned and sobbed against Bill’s chest. “God Bill, I miss him so much. I keep think he will just walk into the room or hear him laughing with Dru in their room.” 

Bill patted George’s back. “I know, I miss him too. His jokes, his laugh.” 

George sobbed against Bill’s chest for ten minutes, before he took a deep breath and tried to pull it together. “Alright.” He wiped the tears from his eyes. “Let’s get the crib into the room and get the other furniture in aswell. 

By the time Rose, Dru and Fleur got back to the apartment (Hermione had a dinner date with Ron in the Leaky Cauldron and Ginny went home sulking that Harry was gone), George and Bill had just finished putting the last of the furniture on it’s place. 

“Oh wow,” Rose said as she walked up the stairs, wanting to take a look at the stuff the boys had been doing, but it was one big mess on the landing. “Uh... anyone up here?”

“Rose?” George came out of the nursery surprised. “What are you doing home? I didn’t expect you back for at least another hour.” He had wanted to put some of the toys he had bought Georgianna in the room.

“Well, nice to see you too!’ Rose said with a smile. “What’s all this?’ 

“I was going to start on the nursery today.” George gave her a kiss. 

“I know.” she chuckled. “But, what’s all this?” She pointed at the mess at the landing.

“You came home too early. We were only just finished, I hadn’t had time to clean up yet.”

“But all this mess... wait, does that mean that you’re finished already?”

George nodded and pointed to the room. “Just doing the final touches.” He took her hand and took her into the room, where Bill had put the stuffed animals on a shelf. “Well, what do you think, Rosie? Will this be good enough for our little girl?” 

“Oh wow...” she said genuinely in awe. “This is amazing! I can’t believe you did all of this in just a couple of hours!

“Well, we did use magic.’ George smiled as he leaned against the door post.

Rose walked around in the nursery with a big smile on her face, looking at everything before walking back to George and put her arms around him before kissing him tenderly. “I love it!”

“I’m very glad you do.” He chuckled. “How was swimming did you and the girls have fun?” 

“We did,” she smiled widely. “We had a nice massage and then went into the pool to relax even further and then had hamburgers.” She softly kissed him again. “I love you, you know that, right?”

“I do.” He smiled at her. “But I didn’t do it alone, Bill helped too.” He pointed at Bill, who was grinning at his brother and his sister in law, while he put some of the new baby clothes in the closet.

“Thank you, Bill, it looks amazing.” She said with a big smile. 

“You’re very welcome. So, what did you do with my wife?” 

“Your wife is making tea downstairs for all of us,” Rose chuckled. “I got a new bag of marshmallows,” she said to George. She hadn’t been having them for weeks now because they made her feel a bit ill, but she had a craving for them at the moment. 

“Oh god, not the marshmallows again.” He said overly dramatic. “Please don’t give Dru any, Neville will kill me if he comes back and Dru’s as mental as you with your marshmallows in your tea.” he chuckled. 

She glared at George and then saw Freddie the ghost standing in a corner with a big grin on his face. Rose chuckled and shook her head. “Fine, I’ll keep Dru away from the good stuff.”

“Alright, let’s have some tea then.” George smiled. “I’ll clean this up later.” 

Dru was putting like 15 marshmallows in her tea. “Hmm, I like sweet.” 

Rose laughed. “Ha!”

“Rose.” Dru whined. “I like sweet, get your own bag of marshmallows.” she held the bag against her chest to protect it from Rose.

“That is my own bag of marshmallows, you’re the one stealing them!” Rose carefully tugged on the bag. “Hand it over or I’m stealing your tea.”

Dru started sobbing as she hugged the bag. “But I want them.” 

After Fleur had greeted Bill, she quickly made her way over to Dru. “How about I’ll get you a new bag?” Fleur asked. “I remember where we bought these.”

Dru nodded. “Could you get me like two or three bags, please?”

“Of course,” she nodded with a smile. “I’ll be right back!” 

_Crack!_

“Can I have my marshmallows now?” Rose asked sweetly. 

“No!” Dru shook her head. “I’m holding them hostage until Fleur comes back.”

Rose sighed and opened a kitchen cabinet and stood on her toes to reach for a bag hidden away behind some items. “Never mind, got them.”

’Good, then I’m eating this bag.” Dru sniffed and started popping them in her mouth one after the other.

“Oh god, Neville’s going to kill me.” George muttered.

“Don’t worry, my love, he’ll have to go through me first,” Rose gently pat George on his arm before putting five marshmallows in her tea and putting the bag back into the cabinet.


	63. Rift

Neville and Harry didn’t return after two weeks but Dru wasn’t worried at first. But then another week passed and Harry came back by himself. He was hurt and got sent to St. mungo’s. He was very confused and kept asking where the others were. Dru tried to keep her head clear and told herself that if Neville had been hurt, somebody would have told her. 

She tried to keep her mind off things by decorating the apartment with help of Seamus and Dean. When another two weeks had passed, the apartment was completely done and Neville was still gone. He stopped sending her messages after the third week and Dru was seriously worried now. But it would take another week before Neville would show his face again in Diagon Alley.

_crack_

Neville looked around the dark apartment and quietly made his way to the bedroom. He slowly opened the door and saw Rose and George in their bed. He closed the door again and made his way to the other bedroom, but to his surprise when he opened that one it was empty and the bed was neatly made up. “Dru?” He whispered as he walked to the bathroom maybe she was soaking in the bathtub.

“Don’t freak out, Neville.” Fred’s voice sounded.

Neville turned around in shock and had automatically pulled his wand out and pointed it at Fred’s ghost.

“I’m a ghost, mate. What do you want to do? Blast a hole in the wall?”

“What the hell?” Neville asked softly while he lowered his wand. “Fred?”

“Yep,” he gave a nod. “Good to see you again, and in one piece, Neville.” Fred spoke.

“What are you doing here?’

Fred shrugged. “My bed room. Anyway, she’s not here.”

“I can see that. I’d better go home. Why did she go back to Gran anyway?’

“She didn’t, she’s been working with Dean and Seamus on that apartment of yours, looking great I may add, but she’s not there either.”

Neville blinked at Fred. ‘Have you been... of course you have and you have every right to. But where is she then?’

“St. Mungo’s. Don’t worry, she’s fine. It’s just the high blood pressure.”

_crack_

He didn’t care it was the middle of the night. After explaining to the head nurse that he wanted to see his girlfriend and that he’d been away for Auror training, they lead him to the ward where Dru was staying, but told him to keep things down as not to disturb the other patients and they’d rather not want him to wake Dru.

Neville nodded when he sat down next to her bed and softly caressed her hair. She looked beautiful, absolutely beautiful while she was pretending to sleep. “Morning.”

“It’s midnight.” Dru opened her eyes and gasped. His face had a few cuts on it and a big bruise above his eye. “Neville, what the hell did they do to you?”

“Oh, wrestled with some Death Eaters,” he shrugged and softly kissed her lips. “Lost my coin during the struggle so I couldn’t send you messages anymore, I’m sorry.”

“I’ve been worried sick about you.” She said with a small voice. “Why did you stay away for so long?”

“We ran into Fenrir Greyback during training.” He softly caressed her hair. “But it’s okay, I’m back now, and I’m not going anywhere for a while.”

Dru nodded as she caressed his cheek. “Did you catch him at least?

“Not really, but we’ll try again... or they will.” He softly kissed her lips. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you and the bump.”

Dru moved in the bed to make room for him to come and lay next to her. “We’ve missed you too.”

He crawled onto the bed and pulled her in his arms. “Get some sleep, we’ll talk in the morning, alright?” he smiled at her.

She nodded and crawled against him, but after a minute or two she looked up at him. “How did you know I was here?”

“Nearly headless... no wait... Fred told me.”

“Fred? He showed himself to you?” Dru was surprised, Fred only showed himself to Rose and Dru, not even to George.

“You’re surprised that he showed himself to me? He’s supposed to be dead and gone, not stick around as a ghost... is he the reason you wanted to be out of the apartment in the first place?”

Dru nodded. “I couldn’t handle it. Seeing him, knowing what I did to him, what we did to him. I just...I’m sorry.” she buried her face in his shirt. “Please don’t be mad at me.’

“I’m not mad,” he smiled at her and softly kissed the top of her head. “Go to sleep.”

“I can’t sleep, I’ve been asleep all day.” Dru looked up to him and kissed him. “I’ve missed you so much.” She kissed him again, more eager this time.

“Hmm... how about we’re going to see if I can take you home tomorrow? I’ll take care of you and the bump and make sure you’ll rest plenty.”

“I want to take care of you now.” Dru kissed him again. “I’ve really really really missed you.”

“Uhuh,” he chuckled and softly caressed her bump while he kissed her. “And I’ve really missed you too, but I hate to tell you that we can’t really make out now, we’re not at home. I haven’t been home yet, what did you do to our place? Oh, can’t believe we have our own place...”

“I don’t care that we’re not home. I missed you, Neville. It’s been a very long six weeks of sleeping next to the room where George and Rose are having sex.” She moved a little bit closer to him. “Didn’t you miss me?” she asked with a small voice.

“I just told you, I really missed you,” he chuckled softly and caressed her cheek. “And I’m not going anywhere for a while, so don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried.’ She smiled at him and let her hand wander down his chest towards his pants. “I just want you.”

“And I want you, but we’re at St. Mungo’s, just one more night in here, and I promise, you can do whatever you want with me when we get home.”

“I don’t want to wait.” Dru started kissing his neck as she gently started to open his shirt.

Neville groaned. After six weeks without Dru and basically on the move all the time, he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to sleep or try and have sex with her. “Want me to find the head nurse to ask if I can take you home now?”

“Yeah, go ask and if she says no, we’re sneaking off to the loo.” Dru started kissing his neck alone the thick vein. She knew there simply was no way he’d ever say no to her if she did that. It was his weak spot.

“And how are you even sure that will work with your bump? No no, if we do this, we’re doing this in a nice, comfy bed.” He groaned as he tried to get off the bed to find a nurse.

“If? No!” Dru put her arms around his waist and clung on for dear life while she started crying. “Please don’t go.”

“I’m not leaving you, you idiot,” he chuckled and caressed her hair. “I’m going to find the nurse and ask if I can take you home.”

Dru was still sobbing and holding on to his waist. “I’m not letting you go.’ she sulked.

“Alright, fine, we’ll stay here for the night then, but just enjoy the fact that I’m here, holding you then.” Neville said and softly planted a kiss on top of her head. “Don’t cry babe, I’m still here.”

Dru crawled against him again and put her arms tightly his neck. “Good! I don’t want you to go anywhere.” she wiggled a little bit to get closer to him, but it was difficult, because her bump was really getting in the way now with her being 7 months pregnant. “Uh... I hate my stupid belly. I don’t want to be pregnant.” She whined.

Neville rolled his eyes at her. “You should have thought about that before getting pregnant,” he chuckled and caressed her hair. “But I think you look absolutely beautiful though, and that bump of yours will start to disappear in about two months. You’re going to be fine.”

“But I want to feel your body against mine and this stupid bump is in the way.” she started crying again.

“Then turn around,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll hold you and you can feel my body against your back. Please don’t cry, it’s alright, for almost every problem there is a solution.”

Dru turned around and sniffed a little. “I’m sorry, I’m being horrible aren’t I? You just came home.”

“It’s alright,” he put his arms back around her and snuggled up against her. “Let’s just try to sleep a little, okay?” He softly started to kiss her neck. “Just take a deep breath, close your eyes and relax.”

“No, it’s not alright. I’m being completely selfish and I should be asking about how your weeks have been, it should be about you and I should be giving you a hand and....” Dru was crying again while she was ranting, making her almost hyperventilate. “I’m the worst girlfriend in the world. I can’t seem to do anything right, but George and Rose were...and you weren’t...and I …. and Kevin and Verity....and I...”

“Breathe,” Neville put his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it. “Take a deep breath and relax.” He said softly. “It’s alright, Dru. You’re the one in hospital, not me. You need to relax and stop worrying. Think of you first. You. Not me. You and the bump.”

Dru took a few deep breaths, turned her head and softly kissed him. “I’m so sorry, Neville.”

“For what? For being in the hospital because you need to be?” He smiled at her and put his hands back around her before caressing her bump again.

“I’ve been a bad girlfriend.” she said with a small voice as she put her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes.

“We’ll talk about why you’ve been a bad girlfriend later, right now I’m just very glad to be with my very beautiful girlfriend whom I haven’t seen for weeks... even though we’re in St. Mungo’s. Just go to sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Dru put her hand on the arms he had wrapped around her but she didn’t close her eyes. She didn’t want to, she was too afraid that this would all be a dream and that when she woke up he would be gone again, like he did in every one of her dreams lately. She let her fingers nails run up and down the exposed skin on his arm. She could tell he wasn’t sleeping either. “Are you hurt anywhere? Besides your face then. Any other cuts or bruises or things I need to care of?”

“Think of yourself, Dru.” Neville muttered, he was almost asleep. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere for a while, I told you.”

“Go to sleep, babe.” Dru gave him a kiss on his arm and kept quiet for the rest of the night, so Neville could get some sleep.

* * *

“Rosie? Are you almost ready? George called from the bottom of the stairs. “We need to go pick up Dru from the hospital. she was allowed to go home today, remember?”

“Can’t we just leave her there?” Rose moaned as she walked down the stairs. “I swear, she’s driving me nuts... we can’t do this anymore, George... I know she’s Dru and... but... you need your rest too, you know.”

“I know, I’ve talked it over with her aunt and we’re going to bring her there.”

Rose could hear a soft knock coming from upstairs and sighed. “Hold on, I think I forgot something.” She said as she turned around and walked back up the stairs and straight into Dru’s bedroom. “What?” she sighed as she opened a closet just for show, so that George wouldn’t get suspicious or anything.

‘You two are just going to dump her?” Fred said angrily.

“Have you seen your brother?” Rose shot at him. “I love Dru, you know that, but George is overwhelmed right now, he wants to do too much, he’s not allowing me to do much... the shop needs to be run, he’s still not over you, and he’s just so tired. I don’t want to lose my husband.”

“This is my house too, meaning that this is my wife’s house and my son’s house too. You have no right to dump her somewhere else. Besides George promised to look after her. And don’t give me the ‘she’s got Neville’ crap, because he hasn’t been here for weeks.” Fred shot back at her. “And if you want George to have it a bit easier, maybe you should take better care of yourself.”

“I am and you’re dead, Fred. George is doing everything he can to look after her and right now it’s better for her to go to Andromeda’s until Neville decides to show his face again because your brother is at wit’s end and I’m doing my absolute best lately to make sure that he gets his rest and takes it easy and doesn’t have to worry about me but you know how he is.”

“This is Dru’s house too. You can not just throw her out on the street. And she’s not going back to Neville. That idiot got her into the hospital by disappearing like that. What if he goes again? She can stay on her own. She’s staying here. That’s final!”

“Yes, and whatever the dead guy says goes, right?” Rose remarked sarcastically. “And that idiot disappeared so he could start with something to provide for your living wife and your almost living son, show some respect.”

“He might be her boyfriend, but I’m still her husband, dead or alive, and I’m sure George will feel the same way about Neville taking care of her, like I do.” Fred glared at her. “Why don’t we go and ask him?” 

“Oh gee, how about a ‘no’?” Rose bit at him. “Besides, weren’t you the one telling her to move on if something happened to you? She’s moving on, Fred. Let her go. Go be dead and keep your nose out of things you technically don’t have a say in anymore. Dru doesn’t want this apartment, she doesn’t want half of the earnings of the shop but we’re giving it anyway. She’s keeping it all for Freddie. George is my husband and he’s not doing so well. He can’t take care of two pregnant women. If I have to choose between George and Dru, then I’m sorry but I’m choosing him. And he agreed with the idea that we had to find someplace else for Dru to be resting and relaxing until Neville comes back so we’re sure that she gets the proper care that she deserves.”

“Yeah, because I thought he would take care of her, not run off for 6 weeks, leaving her so hopeless, that she end up in the hospital. She could have lost the baby, Rose. And besides George only wants Dru to go for you, if it was up to him, he’d let her stay. And he wants to take care of her even with Neville back.” Fred glared at her. “But if you don’t believe me, ask him yourself. Go ahead, Rose, asked him what he really wants.”

“Fred, even without Neville leaving she would have ended up at St. Mungo’s.”

“See, you’re too afraid to ask him, are you? Fine go to St. Mungo’s, George won’t let her go anywhere but here.” Fred said before disappearing

“Rose, what’s taking you so long?” George came into the bedroom just a fraction of second after Fred had disappeared.

Rose silently scowled and turned around with a smile. “I was just wondering... do you really want to take Dru to Andromeda and Teddy or would you rather keep destroying yourself and keep her here until Neville comes back?”

For a second George’s face turned angry before he took a deep breath and smiled at her. “You need your rest and she’s driving you mad, Andromeda loves to take care of her and maybe having Teddy around her will do her some good.” He had avoided eye contact with her throughout most of the conversation and turned around to grab Rose’s jacket. “So, shall we go?” 

“George, you can’t keep going on... I mean... you look better now than a couple of days ago when we had to take her to the hospital. Because you actually slept. Because you allowed Ron to do more around the shop. Isn’t one very pregnant wife more than enough for you to handle? Isn’t bringing Dru to Andromeda better for her too as Andromeda can give all of her attention to her instead of you trying to scrape by to make sure Dru’s alright?” She sighed and walked to him before putting her arms around him. “I want my husband back. My best friend. I understand that you feel obliged to take care of Dru because of Fred, but you can’t. Added to everything else, it’s just too much.”

“Look, Rose, what do you want from me? I’ve agreed to take Dru to her aunt.” George sighed. “Then when she had her baby, we’ll see where she’s going to stay.” He gave her a kiss and took her hand. “Let’s go.” 

_crack_

They walked to the elevator taking them up to the 7th floor, the maternity wing.

“No, George, I want you to be agreeing with me on this and if we don’t agree, we’ll talk about it, but you’re just doing what I want to make sure that I don’t get upset but I don’t want you to walk around on eggshells around me. I’m still your wife, and not a fat, bloaty, water retaining incubator for your child.” She growled.

“Rose, drop it.” George pressed on the button to make the elevator come. “We did talk about and we decided that taking Dru to her aunt was the best solution. So, why are you fussing over it now?” 

“Because you’re not happy... and I’ve seen you look at Dru... almost as if you’re married to _her_ and that you worship the ground that _she_ walks on.”

“Oh, god, Rose. Now you’re just being ridiculous. I’m not married to Dru. And no I’m not happy but that has nothing to with you.” They got into the elevator and when the door closed he softly kissed her. “I love you, Rose, not her.” 

“Then what is it, George? You’re unhappy because of Fred? You do realize that his baby won’t bring him back do you? Why are you so intent on trying to do everything for everyone and not for yourself? I’ve been trying to stay out of your way and go to your mum during the day or take Dru out with Fleur and...---”

George just took a deep breath. “I’m trying to everything for you, because I don’t want you to end up in the hospital like Dru. I’m doing everything I possibly can to keep you and our baby happy and healthy.” George sighed. “So, Dru’s going to her aunt for the time being, just until Georgianna is born and then we’ll see.”

“But you’re not happy.”

“Alright, Rosie, do you want to know what would make me happy?”

“You want me to shut up,” Rose bit her lip and leaned against the inside wall of the elevator. “Got it,” she said softly and caressed her bump. The baby was upset. Rose was trying not to become upset but the baby could feel it anyway. “Whatever you want, George. I’ll do whatever you want.”

George cupped her chin. “I want you and our little marshmallow to be happy and healthy and I’ll do anything to make that happen. Even sending Dru to her aunt.” He softly kissed her. “Now, will you please stop fussing.”

“But you’re not happy. If having Dru at the apartment while Neville’s away makes you happy, you should have her at the apartment. I can handle it, I’m sorry I complained.” She saw the look on his face. “I’ll shut up now. You want me to leave?”

George chuckled. “No, I want you to be happy, I can only be happy if you’re happy.” The doors of the elevator opened and they both got out. “Come on, let’s go and get Dru.”

The head nurse noticed them walking out of the elevator and greeted them with a big smile. “Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, good morning!”

George had taken Rose’s hand because she was lingering a bit behind him all of a sudden and smiled at the nurse. “Good morning, we’re coming to pick up Dru, is she ready?”

“Oh, she’s more than ready, Mr. Weasley,” the nurse nodded. “She’s still in bed. Her boyfriend joined her in the middle of the night last night and he’s still asleep. She told me that she doesn’t want anyone to wake him yet.”

“Neville’s home?”

“He arrived last night at the hospital sir.”

George’s face was looking like a thunderstorm ready to be unleashed. “Rose, sweetie, could you get Dru out of bed and gather her things please.”

Rose quietly nodded, even though her head was telling her ‘no’. She wanted George to be happy and if for some reason Neville wasn’t good enough anymore then so be it. She slipped her way into the ward and quietly made her way over to Dru’s bed where the sight of Dru being encased into Neville’s arms made her heart melt. They looked so adorable, so perfect for eachother. Neville looked all banged up, but it reminded Rose of the way things used to be. A time that seemed ages ago. “Good morning,” she smiled as she grabbed Dru’s bag and started to put her stuff in it. “Ready to go home?”

“Yeah, I just hate to wake up Neville. He’s been asleep since three and he really seems to need it.” Dru was gently caressing his arm. “I sort of went mental on him last night.”

She smiled at her. “Just make your way out of his arms and come with me, George is waiting.” She hated to say those words. It was so clear that Neville loved Dru to bits and that the first thing he did when he came home was to go and see Dru. She didn’t understand why George was all of a sudden against Neville taking care of Dru. “I’m not sure why but I get the feeling that he’s not too keen on Neville right now... Fred isn’t either, he got mad at me... so... just come and leave Neville to sleep.”

“I’m not leaving Neville here.” Dru said surprised as she sat up, not realising that would wake up Neville. “He’s taking me home today, to our home.”

“I’m just doing what George told me to do,” Rose gave a shrug. “I’m not happy about it, but he’s not happy so... just... I’m not... uhm... don’t shoot the owl?”

George came into the ward. “Are you ready to come home with us, Dru?”

“She’s coming with me, mate.” Neville said after he had observed the girls. Dru looked mortified and happy at the same time and Rose was just really demure. What was going on? “Thank you for looking out for her, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you that I was going to stay away a bit longer.”

“She’s coming home, Longbottom. And I mean her home, with us.” George’s voice was cold and unlike the George Neville knew.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, George, but whatever it is, this is not the place to discuss it. So yes, let’s go to your place, talk things through. Let the girls do something fun while we talk and then I’m going to take Dru home.”

‘You’re not setting one foot in my house, Longbottom, and Dru is staying with me. Dru pack your things.” he said demanding.

Dru put the last of her things in her bags but didn’t know what to do now. She wanted to stay with Neville, but on the other hand, she was very scared he might leave her on her own again.

“Not here, mate,” Neville glared at George. “You’re more than welcome to come to our place so we can talk things over.” He protectively put an arm around Dru. “But I think the ultimate answer to whether or not Dru comes home with you should be left to Dru. And honestly, if you keep behaving like a complete tosser, Rose is coming with me too.” He started to walk out of the ward with Dru.

George followed them and as soon as they were out of the ward and all the hallway, he grabbed Neville from behind and slammed him into a wall. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out?”

“George stop this.” Dru said scared.

“Have you completely lost your mind?” Neville shot at him. “We’re at a hospital, whatever I’ve done wrong, we can talk this over somewhere else and not in front of two pregnant ladies who are almost bursting out of their bodies because of high blood pressure.”

“Fine, Rosie, take Dru home, will you? I’ll come later.”

_crack_

Rose looked at Dru. She was scared. She had no idea what was going on and she could tell that Dru was scared too. “Come on, let’s get you to your place,” Rose said softly. “Get you settled on your sofa and uhm... I’ll make you some tea and stuff while we wait for Neville to return. Don’t worry about George.”

“Let’s just wait at your place.” Dru said. “Neville can get me there and then you don’t get into trouble with George as well.”

“I can handle George, I just want you to be safe,” she smiled at her. “At least in your own house you can feel more at ease and less stressy.”

“Okay.” Dru said with a small voice. Right now, she just wanted Neville back and hoped the boys wouldn’t get into a fight.

“I hope that Neville kicks George’s ass.” Rose grumbled as she took hold off Dru and apparated her into her apartment.

_Crack!_

George slammed Neville into the wall of the bedroom of the shrieking shack. “You good for nothing creep, Ginny was right about you, wasn’t she? Just couldn’t wait to get Fred out of the picture.”

“What are you talking about?” Neville pushed George away from him. “What’s gotten into you anyway?”

“What do you think, Longbottom?” George glared at him. “No, what would the brother of the dead husband of your girlfriend be mad at?”

“I don’t know,” Neville said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t young and impressionable anymore. George actually never really scared him, it was mostly Rose that had scared him in the past. “But if this is about Dru and Fred’s relationship problems after the first two months or so of their marriage then you should quit while you are ahead. It’s none of your business.”

“How did you do it? What kinds of lies did you whisper into Dru’s ear?”

“None. She was unhappy. She needed a friend to talk to who didn’t have anything to do with you, Fred, Rose or your family.”

“She was happy with Fred before she went back to school. Back to your group.”

“She wasn’t happy with Fred when she went back to school, she was already having second thoughts. We didn’t do anything wrong. I was her friend and that’s that. We’re not having this discussion, George. It’s none of your business.”

George punched Neville in his face. “Like hell it is, you slept with my brother’’s wife. And now you’re trying to steal his baby away from his family too, I’m not going to let that happen.”

Neville wiped his face with his sleeve. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been hit in the face over the last few weeks. Another bruise wouldn’t kill him. “I’m not going to steal Fred’s baby away from you and your family, George. He’s Fred’s. But he’s Dru’s kid and she’s my girlfriend. And right now, I don’t think you should come even close to Dru because frankly, you’re being an ass.”

“I think you should be the one to stay away from Fred’s wife.’

“Fred is dead, George. He’s not coming back. Fred sent her to me and I’m not going to allow you to take her back, you have no right, and Dru’s her own person.” Neville ducked when George took another swing at him. “Go on then, use me as your punching bag. I know you’re angry. I know you’re still grieving, but trying to keep a tight leash on Dru won’t work, George. Her kid might be Fred’s but it’s not Fred, it won’t bring him back.” He ducked again and spun around to avoid another blow.  
“You want to know what happened? You really want to know? Yeah, for a while, we were back together, until she told Fred that she wanted to leave him because she realized she had made a mistake of marrying too early, too young. Both she and Fred weren’t ready. Fred asked her for another chance and she gave it to him, so she and I ended things, and up until his last day, they were together again.” He shoved George away from him.  
“He told her to go and see if she still had a chance with me if something would happen to him. If you’re going to be mad at someone, be mad at Fred, but you won’t, will you? Because Fred is dead and Fred is holy, no one touches Fred, so you’re going after the one person you can hit because you don’t hit women. Classy.”

"You fucking little wanker!" George shot back. "You got it all figured out now, don't you? Neville Longbottom, the war hero! The leader of Dumbledore's army! Well it's Neville, the wife stealing asshole!" George managed to punch Neville in his stomach this time.

Neville grabbed George’s arm, twisted it behind his back, slammed him face forward against the wall and held him there. "You need to cool it, George!! Go home and take care of Rose.”

“Screw you, Longbottom,” George spat and tried to get out of Neville’s hold. “You didn’t have the right to steal her away from Fred. What’s next? Take Rosie too? They’re your girls, aren’t they?”

“I didn’t steal anyone, get over yourself George. Dru’s more than capable enough to know what she wants and doesn’t want and she can make her own decisions. Can’t you see that you’re suffocating her with your behavior?” Neville kept George down against the wall with his free hand. He was making sure that George was uncomfortable but he wasn’t going to hurt him because Rose wouldn’t like that and neither would Dru. “You’ve always been intense, you and Fred. Then you, Fred and Rose. And Dru later on. It’s not healthy, George, and I understand that you’ve lost your best friend, and he was a great man, but do not take your grief, your anger, out on me. What happened, happened. Deal with it.”

“She’s still coming with me.”

“You are in absolutely no position to tell her what to do. You never were. She’s not Fred. The baby is not Fred. It’s Fred’s, so it’s your family, but it’s not Fred. Dru’s her own person and you don’t have the right to order her around or direct her life. She doesn’t need your help. I was stupid in thinking that she’d be okay when I brought her to you and Rose while I was away but she’s a mess all thanks to you.”

Neville hadn’t been stealing Dru away from Fred. He had always made sure that Dru knew that at any given time, she’d just have to say the word and he’d back off. But she didn’t. Until Fred asked her for another chance and Neville had respected that. He had always respected Dru like that. Alright, so maybe that kiss was a bit ridiculous, but he had been desperate. But he had always respected Dru’s feelings for Fred and her marriage with him, and she always came to him. She had always made the first move.

“Are you really that stupid? She’s a mess because you left her and she didn't hear from you for weeks. I’m not the one who put her in the hospital, you did!” George still tried to wrestle himself out of Neville’s hold, while he wondered when wimpy Longbottom,got this strong.

“There wasn’t anything I could do, George. Ask Harry. We weren’t allowed to communicate with other people other than the people we were with and when we went after Greyback I lost the one way to communicate with Dru.”

“We did, he didn't know anything and he kept wondering where you were.”

“I haven’t spoken to Harry since he got badly hurt, but he was pretty out of it mate. We were together at all times.”

George took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, so Neville might let him go. His arms were starting to hurt now. “She was crying all the time, the last few weeks. So don’t you dare blame me for the fact that she’s a mess, that’s all your doing and as for Rosie, you have no idea how difficult she is when nobody else is around.”

“Fine, that’s my fault then. I haven’t actually had the chance yet to talk to Dru since I got back. And I will talk to her about it, but I had explained to her from the beginning that one way or the other I’d always come back. And as for Rose, I’m not going to say anything about that because that’s your own life. Your private life. Your marriage. Your wife, not mine, but I saw how scared she was at the hospital and she wasn’t her usual self on hormones either. Then you start having a go at me, and she was... look, I get it that she’s a handful and especially now and that it’s hard to deal with her but you have a huge family you can fall back on. Use them. But you’re not going to interfere with Dru again, you hear me?”

George gave a little chuckle. “You don’t get it do you? Do you really think I’m going to let you near her again, now that I know what kind of a wanker you are? You ruined my brother’s marriage, I’m not letting his child be raised by the prick that was shagging his wife while they were still married. and as for my family, do you really think they’ll think any different about this then I do? Well, that just shows, you really are an only child.” George finally managed to get out of Neville’s hold and turned around.

“And you still don’t know how to listen, because I told you to ask your family for help where it concerned your wife.” Neville took a step back. “I didn’t steal her, George. She came to me. Fred sent her to me after that. But let her decide what she wants, don’t make the decisions for her, she’s not a kid anymore.”

“He would have never done that, if he had known what you were doing. And she is my business, she’s my sister and I’ve looking out for her for the last 6 weeks, comforting her every night as she was crying herself to sleep. Yeah, Fred wanted you to take care of her, but you haven’t been doing that, have you? I have, Rose has, Fleur and mum have, not you.”

“No, stupid Neville Longbottom decided to become an Auror as that meant that he’d earn money, get a flat quicker because of the Ministry and all other things so he can take care of Dru. He’s even moving away from his elderly gran so he can take care of his girlfriend and her unborn child. No, I’m not taking care of her and I’m not doing the best that I can to make sure that she has a home and food and money to buy stuff.”

“You two have money enough, you didn’t need to work as an auror to that. That’s just you being …..well you, trying to save the world again, like Harry.” George glared at him. “Don’t even start with the sad poor Neville doing his best story.’

“What money?”

“The money in Dru’s safe.” George narrowed his eyes at Neville. “She’s part owner of the shop, she owns half of the shop, Fred left it to her. So Rose and I opened a safe months ago and put weekly earnings in it. So stop with this no money sad story and my parents never had any money, but my dad never left my mother for weeks on end, without figuring out some way of communicating.”

“I had a way to communicate with Dru but I lost it. And she never told me about the money.”

‘Well, maybe she’s not sure about the two of you in the end. i mean, if she doesn't even tell you that. So if you don't mind. I’m going home and make the girls some tea. If you behave we might send you a card when the girls have had their babies, I’ll send Ron over for Dru’s stuff. Goodbye Longbottom.”

_crack_

“Rose?” George called, but the apartment seemed empty. “Dru?”

Neville followed George and went to his apartment. “Let her decide, George, not you.”

“Didn’t I tell you you’re not welcome here anymore.” George groaned as he walked upstairs. “Girls?”

“I’m not giving up that easily. Where are they George?”

“Go home, Neville.” George spat him, before he froze. “No, Rose, I said our flat.” he muttered, realizing that Rose had probably brought Dru to Neville’s flat instead. He went down the stairs, made his way through the busy shop and went out the front door. He walked to Neville’s flat.

Neville sighed and was following George. “Where are you going?”

“Go away.” He stood still in front of a door but didn’t knock yet. He wanted Neville to go away first. “Do you need to tell your gran that you’re still alive?”

“Ah, so this is where I live then.” Neville remarked and knocked on the door.

Dru opened the door and immediately put her arms around Neville’s neck as soon as she saw him. “What the hell is going on? We have been waiting for you two for two hours.”

“Oh nothing, just some pent up frustration.” He smiled at her as he took her hand. “George was kind enough to show me where we live,” he looked over his shoulder to George and narrowed his eyes on him as Dru took him inside. “We need to talk though, you and I. A serious long talk,” he said to Dru.

“Dru, sweetheart, are you sure you won’t be more comfortable in our flat? Then Rose and I can look after you and little Freddie.” George said as he followed the up the stairs to the flat that was above Burkin and Borkes. “I know Rose would love for you to stay longer and I would love that too.”

Dru shot a look at Neville. “But Nev and I got our own flat now.” She took him with into a large room, that was their sitting room.

“Yeah, that was what I’ve been telling him, but it’s up to you babe.” Neville smiled at her. “Wow, this is amazing! You’ve done a great job with this! Please tell me that you had help.”

“Dean and Seamus came to help, but I picked out all the stuff.” She smiled at him. “And the sofa that Rosie is wearing in for us.” She pointed at Rose who was lying on the sofa reading a book.

George went to Rose and gave her a kiss on his lips. “Remember you told me, you wanted me to be happy?” he whispered.

“She’s not a puppy, George, you can’t keep her.” she muttered and got up after putting the book away. “Let’s go home.”

George blinked at her. “Are you kidding me right now? I’m not letting her and the baby with _him_ not after what he’s done.”

“Please, let’s just go home and let Dru welcome Neville home the proper way.” Rose said as she looped her arm through his. “Please?”

“Are you seriously taking his side over mine? For merlin’s sake! The bastard has been screwing my brother's wife behind his back.”

“No, George. I... we’ll talk about this at home, let’s go home.” Rose wasn’t surprised to hear that, but unlike George, she had seen them rekindle their relationship as friends and it had been all good.

“Rose, he screwed my brother’s wife behind Fred’s back.” He said not getting why she was okay with this. His Rose would never had been okay with that.

“Sweetie, I heard you the first time, but...” she bit her lip. She didn’t want to get into a fight with George, he’d get angry and she’d be sad and he had truly scared her with his behavior in the hospital. “Let’s just go home and talk, okay?” she wanted George out of Dru’s house.

“Fine, you go home, then. I’ll go to my mum.’ George pulled his arm away from her.

“No, George, wait...” she said with a small voice. “Don’t leave me.” She took hold of his arm again and looked at Dru. “Is it true though, what he’s saying?”

“I...” Dru looked at Neville, she wasn’t quite sure what to say now. “Well, sort of.”

“Sort of?” Rose blinked. “You were doing him while still being married to Fred? That’s not sort of, that is... I know you and Fred weren’t doing so well but how could you, Dru?”

Dru cowered behind Neville. “I was going to file for divorce.”

“Yeah, but you hadn’t yet, had you.” George shot at her. “And now you want to raise my brother’s kid with the guy you cheat on with Fred.’

“George, we can talk without throwing words at each other, please.” Rose gently squeezed his arm. “Dru, how could you? It’s just wrong. Would you have done the same thing if you’d been married to Neville but it was going bad and gone to Fred? Would you? Do the words ‘forever’ don’t mean anything to you? Couldn’t you at least have waited until you’ve filed the papers?”

Dru started crying . “Look, we can’t take it back, if we could, we would have.’ she crawled even a bit further behind Neville. This was what she had been scared of.

“Fine, you can’t, but you and make it right now.’ George said, trying to stay calm, for Rose’s sake. “Just come with us and cut Neville out.” he reached out his hand to her.

Neville sighed and put an arm around Dru. “Look, I’m not going anywhere. You and I need to have a long, serious talk about things because we’ve overlooked a couple of things. But I completely understand if you’d rather go with your brother in law.”

“No, I want to stay with you.” she said with a small voice. “Please don't send me away.”

Neville looked at George. “You’ve got your answer. Now what?”

“Dru, come home with us. You and your baby are Weasleys. You belong with us, not with him.’ George looked at Rose for help.

“She’s not a Weasley,” Rose softly spoke after a moment of thought. “The baby is, but Dru didn’t think about the one important trait that all Weasleys have, even me and Fleur, and that’s that family goes first. She shouldn’t have had an affair with Neville behind Fred’s back, no matter how bad their marriage was getting.”

“Rose, I’m not letting Longbottom raise Fred’s kid.”

“I’m not going to leave Neville.” Dru said bravely.

“Yes you are. You’re a Weasley and Longbottoms are not welcome anymore with any Weasley from now on. So you two are coming with us.” George took Dru’s hand and pulled her away from Neville. “You, stay away from the shop, the burrow, the flat and most of all, her and the baby.” he shot at Neville, as he stood in front of Rose and Dru.

“Rose, what do I do?” Dru asked.

“I’m not going to tell you what to do,” Rose said and shook her head. “It’s your decision, but we’re not going to be able to be friends anymore. I thought I knew you better than this. I thought that you’d understand and respect the man you married and I don’t care that you were thinking about leaving Fred, you should not have gone to Neville before you made it final. I don’t want you around my family anymore. Not around me and George, and certainly not around _my_ baby in case you’ll corrupt her with your shifted sense of morality. It hurts, Dru. You’ve... I... Fred was the best thing that ever could have come across your path, you landed in a great tight-knit family and ... you’ve hurt me, Dru. But if you think that it’s best for you to come with us, then I’m not stopping you. I’m not going to stop you from staying with Neville either because you’re going to be a great mum, but I do not want you around my kid. I don’t even want you around George anymore because I’m afraid that you might steal him from me now too. He’s been so obsessed with you and comforting you while Neville was away I started to think that you two were the married couple, I don’t want that!” Rose was crying and she wasn’t making any sense anymore. “I know that everyone makes mistakes, but this is just...”

“Rose, no.” Dru started crying and wanted to hug her to make things right, but George pulled Rose away from her.

“Do you want to go, sweetie?” George asked as he gently rubbed her back.

“I’m sorry, Dru...” Rose said softly as she put her arms around George. “I really am.” She then looked at George and nodded.

“Fine, then the both of you are no longer welcome, at the burrow, The flat or the store of any other house a Weasley lives in.” George put his arms around Rose.

_crack_

Dru sat down on the sofa and started sobbing. This was exactly what she had been afraid of.

Neville sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “It’ll be okay, Dru. They’ll come around.” He tried to convince himself too as he spoke the words. Rose had always been a good friend and George... well he was George. “Give them some time, they’ll come around.”

Dru put her head on his shoulder. “I don’t think they will.”

“Yeah they will. You know Rose. She loves you. She’s hurt right now, but she’ll come around. And when she does, so will George.”

Dru nodded and dried her eyes. “I’m so sorry, this is not how I wanted to welcome you home.”

“It’s okay,” he smiled at her. “I’ve been through worse.” He softly planted a kiss on her head. “How about you rest some and I’ll pop into the Leaky Cauldron to get us some food? We’ll plan tomorrow for our talk day.”

“I’ve made you Shepherd's pie.” Dru pointed to the kitchen.

“Seriously?” he smiled widely. “I’d rather have that!”

“I need to tell you something.’ Dru sat up straight again and took his hands in hers. “Well, I’ve talked to Fred, his ghost then, and he told me something.” she smiled at him.

“What?”

“I’m having a boy.” She knew that neville had been bummed out about not finding out the sex of the baby, because they couldn’t go back to the muggle obstetrician.

“I kind of figured that,” he chuckled and softly kissed her. “That’s great!”

“Wanna see what Dean did with Freddie’s room?” she tried to get up, but her bump was stopping her.

“Yes, give me the grand tour of our house then,” he gently helped her off the sofa. “But then, I’m going to heat up the Shepherd’s Pie, you’ll be on the sofa and relaxing. I’ll even give you a nice foot rub after dinner.”

Dru giggled. “Nev, I’m not tired.” she softly kissed him. “I’ve got energy for ten, I’m just so happy you home.” She took his hand and took him three steps up into a big country kitchen, that had a table in the middle and lots of counterspace. “Well, this is our kitchen. Gran helped with picking the stove.”

“Ugh, I should go to gran tomorrow.” He chuckled and looked around. “It’s gorgeous.”

She took him then back into the sitting room and went to two rooms at the back. “This is the eating room, and that is the playroom for all the toys and stuff. So we can keep the sitting room a little bit tidy.” she chuckled. “Or at least try to.”

“Aw, but it’s fun to trip over toys in the sitting room,” he chuckled.

She waddled up the stairs, stopped halfway and looked at him. “I’ve got you a playroom too, wanna see?” She gave him a devilish smile.

“Oh really now? Does it have a mattress?” he smirked.

“No, but it’s got a lot of nice smells.” Dru smiled as she walked onto the landing and stood against a door facing Neville. “Lots and lots of nice flowery smells. Wanna guess what it is?’

“Uhh... I could try but fail?”

“Well, it smells like flowers and plants and it’s got lots of nice and colorful things and a running water.” She softly kissed him. “And I think you’re going to _love_ spending time in here. “Well, do you know what it is yet?” She smiled when she saw him grin as he tried to put all the pieces together.

“Too tired to think properly,” Neville chuckled. “Would be weird if you’d build a greenhouse in there!”

“It would be really weird, wouldn’t it?” Dru smiled at him. “But I do know how much you love your plants.”

“Seriously? You built a greenhouse inside the house?”

“Well, maybe.” She took a step away from the door. “Well have a look.’

Neville eyed her for a moment and opened the door. “Yep, great greenhouse,” he said with a nod. “I’m going to love my playroom!”

Dru giggled. “It’s the laundry room, but it has nice flowery smells in it.”

“I actually hadn’t thought that the house would be finished when I got back,” he turned around and smiled at her before planting a soft kiss on her lips. “This must have cost a fortune.”

Dru shrugged. “I got most of it second hand or on sale, just Freddie's room is all brand new.” she pointed at the room at the other end of the landing.

“As it should be,” he gave a nod and walked towards the room. “Oh wow, this is amazing Dru!”

“Well, I thought with his father, mother, mother’s boyfriend and almost all his uncles and aunties in Gryffindor, red and gold would be nice. Did you see that?’ Dru pointed at the left wall, which had a floor to ceiling mural on it of Hogwarts and the surrounding grounds.

“That’s absolutely brilliant. Did Dean do this for you?”

“For us.” Dru stood behind him and put her arms around him. “For me, for you and for Freddie.” she gave him a kiss on his shoulder. “They’re really happy for us, living together and stuff.”

“I know,” he smiled at her. “They’ve always been very supportive of us, haven’t they?” He turned around, put his arms around her and softly kissed her. “We should invite them over for dinner or something.”

“Well, I was sort of thinking for Christmas, and then Gran, Aunt Andy and Teddy and maybe we could invite Luna to stay here for the Christmas holiday. With her dad still missing and stuff, it might be nice for her to stay with friends.”

“Brilliant,” he smiled and gently scooped her up in his arms. “Now, I require some food first before you’re showing me the rest of the house.”

“Neville, I’m too heavy to be scooped up. Put me down, you idiot.” she giggled.

“Nah.” He laughed and started to walk down the stairs with her. “You’re as light as a feather. Harry weighs a ton of bricks.”

“But I wanted to show you the bedroom.” she pouted. “And we have two guest rooms, so gran can stay over as much as she wants to.”

“Yes, like I said, I want some food before you show me the rest because I don’t think we’ll be leaving the bedroom after entering it.” He grinned as he gently set her down on the floor once he had reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Well, we do still need to christen the sofa too.” she eagerly kissed him.

“Food.” He said while they were kissing. He lifted her up again and planted her on the sofa and put her legs on the table before breaking off the kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

Dru pouted and crossed her arms. She stayed like that until he got back.

“Aw, look at that! An adorable little ball of fluff is sitting on the sofa, waiting for some food and her boyfriend.” He chuckled and sat down before handing her a plate. “Give me a smile.”

“Give me your cock.” she grinned at him, at the exact moment he put the food in his mouth.

He nearly choked on his food and blinked at her. “Later.”

She pouted again as she began to eat. “It’s already a day later than the last time you said that.”

“Yes, but I haven’t eaten proper food in ages and as much as I want to ravage you... gently... I am hungry.”

Dru finished her plate quietly and brought her plate to the kitchen when she was done. She got out one of the muggle beer she know he loved and took it back to the sofa. “Look what I got you!”

“Yep, I’m never going to let you go now,” he said with a wide smile on his face.

“You better not.” She smiled as she sat down on her knees on the sofa, she had no patience to wait till he was done eating and started kissing his neck.

It was hard not to get distracted by her wonderful lips on his skin while he was eating. He eventually set the plate down on the table, took a sip or three of the beer and kissed her tenderly on the lips. “Alright, let’s get you comfortable.”

Dru started to unbutton his shirt. “Let’s get you naked.” She had been wanting him for six weeks now and she was a bit impatient.

“Hmm... let me finish my plate.” He grinned and reached for his plate again, he loved teasing her when she was impatient.

“No.” She hit him on his chest. “Come on. I’ve missed you.” She put her hand on the growing bulge in his pants. There was no denying that he wanted her too. “Didn’t you miss me?” she pouted and batted her lashes at him.

He laughed and got up from the sofa. He then lifted her up in his arms and made sure that she was comfortable. “Show me the way to our bedroom then, I’m going to take us there.”

“The one next to Freddie’s room.” Dru went back to kissing his neck as she was in his arms. “Just please don’t drop me down the stairs though.” she said a bit worried.

“You’re not heavy,” he chuckled and then shrugged. “Besides, if you fall, it means that I’ve fallen as well, so you’ll probably land right on top of me.”

“And then Freddie will be squashed.”

“I won’t drop you, trust me,” he said as he continued to take the stairs. “So, do you have any idea what you’re planning on doing to me? Or can I start planning on spoiling you rotten?”

“Well, I was going to tie you up, but that was 4 weeks ago.” she smiled. “And I’ve been very neglected now, so it’s spoiling time.”

“Brilliant!” He chuckled and opened the door to the bedroom. “Oh, we have a big bed! No more fooling around on a single or hitting our heads against the wall!”

“I know, I thought you’d like that.” Dru licked his earlobe. “I got the biggest bed could find.” 

“Perfect.” Neville smiled at her as he laid her down on the bed.

Dru pulled Neville down next to her and kissed him passionately. She continued unbuttoning his shirt before pulling it off him and throwing it on the floor. Like she feared, he had quite a few cuts and bruises on him, but luckily the cuts were healing and the bruised were fading away. Dru let her fingers slide down his chest, and neville winced when she touched his stomach, where George had hit him. “Neville?” 

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” He softly kissed her.

Dru had seen more then enough injuries to know this was a new injury. She gently pushed Neville away from her. “Did George hit you?” 

“I said, it’s fine.” Neville moved back towards Dru and kissed her again. 

“Neville! He hit you!” She smacked him on the head. “That’s not fine.”

“He didn’t hurt me that bad babe,” he replied and caressed her cheek. “George... he’s got a lot of anger and rage inside of him and he needed to let some steam off. To be honest, I’d rather had him hit me than someone else, like you or Rose.”

“He’d never hit women.”

“No, but maybe one day he would.” He kissed her again. “And he didn’t hurt me that much, he’s a big guy but he’s not a physical fighter. Let’s just stop worrying about them, okay? Let’s focus on us. They’ll be alright.”

That night, Dru experienced one of the best sex she had ever had. Both she and Neville wanted each other so badly but with the bump in the way they had to come up with some creative ways to get what they desired. For the first time in weeks, Dru was able to sleep soundly again, comfortably wrapped up in Neville’s arms. 

Yeah, she was going to miss Rose, but maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. Dru knew that she needed to learn to be independent and live her own life, her own chosen path, without the constant interference of George and Rose. She had tried it before, it was one the primary reason she had wanted to get out of the apartment. George was worse though. He had been ever since Fred died and she could see now that it hadn’t been good. Dru knew that she was going to be okay, and that the baby would be okay. She just hoped that Rose would be okay, despite being mad at her. Wasn't Rose the one who suggested that if Dru was unhappy, she needed to change something in her life? And how could Rose accuse her of wanting to steal George away from her, if anything Dru had been trying to hold them together over the last few weeks? She knew that George was struggling and Rose didn't seem to know how to help him. But that was their problem now, she was going to concentrate on her own little family from now on.


	64. Freddie

When she and George came home after the fight with Dru and Neville, Rose didn’t know what to do anymore. George was still fuming and had stormed off to the now empty store to cool down and Rose was just wondering what the hell just had happened. Had she really told her best friend that she didn’t want to see her anymore?

She hated herself right now. Ever since the battle she had felt out of place, out of pace and completely clueless and she tried her best to keep it all together and not being such a terrible pain in the neck for George now that she was pregnant because he had his own crap going on and then Fred’s death added to it, they both weren’t their best. Not at all.

While she was cooking dinner for her and George, she came to the conclusion that nobody had been the same after everything that had happened, that everyone was simply pretending to be alright for the sake of it and it wasn’t a good thing. She was also a big hypocrite, according to herself, because she didn’t want to see Dru anymore for not respecting her vows and basically turning her back on the entire family, but Rose hadn’t been quite the saint either.

Rose had been moody, selfish, fat and ugly for months and she should have been trying to help her husband, stand behind him, do more for the shop and help him deal with the loss of his best friend in a better way than she had already done. Maybe losing her own best friend now, was just bad karma.

She saw something move in the corner of her eye and knew that it wasn’t George. She could still hear things being thrown against walls in the basement. “Fred.”

“Rose.”

“Are you happy now, Fred?”

“No.”

“Neither am I.”

“It’s not her fault, you know. I kinda suspected it to happen anyway.”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Rose shook her head as she checked on the potatoes, they were nearly done. “Maybe it’s a good thing, this. We were too close.”

“True.”

“But Fred?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to see you anymore either, and I swear to God, if you show yourself to George, I will kill myself and kill you again in the afterlife.” She was gripping the kitchen counter with her hands. “Go and be with Dru and Neville, but stop trying to help.”

Fred grumbled and disappeared. 

Rose took a deep breath. She had felt the baby kick her kidney and at the same time she felt her stomach contract a little. She needed to sit down and rest, but dinner wasn’t ready yet and she didn’t want to anger George more. Dinner had to be made. “Sorry baby,” she said softly as she took another deep breath and continued finishing up dinner.

Maybe it was a good thing that they weren’t happy with Dru right now. Rose had been too scared that George would choose Dru over Rose anyway because she’s carrying his dead brother’s kid and they had become even closer during the weeks that Neville had been away. And Rose had let it happen, because Fred was still a touchy subject for George and since Dru was carrying Fred’s baby... 

She sighed when she sat down in the chair, waiting until everything was truly cooked. Rose knew she wasn’t perfect either. She had gone from big mouth Rosie to a heap of nothingness. Had she been in the right frame of mind when she had gotten pregnant, she would have tried talking George out of the idea of having a baby so soon. Not that she didn’t love children, or George, but because they weren’t ready. They weren’t, and still aren’t, emotionally whole. 

Oh she knew that George wouldn’t do anything to hurt her or his baby, but she was scared anyway. She was glad that she didn’t have to be Wonder Witch Rose anymore and just be herself, but she didn’t know how. She had everything she had ever dreamed of and more and she was trying to make her husband happy but she could tell that besides Dru, other things were bothering him.

She sighed and got up again to put the plates on the table and the cutlery and put a glass of wine on the table on George’s side and a glass of water on her own side. She finished dinner and then walked to the stairs. “George, honey? Dinner’s ready, are you coming?”

“No,” George’s voice sounded and she could hear him walk up the stairs. “I’m going to my parents and talk to them about Dru. You’re going to stay here, eat and then go to bed. You’re not going to Dru and Neville’s.”

“George, you need to eat.”

“I’ll have some later.”

_Crack!_

Rose blinked. He sure wasn’t going to let this rest for a while. She sighed again and made her way back to the kitchen where she ate, cleaned her things and put George’s food in the oven before making her way upstairs and took a nice hot bath to soak in before crawling into bed.

On Halloween George was sleeping on the sofa before dinner after having dealt with the Halloween craze in the shop. Everyone wanted candy to make people laugh and not the sweet Honeydukes candy to hand out to children going door to door. Rose woke him up for dinner, but after eating some he fell asleep again. They still hadn’t talked things over like they usually did, and she figured that he didn’t want to talk about it. All she could do was to be her best, don’t whine about something and make sure that George ate.

She was surprised to find Kingsley Shacklebolt in the shop in the first week of November. She was helping Verity cleaning up a few boxes of Decoy Detonators as some idiot bumped into the shelf holding them and some boxes fell to the floor and opened. It was a mess. George and Ron were downstairs working on stocking up on the whizbangs and other fireworks and had banned Rose from the basement due to the fumes and other potential harmful things.

“Minister, what a surprise,” Rose greeted as she slowly got off the floor. “What brings you here?”

“Hello Rose, you look absolutely radiant today!” He smiled at her. “I’m afraid that I’m here on official Ministry business and even though I could have sent Percy over or anyone else for that matter, I wanted to do this in person. Is there somewhere we could talk?”

“Uhm, sure.” she said warily and pointed towards the stairs. “Let’s go upstairs, I’m banned from the basement.”

Shacklebolt gave a chuckle and followed Rose up the stairs. 

“Would you like some tea?” Rose asked as she pointed towards the sofa for the Minister to sit down. 

“No, that’s alright,” he said while he sat down and Rose followed by sitting down in her comfortable chair filled with pillows. “I’m here to talk to you about something close to your heart.”

“I already told you, I’m not going to work for the Ministry.”

“Which is a loss for me, but that’s not it.” Shacklebolt looked a bit uneasy, as if he didn’t know what to say or how to bring this to her. “I’m here because of your father. Now, had it been anyone else, we would have just gone ahead and not inform anyone about it, but I know that despite everything he has done, you love him.”

Rose blinked. She had known that her father was somehow still alive after what happened while she and Dru went shopping a couple of months ago but hadn’t given it a second thought. “I do, I did. But he stopped being my father after the Dementor’s kiss.”

He gave a slow nod. “I don’t know how this is even possible, but your father is still alive. Well, his shell is. We never really figured out how much of a person is being kept inside after a kiss, but it seems that your father... well his _shell_ isn’t giving up. But he’s in a terrible state, Rose. He lost a lot of weight, he is... of course, not responsive, not talking, not aware of his surroundings. He’s just... there. After all these years, it’s a miracle that he’s not dead yet.”

“So, why are you here?”

“It’s inhumane to let someone continue living like this. We’ve resorted to ways to keep him alive by feeding him through some Muggle medical equipment but he is a criminal, he has no life, and we decided we want to terminate him.”

“Right.”

“We usually don’t ask living relatives for their consent, but...”

Rose took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ve already said my goodbye to him right before the old Minister of Magic brought a Dementor with him when he came to pick up my father. As you said, he stopped being a living person after the kiss, and you should do what you have to do. I’ve been mourning him and my grandfather already, I do not wish to do that again now that I’m doing alright without them. Thank you for thinking of me, but I’d rather had you hadn’t.”

Kingsley gave a nod and rose from the sofa. “If there’s anything I can do for you and George...”

“Thank you, Minister.” Rose smiled at him and hauled herself out of the chair. “Have a good day.”

_Crack!_

Rose sighed and made her way to the kitchen to make sandwiches for everyone as it was nearly lunch time. Sometimes the nicest gestures from other people hurt so much and all she could do was ignoring it, and move on.

After she made a huge pile of sandwiches for the boys and Verity and set a pot of tea on the table as well, she made her way down half way down the stairs to the landing and waved at Verity. “Once these customers are gone, close the door, call the boys. Lunch is ready.”

“Yes Mrs. Weasley,” Verity smiled at her. 

Rose went back upstairs and nestled herself and the bump in her comfortable chair with a book in one hand and a pile of sandwiches in the other. For the next half an hour or so, she didn’t have to move.

Ten minutes later, George, Ron and Verity walked into the sitting room. “Hiya Rose!” Ron greeted her with a big smile on his face. Both he and George had black smudges of grease or explosive powder on their faces and Rose was wondering if their clothes were clean but didn’t say anything because George had gotten angry with her this morning for not having cleaned his favorite pair of clothes yet (which he had discarded in the hamper the day before so she told him to stop being impatient). No, the less Rose said about George and his way of doing things recently and the less Rose asked him to do something for her, the better. It meant a happy George.

“Hiya Ron, you two having fun downstairs?” she smiled at them. 

“Oh tons!” Ron grinned as he sat down and started to dig into the sandwiches. “We’re trying something new and we almost got it to work.”

“Sounds great,” Rose still smiled as she took a sip of her tea. “George? Can I go to the supermarket later? I can’t make dinner tonight as we’ve got a little bit of everything that doesn’t mix together.”

“Yeah I’ll come with you.” George asked as he took another sandwich. “Or would you rather have Ron come with you?” 

Rose sighed. She’d rather go _alone_ but George didn’t want her to go out on her own anymore. He didn’t want to risk her running into Dru or go into labor right on the spot. “I don’t mind, I just need to go and get us some food, that’s all.”

“I know, but I rather not have you carry heavy groceries.” George said. “I’ll come with you, but don’t worry, I won't interfere with what you want to buy.” He was tired and rather stayed out of Rose’s way, since their fight that morning, where he lost his temper after his clothes weren’t washed yet and Rose and the previous three outfits he had put on that morning, Rose had disapproved of. But he still was not going to let her carry the groceries by herself. 

“You could always come to mum’s,” Ron shrugged. “I mean, she doesn’t mind if you two stay over for dinner.”

George looked at Rose, he was not going to say yes or no, because Rose would not agree with him anyway, he was just going to let her choose.

“Whatever George wants,” Rose gave a nod with a smile and got up from her chair. “I’m going upstairs for a bit to do the laundry and take a nap.” She softly kissed George on his lips and walked up the stairs.

“I’ve already put everything in the washing machine this morning.” George called after her and sighed. He rubbed his eyes. 

“It’s fine, then I can put it on the clothing line!” Rose called back as she nearly tripped over her own feet. She bumped into a wall and steadied herself. “Ow.”

George skipped a few steps on the stairs as he rushed to Rose. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, don’t mind me, just me being stupid and almost tripping over my own feet.”

“Let me help then.” George sighed and started to empty the washing machine into the basket.

“No, you’re too tired. Between your shop and dealing with me you’re too tired, let me do all the house stuff.”

“Rose, you’re nearly 8 months pregnant. You need to rest more.” George said. “I’m not telling you can’t do anything, but let me help.” 

“But you’re too tired! If I do all the housework, then you can rest more.”

George leaned on the washing machine and sighed again. “Rose... doing nothing is not going to make me less tired, I can’t sleep that’s why I’m tired.” He gave her a kiss on her forehead. “Just let me help you.”

“Why can’t you sleep?”

He shrugged as he handed her the small stuff to hang on the washing line, while he handled the bedlinen. “Just bad dreams, nothing new.” 

“About what?” She started to sort the socks before hanging them on the clothing line. She liked having them all together so when they were dry she didn’t have to look for a matching pair. Of course, there were easier ways to do the laundry.

“Just... look it’s fine.” George turned around and knocked over the basket with clips. “Damn it.” he kneeled down and started to pick them up. “I’m not much of a help today, I’m afraid.” 

Rose flicked her wand a few times and saw how the laundry started to hang itself and the nippers go back into their basket. “Come on, you need an afternoon nap, just like me.”

He nodded and crawled onto their bed as he laid on his side, facing the wall. He had the distinct feeling that Rose was pretty much done with him touching her, so he kept to his own side and didn’t look at her, so he wasn’t tempted to hold her. 

She blinked when she saw how eager he was not to lay so that it was easy for her to crawl into his arms. Rose slowly got into bed but couldn’t get comfortable and even with getting a few extra pillows she wasn’t fine. She then just sat up against the headboard and hugged a pillow to her chest while she tried not to cry. She was a burden to him, she knew that, but for him to show that in such a manner really hurt.

He turned his head around. “Sweetie, you can’t take a nap sitting up. Why don’t you lay down?” he sat up too and looked at her. “You know you need to take your naps, so you and Gianna get enough rest.” 

“I... can’t get comfortable and you...” she tried to stop herself from crying but the dam was already breaking. 

“I’m sorry, Look why don't I go and sleep on the sofa?” He sighed, she didn't even want him in the bed anymore. 

“You don’t want me anymore. You’re mean and cranky and I try to be my best and do everything you want me to do and clean and cook and... you’re tired and I can’t do anything about it and...” she sobbed. “Sleeping on the sofa? Again? Really? Why won’t I just go away? I mean, this is your house, if you don’t want me anymore, I should be the one to leave! Me and my fat ass!” She threw a pillow through the room but it wasn’t helping.

“Me not want you? It’s the other way around, Rose. You have been barking at me for months now, everytime I try to help you or do something to make things easier on you, you call me just about every name in the book.” He moved so he was opposite of her now. “I’m always leaving, because clearly I’m an irritation to you and by extension Gianna.” He sighed.

“Why do you think that I’m trying to make you do less, George? I want to do things too! I feel so useless! You want to do everything for me and it’s annoying so yeah, I get annoyed by that and yell at you because you don’t listen!” She sobbed and hugged her pillow tighter. “And I’m trying to stay out of your way and do what you want so that you don’t get angry with me for being stupid or for being useless. And I get it, you know, if you want to leave me, I mean... if you want to try to steal Dru from Neville, I can completely understand that because she... she’s better than I am and she even looks better than me even though she’s just as far along as I am and... ---”

“You know what, maybe I will.” George got off the bed. “I mean, she’s a lot easier to handle. She listens to the nurses in the hospital, so Neville doesn't get yelled at every time they go, that he doesn’t do enough to help her. Dru doesn’t complain about what clothes Neville wears, or yell at him for not cleaning up the mess she made.” He started crying himself now. “But seeming as she doesn't want me and I’m so not love in with my _sister_ , I’ll just pack my stuff and go to mum, so you can find yourself a better husband, one that is more patient, one that doesn't get cranky when he hasn’t sleep proper for months, because he’s having dreams where he has to bury his wife and unborn child, because she doesn't get it in her stupid head, that if she doesn't slow down she will lose the baby and possible her life.” he shot at her, before he rubbed his eyes. “See, it should have been me, not him.” he muttered to himself.

“Oh for god’s sake, George!” Rose shot at him through her tears. “I’ve only helped Verity clean up the decoy detonators today because someone knocked the shelves over and you were having fun with Ron today and I made lunch. Then I sat down. That’s all I did today. I’m taking it easy!”

“And the laundry, lunch, you’ve cleaned the bathroom and if I hadn't hid the hoover, you would have done the vacuuming too, despite me telling you five times, I would do it.” he leaned against the wall and sank to his knees. He put his head on his knees. “But fine, I’ll stop trying to help you or take care of you.”

“I should go,” Rose softly said. “I’m making you unhappy while I’m trying to make you happy.”

“No, you’re not.” George said, “I just...if only it would have been me, he would have been great at this.” He was sobbing now. “He wouldn't screw everything up, like I do.’ 

“Yeah well, if it would have been you, then I wouldn’t have been here either and he would be having to go through a divorce with the woman he loved because she loves someone else more. At least Dru has someone he approved of, you know I can’t love anyone else.”

“Well, if it would have been me, you could have someone that would be a good husband or a god father.” He slowly got up. “But it’s not too late for you, you can still find someone else.’ he walked to the cupboard and opened it, getting his clothes out. “Don't worry, I’l make sure the shop will be in your name.”

“So you’re going to leave me too then,” she said and got off the bed. “Dad gets terminated today, you’re going to off yourself and leave me with our child. Great. Just great. Tell me how you’re going to off yourself so I can come with you because clearly, men suck because they either hurt me or leave me because I suck.”

“Will the two of you stop now.” Ron said as he leaned against the doorway. “You’re both bonkers.” He got the clothes out of George’s hands and put them back in the drawer. “First off, George, you need to stop controlling Rose’s every move. I know why you do it, but you need to stop, because it’s not working. You’re only making her more restless.” He sat George down on the bed. “And you Rose, you need to listen to him. He’s been telling you for months, he wants you to slow down because the nurses told him, you and the baby could die, if you don’t. So for once in your life, listen to George.” he gently put her down next to him. “He’s tired because he’s worried about you and all you do is push him further away. If you two don’t stop this, you’re going to be the one having the divorce.” 

“I would never divorce Rose. I can’t live without her. How many times haven’t I told you that these last few weeks?” George said annoyed. ‘If we’d ever divorce, it would be her decision and hers alone.” 

“I _have_ been taking things easy!” Rose shot at Ron and then looked at George. “I have! And you know very well that I would never leave you because I love you and you---”

“Really, you haven’t giving me a kiss or a hug for days.’ 

“No! Because you scared the hell out of me, George! I’m worried that I will do something wrong and you will snap like that to me too!”

“I have never never raised a finger to you.” He got off the bed. “Never! And I’m the one walking on eggshells here. I’ve only yelled at you if you’ve been yelling at me.” 

“He’s got a point, Rose. You have been yelling a lot at him lately.” Ron said. 

“Because he makes me so angry for telling me what to do and what not to do and how he wants things to be cleaned and how food should be cooked.”

“You’re always angry with me. No matter what I say.” George said, “But fine, I’ll won’t say one more thing about what you need to do then.” He shook his head at Ron, who was looking a bit pissed at Rose and George walked out of the bedroom.

“You are killing him, Rose. Do you understand that? You want his behavior to change then for once in your life try thinking about someone else besides yourself for once.” He spat at her. 

“You’re all the same!” Rose shot at Ron. “I have been thinking about George and I have been getting out of his way and do things ---”

“No, you have not. The nurse told you you need to stay in bed for 20 hours a day. And you been on your feet for 20 hours a day instead.” 

“To make things easier on George.”

“You want to make this easier on him, STAY IN YOUR BED!” 

Rose cowered and grabbed another pillow. Not that it would protect her from Ron but it could be useful.

“RONALD WEASLEY, don’t you ever yell at my wife again.” George stormed back into the bedroom. “She’s pregnant for christ sake.” George pushed Ron out of his bedroom and slammed the door behind him. “Are you okay?” he asked worried as he gently rubbed her back. 

She slowly nodded. “I’m sorry, George... I just... I thought that if something would be wrong with the baby that the baby would let me know, or my body. I just wanted to be my best for you, to make sure you had food and a clean house and...”

“Sweetie, I can take care of myself, but I can’t take care of Gianna, not yet. You have to do that, by taking the bedrest you were told to take.” He kept rubbing her back. He wanted to nothing more than to hold her, but she was scared of him. “I’ve told you a million times. Food, clean house and all that, I can take care of that.” 

She sighed and nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said as she put her head on his shoulder. “I really am...”

“Can I please hold you?” 

Rose blinked at him. “Why aren’t you holding me?”

“Because you’re scared of me!” 

“I’m sorry,” she said again and put her arms around him. “I’m sorry... please don’t leave me or make me go away.”

“I’ll never leave you and I don’t want you to go away.” He pulled her close in his arms. “I’m just so scared to lose you. I’ve already lost Fred, I can’t handle it if I lost you too.’ He scooped her up and put her in the bed. ‘If I’d stay with you, would you please stay in bed for the rest of the day?” 

“Please?”

“Yes, please.” he chuckled. “I’m not trying to push you to do anything you don’t want to do.” he laid down next to her. “I’ve missed you.” 

She crawled into his arms and sighed. “I truly am sorry...”

“it’s okay. I’m sorry too for being so bossy, but I feel like I have to, Rose. You are the most sweetest and caring person, I’ve ever met, but you just simply refuse to take care of yourself.” He softly kissed her. 

She eagerly kissed him back and then chuckled. “Next time, you’re pregnant.” She moved away from George a bit and caressed her stomach. “Gianna’s awake now, no sleep for the wicked.”

“Gi, mummy need some rest.” George laughed while he gently caressed her belly. 

She started to kick wherever George’s hand was going. “Please don’t make her turn herself around... she’ll use my kidneys for target practise.” she chuckled.

“Put my hands where you want her to kick.” 

“I don’t want her to kick,” she laughed. “She’s getting so big that it hurts!” she grinned and placed one hand on one side of her belly. “That’s her head right there.” 

George laughed and kissed the spot where Gianna’s head was. “Gi, you’re mummy is not ball for you kick.” he spoke in a stern voice. 

She took George’s other hand and placed it on the other side of her belly. Right now Gianna was almost laying in a straight line, away from anything that truly hurt. “Those are her feet and she’s not listening.”

“Gi, listen to your daddy.” He kissed the belly again, before kissing Rose. “Well at least she won’t be boring like Percy.” 

“Kingsley was thinking about sending round Percy today to talk to me, but he didn’t.” She said as she snuggled back up against him. 

“Why was Kingsley here?” 

“To talk about my father, or what’s left of him anyway. He said he’d never seen someone like him, how his shell is willing to stay alive or something.”

George took a deep breath, “Maybe he’s waiting for you.’ 

“I’ve already said my goodbye to him, there’s nothing in there, George. He’s gone. It’s just his body.”

“I don't know. I just know that I feel Fred with me everytime I talk to his grave, and that he hears me, maybe your dad is there somewhere too, waiting for you to say a proper goodbye.” 

She knew that if George was in the same situation he’d gladly go and say goodbye, but she had been doing fine without her father. She missed him, sure, but what could she possibly get from a shell? He probably had lost a lot of weight and wouldn’t resemble her father anyway. “I told Kingsley to go on and do what he pleased, I’d like to remember my father the way he was.”

George softly kissed her. “Maybe that’s a better idea. Whatever you think is best, Rose. I’ll support you either way.” 

“I just thought it was weird that Kingsley wanted to tell me in person. He even said they never ask living relatives to consent to such a thing...” She yawned as she played with George’s shirt.

“Well he’s a decent bloke.” He softly kissed her again, “Try to sleep some, I’ll go get the groceries when you’re asleep.” 

“So we’re not going to your mum’s then?”

“No, I want to be alone with my two girls. Best two girls in the world.” He smiled at her.

She smiled at him and gave a nod. “Alright then, I need some new baby oil as well. I finished the bottle this morning.” She chuckled when she saw the look on his face. “It’s for my belly, keeps it soft and flexible.”

George pulled her shirt up and kissed Rose’s belly before brushing his cheek against it. “Yep, that’s nice and soft.” 

She sighed happily before yawning again. She pulled him back up and crawled back against him. “We’re both idiots. We should talk more.”

“Uhuh.” George was kissing Rose’s neck while caressing her breast. “We should.” 

Rose moaned. “You want me to sleep or have sex?”

“How about sex first and then sleep? I’ll send Ron to the shop.” 

“Cheeky,” she chuckled and pulled him in for a long, deep kiss. “Yep, send Ron away.”

* * *

Dru was busy making bacon, eggs and sausages for Neville. She loved having him home with her all day, she knew that it wouldn’t last long, so she was making sure she enjoyed every minute of it. She walked to the bottom of the stairs. “Babe, breakfast.” She called upstairs, before she walked back to the kitchen. She started peeling some fruit for herself. Freddie was very restless and her stomach was acting up all night. “Calm down,” She said as she caressed her stomach.

“Good morning!” Neville greeted her with a smile and kissed her tenderly. He was fully dressed, almost as if he had an important meeting to go to. 

Dru straightened his tie. “Why are you looking so handsome today? Just for me?” She had gotten him a few new suits, jackets and shirts, a bit more stylish

“No, actually, the head of the Auror office wants to talk to me about my performance...” He sat down at the table and took a sip of his tea. 

Dru nodded before she looked at her stomach. “What’s the matter with you?” she muttered to the baby.

“Are you okay?” Neville asked worried. “You’re not going into labor, are you? It’s too early for that!”

“Of course not, Freddie’s just not having his day.” She sat down next to him. “I’m sure it’ll be better tomorrow.” she smiled as she caressed his hair. “Are you nervous?”

Neville sighed and gave a nod. “Remember that I told you that I lost the coin?”

“Yeah.” 

“I didn’t actually lose it. I got caught using it.”

“Oh boy.” Dru bit her lip. “Are you in a lot of trouble?” There was a knock on the door. Dru wanted to get up, but the baby started moving violently again. “Babe, would you mind?” 

Neville took a piece of toast with him and went to the front door to open it.

“Hello Neville.” Arthur said. “Could we come in please?” 

“Yeah, of course,” Neville nodded with a smile. “How are you, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?”

“We’re fine. Is Dru home too?” Molly asked as she walked up the stairs after him. 

“Yeah, but the baby is making her feel a bit sick so please don’t start yelling at her like George has done to me?”

“We’re not here to yell at her. We want to talk to her.” Molly said. 

“Alright.” Neville nodded again. “Babe, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are here to see you,” Neville said as he lead the two people into the kitchen.

“Neville, please just call us Molly and Arthur.” Arthur said. “Hello Dru.’

Neville walked to the kettle and poured two steaming hot cups of tea for the Weasleys. He wasn’t sure if he should stick around, but he had a feeling that if they didn’t want him around that they would send him away anyway. He just didn’t want to leave Dru alone.

“Hi.” Dru said a bit unsure. The entire Weasley family had made it more than clear, that they didn’t want anything to do with her.

“George is a hot head, isn’t he?” Arthur said warmly as he sat down at the table. “How are you doing, Dru?”

“I’m fine.” She said with a small voice. She was still in her chair as getting up was hard to do today. 

“In fact, all of our children can be quite a handful,” He chuckled and shook his head. “But Molly and I are here to tell you that we don’t blame you for anything.”

“Look, we’re really sorry for what happened. We should have waited, but you have to understand... Hogwarts....” Dru ran her hand through her hair. “It was like we at war there too. it chanced us.”

“Sweetheart, we know.” Molly said as she placed her hand on top of Dru’s. “We also know that you and Fred were having your difficulties and with you being as young as you are, we don’t blame you. You know that it was wrong, but it happened and look at you two now.” She smiled. “You will _always_ be a part of our family because of Fred and the baby you’re carrying, no matter what any of my children may say.”

“I just want you to know I really did love Fred, I still do, but … it just wasn’t working.” Dru looked up at Neville, who was standing behind her. “How late is your meeting?” 

“I’m still going to finish my breakfast,” Neville said with a nod before setting the two cups of tea on the table and grabbing his plate and leaned against the counter top again. “If I get sacked, I might as well be sacked on a full stomach.”

“Why are you getting sacked?” Arthur asked.

“Well...” Neville chuckled. “We had these coins for the DA, you see, and Dru and I figured a way to use the coins to talk to each other and I took it with me on training and got caught.” He gave a shrug. “I just wanted to know how she was doing and how the baby was doing.”

“Tell him about her high blood pressure and her very annoying brothers and sisters in law. Maybe that will help.” Arthur smiled at him. 

“Babe, it’s going to be fine.” Dru smiled at him. “Just make sure you stay polite and apologize.” she got up from the chair with some difficulty and walked over to him. “Just go and get it over with.” She softly kissed him, while she was holding her stomach.

“And you’re going straight to bed after they are gone,” he smiled at her before kissing her lips. “Or take a nice long bath.”

“Uh, I can’t get out of the tub by myself anymore, so I’ll just lay down.” 

“I won’t be long, I’ll be back before the water turns cold.” he chuckled. 

“Then we’ll take a bath together when you get home, now go.” she smiled at him. 

Neville grabbed a napkin and put his sausage in it. “Good seeing you again, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,” he smiled at them. 

_Crack!_

Dru leaned against the counter, while she was holding her stomach. ‘So, how are you doing?” she grimaced, her stomach was doing more and more pain. 

“We’re fine, sweetheart,” Molly said as she got up and put an arm around Dru. “You, however, look like you could use some rest.”

Dru gave a small smile. “Freddie is not a sweet little baby today.” 

“Ah, like father like son then,” she chuckled. “Fred and George were moving a lot when I was pregnant with them. Fred a bit more than George though. His favorite spot was my ribs, he was on top.” She walked with Dru towards her bedroom. “Not even Arthur could calm them down by talking to my stomach sternly.”

Dru bent forwards a little it. “I have no idea what he’s doing right now, but I know it hurts.” 

“Right now, you’re at the stage where your body is giving you false contractions to prepare itself for birth. Don’t worry, you’re not due for a while, but your body wants to minimize the trauma it’s going to put itself through when your baby wants to come out. Maybe it’s annoying Freddie a bit.”

Dru was on the verge of tears. “It just really really hurts.” 

“Molly, are you sure she’s alright?” Arthur asked concerned. 

Molly looked to the floor and went pale as a sheet. “We need to get her to the hospital, right now.”

“Why? What’s wrong with me?” Dru asked scared

“Your water broke, sweetheart, you’re in labor.” Molly caressed her hair. “Now, let me fetch you some clothes and clothes for Freddie and we’ll be getting you to the hospital.” She gently helped Dru sit down on the bed and grabbed a bag. 

“But I can’t go into labour. I’m barely seven months yet. I’m not ready yet.” 

“Well, your body is, and so is Freddie. Not to worry, Ron was born two months early as well and look how well he turned out to be.” Molly smiled reassuringly. “Arthur sweetheart, could you pop over to the Ministry and catch Neville when he leaves whatever he has to do and get him to St. Mungo’s?”

“Yes dear.”

_Crack!_

Dru was sobbing. “I can’t have Freddie now. It’s too early.” 

“It’s going to be alright, don’t worry.” Molly quickly ran into Freddie’s bedroom and packed some clothes before making her way back. “Would you want me to see if I can get Rose for you?”

“No, I don’t want her. I want Neville.” She looked down, there was one person, besides Neville, she wanted to be with her, but he couldn’t be there.

“Well, Arthur is getting him now. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“What about Gran? Could Arthur get her too?” 

Molly smiled at her and put an arm around her. “Of course sweetheart, but let’s just get you to the hospital now.” She helped Dru to stand up. “This is going to be a terrible feeling but we need to get you there as soon as possible. Take a deep breath.”

Dru took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

_Crack!_

Dru was taken to the maternity wing of St. Mungo’s where the nurse took a quick look at Dru, before confirming what Molly had told her. Dru was going into labor. “Can’t you use a spell to stop it?” Dru was caressing her stomach. 

The nurse chuckled. “I know it’s scary but once you hold that sweet little baby of yours, you’ll have forgotten all about the labor.”

“But he’s not full grown yet.” 

“No, but we’ve got an incubator for that. Not to worry, you’re only eight weeks early, your baby is going to be just fine.” She gently pat Dru on her leg. “Your body is ready and your baby is ready to come out and introduce itself to you. Where’s the father?”

Dru closed her eyes. “He’s gone.” 

“Her boyfriend is coming as soon as he can, my husband is getting him now,” Molly said to the nurse after swallowing hard. 

“You’re the boy’s mother or hers?” 

“I’m as good as.” Molly said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m the baby’s grandmother.”

“It’s a bit complicated.” Dru gave a faint smile at Molly. “What’s keeping Neville?” 

The nurse moved around a bit before she started to get rid of the skirt Dru was wearing. “I’m doing this to help you, don’t be afraid, we’re all women here,” she smiled reassuringly. “I’m just going to check and see how you’re doing down there and then we’ll have to see when the baby wants to come out. There’s no magical way to make it happen for you, unless there are complications and we’ll have to do other things.”

Dru took Molly’s hand. she was really getting scared now, she hadn’t done a lot of reading about the delivery, it scared her, so she kept putting it off, thinking she had more time. 

“So, tell me about the baby’s room, how did you decorate it?” The nurse asked as she started checking Dru over more thoroughly. 

Dru winced. “Red and Gold, Gryffindor house colours.” Dru started crying softly while she looked up the ceiling. 

“Oh that’s just lovely, are you a Gryffindor?”

“Yeah, and the baby’s father was too. And one of my housemates, he’s a very good artist, he painted Hogwarts and the grounds on an entire wall.”

“That is just wonderful! It’s always nice to show some school and house pride, no matter if you left Hogwarts or not.” The nurse started to scribble down a few things on a notepad.

“Well, they didn’t really have final exams last year.” Dru gave a slight giggle. “And going to school pregnant isn’t really …” 

“No, it’s not, you see it a lot happen in Muggle schools these days. I’m telling you, in a few years or so, it’ll be the norm...” the nurse shook her head. “Not that I’m saying that you’re too young and all that, but your body is in a rough shape. The high blood pressure is still worrying. I think I should get the nurse you usually see and then our obstetrician.”

Dru looked scared at Molly before looking back at the nurse. “What’s wrong?” 

“There’s a heightened risk of you rupturing one of your major arteries while in labor,” The nurse replied and walked to a cabinet before returning with a little bit of liquid. “This is some passionflower extract, please have it so you can try to keep your blood pressure at the level it is now.”

Dru started to sob harder. “I want Neville.” 

Molly caressed Dru’s hair. “I know sweetheart, he’ll be here as quick as he can.” She took the cup from the nurse and saw her exit the room. “Here, drink this, it will help a little.”

Dru drank the cup. “What if Arthur can’t find him?” 

“Arthur knows that place like the back of his hand, don’t you worry.” Molly smiled bravely. “Do you know what day it is? It’s November 7th.” She wanted to distract Dru a little.

Dru sniffed. “George and Fred’s last quidditch game.” 

“Three years ago,” Molly caressed Dru’s hair. “I swear, I didn’t believe it when I read the letter sent by that awful woman. A day later, a letter from Minerva arrived saying that everything was going to be alright and that I shouldn’t be mad at the boys for getting into trouble. I’d almost sent them a howler, you know.” she chuckled.

“I remember sitting in the stands with Rose and Neville. Rose was just shocked when she saw George and Harry charge at Draco.” Dru shook her head. “I just wanted to kill him, I never got why he had to be so cruel sometimes. He could be such a kind person if he only tried.” She curled up as she was having more contractions. 

“Breathe through it dear,” Molly said calmly. “Take a deep breath when you feel one, and slowly breathe out.”

“I want Neville.” she sobbed softly again. She was scared out of her wits and she wanted him to be there, to hold her.

“I’m here,” Neville’s voice sounded before he ran into the room. “I shouldn’t have left!” He said as he rushed to her side and softly kissed her. “Don’t worry babe, everything is going to be fine.”

She shook her head. “It’s too soon.” 

“How is she?” Arthur asked as he walked into the room “Do you need me to get Rose, or Ginny?” 

Dru shook her head. “But I want Gran to be here.” Dru had gotten close to Neville’s grandmother in the weeks he was gone and Dru went to check up on her every day. “She should be here.”

“I’ll get her.” Arthur left the room again. 

Dru took Neville’s hands and held them close to her chest. “I’m really scared, they said I could burst an artery, what if something happens to Freddie?” 

He gently gave a squeeze in her hands. “You’re one of the strongest people that I know. I’m not worried. Everything is going to be fine and you and Freddie will continue to live long and healthy lives.” 

Dru softly sobbed and squeezed his hand hard as she had another big contraction. “It hurts.” 

“Yep,” Neville nodded. “I can feel that,” he said with a strained voice.

Dru gave a slight giggle. ‘I’m sorry.” 

“You can hurt me all you like,” He softly kissed her forehead. “If there was any way to deal with the pain for you, I would have done it.”

“Next time you carry the baby.” Dru tried to smile, but it was hard. She was in pain and it was getting harder to hide it. “I’m not doing this again.” 

“That’s okay,” Neville said with a smile. “You’re going to be fine though. I just know it.”

Dru gave him a slight nod and scooted a bit closer to him. He was sitting on the chair next to her, because he couldn’t get into her bed, but she wanted him to be closer. “I’m just really scared.” 

“I know,” 

The St. Mungo’s obstetrician walked into the room, followed by Arthur and Neville’s grandmother. “Well, this is a crowded room,” she chuckled.

“Please don’t make them leave. I want Neville here and his gran and this will be Molly and Arthur’s first grandchild. They should be here for this.” Dru said

“As the Muggle’s say, this is your party,” the obstetrician smiled at her. “You can have anyone you want in here. Now, you’re almost ready to start pushing and I’m just wondering if I can get you anything for the pain, would you like me to cast a spell on you to numb the pain?”

“Yes.” Dru nodded very eager. “I want that.” 

She waved her wand around and smiled. “How’s that?”

Dru sighed happily as she smiled at the obstetrician. “Heavenly.” She was still holding Neville’s hand and smiled at him. “How did you get here?”

“Arthur got me.”

“I’m glad you’re here.” She gave him a kiss on his hand. “Why are we here?’ 

“Ah, it works,” The obstetrician nodded. “Mrs. Weasley, it’s almost time for you to start pushing.” she said as she gathered the things and made sure that there was enough room to move for the nurses.

Dru was looking at Neville, not hearing the obstetrician. 

“Babe, we’re not going to do anything remotely sexy today,” He chuckled, recognizing the look in her eyes. “Freddie wants to come out and play.”

“Freddie needs to wait.” She smiled at him, before she suddenly felt a strong contraction, making the buzz of the spell fade away “That hurts.” 

“Mrs. Weasley, with your next contraction, I want you to start pushing.” The obstetrician had propped up Dru’s legs and was looking at her vagina. “And push hard.”

Dru was holding Neville’s hand, when the contraction came, she pushed really hard and squeezed Neville’s hand again before she started crying. “I can’t do this.” 

“Oh, course you can.’ Mrs. Longbottom took Dru’s other hand and held it. “Just make sure you squeeze his hand harder.” 

“Oh gee, thanks Gran.” Neville chuckled.

“Well, I’m an old lady.” She smiled at him

Dru chuckled before she pushed hard again when she had another contraction. She groaned and dropped her head back in the pillow when it was over. She was getting sweaty. “I’m never going to have another one.”

“The first one is always the hardest,” Molly chuckled. 

“And Molly had two in one go once.” Artur said as he held his wife. They were standing next to Mrs. Longbottom. 

Dru kept pushing for another hour before she was nearly there. By that time she was covered in sweat and she was nearly out of breath. “I can’t do this anymore.” she cried, she was dead tired. “Just let it stay in there.”

“One more push and the head will come out. Another push and the shoulders will come out and then I can help you. You can do it, Mrs. Weasley, you’re very strong.”

Dru shook her head. “No, I’m not.” she leaned her head against Neville, as he was now standing next to the bed. 

He managed to sit down on the bed so that he was half sitting behind her and caressed her hair out of her face with a wet cloth. “But we can,” he smiled at her and softly kissed her. “I know you’re tired babe, but we can’t leave Freddie in, not now you’ve come so far. When he’s out, you can sleep as much as you want.”

Dru nodded and bit her lip, she pushed so hard when the next contraction came, she couldn’t stop herself from screaming.

“Come on, Dru. Just one more.” Mrs. Longbottom took the wet cloth from Neville and refreshed it, before gently starting to dab her forehead with it, so Neville could hold both of Dru’s hands. 

“I have the head, come on, you can do it!” The obstetrician encouraged her. “Feel free to use as much profanity as you like.”

Dru nodded and leaned her head against Neville chest as she pushed as hard as she possibly could. 

As soon as Dru’s contraction had waned, the obstetrician pulled Fred out of her and the sound of his crying filled the room. “Congratulations! It’s a boy!” She waved her wand over the baby to clean him up before quickly checking him over and then wrapping him up in a blanket. “So, which one of you is going to cut the umbilical cord?”

Arthur gave Neville a pat on the shoulder. He had moved over to his side a while back. “He is.” 

“I am?” Neville blinked at Arthur.

“Yes, you are.” Molly smiled. “You’re already taking such good care of him.” 

“Alright then.” The obstetrician handed Neville the clippers while another nurse was still holding the baby. 

He placed the scissor around the cord but didn’t dare to look when he cut it. What if he’d hurt something?

The nurse then placed the baby into Dru’s arms.

“Hello, there.” Dru smiled at the baby. “Merlin, you‘re so tiny.” she couldn’t believe she was holding her baby in her arms. “You’re so beautiful.” 

Neville smiled at the sight of Dru and the baby. Dru was pale from being tired and losing a little blood, but she looked absolutely wonderful. The baby was so adorable and he instantly fell in love with him. He looked at Molly and Arthur. Arthur had this big goofy grin on his face while he was comforting Molly and Neville’s gran was beaming with pride. Yeah, everything was going to be fine.

“I’m really sorry, but I need to take him with us to the incubator.’ The nurse said as she took the baby out of Dru’s arms, who looked devastated. “Don’t worry, we’re going to check him over and you’re going to take some rest. We’re going to take real good care of him but right now he needs to stay warm like he was inside of you. When you wake up again, we’ll get him back to you for a while.” 

Dru nodded, but she couldn’t help feeling heartbroken, as she saw the nurse walk away with Fred.

“Congratulations, sweetheart,” Molly said as she softly kissed Dru’s cheek. “Get some rest, we’ll come back in a couple of days. You did a great job.”

Dru smiled at them. “You two can come look at him whenever you want, but I’m sorry, I don't want the rest here.” 

“That’s alright,” Arthur smiled. “We understand, and congratulations, Dru. For giving birth to such a wonderful little man.”

“Congratulations with becoming grandparents.” She smiled back as she leaned back into the pillows. She felt drained. 

“Go sleep.” Molly kissed Dru’s cheek again. “You deserved it. Have a good day.”

Molly and Arthur left and Gran gave the both of them a hug before she went to their flat. She wanted to see if they had everything for when they would take the baby home.

Dru looked at Neville with tears in her eyes. "Freddie is gonna be okay, isn't he?"

He was still sitting on the bed and smiled at her. “Yeah, he is going to be okay and before you know it you’ll be running after him.” He softly kissed her lips. “I am so proud of you, Dru. You were amazing. You are amazing.”

Dru scooted towards him and crawled deeper into his arms. "Yeah, I'm so amazing I spent the entire time crying and saying I couldn't do it!" she sighed. 

“But you proved yourself wrong by doing it.” He planted a kiss on her forehead and caressed her hair. “Get some rest, babe.”

Dru sighed. she was very tired indeed, but she didn’t want to go to sleep. “What if he needs me?” 

“They’ll wake you up. Sleep.”

Dru closed her eyes as she leaned against Neville. She was happy, but she was sad too. she couldn’t it, but she missed Fred very much right now. She would have given anything to have him here for this, the birth of his son. 

Neville placed his chin on the top of Dru’s head. “You miss him, don’t you?”

Dru nodded. “He would have loved this, to see his son for the first time and everything.’ 

“I know.” Neville kissed the top of her head as he caressed her arm. “I wish he could be here too.” 

Dru sighed and felt how she slowly fell asleep.


	65. With a little help

George came into the bedroom with a tray of lunch. Rose had been sticking to her bed rest ever since their quarrel a few weeks ago and George decided that this made it his job to spoil her as much as he could. This meant eating in bed with her for breakfast and lunch. He smiled when he saw that Rose was still sleeping. He put the tray down on the side table and crawled on the bed, hovering over her. He softly kissed her lips. “Wake up, sleeping beauty.” 

She hadn’t been sleeping very well lately. All the books that she had read told her that this was her body’s way of preparing her for the arrival of the child because with a baby you wouldn’t get any sleep but Rose thought it sucked. If she wasn’t sleeping, she was getting off the bed every 30 minutes or so to use the bathroom so she’d rather sleep a lot than to having to move. Rose opened her eyes and sleepily smiled at George. “Hello my prince.”

“Hello, beautiful.” He softly kissed her again. “How are you feeling today?” He gently caressed her belly.

“I’m feeling great,” she smiled at him. She had a bag full of books next to the bed to read if she wanted to and she had even made an attempt on teaching herself how to knit the muggle way with thread that didn’t set her teeth on edge or made her break out in hives but the magical way was much easier and a lot faster. Rose needed to do something to stop herself dying from boredom, didn’t she? “Isn’t Fleur coming over for lunch?” Bill and Fleur had been spending a lot of time over at their place for lunch, which was great because it meant that they, Rose and George, were amongst the really first to hear that Fleur was expecting too.

“No, I’ve made you lunch myself today.” he kissed her again. 

Rose grinned and put her arms around his neck, pulling him down towards her. “Are you my lunch?”

He chuckled. “Well that would mean that mum and dad made your lunch, not me.” 

“Yeah and I’m not going to eat Gianna, she’s already too big, can’t imagine having two of those inside of me.”

George kissed her again. “You’re a silly bint.” he laughed. “But I love you regardless.” 

“Can’t I have you for lunch?” she giggled and caressed his hair. “I should cut your hair.”

‘“After lunch.” George wiggled his eyebrows and kissed her tenderly. 

“Yeah, lunch is so much more important,” she nodded and pulled him down for another kiss while she started to unbutton his shirt.

George started kissing her neck as he helped Rose out of her night gown. “You are so beautiful.” George then went on to kiss her breast. 

“I need to pee,” Rose giggled as she looked at his surprised face. “What?” she chuckled and kissed him gently before slowly getting off the bed.

George sighed as he rolled on his back. This happened every time he wanted to have sex with her, not that he blamed he, he knew it wasn’t her fault, but he was longing for Rose. 

She washed her hands and face after using the bathroom and grinned as she walked back. “Don’t pout like that, your baby is pushing on my bladder.” 

“I know, but she’s your baby too, sweetie.” he smiled at her. 

I can’t wait to see her,” she said as she crawled back on the bed and started to kiss George when she was finally able to get rid of his vest and shirt.

“I know! Me neither.” George pulled Rose on top of him. “I so hope she looks like you.” 

“No!” she giggled. “I’d rather she’ll look like you!”

“As long as she’s healthy.” George decided as he softly caressed Rose’s breasts. 

“Yes, that’s more important. She has a reputation to uphold when she goes to Hogwarts.” She kissed him again and tried to open George’s pants but her stomach was in the way. “I miss us having sex the easy way too.”

“Just a few more weeks.” George opened his pants himself. “Then we can have steamy sex the easy way every night again.”

“Oh, in the tub! In your dad’s shed! In your office downstairs!”

“In the kitchen, in the stock room, in my old bedroom.” He had gotten rid of his pants and his underwear and had placed Rose on top of him again. “But having you ride me is amazing too.” he smiled at her. 

She grinned and softly kissed him on the lips before making her way down his chest. “In the bathroom of a restaurant...”

“On the counter in the shop.” He gently caressed her sides before fondling her breasts. 

“In your parents’ pond and trying not to get caught...”

George groaned. He slipped one finger inside of her. “In the room of requirement.”

“Well, that’s something we can’t do anymore, we’re not students anymore.” She sighed and licked his nipple.

“Then we’ll just do it at the ministry on Percy’s desk.” George slipped another finger inside her. 

“Deal,” she nodded and moaned. “That feels so good!”

“I thought you’d like that. “ George grinned. “I like making you feel good.” 

She sat up and managed to take hold of his cock. She gently tugged on it and squeezed it a little before George helped her to guide him into her. “Heaven,” she moaned as she threw her head back. She liked having sex right now. Sex could speed up the labor process or actually get her into labor faster, but her body was simply too stubborn to listen to itself.

“You’re like an angel.” George moaned. “Such a fucking beautiful angel.”

“I’m good at fucking,” Rose smiled at him as she slowly started to move. It was quite a feat these days to actually make sure that they both got what they wanted because Gianna’s feet were pushing against her ribs these days and she had to make herself taller than she was and sit upright so that she wasn’t too uncomfortable. “We should try conjuring a sturdy cloud in our bedroom and have wild monkey sex on it while we’re floating.”

“I like monkey sex.” 

“I know you do,” she giggled. “The messier, the better! Oh! Maybe we could use toys!”

George blinked at Rose. “Who are you and what have you done with my Rosie?”

“Toys, George. The girls and I saw some innocent Muggle sex toys and it could be amazing.”

“Hormones.” He rolled his eyes at her.

She playfully hit him on the chest. “We’ll see.”

George groaned, did Rose have any idea how much she was driving him crazy with this kind of sex talk? He had a hard enough to be gentle with her, but hearing her talk like that made the wild animal inside of him come alive. 

“I mean... you could be inside of me and there could be a toy inside of me... or...”

“Fuck.” he groaned. 

“Yes, we’d have an amazing fuck.” she grinned as she shifted a little and rocked her hips a couple of times.

“You really really want to get Gianna out, don’t you?” he chuckled. He too had been reading the pregnancy books.

“I think it’s time, yes. She’s been nice and comfortable and...” she moaned as she moved again and hit a nice spot. “I’m fed up.”

George squeezed her breasts. “Just a few more weeks.” 

“I know,” she sighed. “But it’s okay to be fed up, right?” she smiled at him and managed to move a little faster. “Ohh this feels so good...”

“Yeah...” he moaned as he came inside of her. “Oh fuck, Rose.”

Rose giggled. She hadn’t come but that was okay, she needed to use the bathroom again. She rode out his orgasm with him and then softly kissed him. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

George got up and went to the tray and used his wand to heat up the tea and cool down the orange juice and put the tray on the bed as he sat down. 

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized when she climbed back in bed and kissed George passionately. “That was great,” she giggled. “Want to go again?”

“Yeah, maybe later. You need to eat now.” he chuckled. “Maybe we could go for a walk later on, yeah?”

“Oh! I’d love that!” she smiled and happily started to eat the sandwich that George handed to her.

* * *

Dru had just finished putting Fred in the bath, it was their first day home. They had spent a month in the hospital, but Fred finally had the minimum weight to be taken home. She was putting on his clothes while she noticed that she was being watched and since she knew Neville was doing the dishes downstairs, she knew that it would only be one other person. She kept her back to him. “What are you doing here?’ 

“Checking in...” the voice replied. “He looks great, you look amazing but... wow, look at him!”

“Fred, you shouldn’t be here.” Dru carefully lifted Freddie out of the changing mat and held him close to her, still with her back towards him. 

“You said I could drop in anytime.” Fred had wasn’t moving. “And I swear, I won’t show my face anymore but... are you kicking me out too?”

“I’m no longer a welcome face within the Weasley household, so they’re not in my home anymore either. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with Rose and George. this is their doing.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous. I know mum and dad have been here to talk and show genuine interest in you. You’ll always be welcome at the Burrow. They’re all siding with George because you couldn’t wait to do Neville until we were fully through. So be it. Get over it. I still love you, mum and dad still love you, who cares?”

“Get over it? We’ve only done it once and that was after I’ve tried to leave you twice.” Dru turned around. “Besides shouldn’t you be with Rose and George? In your own room?” 

“Uh... I kinda overstayed my welcome there,” Fred shrugged and then smiled widely. “Ow, look at you two!”

“Fred you’re a ghost, nobody can kick you out of your own house.” 

“You haven’t met this new Rose yet. It’s my own fault really... and it’s also my fault that all of this happened, for which I’m sorry, but it had to happen, you’re doing fine without Rose... yeah, I should have put a sock in my mouth and just...” He still wasn’t moving from his spot. “Maybe I should just go, for good, after Rose gives birth to that kid of hers and George. Move on. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Dead is dead... I shouldn’t even be here. Or whatever. People turn into ghosts because they’re not happy... I don’t... I should go.”

“Fred.” Dru walked over to and wanted to put her hand on his cheek, before realising she couldn’t. “I’m sorry, alright. Look you can always come and see Freddie, I’m just still …” She sighed. “It’s been a long month.”

“Get some rest,” Fred managed to give her a smile. “Maybe it was too soon for me to show myself again. I’m proud of you, Dru. Of you and Freddie.”

“Just don’t show yourself to Neville. I’m not sure how he feels about this at the moment. He’s pretty pissed with your entire family right now.” she took Freddie’s coat and made her way downstairs. “Are you ready babe?” 

“Yes, it’s going to be good to get a good whiff of fresh air,” Neville said as he got the baby harness from the coat rack. Dru wanted to carry the baby close to her chest and gran had given them a harness to put the baby in. “And get some supplies too.” He chuckled and softly kissed her. “You look amazing.”

She gave him a shy smile. “I look horrible. I’m still fat and I’ve got a massive black spot where my eyes should be.” she put the coat on the sofa and helped Fred in his coat. “But you’re all worth that, aren’t you?’ she smiled at the baby.

“You look amazing,” Neville said again and helped her to get Fred into the harness and get it on her as well. “I don’t care what you look like. You always look amazing.”

Dru softly kissed him while she was still supporting Freddie’s head. “I love you.” 

“And I love you too,” he smiled as he wrapped her coat around her and zipped her and Freddie up. “There, nice and snug.”

“Come on. Let’s go for that little bit of fresh air.” Dru carefully made her way down the stairs and walked outside before she waited for Neville to come downstairs. 

Neville double checked if he had the keys to the apartment, his money and closed his coat as he closed the door behind him. He smiled at Dru and put an arm around her as they started to walk. “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. let’s just walk through Diagon Alley a bit. With Luna staying over for Christmas and Dean, Seamus and your gran coming over for dinner too, we need to get them presents.” 

“Don’t forget your aunt and Teddy.’ 

“Yeah and you and Freddie.” They turned around the corner and walked into Diagon Alley. 

“But I already have everything that I want,” he chuckled. “I’ve got you, we have a roof over our heads and we have our friends and some of our family come over for Christmas dinner. Freddie is an added bonus.” He then sheepishly looked at her. “What? I like Christmas.”

Dru laughed and kissed him. “Are you going to your parents with your gran on Christmas morning?” 

“Well, maybe you could come with this time.” Neville said after a quiet moment. “I mean, they’re a part of me and my life and you’re sharing everything of you, if you want, I would like you to come with me.”

“Are you sure?” She stopped walking for a minute, she knew how important his parents were to him and for him to ask her to come along, was a huge deal. “I mean, I would be honoured to come along, but only if you’re really sure.” 

“I’m sure,” Neville smiled at her. “I mean, I’m not embarrassed of them or anything, but it’s just weird to share something like that but I’m planning on spending the rest of my life with you and they are part of my life.”

“I love you.” She softly kissed him. “Maybe we could ask Luna to watch Fred, I don’t think it’s smart to take him. He’s too little for that.’ she started walking again and looked into the window shop. “So presents. Let’s start with Luna.” 

“Luna’s easy. Just get her the new book from Newt Salamander.” 

“Alright, Dean and Seamus?” She had been looking at the window and hadn’t realised that someone was watching them, but Neville had. She couldn't tell if he was angry or not.

Neville took a deep breath. “Babe? Don’t freak out but your brother is watching us. Would you like to go and say hi?” Neville had to give the guy a shot, hadn’t he? He was doing well when it came to not keeping dark magic around or even surrendering his wand whenever there were unsuspected Aurors in his house, and he had made sure that Goyle and Zambini had surrendered themselves to the Ministry and copped to everything they had ever done, both on and off Hogwarts.

Dru turned her head and looked at Draco. “I’m not sure. I want to but..” She knew that Neville and Draco hated each other since they were 11 and unlike Fred, Neville was less forgiving towards her family.

“It’s okay,” he smiled at her. “Go on, he’s your family.”

She nodded and took Neville’s hand as she slowly walked towards Draco, who looked stunned that Dru was exactly making his way over to him. “Hi Draco.” she said with a small voice. 

“Uh, hi,” he smiled at her. “You’re looking...” he pointed at her. “Wow... how are you?”

“Tired.” She smiled. “But good. how are you?”

“Abiding the rules,” he chuckled and looked at Neville over her shoulder. “He’s a fair guy.” 

“He’s great.” She beamed at Neville. ‘He’s been amazing this last few months, I couldn’t have done all of this without him.” She gently caressed Fred’s little head. 

“It certainly explains a lot why I have to deal with Potter and what’s his face and not you, Longbottom.” Draco said with a nod before looking back at his sister. “When did you give birth? Weren’t you due at the end of December?”

“He couldn’t wait.” Neville chuckled. “Just as impatient as his father.” 

“I had the baby eight weeks too early, on November 7th. We’ve only gotten out of St. Mungo’s today.” She turned to her side, so Draco could see Fred, she had noticed him trying to get a peek at him. 

“He looks amazing,” Draco smiled at her. “I’m so proud of you, Dru. You’ve made a baby and pushed it out of you.”

“Yeah, let’s not mention that again, it still hurts when I think about it.” Dru hit Neville on his stomach when she heard him snicker. “Would you like to hold Freddie?” 

“Freddie?” Draco asked and then mentally kicked himself. Of course she named the boy Freddie, his father died. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll drop him or something?” 

“Are you seriously going to tell me that you think you’re going to drop your nephew?”

“Of course not,” he chuckled. “Have you ever seen me drop things?”

“Neville, help me out here.” Dru turned to him, so he could get Fred out of the harness. 

“So how are things, Draco? I bet you can’t wait for Astoria to come home.” Neville asked as he gently lifted Fred from the harness and gently placed him into Draco’s arms. “You think you have a shot with her?”

‘Wait, who’s Astoria?” Dru showed Draco hold to support Fred’s head. 

“Remember Daphne Greengrass?” 

“Yeah, I liked her.” Daphne didn’t have the same thinking pattern most of the Slytherin had. 

“I caught Draco here snogging her younger sister.” Neville smiled.

Draco chuckled and looked at the baby. “He’s adorable, Dru. I can’t believe that this was inside of you.”

“He’s the sweetest thing ever, mind you, he still keeps me up at night, but it’s all worth it.” 

“I just can’t believe that my little sister had a baby.”

“That means you’re an uncle now.” she smiled at him. “Which is good, because right now, you’re the only uncle he has.” 

“Why? What happened?” Draco blinked and smiled at the baby when he wrapped his little hand around Draco’s finger.

Dru just looked down to the ground. “They’re mad at us for something we did.”

He took a deep breath. “Of course they are.” He then looked up and saw George and a very pregnant Rose stare at the three of them in shock. “I suppose you haven’t told them yet that you’ve given birth?” He gave a nod into the direction of the two.

Dru instantly took Fred from Draco and held him close as she took a step behind Neville. 

Draco blinked at his sister. “Did that ass hurt you?”

“No, he hurt Neville.“ Dru tried to put Fred back into the harness, but it was a tricky thing to do by yourself. “Neville, calm down.” she could see he was fuming while looking at George. 

“George, let’s just turn around and go home, okay?” Rose said softly as she gently tugged on his arm. “We’ll go out for a walk later.” This had been a bad idea. She hadn’t known that Dru had given birth and now she had seen Draco holding the baby. George was pissed off. Neville was fuming and Draco looked pretty mean too. 

All Rose had wanted was to take a short stroll to loosen up her muscles a bit and of course they’d run into trouble. “George, please, let’s just go.” She did not want to have a throw down in the middle of Diagon Alley.

“That’s ….how could she?” George growled

“George, that’s her baby. We’re not on speaking terms with them anymore, why would they inform us?”

“That’s Fred’s baby, Rose.”

“I know,” she tugged on his arm again. “Let’s just go home before someone gets hurt, okay?” 

“No, I’m going to talk with her. You’re the reason she’s not talking to us anymore anyway.” George said and he walked toward Dru and Neville.

Rose blinked at George, threw her hands up in the air and slowly made her way back to the shop. If George wanted to get beaten up, then that was his choice. She wasn’t going to try and make things right because she didn’t want to get upset. She _was_ upset, of course. Dru not telling her about Fred’s birth but then again, she was the one who said that she didn’t want to have Dru around anymore. Or talk to again. George was right. It was her fault. She sighed as she decided to take a seat on the chair in front of the ice cream shop. It was closed anyway, but she needed to sit down for a bit before making the rest of the way home. 

“Neville please babe.” She had managed to put Fred in the harness with help from Draco. “Let’s just go on with our shopping.” she tugged on his arm. “Babe.”

“No, let’s hear him out, hear what he has to say.” Neville had his arms crossed over his chest. “If I don’t like what I’m hearing, I promise we’ll walk away and I won’t take a swing at him.”

Dru looked at Draco, who seemed amazed. This was not the Longbottom who he bullied for 6 years. 

“What the hell, Dru?” George spat as he approached them. “You had Fred’s baby and didn’t tell us?” 

“Easy, George.” Neville shot at him. “And why should she tell you? You’re the one who decided that you didn’t want her in your life anymore because of what we did. Your family doesn’t want to see her anymore. Thank Merlin for your parents though, at least they seem to have a brain or two.”

“How many times didn’t I tell you to stay out of this, Longbottom. That’s Fred’s child, the son of _my_ twin brother. I have a right to know.” George growled and took a step closer to Neville. 

Dru gave a small whimper and took a step back, protecting Fred with her arms. 

“That’s close enough, Weasley.” Draco said as he placed himself between Neville and George. “You’re scaring my sister and her baby and even though _Neville_ promised Dru that he won’t take a swing at you, doesn’t mean that I did.” Draco had never liked the twins very much, but had in the end, tolerated them because of Fred and Dru. But still, he had no right to react like this. “Yes, your brother’s kid. Your dead brother’s kid and not yours.”

“Get out of my face, Malfoy.” 

“Alright that’s enough.” A voice sounded and George suddenly got pulled back from Neville and Draco. “Leave the nice lady and her brother and boyfriend alone and go inside, George.” 

George scowled as he apparated into the apartment.

“My apologies,” Ben smiled at Dru. “But might I say, you look wonderful. Congratulations, Dru. Adrianna has been asking for you.”

“Tell her we’ll see her at the station. We’re picking up Luna Lovegood for the christmas holiday.” Dru smiled. “And thank you.” 

~~

George walked up the stairs to their bedroom, slammed the door behind him, crawled into a corner and started sobbing. He had really made a mess of things and he didn't seem to be able to stop, all he wanted was to take of Dru, like had had promised Fred he would. 

Hailey sat down next to George and gently put an arm around him. She hadn’t seen Rose yet, but as soon as she saw the look on George’s face when he was with Dru and the baby, she knew that something had to be done. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” she sighed. “Losing your twin that leaves a child behind? You made a promise, didn’t you?”

George put his head on Hailey shoulder, although he had only met her once, the moment he realised that she had lost a twin too, he knew he was safe to express his feeling to her. “I screwed everything up. I failed him, I failed Dru and I’m failing my wife and daughter too.”

“Oh, I know,” she sighed and caressed George’s back. “Rose was just two years old when Sarah was murdered and she had always had this feeling that something would happen to her, you know, almost as if she had seen it coming. She made me promise that I would take care of Rose but when it came to the time where I had to take care of her, I just couldn’t. I wasn’t married, didn’t have a boyfriend back then, I was broke and... I went into hiding myself. It was safer for Rose to be with her grandfather.” Hailey spoke softly. “I felt such guilt for such a long time, because Sarah had never wanted Rose to grow up with her grandfather for so many reasons but... anyway, I know that it’s slightly different for you, but you’re not failing Fred. Nor Dru. You’re giving Dru the space she needs, with the little baby, to grow and become this amazing young woman and move on. Does this mean that she forgot about Fred? Of course not. You shouldn’t feel guilty for letting her go, because right now, this is a good thing for her. Do you understand what I’m saying, George?” she smiled at him as she wiped a tear from her own eyes.

“I do, and I know it’s the right thing to do, but he’s mad at me. He thinks I failed her and him, He hates me, Hailey.” 

“Who hates you? Fred? You can’t know that. You can’t possibly know that. For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’ve failed either of them.”

“I do know that. I do know he hates me and it’s been tearing me up inside.” 

“How do you know?”

“Why else would he show himself to Rose and to Dru, but not to me? He hates me for not taking good enough care of Dru.”

“You’ve lost me now, sorry.” Hailey frowned.

Rose had finally made her way back up the stairs and had heard the end of what George had been saying. She had never known that he knew that Fred had showed himself to her. “I told him, you know... but he said that it wouldn’t do you any good.” She said softly as she managed to sit down on the bed and took a deep breath. She wanted to sit down next to George on the floor in the corner but she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to get up again. 

“But why would you do that, Rose?” George looked hurt at Rose. “You know how much I miss him and that I go and talk to him at least twice a week, why would you deny me the chance of seeing him face to face, to have a conversation with him again?’

“You’re not listening to me.” Rose said again. “I’ve told Fred to make himself known to you, sweetie, but he said it’s not a good idea, because you’re not moving on and he wants you to move on.” She then bit her lip. “Alright, I might have said it once to him, but I was angry with him for screwing with my head so much because of Dru and... I’m sorry but...” she was still biting her lip and tried not to cry. “I kicked him out because he was being annoying.”

“I can’t believe you.” George got up. “I need to think.” he muttered and walked out of the bedroom. 

Rose looked at Hailey and Ben. “I’m sorry that you’ve walked into this mess,” she apologized and got off the bed to follow George. “George, wait up...” 

“I got it,” Fred’s voice sounded, he didn’t show himself to Ben and Hailey but had followed George downstairs to the shop. “Your Holeyness,” Fred bowed as George came down to the bottom of the stairs.

“Fred.” George walked up to him and tried to hug him, but he couldn’t. 

“I’m dead, George. You can’t hug me.”

George just started at him. “I’m so sorry, Fred.” He started crying.

“Yeah yeah... I got it...” he sighed. “Don’t cry, Georgie, I know what’s been going on and why the hell would you think I’m mad at you? Yes, I am now, but that’s only for being such a pain in the ass. You’re hurt because Dru didn’t tell you that Freddie’s born? Yeah well, that’s my fault. She needed to get out of here, away from you and Rose because it wasn’t doing her any good. Mostly Rose, suffocating, overprotective Rose who’d rather think of her best friend’s health and her baby then herself. So I planted some doubt in Rose’s head.” Fred shrugged. “That’s when she kicked me out, by the way.”

“I screwed everything up, Dru, Neville, Rose and I’m going to screw up Gianna too.” 

“Shut up.” Fred sighed. “You didn’t screw anything up. In fact, you should get rewarded for being everything that you can be. I screwed up. I’m dead. Anyway, who’s Gianna?”

“My baby girl.”

“Ah,” Fred nodded. “Alright, never mind,” he chuckled and pointed at the shop. “I love what you and Ron have done with the place.”

George frowned a Fred. “Are you seriously going to discuss the shop with me now?’ 

“Isn’t that what you want? To have a normal conversation with me?”

“Yeah.” George sighed and took Fred through the shop and showed him all the things that had changed. “I could use your help though. Ron’s terrible with coming up with new ideas.’ 

“Didn’t Rose have these notebooks filled with stuff?” Fred smiled at him. “You don’t need my help, you have Rosie.”

“But I want your help. I want you to stay here, with me, with us. please Freddie.’ 

“George, I can’t. I’m dead. You need to move on.”

“I don't care. You’re a ghost now, you can stay with me.”

“Dead is dead and only unhappy people become ghosts, George. I can’t stick around. You need to do this on your own, without me. You have a lovely wife who’s smart, cute and funny and so talented.”

“Fred, please don’t leave me.” George started crying again. “I need you, I feel half of me has died.” 

“Yeah, you do rather have big ears.” Fred gave a nod and smiled as he pointed at George’s head. “My god, Georgie, you’re pathetic. You need to stop wanting me back. You’re doing just fine without me. Of course I miss being with you but it’s not healthy for you to... well, obsess about me being gone. I’m only showing myself to you now because you think that everything is your fault. That you should be the one taking care of Dru and baby Freddie, awesome name by the way, and that you should keep her away from Neville but Georgie... she cheated on me because she was unhappy in our marriage. She tried to leave me twice, remember? She walked away to Tonks, and then with Easter she told me that she wanted to leave me. And I asked her time and time again to give me another chance. I wish I had been more like you, you know. You and Rose are still together. Dru and I would have gotten a divorce after the war, if I had survived it. She loves Neville just as much as she loved me, well maybe a bit more considering he was her first love, but you should respect her and Neville’s decisions. They’re going to be amazing together, absolutely amazing and they’re going to surprise you all. Neville will be a good uncle or even stepdad to Freddie. He’ll be even better than I’d ever be. So stop worrying about not taking care of Dru and Freddie. Letting them go was the best thing you could have ever done.” He then took a deep breath. “So glad I don’t need air as a ghost.”

George gave a faint chuckle. “I just miss you so much and I’m not sure how to do all of this without you.” 

“Well, you’re doing just fine, Georgie. I mean, the shop is more successful than ever. Bill and Fleur have become a regular fixture of your home, which is great because their job is only a couple of metres away, Rose is still the stubborn old Rosie who doesn’t really understand what taking care of herself means, and you... you just keep on doing what you do, you’re great. I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m not.”

“No, because you’re an idiot,” Fred grinned. “Come on George, you’re doing great. You don’t need me. Everyone who said that living together while married to our wonderful women was unhealthy was right. We would have held each other back and wouldn’t have grown up. Well... I’ll always be this young and handsome and you’ll grow old and grey with Rose, but it’s okay like this.”

“I’m the handsome one, Fred.” George chuckled. “Does this mean I can't ever see you again?” He knew he sounded like a five year old but now now that he found a loophole for being able to talk to Fred and have him talk back, he didn't want to lose it. “I mean, you could come see me sometimes, can’t you? Just to talk a bit?” 

“We’ll see. Like I said, I’m just showing myself now because I was afraid you’d do something stupid, like go outside and pick a fight with Malfoy and Neville and I don’t want to put Rose and Dru through that. Nor you, but you’re stubborn anyway, picking fights you’ll lose.” He shrugged. “Or off yourself, because I’ve seen you linger in the kitchen with the knives a couple of times now. If you off yourself, I will kill you.”

“I just thought I could talk to you then.” 

“Kill yourself and Rose will follow. Would you want that? I’m always around to keep an eye out, but Rose was right the last time, I shouldn’t make myself known anymore and I shouldn’t mess with things anymore. You need to let me go. I’m alright. You’re doing great. Maybe I’ll show myself again on our birthday, maybe not.”

“I think you’re messing with me. You won’t show up. Can we agree that we can see each other sometimes, just to talk? I might miss you less and i’ll be more at ease, knowing i can still talk to you, please Freddie.” 

Fred sighed. “Alright, see you after Artie or Barty is born.”

“What?” George blinked at him.

“Your kid. He says his name is Arthur. I just think that for the heck of it you should call him Bartemius, although that might scare Rose.” Fred shrugged.

“No, her name is Georgianna.” 

“Your Muggle obstetrician is an ass and had the wrong envelope on her desk.” Fred nodded. “I’m telling you, you’re getting Arthur. Don’t fight me on this, because I also told Dru that she was getting a boy and I was right.”

“I’m not having a little girl?” George sounded a bit disappointed, not that he didn’t love to have a son, but he gotten so used to the idea of a little girl with tiny pigtails and cute dresses on, that it was hard to shake that image out of his head. 

“You’re a Weasley mate, it’s a miracle that Ginny’s around.” He chuckled. “Aren’t you glad that Rose didn’t pick pink colors for the nursery?”

George laughed in a way he hadn’t laughed for months now. A laugh that hadn’t sounded ever since Fred had died. 

“See you next time, Georgie,” Fred grinned. “Go kiss your wife and tell her that everything’s alright.”

“I love you, Fred.” George smiled as he walked back up the stairs.


	66. Goodmorning

A couple of weeks later, George and Rose stepped into a very quiet Burrow. Everyone was on the platform gathering Ginny and Hermione for the Christmas holiday, and as much as Rose had wanted, George didn’t want them to go as it meant that they’d have to apparate and he didn’t think it was healthy for the unborn baby or Rose. 

Rose was ballooning now. She was supposed to give birth any day now and she couldn’t wait. Unfortunately, her body felt just as awkward as ever, and the baby was still very comfortable whereas Rose was uncomfortable. 

“Alright, you take a seat on the sofa, I’m going to make sure there’s tea and something to eat when everyone returns,” George told Rose. Ever since his conversation with Fred, he felt better. He was a lot more cheerful and laughed again as if nothing had happened. He hadn’t told Rose yet that they weren’t getting a little girl though. He had to see it to believe it.

“Sure,” she said as she toddled over to the sofa, pointed her wand at the fireplace and started a fire. The fireplace in the kitchen was always off so that she and George could come in anytime they wanted and the one in the living room was used to keeping everyone warm. Rose knew that they could easily use a fire that was on, but George was afraid that the baby might get burned or something, so Molly and Arthur kept the kitchen fireplace out, just to humor him. 

~~~~~

“Are you ready, babe?” Neville asked as he had put Fred in the harness and was waiting for Dru to get her coat on. Kings Cross station was only a short tube ride away and even though Neville was used to it now, they now had a little baby.

“Hold on.” Dru put her coat on and let Neville help her into the harness. Freddie had gotten a bit bigger and Dru now usually used the pram, but now that they were going on the tube, the harness was easier. ”I can't wait to see Luna’s face when she sees Freddie is already born, she was looking forward to being here when I was giving birth.” 

“Oh I know,” he smiled at her. “A lot of eyes will be on you on that platform today, just as it should because you’re hot, but they won’t believe their eyes when they see you and Freddie.”

“I’m not hot.” Dru sulked, she had her old figure back, but since she was still breastfeeding, her breasts were still larger, meaning she couldn't not yet get into all her old clothes just yet and to top it off she and Neville had not had sex yet since Freddie was born, mostly because Neville was told by his gran to wait at least three months with that. But he hadn't said this to Dru, who was feeling insecure.

“Oh yes you are,” he grinned and helped her to walk down the stairs towards the road. “If it wasn’t for having to allow your body to get some rest for a few months, I would have ravaged you already.”

“Hold on,” she stopped him, “What do you mean? Allow my body to rest. I know I’ve been getting up in the night to feed Fred, but I’ve been getting enough sleep, I’ve been taking naps every afternoon. I’m not tired.” 

“Alright,” he smiled at her. “Never mind.” He quickly kissed her. “Let’s go before Luna wanders off, gets on a train and we won’t be able to find her.”

Dru chuckled and took his hand as they walked to the underground station.

 

Neville and Dru arrived on the platform well in time as the train was not yet to arrive for at least ten more minutes. Dru waved at Draco who had came to greet his girlfriend. 

“Mum,” Ron tugged on his mother’s arm. “You better see this.” He pointed into Dru’s direction who was talking to Neville while gently caressing Freddie’s head. 

“Oh, yes, you’re an uncle, Ron.” Molly smiled widely as she made her way over to Dru and Neville. “Hi Dru and Neville,” she greeted them. “Don’t you look amazing!”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Dru giggled. ‘Hi Molly, how are you?” 

Ron and Bill were staring at their mother. Didn’t they all decide not to talk to Dru and Neville anymore?

“Well, I think you look amazing, you’ve already lost all your baby weight! Took me... years and it’s still on me,” she laughed. “How are you doing, sweetheart?”

Arthur saw the look on the faces of his boys. “Dru made us promise not to say anything about Freddie, boys, because you’re all siding with George on this one. But family is family and it’s a lot more complicated than you think. Now, be nice to her and she might allow you to see the baby. You can’t stay mad at her forever.”

“Dad, they cheated on Fred.” Ron said. 

“Yes, and if you had taken the time to go over and talk to her, you’d know why and you’d understand. It’s still not right, Ron but she’s still family.”

“I didn't do much exactly, to lose it. I don’t know, I guess it’s a family trade.” Dru smiled as she got Freddie out of the harness, now that he was a bit bigger it was a bit easier. “Look, Fred, it’s nana.”

Arthur came and joined Molly. “He has certainly grown.” 

Fred had just started to smile when he heard his mother’s voice and smiled widely as he tried to take hold of a stray strand of mum’s hair. 

“Freddie.” Dru laughed. “That’s naughty.” She put her hair behind her ear.

“No, that’s adorable,” Molly chuckled. “Good for Fred’s development, to try and grab something with his hands.” She gently caressed Fred’s head. “Oh Dru, I’m so proud of you.”

“Why is everybody so proud of me? I’m not doing anything.” Dru laughed and handed Fred to Molly. 

“Because taking care of a baby isn’t easy.” Arthur smiled at her. 

Fleur looked at Bill, who was still standing on a distant of Dru, together with Harry and Ron. Fleur understood why they were mad at her, but Fleur had really missed Dru, she loved Rose, but she and Dru were more alike. She really wanted to tell Dru her own happy news, but she knew Bill wouldn’t like it. She shot him another look and shook her head before making her way over to Dru. 

“Congratulations, Dru,” Fleur shyly smiled at her. “I am sorry for...--”

Dru nodded. She wasn’t sure if she wanted this. The last few weeks without the Weasleys had been easier on her. She didn’t feel like everything she did was wrong. “It’s fine.” 

Fleur saw the look on Dru’s face and nodded. “I’d better go... there must be too many of us for you here to deal with right now.”

“It’s fine, how are you?” Dru took Neville’s hand. It felt safer holding his hand. 

“Good, to be honest,” Fleur smiled at her. “I am almost four months pregnant myself.”

“Oh, Fleur, that’s brilliant.” Dru smiled, while still keeping her distance. It was uncomfortable, Dru wasn’t at ease and the fact that Neville hadn’t spoken one word since the first Weasley family member had approached them, wasn’t making it easier either. She knew it was his way to deal with the anger he felt for everybody turning their back on them, he would rather just go quiet, than go violent. “Isn’t that great news, babe?” 

“Yeah, it is.” He then nodded towards the train. “Luna’s coming.”

Dru took Freddie back over while Molly, Arthur and Fleur went back to the rest of the family to greet Hermione and Ginny who both hadn’t noticed Dru yet. 

Neville planted a kiss on top of Dru’s head. “They’ll get used to it, Dru. Just don’t let them do anything you don’t want them to do, just say no if you don’t feel like talking to them.”

Hailey and Ben were waiting for Adrianna, but instead of going straight to them, Adrianna had spotted Neville and then saw Dru and a baby. “Druuuuuu!!!” Adrianna squealed as she ran passed Luna and threw her arms around Dru’s waist, carefully avoiding Freddie. “I’ve missed you!”

Dru gave Freddie to Neville and hugged the little girl back. “I’ve missed you too. how was it being a second year?”

Adrianna bounced. “So much better than last year,” she smiled widely. “I’ve been told I’m a natural at potions and even stupid herbology!”

“Oi.” Neville gave Adrianna a pat on her head. “Herbology is not stupid.” 

“You made it fun!” Adrianna hugged Neville too. “Where’s Rose?”

“Oh he’s so cute!” Luna smiled as she gave Neville a kiss on his cheek and looked at Freddie. “When was he born?” 

“Last month, November 7th,” Neville chuckled.

“That’s so great, did you allow a garden gnome to bite him in the finger yet? You have to start allowing greatness at an early age.” 

“No.” Neville chuckled. “And we’re not going to.” 

Dru still hadn’t given Adrianna an answer to her question about the whereabouts of Rose. 

“Shame,” Luna shrugged and hugged Dru. “I am curious how we’re going to travel to your home now.”

“I’d better go to mum and dad.” Adrianna said, looking a bit sad at Dru. “I’ll see you when I do, don’t I?”

Dru gave Adrianna a hug. “Don’t worry, you won’t get rid of us that easy.”

Adrianna ran back to her parents after sighing deeply and jumped into her father’s arms.

“She’s still adorable.” Dru laughed. ‘Sorry, how are you Luna?”

“I am fine,” Luna smiled at her. “But didn’t we have an agreement about you giving birth?”

“Tell him that.” Dru pointed at Freddie who was trying to get Luna’s hair in his hands, but whined when she was too far away from him to reach.

“Adorable baby,” Luna giggled and smiled at Neville and Dru. “Can we go? There’s a bad energy on this platform.”

“Yeah.” Dru put Freddie back in the harness. “Got your bag?” She asked Luna.

“I do,” She smiled.

“Alright let’s go then.” Neville said.

* * *

George was sitting on the sofa with Rose’s feet on his lap, giving them a massage. 

“Your sister and Hermione and your brothers disturbing the peace in three... two... one...” Rose sighed. She had liked the quietness at the Burrow for a moment. She loved the smell of the house. Their own apartment didn’t have a smell. It didn’t really smell like home.

George grinned and kissed her as his family came back into the Burrow.

“Oh my god, I leave you alone for a few months and you’re not talking to them anymore? What’s wrong with you?” Hermione’s voice sounded angry. 

“Ow! Why do you hit me for?” Ron shot back. “I missed you too!”

“Hermione, she cheated on Fred.” Ginny said as she pushed Harry into a seat and crawled into his lap. “You don’t cheat on your husband.” 

“Oh for god’s sakes, they weren’t doing well, were they?” Hermione rolled her eyes at Ginny and hit Harry on the head too. “And you! You’re supposed to make sure that things like this doesn’t happen! Have you lost your mind?!”

“Ow!” Harry shot her a look. “Would you stop hitting people and just calm down, please?”

Ron sat down in chair and pulled Hermione on his lap. “It doesn't matter now, they don’t want to see us anymore either. Neville had even asked to put on a different time schedule than Harry is.” 

“I still just can't believe she had her baby already.” Harry said as he caressed Ginny’s back. 

“Oh my god!” Ginny squealed. “Rose! Is Rose in labor? Is that why she wasn’t on the platform?”

“No, I’m here,” Rose said as she slowly walked into the kitchen, followed by George. “Too big to apparate now,” she chuckled.

“You’re huge!” Hermione and Ginny chorused. 

“Oi! she’s beautiful.” George was standing behind her and put his arms around her. “Mind you, my arms are pretty full now, but she’s absolutely gorgeous.”

“So, are you in labor?” Ginny asked again as she hugged Rose and George at the same time. 

“No,” she chuckled. “Gianna likes it in here.”

“Well, tell her to hurry up.”

Hermione was sitting on Ron’s lap. She could still not believe the family attitude towards Neville and Dru. And now she had her baby and they were pretty much all alone. This couldn’t be the reason that they fought a war, to have families fall apart. 

“Tea?” Rose smiled as she placed the cups on the table.

“Let me do that.”

“Okay, I’m going to use the bathroom then,” she softly kissed George and toddled off.

“George, Dru had her baby.” Hermione told him.

“I know.”

“You’re not angry?”

“I was, but it’s okay now.” He smiled at her. “Really.”

“You’re okay with all of this?” Ginny asked shocked, breaking off her kiss with Harry.

“Well, not completely okay,” George sighed as he poured tea for everyone. “But I understand now. Sort of. I think. I’m not sure, but I get it. I don’t like it that she cheated on Fred, I still don’t like it that she did it with Neville either. I’d love to see her on a regular basis again but maybe it’s good to have this time away from each other to deal with it all instead of trying to hold on to things that can’t be hold on to anymore.” He got his mum’s freshly made cookies out of the oven (Rose had smelled them the moment they had set foot in the kitchen) and put them on the table. “To grow up.”

“Maybe you should be the one that needs growing up.” Hermione muttered before she took a sip of her tea.

“That’s what I meant, Hermione.” He chuckled. 

“I want what you’re having.” BIll blinked at George. “What drug are you on?”

“I’m going to be a father any day now,” George grinned. “Best drug in the world.” 

Rose walked back into the kitchen and sat down on a chair, smiling at Hermione and Ginny. “So, how’s school? What’s the latest gossip?”

“Well, there’s a lot of talk about Ginny and Harry.” 

“Hermione, please.” Ginny whined. “It’s annoying enough at school.” 

“Oh yeah, Ginny’s dating the boy who lived! Twice!” Rose giggled and took a sip of her tea.

Ginny laughed as she crawled against Harry. “I just want to date Harry, my Harry.”

“Aren’t you?” Harry blinked at her. 

“At school I’m dating the boy who lived, not my Harry.” 

“She’s one of the best Quidditch players Hogwarts has ever seen too,” Hermione nodded. “No offense, Ron, George and Harry, but she’s great.”

“Well, she’s the best chaser in the family.” Charlie snickered as he walked into the kitchen, he had decided it was time to see his family. He hadn’t been home since Fred’s funeral.

“Charlie!” All the Weasley kids chorused and nearly knocked their brother over as they all wanted to hug him. 

Rose chuckled and took a sip of her tea and took a bite out of her cookie.

Charlie hugged his siblings and then came to hug Rose. “Wow, Rose, eat much?” he chuckled. 

“I ate a baby.” She nodded.

He gave her a hug, “So where’s the other whale?”

“She’s at home in her own flat with her baby and her boyfriend. Congratulations Charlie, you’re an uncle.”

“What?”

“Dru gave birth.”

“That’s amazing! 

“And she cheated on Fred with Neville,” Ron nodded. “While Fred was still alive.”

“Neville? the Neville? The one from Hogwarts?” Unlike the rest of his family, Charlie had seen Neville only three times, the first time was at George’s wedding, then the battle of Hogwarts and the last time was Fred’s funeral. 

“Guys, just drop it already, okay?” Hermione sighed. “It happened. It’s not right but seriously, I’d rather have her spend Christmas here with us than ... she must be all alone with Neville, his gran and Luna.”

“Wait, hold on. why shouldn’t she be here for Christmas?” Charlie asked confused, the family hadn’t filled him in on recent events.

“She needs some time away from us, and George and Rose had a huge row with them and...” Ron shrugged. “It’s complicated mate.”

“Right.” Charlie scratched himself behind his ears. “Well, I wanna see my nephew.” He put his bag on the table and took out a stuffed animal, shaped like a dragon. “Where’s her flat?” 

“Charlie!” Molly smiled widely as she walked into the kitchen and hugged her son. “What a surprise!”

“Hi mum,” He said as he gave his mother a hug with the dragon still in one hand. “What’s all this about Dru?” 

“Sit down, sweetheart.” Molly sat him down in a chair and gave him a cup of tea. “Dru is still very much a part of our family, but she needs some time away from us, that is all.” she then looked at her children.

“And she cheated.” Ron pointed out.

“Her marriage wasn’t going so well, Ronald.” Molly told her son. “I have told you this many times. It doesn’t give her an excuse to do what she did, but she’s family. She’ll always be family to us.”

“But she had a baby and nobody is talking to her?” 

“Your father and I have been visiting her. She doesn’t really want to see anyone else just yet.”

“I wanna go and see her. I haven’t been fighting with her.” 

“I know, sweetheart. Maybe you can stop by tonight, I think she’s taking a nap right about now.” Molly smiled at him. “Or do you have to leave today?”

“No I got two weeks off.” 

“Great!” Molly smiled and planted a kiss on her son’s head. “You have all the time in the world then.”

~~~~

Luna took a deep breath as they were on the train in the underground. “This is amazing!”

Dru chuckled as she sat down. “It’s nice isn't it?” 

“Yes! The way the air just flows through the cabin and the speed... and all those people!” She took hold of one of the metal bars in the middle of the compartment and spun around.

Dru laughed, she knew that people were looking funny at Luna, but Dru didn’t care. It was fun to see Luna so happy. Dru looked at Freddie, who was smiling at her and gave him a kiss on his head. ”I think he likes the train too.” 

Neville chuckled. “I like the way his eyes respond to the light and dark.”

“I just likes the way he laughs.” Dru caressed Freddie cheek. “He’s got his smile.”

“Yep, but he’s got your beautiful eyes.” He smiled at her and softly kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” she softly kissed him back. 

“We don’t have things like these where I come from, but this is an amazing way of travelling! Wouldn’t it be fun if something like this ran all the way up to... school? Underground? It would shave off so many hours!” Luna giggled and danced her way out of the way of people entering the compartment.

Dru laughed and leaned against Neville as they watched Luna. “Should we go another few stops and then go back? She really seems to like it in here.” Dru whispered in Neville’s ear.

“Sure, why not?” he laughed.

Dru smiled and put her head against his shoulder. She enjoyed sitting there with him, his arms around her, Fred smiling at her, trying to grab her hair again. “He really seems to like my hair.”

“It’s nice and long and shiny.” Neville smiled and caressed Fred’s little head. “He’s so alert already. I think he’s going to be a handful when he gets older.” 

“Yeah, you will be, won’t you?” Dru smiled and kissed Freddie head. “You are going to be so much trouble.”

“Imagine if he had your gift.” Luna smiled. “That in combination with Fred’s jokes. that would be so brilliant.’ 

“Oh god.” Dru looked at Neville. “You don’t think he..?”

“It’s quite possible,” he chuckled.

“And then if Rose’s baby has her ability and George’s sense of humor... the world is in deep trouble,” Luna chuckled.

Dru sighed as she put her head on shoulder, she didn't like the idea of Fred’s and George’s child growing up without each other, it made her sad, but she didn't know how else to do this. She couldn’t have them around her right now. Freddie pulled her out of her thoughts as he pulled on her hair. “Freddie!” she chuckled. 

Freddie then looked at her with big eyes and a very intense look on his face. He was taking a poo. When he was done he smiled widely and closed his eyes. It was time to sleep.

“Sorry, Luna, train is over, we’re going home.” Dru said 

“That’s okay, I have two full weeks to ride the train,” Luna smiled widely and made her way over to her friends. “This truly is amazing.”

“Yeah, so is this.” Dru wrinkled her nose. 

Luna started to laugh. “Well, thank God you’re not a muggle, you can easily take care of that!”

“No Luna, there are no safe spells for changing diapers.” Dru laughed and got up, they were near the station. 

“Oh, well, if I ever get children I’ll let them run around naked all the time.” She nodded.

Dru laughed and gave Luna a kiss on her forehead. “You do that, sweetheart.” 

“Move up to Ireland and let them poop all over Seamus’ muggle land.” Luna chuckled.

“You could suggest that to him at Christmas.” Neville nodded and gently took Dru’s elbow as they walked out of the train. It was a habit he had picked up while she was pregnant. 

“Is Seamus seeing anyone?” Luna wondered as she skipped behind Neville and Dru. 

“I’m not sure.” Dru said.

“Good,” Luna smiled as they exited the station. “Oh fresh air!”

Dru smiled and took Neville’s hand as they walked back to the apartment. “Neville will make you some tea, I’m going to change Fred’s nappie.” Dru smiled as she walked up the stairs. “Yeah, you’re a smelly little monkey, aren’t you?”

~~~~

Gianna had been moving around an awful a lot during the night and into the morning. Rose had even managed to take a shower to calm her down and get her back to sleep but it didn’t really work. Rose barely slept these days anyway because if she had to be honest, to sleep in George’s old bed wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do. 

It was early morning on December 24th and Rose had been making snacks all night to keep herself occupied (apart from taking the shower and walking around a little). Gianna had moved so her head was now pushing into Rose’s ribs so whenever she sat down she rather wished she hadn’t. 

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Molly greeted her.

“Good morning, Mrs. Weasley,” Rose greeted her. 

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Molly?”

“And how many times do I have to tell you that whenever I do, something bad happens?” Rose chuckled. “Apparently I’m a fragile pregnant woman. I don’t want to jinx anything.” 

“Did you make this?” Molly was amazed by the amount of cookies and fresh bread that was on the table. “Sweetheart, did you get any sleep at all?”

“I’m really uncomfortable when I sit down. Baby’s moving around a lot.” She placed her hand on top of her stomach. “Head’s all the way up here now.”

“Ow, that’s worrisome if you need to go into labor...”

She gave a shrug. “She’ll turn around again. I think of it as her first practical joke.”

“Please, if you feel something is wrong, tell me immediately, I don’t not want to go through another problematic delivery again.” Molly gave her a kiss on her head.

“Problematic?” Rose blinked at her. “Another one?” she then shook her head. “No, I don’t think I’m in labor or anything, just restless. I’m not in pain either.”

“Yeah, that’s what Dru though too.” Molly sighed. “She was in real trouble, we didn’t tell her, but the doctor was thinking about using some drastic magic to get Freddie out, but she might not have made that. Neville didn’t want us to tell her that, until he had to. Thank god she made it through though.” 

Rose grabbed a cookie and nodded. “Alright, I understand where you’re coming from,” she then smiled. “But if I was in labor, wouldn’t I feel pain? Like... something’s stuck in your intestines and wants to come out desperately?”

“Well it’s unusual for your first child to announce itself quietly.”

“See, don’t worry!” Rose smiled again and gave Molly a hug. “Now, I’ve made the bread for breakfast, what else do you require some help with until Gianna decides to turn around again?”

“How about making setting the table for breakfast, but only if you feel up to it.” 

“You know...” Rose smiled at Molly. “Tonight it’s two years ago that George asked me to marry him. Four years since he kissed me for the very first time.”

“Oh god, Rose.” Molly chuckled “You really shouldn’t have jinxed it.”

“What?” she smiled as she set the plates on the table. “I’m just saying, today is a very special day.”

“Yeah, but with your luck. You’ll now go into labour today.” Molly chuckled and kissed Rose’s forehead. 

“Oh I hope so. It’s about time she works her way out of me.” Rose softly caressed her stomach and felt Gianna slowly turn around again. “Yep, she’s turning again.”

“Sweetie, why aren’t you in bed?” George asked sleepily as he walked into the kitchen.

“Because Gianna was turning around all night making it impossible for me to sit or lay down. I even took a shower, made bread and cookies and now she’s turning around again.” She smiled at him and softly kissed him as she ruffled his hair. “Good morning.”

“Hmm.” George kissed her tenderly. “Mum?” 

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Do you really need Rose’s help or can I steal her for some dirty monkey sex?” 

Rose chuckled and hit George on the chest. “I just told you I’m uncomfortable when I’m laying down or sitting and you want to have dirty monkey sex?”

“Speed up the delivery, remember.” He smiled as he kissed her neck.

“Oh now you’ve really jinxed it,” Molly threw her hands up in the air. “That’s it, I’m going to prepare this house for a birth.” She shook her head as she walked out of the kitchen.

Rose giggled and put her arms around George’s neck. “I’m really sorry, but I honestly don’t think sex is in the cards today.”

“Fuck.” George groaned.

“But I can give you a hand?”

“Fuck yes.” He kissed her passionately.

“Let’s go to your room then,” she said while kissing him and then winced when Gianna kicked against her ribs. “Ow, that actually hurt.”

“Sweetie.” George took Rose to the sofa and made her sit down before sitting down in front of her on his knees. “Are you okay? Is Artie hurting you?” 

“Artie?”

“Fuck.” George muttered and rested his head against her knees. “You stupid ass, can’t you ever shut up?” he muttered. 

She chuckled. “Fred?”

“Fred.” George gave a nod. “Don’t believe him but...”

“Well, I could cheat if you like.” Rose softly kissed him. “Haven’t done that in a while.”

“It’s alright, we could just let ourselves be surprised.” 

“But would you like that? If it’s a boy to call him after your father?”

“Yeah,” George smiled. “Or we could call it Barty after your dad.” 

“Ew.” Rose furrowed her brow. “Seriously, who in their right mind calls their son Bartemius?”

“Barty.” George smiled at her, Fred was right, this was funny to tease her with.

“No. Absolutely not.” she shook her head. “What if he goes to Hogwarts and they find out that he’s been named after a Ministry official and his criminal son? He’ll get teased to death. No way.”

“But I like Barty.” George tried not to laugh but Rose’s face was too adorable.

“No.” she shook her head again and rubbed her stomach. “Alright baby, if you want to come out, you can come out now, because we’ve already jinxed it multiple times today.” She looked at her belly and sighed. “She’s asleep now.” She then kissed George tenderly and smiled. “Can I go to sleep? Or do you want me to give you a hand?”

“Go to sleep, sweetie. I’ll help myself.” he kissed her tenderly. “Besides you’re already helping me.”

She moved a little on the sofa and smiled as she closed her eyes. “I love you, George.”

As soon as Rose had nodded off, Molly pulled her son into the kitchen. “I checked the tub, there was a bit of blood in it, I think her water broke last night.” Molly sounded excited. 

“What?” George asked panicked. “Her water broke?” 

“George, relax.” Molly gently caressed his arm. “As long as she doesn’t get stressed out or whatever, she’ll be fine. I don’t think she’ll like to go to St. Mungo’s to give birth but if something goes wrong, we will take her immediately.”

“I don’t think I’m ready for this, mum.” 

“George, you’ve known about Rose being pregnant for months, aren’t you used to the idea by now that you’ll soon have your own child?” She put her arms around him. “Oh my sweet little boy.”

“Mum.” George whined a bit as he held her. “I’m gonna be a dad, that’s scary.” 

“It is scary,” she chuckled and caressed her son’s hair. “But you’ll be a great father, George.”

“Morning,” Ginny said as she dragged a still half asleep Harry with her into the kitchen. “Do you have coffee, mum?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes. “Harry needs one to wake up.” She then realized that her brother had a shocked look on his face and her mother looked excited. “Oh my god! Is it time?!” she squealed.

“Ginny!” Harry whined as he sat down at the table.

George walked over to Rose. “Are you okay? Do you want something to drink? To eat? A pillow, A foot rub?” 

“I was sleeping,” she muttered and put another pillow over her head. “What’s the commotion about?”

“Are you alright?” George gently caressed her belly, checking her over, not that he knew what to look for, but still, he wanted to check her over anyway.

“Boom!” Rose chuckled. “Exploded Rosie.” She lifted the pillow from her head. “George? What’s going on? Did your mum tell you horror stories about childbirth again?”

“No, she thinks your water broke.” he muttered as he checked to see if her pants was wet.

“I would know if my water broke... unless it happened while I was taking a shower, but George, I’m not having this baby today.” She chuckled and tugged on his hair. “Relax.”

“Mum found blood in the tub.” George said worried.

“George, you’re freaking me out.” She pulled him on the sofa with her and moved so that she was lying with her head in his lap. “Relax.” She said again as she put her arms around his waist.

“Rose, you’re going into labor soon and I...” He was freaking out and he felt frustrated that he didn’t have anybody that understood why he was freaking out.

“Well if my water broke I’m already in labor,” she blinked at him and caressed his cheek. “George, don’t worry. You’ll soon have a healthy baby girl. Or boy or maybe something in between.” 

“That’s not funny.”

“Breathe.” She smiled at him and pulled his face closer so she could kiss him. “ _If_ I’m in labor, you’ll have the best Christmas present ever.”

George sighed and closed his eyes trying to calm himself down, which wasn’t really working. 

“What are you so afraid of, sweetie?” she kept caressing his cheek and looked at him. “Would you feel better if we’d go to St. Mungo’s and have me checked out?”

“Mum says it’s not necessary.” George was on the verge of tears. “I just...” he swallowed his tears. “Never mind, just lay down and relax, Rosie.” 

“I am down and relaxed.” she chuckled. “Tell me.”

‘I... He’s not going to be here for this.” George said in small voice. “And that hurts.” 

“I know,” she managed to sit up and pulled George in her arms. They were still alone in the living room and she smiled when she saw a reflection in one of the windows. “But you’re not alone,” she nodded towards the window. “He’s here, I just hope he shuts up.” she grinned.

George looked at the window and sighed relieved. “Alright, I’ll calm down now.” 

“Good. Now, would you like me to go to St. Mungo’s have them tell you that I’m not in labor or what?” she smiled at him. “I’d know, wouldn’t I? It hurts like hell, your mum told me.”

“Yeah.” George slofly helped her to her feet. “Mum, we’re going to St. Mungo’s for a bit.” 

“Hold on,” Ginny said as she got up and walked to Rose. She put both of her hands around Rose’s face and looked her straight in the eyes. “Switch on.”

“What?” Rose asked confused.

“Switch on.” Ginny said again as she stepped on Rose’s foot. “Come on, switch on. I’m standing on your barefoot.” Ginny then looked at her brother who looked even more scared now. “Oh come on George, you know how she is with pain. She switches herself off. If you want to know if she’s in labor, she needs to switch herself on. How else do you think how she managed to survive for so long last year?”

“Ginny, get off.” Rose pushed her away. 

“Alright, I’m getting Neville.” Ginny said as she reached for her coat. 

“No!” Rose said as she put her arms around George. “You’re not getting Neville. He’s with Dru and Freddie and no. You’re not doing that, Ginny.”

“Then switch on.”

“I’ll take my chances and we’ll go to St. Mungo’s.”

“Ginny, get him.” Harry gave his girlfriend a kiss. “Just do it and take him to St. Mungo’s.”

“I’m not doing this.” Rose shook her head. “No.” she wanted to climb into George. “George, you don’t like Neville, do you? Don’t let Ginny get Neville, I’m fine.”

“She won’t.” George winked at Ginny while Rose didn't see it. “Let’s go to St. Mungo’s”

* * *

It was 6 o’clock, Dru had just fed Freddie and had managed to get him to fall asleep again. She quietly crawled back into the bed, trying not to wake Neville. She looked at him, he looked so adorable, it made her want him even more than she already wanted him. They still hadn’t had sex since Freddie was born, because Neville had the idea in his head, from his gran and several books, that they should wait 3 months till after giving birth before having sex again. But Dru didn’t want to wait another 6 weeks. 

She sighed and turned on her side and closed her eyes. Now she was getting turned on again, just by thinking of sex with him. She moved so she was on her stomach. 

Neville moaned in his sleep and his arm started to move to feel around if he could feel Dru. Once his hand had found her, he ran it up and down her back. “God, your lips...” he moaned again.

Dru turned her head towards him and giggled. Was he dreaming of her? She moved a bit closer to him. 

A bulge was growing inside those pyjama pants and Neville sighed. “Oh... Dru... ride me...” he moaned. “Please, I’m begging you...” 

Dru gave a little sigh. She had basically only been riding him for the last few months now and missed the feeling on him on top of her, but still this was his dream and his fantasy. She let her hand slide down his bare chest and to his pants.

“No, can’t pound myself into you... you’ll break,” he moaned. “Are we really fighting over this now? God you’re so hot...” 

Dru giggled and decided to help him while he was still sleeping. She rubbed the tip of his cock with her tumb, before she started moving her hand up and down his cock, while wondering how long it would take for him to wake up. 

“Fuck!” Neville cursed as his eyes flew open. “Dru!” he said surprised.

Dru pulled her hand away and bit her lip. “I’m sorry, I thought... well you were begging me.” her cheeks turned red. “And I was so turned on myself.” She looked away from him, feeling a bit embarrassed. 

He rolled her over and crawled on top of her with a big smile on his face. “You sure?” He asked as he greedily kissed her. “Really sure?”

Dru bit her lip and she nodded. “I’ve missed your hands on me.” she whispered. “Make me feel good, Neville.” 

His big hands started to caress her tiny and still shrinking frame as he kissed her neck. “Hmm... wake up sex.”

She moaned under his touch. “Oh god.” She breathed as her body arched into him. “Those hands.” 

His hands moved up to her breasts and he gently started to massage her nipples. “Those breasts.” he sighed happily.

“Enjoy them, they’ll shrink again when I stop breast feeding.” She grabbed the back of his head by his hair and kissed him needly. “But they’re very...oh...god.” she sighed. 

“Sensitive,” he grinned as he started to move one hand down to her center. 

“Yeah.” she moaned. “You’re driving me mad.” She arched her body into him again. 

“Good,” he chuckled and softly placed a kiss on her breast as his other hand had found her core. “Oh you’re so hot.”

“Neville.” Dru moaned as she tightened the grip on her hair. “You so...oh god...you’re good.” she couldn't stand it anymore and let go of his hair and started to try and get him out of his pajama pants. Neville had already made her feel so floaty that she hadn't even noticed that Neville had stripped her of her underwear and shirt, but now she wanted him to be naked too.

He quickly got out of his pants and kissed her again before pushing one finger inside of her without further warning. Neville wanted her. Bad. He could tell it was the other way around as well and as long as she didn’t say stop or ‘ouch’ then everything was alright.

“More.” She moaned and closed her eyes.

He put a second finger inside of her and then started to pay attention to her breast with his mouth. “Whatever the lady wants, she gets.”

“Hmm.” Dru sighed happily, while she put her hand on his cock and started moving her hand up and down again. “You, you’re all I want.” she had her other hand on his shoulder and dug her nails into it. “Just like this.”

Neville groaned as he pushed a third finger inside of her and playfully bit her nipple. “That feels so good.”

“Neville.” she whimpered. “Take me.” 

He gently removed her hand from his cock and positioned himself so that he could enter her. Neville kissed her passionately as he lined himself up and as gently as possible guided himself in. 

Dru moaned. ‘Oh god.. this is so good.” she wrapped her legs around him, trying to get him even closer. 

Once he was fully in, he started to trust. Slow and gentle at first but when she tried to pull him even more closer and was clawing at his shoulders, he started to move hard and fast, deep and long. He loved the way Dru was moaning and squirming underneath him. It had been _too long_.

Dru bit in his shoulder and moaned at the same time. “Oh babe, you’re so....Oh god...I’m never letting you out of me ever again.” she giggled while moaning at the same time. 

He chuckled and playfully pinched her nipple with his fingers. “Harder?”

Dru moaned and nodded. “As hard as you can.” she pushed her head back into the pillow as she felt Neville trusting harder. “Oh god.” she tried not to cry out to loud, because they had a guest in the house, but it was not an easy task. She bit the inside of her lip so hard it hurt. 

“What do you need?” Neville grunted as he kept pounding into her, he was getting so close.

“You.” Dru playfully bit his earlobe. “You filling me up.” 

“Oh god...” Neville grunted as he exploded inside of her. “Oh... Dru...”

She gasped, the feeling of him coming inside of her, made her come hard. “Oh, that was...oh wow.” she breathed. “We should not have sex for weeks more often.” She giggled as she put her arms around his neck, holding him close to her. 

“We could try.” Neville said as he tried to get his breathing back. “But I doubt that for the next couple of weeks it’ll work.”

“I know, I can’t get enough of you.” she kissed him tenderly.

He chuckled and returned the kiss. “Now, you go and rest some, I’ll make us all breakfast.” He smiled at her. “Luna must think we’ve disappeared.”

“No, I’m going to take a bath, could you take Freddie with you?” 

“He’s still sleeping, isn’t he?” He smiled and kissed her. “I’ll get him if he wakes up.” He walked to the bathroom to quickly get himself cleaned up and got into his pajamas again. “Eggs?”

“Could you make your soldiers?” She asked sweetly and beckoned him to her. 

Neville chuckled and made his way over to her. “You already had one today.”

“Merry Christmas, babe.” she softly kissed him. 

“Ohh but it’s not Christmas until tomorrow,” he grinned and kissed her back before going downstairs to start on breakfast.

After Dru had gotten dressed and Neville had taken a quick shower himself, breakfast was ready and Luna was already her bouncy and floaty self when there was a rapid succession of knocks on the door.

“Oh guests!” Luna smiled widely. “Early!”

“I’ll get it,” Neville said as he made his way down the stairs towards the door. He opened it and blinked. “Ginny?”

“I know, I know... I shouldn’t be here because of the fight you seem to have with most of my family... who are idiots, by the way.” Ginny said as she made her way into the apartment. “Hi! Sorry for barging in, and I wouldn’t do it unless it was a complete emergency.”

“Ginny...” Dru was speechless as she looked at her sister in law.

“No, Dru, I get it, you want some space. I get it, I really do, and I love you for it. You’re still my sister in law whether you like it or not and it’s a shame that little Fred is still sleeping because I would have loved to see him but...” she took a deep breath and turned to Neville. “I need _your_ help.”

Suddenly Freddie started crying and Dru apparated upstairs.

Neville leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “What is it?” 

“Someone doesn’t dare to switch herself on.” Ginny said mockingly. “I stepped on her foot and told her to switch on and it doesn’t work. George doesn’t even know what to do with her and she _might_ be in labor and it could be dangerous if she doesn’t feel pain.”

Neville sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Ginny, I can’t help you with that.” 

“Neville, you _have_ to help. What if she doesn’t feel that something’s wrong? She could end up dead and the baby with her!” she sighed. “Just help her to ... feel and...”

“Ginny, you don't understand, if I thought I could help, I would. But I can’t help her, not while she’s mad at me.” 

“Help who?” Dru asked she came downstairs with Freddie on her arm.

“Rose...” Ginny sighed and shot a look at Neville before making her way over to Dru. “Look, I’m really sorry for what my family is putting you through and I applaud you for wanting your distance and space, but...”

“And you! Or did you forget the letter you send me?” Dru shot at her.

“I’m sorry!” Ginny said again. “I really am! I miss you and I miss having fun girl days and painting each other’s toenails and do your hair and what not.”

“I don’t care.” Dru walked over to Neville and handed Fred to him, so she could get some juice. 

Ginny sighed. “Fine. Keep an eye on your owl, you might get an invitation to a funeral soon.” she muttered.

“What?” Dru spun around. “What are you talking about?” 

“Rosie might be in labor, she’s switched herself off and I can’t get her back to work. George doesn’t know how either, I mean, he’s not noticed it before so why would he now? If she doesn’t feel anything or doesn’t allow herself to feel anything, then all that stupid bed rest over the last two months would have been for nothing and she’ll die anyway, but that’s fine. I came here for help, I shouldn’t have come.”

“Ginny, I want to help, but I don’t know how.” Neville said while gently bouncing Freddie in his arms, he was a bit sulky. 

“You’ve done it before.” Ginny said as she tried not to cry. “At Hogwarts. When Rose had just taken too many and too much and you had let go, but she hadn’t and you made her and she needs that.”

Dru looked at Neville. “She’s right. You’re the only one that can break through that wall of hers.” 

“Look, you don’t have to stay... just... break her.” Ginny bit her lip. “Well, you know what I mean. Please.”

“We can’t leave Luna by herself.” Dru felt the urge to hug Ginny, she knew Ginny wasn’t the girl that let go easy, but she did around her family and her two dear friends. 

“Please just come, all of you or not...” Ginny started to sob. “I just don’t want to risk losing Rose too... and I know everyone’s been horrible to you, including Rose and we don’t deserve your help but... please?”

“I can look after Freddie at the hospital if you like,” Luna spoke up. “I will take him to the tea room and tell him about the creatures that live there.”

Dru laughed at Luna before taking a deep breath and pulled Ginny in a hug. “We’ll come and Neville will try.” 

Neville groaned. The last time he had to do this for Rose’s own sake he had hurt her quite bad with words and he had almost physically hurt her. He was still angry with her for what she had said but he didn’t want her to die either. “I don’t want to be responsible for scaring her into labor though...”

“It’ll be okay.” Dru gave him a reassuring smile before letting Ginny go to collect everyone coat. Ten minutes later Neville walked up to the maternity ward with Dru and Freddie, Ginny had taken Luna to the Burrow. Although there were many offers of people to look after Freddie, Dru had never left his side and she also hoped that maybe seeing Freddie, would help Rose see she need to snap back to normal. 

Before they even got close to the curtain where Rose was supposed to be, they could hear her refuse everything and George trying to calm her down. She never liked hospitals very much. “Right... she’s going to bite my head off.” Neville sighed.


	67. Breaking walls and the laws of physics

George looked up when he heard Neville’s voice and walked away from behind the curtain. “Oh thank god you came.”

“I’m doing this for her, not for you.” Neville said, looking at George. “Although I shouldn’t be doing it for her either, so I’m doing it for Dru and Ginny.” He then sighed. “Has she been checked out by the nurse yet?”

“Yeah, but as long as she’s closed off they can’t help her and she’s being really stubborn.” George grabbed Neville’s arm and squeezed it. “I don't care who you doing this for, but please save her and my daughter...son.....my child.”

“It won’t be pretty, George.” Neville sighed. “You might not even like me even better after this.”

“Save her life, and I love you for the rest of your life.”

Neville blinked at him and then looked at Dru before he chuckled. “Platonically, I hope.” he smirked at George and made his way over to Rose. “Hey Rosie.”

“Get out.” Rose looked at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “I told her not to get you.”

“Good thing she listens as well to you as you to George.”

“Neville, I’m fine.”

“Yeah.” Neville rolled his eyes at her. “Like I believe you. You have lied about how you’re feeling for as long as I’ve known you.” He looked at her and sighed. “Seriously, you’re awesome. You’re this amazing person and you’ve been a good friend, well, for the most part. But you’re an idiot. You still don’t see why people love you. Or that people love you. Or why people want you to take better care of yourself. You’ve finally been in bed for the last... what? 6 weeks? Finally. My god, I feel sorry for that husband of yours because honestly, you’d have driven me mad.”

“Shut up.”

“I am so angry, Rose. For your words towards Dru. Towards your... morality. But you don’t have morals. Only if they suit the situation. You’re a coward. You’re afraid to show pain because you don’t want to be pitied. You’re afraid that once you show that you’re in pain or that you’re struggling, that people will see you as weak. People who love you don’t see you as weak and you should _trust_ them in allowing them to see that you’re hurt or in pain. Or struggling.”

“Neville.” Dru joined them with Freddie still on her arm. They had forgotten the harness in their hurry to leave. She had never been around the original confrontations between her two friends and Neville’s sharp tongue shocked her.

Neville sighed as he looked at Dru, before looking back at Rose. “She is holding your nephew, the birth was quite traumatic and she was in a lot of pain but at least she felt something, Rose. She could tell that something was wrong or when something was about to go wrong. Stop being a coward. Stop hiding. Start living your life and switch on!”

“Rose, the birth is very scary, but when you hold your little girl in your arms, it will make it all okay.” Dru was gently bouncing Freddie. “I was so scared because I was way too early and they told me I could rip my artery and bleed to death but trust me, you’ll forget it as soon as they put this little miracle in your arms.”

“Rose, please listen to them. I can’t bare to lose you too.” George was on the verge of tears. “Please.”

“I am not scared, everything will be fine.”

“Not if you stay like this.” Dru said and took a deep breath. She bit her lip and looked at Neville, who nodded at her. She then put Fred in Rose’s arms. “If you don’t break that wall of yours down, you’ll be holding your child in your arms just like this, but only yours will be a dead child.”

Freddie chuckled and uncoordinatedly smacked Rose against the face before breaking out a huge smile.

“I don’t want to switch on...” Rose said softly as she caressed Fred’s head. “Because I will fall to pieces if I do and I’ll be an even worse wife or friend than I have been in the last few months.”

“Forget about us, Rose” Neville said. “Just think about that little girl that’s trying to get out.”

“If you want, we can stay with you.” Dru suggested. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for this, or Neville, but Rose’s welfare and that of her child came first now.

Rose looked at Dru and shook her head. “No... it was silly of Ginny to come and get you and get you away from your Christmas celebration.” She winced. She was trying to unlock herself and tried to do it in moderation but it hurt. “I’m not in labor.” she shook her head. “Baby’s just playing footie with my kidneys.”

“Yeah and hugging your blather, while being restless and moving like you feel like you’re going to tear, right?”

“Sort of.” Rose said softly as she caressed her stomach. “I’m really sorry that you had to come...”

“Yeah, you’re in labor, Rose.” Dru wanted to hold her hand, but she wasn't sure she was up for that yet, "I'm sorry, but you’re going to be mummy very soon.”

Neville knew Rose was at the breaking point and he knew what he was about to do was cruel and harsh, but Ginny was right. He was the only one that could break her and she needed to be broken. "I'm sorry, George. Look I know I couldn't live... If Dru had...you know... I know some herbs that would make it feel like you're just falling asleep." He put his hand on George's shoulder.

George nodded, inside he wanted to kill Neville for suggesting this, but he knew Neville was doing this to break Rose. And George knew he couldn't because Neville had always been the only one to be completely honest to Rose and not spare her feelings if something had to be said.

Rose blinked at Neville and then looked at George. “Here I am, trying to cooperate and try not to fall completely to pieces and you’re telling George that you know some herbs that would help him kill himself in case I don’t survive?”

Freddie laughed and tried to grab Rose’s nose but smacked her in the face again. Rose gently handed him back to Dru and sighed. “That’s it, I’m doing this alone. Get out. All of you,” she said softly, trying to stop herself from crying.

"And she broke." Neville caressed Rose's hair. "Sorry you left me no choice, Rosie,"

“Get out! I was doing fine today and now I’m feeling like shit! Go away.” She laid down on her side, turning her back towards everyone and started to cry. She didn’t want to feel sad while she was in labor but right now she felt downright depressed.

Everything had been so much better by just trying to relax and take it easy and everyone around her was freaking out or making her feel worse and she hated Ginny for getting Neville. He always made things worse than it looked because he ‘cared’.

Right now she felt like having the baby, giving it to George and just leave. She didn’t fit in, she never had and she’d never fit in no matter how hard she tried or no matter what she’d do. She’d always be the stupid person who’d rather forget herself and take care of others than the other way around and make everyone happy. She was a screw up. Even George was ready to kill himself because of her, for the second time in six months. It wasn’t right.

No, having the baby and giving it to George and leave was the right strategy now. She was going to be a horrible mother and having this baby was the worst idea ever.

“What did you do?” The nurse walked in, looking worried, and made her way over to Rose. She immediately started to check her vitals and sighed. “Mrs. Weasley, look at me.” The nurse said and made Rose look at her. “I need you to calm down. Stop being in distress, it’s not good for your baby and not good for you, can you do that for me?”

Rose pulled the pillow over her head and tried to block everything out.

The nurse sighed and then checked to see if Rose was already dilated and she wasn’t. “I was willing to let her go home at least until the contractions would get worse for her and you could bring her back but I don’t like her blood pressure and she’s upset. Not in pain, but upset.”

Freddie had started to cry and Dru wasn’t able to calm him down. He was wailing and nearly choking on his tears. “Calm down, Freddie,” Dru said softly and bounced him around in her arms. “Please, calm down, I know you want to go home.”

“She’ll be fine in an hour or so,” Neville said softly. Maybe this time he had taken it too far. “She just needs some time to adjust.”

“Then please, leave her alone for an hour so she can rest,” The nurse said as she worked the three out of the room. “I’m sorry Mr. Weasley but that also includes you. Let her get some rest. Get some rest yourself and have something to eat.”

“But...”

“Please, sir.” The nurse said sternly. “I’m only looking out for your wife and your baby’s health. One hour. Then you can come back for a bit.”

An hour later, Rose had calmed down a fair bit and had been fast asleep when she felt some movement behind her. She knew it was George and decided not to move and hope that she could fall back to sleep. She was tired and cursed herself for being up all night.

George had crawled into the bed with her and had put his arms around her and softly caressed her stomach. “Don’t you dare leave me, Rosie, don’t you dare,” he whispered.

The last hour had been horrible. He had wanted to stay with Rose but the nurse wouldn’t let him and all he could do was to have a bite to eat in the tea room upstairs with Neville and Dru, who both didn’t want to leave Rose and George all by themselves.

Dru had reluctantly allowed him to hold Freddie even though the boy hadn’t completely calmed down yet and he was still fussy, but he stopped crying the moment he was in George’s arms. The baby had fallen asleep in his arms and that had been the most precious thing George had ever experienced. Fred’s son, falling asleep in his arms. It had been surreal.

By lunchtime the nurse decided that Rose had stabilized enough to go home for a bit. Even though her body was making her ready to deliver the baby, she still wasn’t dilated yet and the nurse hoped that everything would be set in motion once she was in a familiar environment. If possible, Rose would deliver at the Burrow. The nurse was going to make sure that she could make a house call at any given time when needed, and made George promise that as soon as something looked off, or if Rose was in extreme pain, he’d take her back to the hospital.

The moment they stepped out of the fire, the kitchen was swarming with the Weasley family. Even Percy had decided to stay over for Christmas and as soon as they had an update on Rose, their attention shifted to Dru and Neville and little Freddie. “Dru!” Charlie greeted her with a big smile. “I was planning on coming over today to see you, you know.”

Rose walked towards the sofa and sat down with a deep sigh as George started to make Rose some sandwiches and tea. Not only was she in labor, she was ruining Christmas with feeling like an idiot. Luna smiled as she sat down next to Rose and didn’t say anything. She was just looking at her with great admiration for a good ten minutes before Rose started to feel uncomfortable. “Luna?”

“I was just thinking,” Luna said dreamily. “Would a bite of a garden gnome speed up your labor?”

Neville chuckled, “Doubt it.” he was sitting on the floor, with Dru’s head in his lap, while Freddie was lying on her chest.

“So, as I said,” Charlie said with a smile as he sat down next to Neville and looked at Dru. “I was planning on visiting you today and here you are.”

“Well, Rose needed us.” Dru wasn’t comfortable being at the Burrow, she was still not sure she wanted the Weasleys back in her life, but Freddie seem to have a calming influence on George, which had a good effect on Rose, and Dru didn't want Rose of Gianna to get hurt, so she decided to bare it.

Charlie shrugged. “I think it’s great that you’re here,” he smiled at her. “And that you’ve already given birth because this means you can come to Romania this summer and help me with some dragons if you like.” He placed the stuffed animal dragon on Dru’s stomach and grinned.

Dru gave a little smile. “That’s a sweet dragon. Freddie is going to love dragons, aren’t you?” She caressed his head.

“Of course he’s going to like dragons and other animals, you’re his mum.” Charlie grinned. “And with Neville as your boyfriend, he’ll grow to love plants as well.”

“And flying like Fred.” Ginny smiled.

“If Flitwick is still teaching by the time Freddie goes to school, you’ll be safer at home if you lock up all the things that can burn, explode, break or melt.” Arthur chuckled. “Isn’t he one of the main reasons you and Fred started to love charms even more, George?”

“Fred did, I just loved blowing things up with flair,” he chuckled.

Dru looked up at Neville and caressed his leg with her free hand. She hated that he was so quiet, she knew he was still angry at all of them, especially George. But he too wanted to keep Rose and Gianna as safe as possible even it meant staying at the burrow.

“There’s nothing wrong with plants and herbs,” Molly piped up with a smile as she put snacks on the table. “In fact, I loved Neville’s birthday present for my garden so much. Oh you should see it in bloom, Neville. It’s amazing.” Molly gushed. “And the vegetables taste even better now too.”

“He’s very good with gardens and stuff, It’s such a shame we don't have a garden.” Dru said.

“Well, I heard that Professor Sprout wants to retire in a couple of years.” Hermione said as she sat down in Ron’s lap. “What? I overheard Professor McGonagall talk to her when I had taken Adrianna to the infirmary. That girl really needs to watch her feet.”

“Maybe you should talk to her.” Luna smiled at Neville. “You already have experience with teaching.”

“I’m horrible,” Neville chuckled. “Speaking in front of an entire group? No thanks.”

“Oh come babe, you’ll be a amazing teacher. “ Dru yawned.

“And you and Freddie should find a place to take your nap.” he softly kissed her. “I’m sure there’s a bed available for you somewhere.”

‘“Freddie is already napping.” Dru smiled at her baby boy. “And I’m fine here.” she yawned again, she was tired but she didn’t want to leave him alone with the Weasleys.

“You can use my bed,” Ginny chuckled. “No way you’re going to take a nap on the floor. Don’t worry, Charlie, Hermione, Luna and I will make sure no harm will be done to your hot boyfriend.”

‘Yeah, and why should I trust you, Ginny?” she snarled and gently got up with Freddie still on her chest.

“I said I was sorry!” Ginny said loudly. “For fucks sake, Dru. If you don’t want to be here, then just leave!”

Dru growled and gave Freddie to Neville before getting up. “I’m going for a walk. I need to let some steam off.” She kissed Freddie on his head. She didn't want to be so angry around him. “I won't be long.” Dru stormed out of the burrow.

George looked at Rose. “And what do you think you’re doing?”

“I need to move a bit, so I’m going for a walk.”

“Yeah, don’t think so. You’re not leaving the house. You can walk inside.”

“George...”

“Rose.”

She sighed and walked to the bathroom.

George rubbed his eyes and looked at Neville, who was sitting on the floor next to him. “Was Dru like this? When she had the baby?”

Neville gave a shrug. “She was in a lot of pain very fast. She had been restless before that but it came really fast for her and the hardest thing was that she was pushing for an hour or so before Freddie finally came out.”

“An hour?” George scratched his head, “God, lets just hope Artie is quicker than that.”

“Oi, you’re getting a girl.” Ginny said and pushed her brother’s head as she passed him with a drink.

“I think the fact that it took so long for Dru to get him out was that she was weak.” Neville told George. “She was so scared and she didn’t have enough power to get it out.”

“Neville, an hour is not that long.” Arthur said, “Labor can take up to many hours.’

“Arthur, sweetie,” Molly smiled sweetly at him. “Labor starts once either your water breaks or the contractions start, pushing for over an hour is extremely tiresome.”

“She was pushing for over an hour?” Fleur asked a bit scared.

“Yeah,” Molly nodded. “But she was so brave and so strong, it’s just amazing.”

George caressed Fred’s head. He was awake again and slamming his tiny hands on Neville’s face while smiling widely. “He's so adorable, but he’s so tiny.”

“Yes, and just like that, they’re full grown, getting married, getting babies...” Molly sighed. “And then you’re getting too old to get pregnant yourself again and you see your children getting children and...”

“Mum’s getting sentimental, run!” Ron laughed.

George nudged Neville, “Nev, did you gag when you first chanced his nappies.” George asked quietly with a big grin.

“Oh, it’s not my place to change Fred’s nappies and Dru won’t allow me. I’m just occasionally a cradle for him but feeding, bathing, changing, getting him dressed is not allowed.”

“Not allowed?” George blinked at him. “Why not?”

“Dru’s super mum. She’s doing everything by herself and if I try and help her, she gets cranky.”

“You’re not allowed to do anything?” George helped Neville to his feet and took him to his old bedroom. “Neville, that’s not healthy.”

“I know,” Neville nodded as he gently bounced Freddie around in his arms. “I’ve been talking to her about it but she’s not ready to share him, you know. She’s placing him in people’s arms, but her eyes never leave him. It’s like she almost expects people to drop him or hurt him.”

“But have you tried? To change him without telling her, letting her see you’re not going to drop him?”

“Yeah and I slept on the sofa that night.”

“Oh.’ George sighed. “Maybe we should asked my mum for some advice. This can't be healthy. I mean, I guess you want to be more involved than this, don’t you?”

He blinked at George. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t get me wrong, all this... being nice is a change of pace for once, but I’m only here to prevent Rose from dying and your baby with her. I’m still mad at you and her.”

George sighed and sat down on his bed. ‘I’m sorry, Neville. I was just so... Those 6 weeks were though, Neville. Mum and dad were in my neck about not being nice enough to Rose, Ron was nagging about inventing new stuff, at which he is rubbish by the way, Bill and Fleur were there almost everyday, almost like they were trying to fill Fred and Dru’s spot in our life. I had to keep Percy away from Dru, because with you gone, he started to mother hen her even worse then Mum did, Dru was getting so desperate, thinking you might have gotten hurt. And Rose... well Rose, was just mad at everything I did. I was going mad and this time I couldn’t talk to you about it, I mean, you are the only that gets how difficult the girls can be and i ….I’m sorry, it was just easier to take it out on you than on the rest.”

“That hard, huh?” Neville sighed. “I do have to admit that Dru’s doing a lot better now that she chooses when to see you or not, or allows you to be seen but dude, you have to do something about the anger inside of you.”

“I just..” he smiled. “Fred and I used to wrestle to get the anger out or go play quidditch, but I don't do that anymore.” He looked at Neville. “Look, I’m really really sorry, okay?”

Neville sighed. “Are you sure now that the shop is up and running that you don’t want to be an auror? There’s a lot of physical things involved with it and you actually pack quite the punch.” He then smiled at him. “I’m just kidding, though. It’s no fun, very strict rules and all that.”

“I like having my store.” He got up and kissed Freddie on his head. “But are we good then?”

“I want you to go and apologize to Dru. I get it that Rose is angry with her for being disloyal towards family and that she has a hard time dealing with it because she has this ideal in her head about a big family and all that because she had to miss out on that one, but you should have known better than to get angry with Dru for sleeping with me. It’s wrong, it wasn’t right, but it happened. Once. That’s it. Accidents happen and I feel bad about it because it was your brother. I’ve always admired you two... well until Fred seized his chance and got Dru,” he smiled at him.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that too. Dru was a mess, but we honestly thought that was because of all the fights the two were having. And Fred really loved her, you know. He loved her longer than you even loved her.”

“I know, but there’s one thing that you have always been right about when it came to Dru.” Neville looked at Freddie who was playing with Neville’s hand. “Life was happening too fast for her. Whether it was with me or with Fred.”

‘Yeah, but she’s happy now.” George smiled at the sight of his nephew.

“She is,” he smiled. “And she’s doing great.”

Fred squealed and hit Neville against his cheek before looking at him with a serious stare and his lips pursed. He then sighed happily and swatted Neville against his cheek again and making little happy sounds before yawning.

“I think we’d better check and see if Dru’s already back,” Neville chuckled. “It won’t take long before this little man starts to wail that he wants food.”

George smelled Freddie’s bottom. “And I think he needs some clean nappies too.” he walked downstairs. “Dru?”

“Where are Neville and Freddie?” She asked concerned.

“One poop monster coming up!” Neville said as he walked down the stairs. “Here you go babe, one delightful smelling present.”

“Ah that’s my stinky monkey.” Dru smiled at Freddie, before she looked at Neville. “Are you two okay?” she asked as George went to Rose.

“Yes, we’re okay.” He smiled at her. “Guy talk.”

“Oh! Can I change Freddie?” Charlie asked. “It was always fun to change Ginny’s diapers.”

“Charlie!” Ginny whined.

“No, I'll do it myself.” Dru said

“Maybe you should let George do it.” Ron chuckled.

“Then he can practice.” Harry laughed.

“I’ve changed Ginny’s diapers.” George gave a nod. “Mum wasn’t too happy about that though. Come on Nev, show us your magic diaper changing skills.”

“Yeah, that’s because you dropped her.” Bill grinned.

“Oh I so didn’t want to hear that,” Rose sighed.

“But I did.” Harry kissed the very embarrassed Ginny.

“I’ll go and change him, where did you put the diaper bag?” Dru asked Neville.

“In the kitchen, I’ll get it.” Neville said as he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed the bag.

“Can I change Freddie?” George got up from his seat, he understood why Neville didn't want to push her. He was the only one she trusted with him now, but somebody should push her.

“No.” Dru shook her head and took a step back.

“Oh come on Dru, I’m a lot more coordinated than when I was three, I won’t drop him.”

“No, I’ll change him myself. It’s fine.” Dru took another step back, she sounded a bit scared.

“Dru, I won’t take him away from you, I just want to change him. You can watch me change him and make sure that nothing happens, please? He’s my little nephew. Don’t make me go on my knees and beg, I look ridiculous when I beg.”

“No.” Dru took another step back, she was on the verge of tears. “I’ll change him.”

“Dru? What’s wrong?” Molly asked. “Why can't George change him?”

“I can change him, I don’t need anyone else to change him, I can do it myself, I can take care of him.”

“Let Neville change him, come take a seat,” Molly said as she pat on the sofa next to her. “Relax.”

Dru shook her head. “I can take of him myself.” she was softly crying now. “Neville, tell them I can take care of him myself.’

“You’re a great mum,” Neville smiled at her. “You’re taking such good care of him, you’re making me redundant.” He gave a nod.

“Oh here we go,” Rose muttered and took hold of George’s hand before pulling him down on the sofa with her. “Leave her alone, if she wants to do things by herself then you should let her.” she winced and squeezed into George’s hand.

“Rose, she not letting anyone take care of Freddie, that’s not healthy for the both of them.” He smiled at her.

“Give her some time, she’ll be fine,” Rose said as she rubbed her stomach. She was feeling the contractions now, but they were still a long way apart and just annoying. “I’m going to have you take care of Gianna all the time because I’m lazy.”

“Good, because I don’t want to be left out, like Neville is.” He softly kissed her cheek. You can squeeze my hand if it hurts, you know.”

“I did, but apparently you’re the one immune to pain now.” she chuckled.

Dru walked into the kitchen and made room on the kitchen table to change Freddie. “I’m very capable of changing him myself, Neville. You don't need to help me.”

“But I want to, Dru. What if you get sick one day and too sick to get out of bed? Then I need to take care of Freddie. So, teach me, please.” He sat down at the table and smiled at her. “How can I be a good boyfriend if I can’t help you out with Freddie?”

“You are a good boyfriend, and that’s why I don't want you to help. I don’t want you to feel like you have to help, because he’s my son and you’re my boyfriend.” She put Fred down on the changing mat.

“But Dru... I want to help. He’s your son, but... and I know it’s wrong of me, but I fell in love with that baby just as much as you did when you were pregnant and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him or you. Just let me help, you don’t have to do it all by yourself, even though you’re perfectly capable of that.”

“I think what Neville is trying to say. Is that he wants to change nappies and stuff, because it brings him closer to Freddie.” Harry said as he stood by them. “Look Dru, the three of us, We’ve all been raised by other people than our own parents and you had a great time when you were young because you were treated like their daughter. I wasn't because I was treated like a .. well not as one of their own. Neville has been raised like one of his own and he wants Fred to feel that Neville loves him.” He then looked at Neville. “Was that what you really wanted to say?” he smiled at Neville.

Dru sighed. “I’m just...I’m not ready yet. What if someone sees that I’m not the one taking care of him and they’ll take him away from me?”

“Now why would anyone do that?” Neville smiled at her.

“Because I’m an 18 year old widow.” she said with a small voice. “The nurses said I was too young to be a good mother.”

“That’s a load of crap, everyone who knows you knows that and as long as Freddie doesn’t get beaten up or thrown into an oven, you’ll be his mother forever.”

“Speaking of ovens, where are Holly and Moggy?” Ginny wondered and walked out of the kitchen in search of the cats.

“Well,” Arthur chuckled. “They’re in box in the shed, apparently, Rose was a little bit misinformed about Moggy.”

“Moggy’s a she?” Rose blinked.

“No, he’s a he alright, but he wasn’t fixed.’ Arthur chuckled. “And neither was Holly. Congratulations Dru and Rose, you’re grandparents to a beautiful litter of kittens.”

“Oh! I want to have a look!” Rose said excited and moved so she could get off the couch.

Dru bit her lip and gave Neville a kiss on his cheek. “Alright, change him then. I’m going with Rose to check on my grand children. Molly can help you if you don't know how.” she gave him another kiss before she whispered. “I trust you, but don’t drop him or I’ll kill you.”

Neville chuckled. “Alright gran.”

Dru walked after Rose and Arthur who were already halfway there.

“I'm really sorry, Mr. Weasley,” Rose said, half sorry and more excited. “They assured me he was fixed when I got him all these years ago.”

“I’m just curious why it took them so long.” He chuckled. “Fascinating creatures, cats, don’t you think?” He put an arm around Dru. “There are seven of them, weren’t there seven dwarfs in that muggle fairy tale?”

‘Yes, and seven Weasleys.” Dru chuckled.

“There’s Sneezy... hmm... Charlie. And Sleepy... oh most definitely Ron. Happy... Ginny. Doc... Bill. ... Bashful... Percy... George could be Dopey and Fred could be Grumpy.”

“Oi, George can be Grumpy.” Dru laughed “So that leaves Fred to be Dopey.

“Oh, he can.“ Rose chucked. “But I refuse to be Snow White, Grumpy was always the dwarf most dedicated to Snow White. Sorry Dru, we might have to kill off Holly.”

”Who’s Snow White?” Dru asked.

“Yeah, who’s Snow White?” Arthur echoed.

“Oh,” Rose laughed. “When we get back inside it’s story time!” she rubbed her hands as she entered the shed and was welcomed by tiny kittens meowing. “Kittens!”

“Ah, they’re adorable.” Dru lifted two up and gave them to Rose, before she lifted up two for herself. “They’re so cute.”

Holly watched the girls and her babies while she yawned and hit Moggy on the head.

“Holly is a great mother. Moggy is very good at keeping the gnomes away from his kids.” Arthur smiled. “Raising seven babies at once is huge.”

“Pff, I’m having a hard time raising one.” Dru tugged on her bra. “Damn, I think I need to go and feed Freddie.”

Rose nearly dropped the kittens when a sharp pain went through her back. “Oh that one hurt.” she winced as she handed the kittens to Arthur and rubbed her back. “I think I’m going to take a bath. George was right, I shouldn’t have left the house.”

“Come on, I’ll take you back inside.” Dru gave Rose an arm and walked her back. “Do you want me and Neville to leave you alone with your family?” She had noticed that Rose’s walls were gone and that meant that she and Neville were no longer needed.

“Do whatever you want, Dru.” Rose smiled at her. “If you’d rather go home with Luna then do so. You probably have more important things to do than just sit around, being swarmed by _your_ family and having to deal with all of them at once. Luna told me you’re having Dean and Seamus over tomorrow, you probably have a lot of things to do still.”

“Alright, we’ll go.” Dru ran her hand through her hair, not really understanding why she felt hurt, wasn't she the one that wanted distance from Rose and George?

“But I kinda like having you around, it’s Christmas anyway and it would be weird to spend it without you.”

“Like I said in the hospital, we would stay as long as you want us to stay, so it’s up to you.” Dru shrugged.

“Dru, I’m not going to force you to do what you don’t want to do. Not ever again.”

“Tell someone what you want, is not the same thing as forcing someone Rose. If we had enough we can just leave. Nothing is stopping us, but despite that fact we’re still pissed at you, we do care.”

“Well, I’m still pissed at you too but that shouldn’t have to keep you from spending time with the rest of the family.” Rose said as she walked into the kitchen and shrugged Dru off. “Do whatever you want, Dru.”

Dru looked mad at Rose before going over to Neville. “Wanna go home?”

“No.” George said. “I want you to stay, please?”

“You should force them.” Rose remarked grumpily.

“I’m not, I’m asking them to stay, because I want them to be here. I want them here with us when our baby is born.” He looked at Rose. “Because that would mean so much to me.”

“Alright George.” Rose nodded and made her way upstairs.

“So, are you three staying for dinner then?” Molly asked as she looked at Dru, Neville and Luna. “Oh, Dru dear, I think you need to give Freddie something to eat. I’m sure Ginny or Hermione has a clean shirt for you to wear.”

Dru looked down to her chest. “Dammit.”

Molly chuckled. “Get used to it dear, even if you stop breastfeeding you’re going to experience that for a while. If you want some privacy, you could use our bedroom to feed Freddie.”

“Uh.” Dru groaned and hugged her arms to her chest. “Hermione, do you have a shirt I can borrow?”

“Of course!”

“Thanks, I’m going to feed Freddie upstairs.” she took Freddie over from Neville. “Hello, Monkey.” she smiled at him.

Rose loved the bathtub. It was easier to get into than to get out of but for now, she loved soaking in the warm water. She had her wand at hand to reheat the water if needed and loved this quiet moment for a while. She caressed her stomach and hoped that the baby wouldn’t turn around _again_ because she liked the idea of not having to go to the hospital.

She had done her best to stay out of everyone’s business (especially anything that concerned Dru and Neville) and had tried to relax but she hated it that everyone was looking at her expectantly, almost willing her to go into full blown labor and having to push. She certainly didn’t like the idea of everyone being present during the birth. Maybe, if the contractions were getting worse, she could go and lock herself up in George’s old bedroom and do everything by herself.

Rose tried hard not to fall to pieces as Neville’s words still echoed in her head. And the idea of George so willing to kill himself again. The idea was that she was switched on to feel the pain of the contractions, not to deal with the pain of everything else because nobody cared. Or they cared too much and made an elephant out of nothing.

“You know, baby...” she said softly as she kept caressing her stomach. “I think it’d be a great idea if you decide to come today. I know it’s warm and snug inside my belly but your dad and I can’t wait to meet you and make this day even more special.” She got a kick for an answer. “Yeah, well...” she chuckled. “Like I told your grandmother this morning, four years ago your father took me to the ball and gave me my first kiss. Only four years ago, can you believe it?”

Rose shifted a little and closed her eyes. Yeah, this bath was amazing. “And two years ago, on this day, he asked me to marry him. Oh it seems ages ago and I feel so old...” she sighed and winced when she felt another contraction coming up. “And you’re going to be so lucky and happy when you finally come out. You’re going to have a mummy and a daddy who’ll love you very much and two handfuls of aunts and uncles and a wonderful set of grandparents. Everything I didn’t have.”

The baby kicked again. “There will be no big family secrets you’ll have to keep. No one underneath an invisibility cloak in the spare room... The only thing you’ll have to worry about is getting enough sleep.”

“Your daddy and I are going to show you the fun side of magic, because magic is so beautiful and wonderful and you can do so many great things with it, like making other people very happy. The world isn’t perfect right now, but the right people are in control and the wrong people are gone or almost gone and you won’t have anything to be scared of, apart from Boggarts underneath your bed or in your wardrobe, but not to worry, your father is great at getting rid of those.”

Rose could feel how her body had shifted into another mode, it was really starting to work hard. “And you know, you’re going to grow up with your nephew Freddie. And if you both take after your fathers, you’re going to be a handful together,” she chuckled. “But it’ll be good. You’re going to be so loved, little Gianna. Or Artie.” she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Mummy might not be in the best of shapes right now but everything is going to be alright.”

She pulled the plug of the tub with her foot and stayed seated until all the water was drained. “So how about after dinner, you come out and play? You’ll be in time for Christmas, you won’t have to miss out on anything... we’ll just have to keep Luna away from the garden gnomes.”

Rose nearly doubled over when a big contraction hit. “Okay, slow down, dinner first.” When she wanted to get up she could suddenly feel George’s hands helping her up. She hadn’t even noticed that he had gotten into the bathroom. When she looked up, she saw tears in his eyes. Once she was certain that she had both feet steady on the ground she put her arms around him and kissed him tenderly. “Everything’s going to be alright,” she smiled at him as she caressed her stomach. “Daddy’s here.”

George smiled at her and helped her dry herself off before having her get into one of George’s old pyjama shirts. It was still too big on her, but it was nice and comfortable. He then helped her into a robe and helped her to get some socks on so she wouldn’t get cold. He then kissed her needily before gently breaking off the kiss and caressed her cheek. “I love you, my sweet Rosie.”

“I love you too.” She smiled at him and wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Mum’s made some great food and I think that we should have that in my room, just us, and wait.”

Rose nodded. “That would be great, George.”

He put his arm around her as they walked to his old room. “Or you could go lie down in my parents room. You would be more comfortable there.”

“No, it’s fine,” she smiled at him. “I want you to be comfortable too, you know.”

“Okay, I need to clean up in there though.” George took her to his old room and helped her on the bed before he started to rearrange the stuff in the room. It wasn’t cleaning up really, he was moving the pile around. He was getting nervous.

“George!” Rose whined as she got off the bed again and pulled him with her to the bed again. “Your room looks fine and the baby won’t even notice that you think it’s a mess. Please relax or I’ll go and lock myself up in the bathroom.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I wanna be there when the baby is born. Do I need to ask Dad to fetch a midwife or do you want Mum to help?”

“Relax. Breathe.” She took his hands and smiled at him. “Breathe.”

He took a deep breath and chuckled before he rested his head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Rosie. This is just... I can’t believe it’s actually happening now.” he smiled at her.

“The baby and I have a deal. Dinner first, then it can come out.” She softly kissed him and caressed his cheek. “And your mum is just fine but I’m not quite sure if I’m comfortable with her checking to see if I’m dilated so you’ll just have to do that bit.”

“That’s fine, but trust me Rose, she has seen worse.” he softly kissed her. ‘I’ll get us some food.” He got up, went downstairs and after ten minutes he came back up with two plates full with food. “Sorry it took so long. Freddie had gotten his hands in Dru’s food when she wasn’t looking, that was just too adorable.” he chuckled.

“He’s barely two months old,” she chuckled. “I think it’s a miracle how he’s already so coordinated... or well not so coordinated, he kept hitting me in the face when I held him this morning.” She looked at the plate and smiled widely. “Oh good food.”

“Yeah, mum says, magical babies are a bit faster in their development than muggle babies in their first few months, but after a while that will slow down and then the difference will disappear.” He put a piece of chicken in his mouth as he sat down on the floor next to the bed. “So we’re going to have our hands full too.

“Not if the baby takes after you, like Freddie takes after Fred.” she softly kissed him. “You were always the more quiet one of the two.” She smiled at him and munched on a piece of carrot.

“Yeah you didn't really know me well, before we started dating, did you?” he chuckled.

“Are you kidding?” She pointed at herself. “Afraid of boys, remember? I only tolerated Neville because Dru was our bumper.”

George put his hands in front of his face and laughed. “Oh dirty mental picture. Not good.”

“Little Rose bumping off Dru’s tiny frame and the ever growing Neville toppling over?” she smirked as she took a piece of chicken.

“Oh god, Rose.” George whined. “That’s not funny.”

She laughed as she put a spoonful of mashed potatoes in her mouth and tried not to spill food when she felt another sharp pain going through her body. “Besides, I was terrified of you.”

“Me? I’m harmless. I always followed the rules, I never did anything I shouldn't be doing, I never even had detention in my life.” he laughed as he sat somewhat behind her and rubbed her back with one hand while eating with the other.

“You were loud, you and Fred.” she nodded. “And I was mean and angry.”

“I might have been loud, I still can be, but you were never mean. Angry, yes, but not mean.” he softly kissed her.

She put her plate aside and eagerly answered George’s kiss. “Wouldn’t it be fun if the baby would come out today and not after midnight?” she smiled at him and caressed his hair. “The epitome of being cheesy.”

George chuckled. “It would be brilliant, but I’m not having sex with you now.”

“Oh come on... maybe it’ll give you an extra kick to feel the contractions go through my body while you’re inside of me.”

“Rosie, please don’t make this so hard on me.” He kissed her needily. “I've been wanting you since this morning, but we can’t. We might hurt the baby.”

“Then you do nothing and I’ll help you.” she smiled and tugged on his pants.

“Now?” He blinked at her. “Rosie, you’re in labor. You might need to start pushing soon and you want to give me handjob now?”

“You don’t want to get one?”

George kissed kissed her tenderly. “I always want one, but we can't now. My mum can walk in at any moment.”

She sighed and laid down on the bed, putting her head in his lap and started to caress his cock over the fabric of his pants as she closed her eyes. “I’ll just rest then, wait for explosions to happen.”

“Rose, that’s cruel.” He groaned, even though he knew he should stop her, he didn’t possess the will power to swat her hand away from him.

“Your body says otherwise,” she smiled as she opened her eyes and then started to open his pants. “Yes, or no?”

“Fuck.” He growled. He knew his erection was getting bigger just by the sheer thought of her hand on him.

“I take that as a yes,” she giggled and softly planted a kiss on his cock before putting her hand on him.

“Oh bloody hell.” He breathed the moment her lips briefly touched his cock.

“Shhh... the baby already has ears,” she smiled at him and softly breathed on the tip of his cock while moving her hand up and down his shaft. She was actually quite comfortable with her head in his lap and her body on the bed, snug against George’s legs and was not going to move.

“Rose, you’re killing me.” He looked at the ceiling. Her face so close to his cock, was almost too much for him.

“I’m in the ideal spot to try something new.” she hummed and temporarily removed her hand from his cock so she wouldn’t break it when she felt another contraction through her body. She took a deep breath, or two, and started to stroke him again. “You see... I want my George to be just as relaxed as I am, and this is one way to do it.” she smiled at him before pulling his cock closer to her lips and she kissed the head again. She licked her lips and smiled. “Hmm... salt.”

“Rose.” he nearly choked on the words, he could hardly breathe. “Oh fuck... yeah.”

It was still weird to touch his cock, or even have it close to her lips. She didn’t know what she was thinking when she put it in her mouth and gently started to suck and blow on it but George seemed to love it and she still didn’t want to move so much.

“Oh god.” He groaned. “You’re mad, you’re bloody mad, but god, you’re good, bloody brilliant.”

Her hand went down to his balls and she gently squeezed them before she removed her mouth from George’s cock and took a deep breath. It wasn’t so bad or scary, it was actually quite fun. She giggled. “I actually like this, you might get this more often now.” She said before licking his length.

“Oh god, how in Merlin's name did I die? I don’t remember dying.” he muttered.

She started to suck him harder and move her hand faster and accidentally bit him when he bucked his hips into her.

“Fuck, Rose. I’m gonna come.” He breathed.

Just as he had said that, he exploded into her face which made her chuckle. There was semen everywhere when he had come and she reached for her wand to clean the both of them up before tucking George back into his pants and putting her arms around his waist. “That was brilliant.”

He just nodded as he tried to collect his breathing. “Yeah.” was all he could muster, while having a very pleased look on his face.

“Ow...” Rose moaned as she slowly got up and rubbed her lower back. She didn’t want to complain about the contractions and some passed within the safe pain limit but some just really hurt, like this one and they seemed to be coming faster now. “Baby’s holding itself up to our deal...”

George got up from the bed and help Rose to sit up, before he walked to the landing and then changed his mind and came back in. “Rose, I need you to not think about it, but only tell me what you really really want. Mum or Dru?” 

“Both.”

“Neville?”

Rose groaned. “Are you the best of friends now?”

“We’ve kissed and made up.” George chuckled. “I’m only asking what you want. I know deep down he means the world to you, otherwise he would not be the only one that can break your defences, but it’s your call.” he softly kissed her. “If it helps, we don’t have to tell him that you want him here.”

“I actually don’t want them here... just your mum...” Rose said softly. “It’s nice of Dru and Neville and Luna to have stayed the entire day, but I’m not even sure if they want to be here and I don’t...” She sighed. “Never mind, whatever pleases you.”

George took a deep breath, trying not get frustrated. “Rose, close your eyes, stop thinking and tell me; when you look into your heart, who do want to be here in the room? And don’t think about what they think or want, just tell me what do you want if it was your perfect world.”

She did as he told her to and started to cry. She laid down on the bed again and pulled the pillow over her head. She wanted her father with her, and Winky and Remus and Tonks and... Fred for George but all of that was impossible. They were all gone. “The world isn’t perfect,” she sobbed.

“I’m sorry, Rose.” He softly kissed her. He knew she would regret not having Dru or Neville there later on, but if she didn't want them there, he couldn't force her. “I’ll just go and get mum then.”

“George?”

“Yes?”

“If Fred’s right and we do get a boy... and you wanted to call him Arthur... can his second name be Remus then?”

“I think that’s a great idea.”

“Okay... get Neville and Dru too then.”

“Are you sure?” He asked and couldn’t help to smile, seeing Rose letting her best friends back in, might mean that he was getting his own Rosie back, he had lost her somewhere during the pregnancy.

“Yeah... they stuck around all day and gave up their own plans to get me to stop ignoring my pain so yeah... why not.” She nodded as she was still sobbing. It really hurt to miss people.

George softly kissed her. “I’ll only be a minute.’ He ran downstairs. “Mum, I think it’s time.”

“Really?” Molly smiled widely as she got up.

George turned around, but couldn’t see Dru or Neville. “Where are Dru and Neville?”

“They’re walking outside. Trying to get Freddie to sleep.” Arthur said.

George quickly went outside, he suddenly had an inkling where they had gone to. And sure enough they were walking back from Fred’s grave. “Dru! Neville!”

“Shhh!” Neville shushed him. “Freddie’s sleeping.”

“The baby is coming.” George whispered.

“Rosie is going to give birth!” Neville cheered with a big smile.

Dru hit Neville on his stomach. ‘Shhh.” She had Freddie against her chest and he was finally sleeping. “That’s great, George, but shouldn’t you be in there with Rose then?”

“Rose and I would be honored if you two would be present.”

Dru looked at Neville. “Are you sure Rose wants us there?”

“Well, she’d rather have dead people with her right now and come on, you’re her best friend and Neville is for some weird reason the rock that I can’t be for her. She asked for you.”

“Okay, I’ll come, Neville?” she looked at him. She knew he was still mad at her, but she also know that ever since the christmas holiday in their fourth year where she had spent two weeks in his house, he loved her like a sister, an annoying, get under your skin type of sister, but a sister none the less.

“What Rose wants, Rose gets.” Neville gave a nod. “I’ll just make myself scarce though, Freddie and I will be in the room but out of your way.”

They followed George upstairs, Dru was still holding Fred. Dru wouldn’t hand him over until Rose needed her, she didn't want to wake him up unnecessarily.

“Hi!” Rose smiled widely with a soft voice. “Oh he’s adorable when he sleeps!”

Dru sat down on the night stand, after removing some books from it. “He likes sleeping on my chest.”

“See, I told you I should have cleaned up!” George rolled his eyes at Rose.

“Who wouldn’t like sleeping on your chest?” Neville said as he sat down in a chair in the back of the room at an old desk. “Your boobs are extremely comfortable.”

“Neville.” Dru shot at him.

“I know right, Rose’s boobs are like these to soft cushions. I just...

“George.” Molly glared at him.

“Dru,” Rose smiled at her. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“Rose.” George looked horrified at her. “Do _not_ tell her that in front of mum.”

“Tell her what?” Neville asked curious.

“That she just gave me her first blowjob.” George put his hands in front of his own mouth out of shock, he so didn't want to his mother to hear that.

Dru and Neville both roared with laughter which by accident woke Freddie up. “Oh, I’m sorry. Monkey.” Dru gently rubbed his back.

Rose laughed. “Well that too,” she nodded.

“What?” Dru asked again, gently bouncing Fred, trying to get him back to sleep.

“I had a very enlightening bath and conversation with the baby.” Rose groaned as she caressed her stomach. “And I’m afraid with him or her being so obedient right now that there’ll be hell to pay when it grows up.” she chuckled.

“Oh and you might want to reconsider growing your hair back to its old length.” Dru chuckled. “This one here likes pulling my hair, don’t you?” She smiled as she held his little head close to her own face.

Freddie chuckled and started to blow little bubbles. For a baby who didn’t have much sleep today he was very chipper.

“Alright, Neville, turn around, you don’t want to see this,” Molly chuckled as she moved between Rose’s legs to see how far she was already dilated. “Oh don’t whine, Rose. It’s not like George knows what he has to look for.” Molly smiled at her. “Oh, nearly there, how’s the pain, sweetheart?”

“Not bad.” Rose nodded and saw the look on Neville’s face. “No, I mean it, I feel it but it’s not bad.”

“Just checking.” He smiled at her, “But I know you can stand a lot of pain, I just don’t want you to into lock down again.”

“I’m not, believe me, I’m not. There’s so much stuff in my head right now that hurts a lot but I’m really focussing on the baby and my body so that’s good, right? I’ll lock everything away again after this is over and be me.” She winced and then sucked in some air. “Fuck that one hurt.”

“Do you need me to get you anything, tea with marshmallows, fire whiskey....Oh I know lasagna with whipped cream.” Neville smiled.

“Gross.” Rose said as she shook her head.

Dru sat down on Fred’s old bed and was holding baby Fred in her arms, he had finally fallen asleep again. “God, I can’t believe the amount of chocolate I ate.” She winced at the thought of it.

She chuckled. “Chocolate is good!”

“Yuck.” Dru said, her arms were getting tired. They hadn't brought a basket or a pram or anything to put Freddie down in and holding him in your arms all day was tiring.

Molly smiled at Dru. “You know, Fred and George’s old crib isn’t in this room for no reason.” She pointed at the corner of the room where a big crib was standing, matching the walls and therefore hadn’t been noticed before. There was a big F on Fred’s side of the crib and a big G on George’s side. “We wanted to give you Fred’s side crib, but you already decorated your nursery so we kept it here in once piece instead of Arthur remodelling it.”

Dru smiled and tried to get up, but that proved difficult with Fred in her arms, and the low bed. “Help.” She looked at Neville.

Neville helped her with getting up from the bed and smiled at her before softly giving her a kiss.

“Hey Dopey, you’re grossing out my baby.” Rose chuckled at Neville.

Dru stuck out her tongue and kissed Neville back, before walking over to the crib and placing her son in the crib. “I think that’s the way it should be, together.” She looked at Freddie lying there peacefully, before going back to Neville and crawled against him.

“So you two have decided on names yet? Apart from Georgianna?” Molly asked Rose and George who both shyly smiled. “Oh dear, do I want to know?”

“Well, there’s so much doubt about getting a girl or a boy...” George shrugged. “We’ll just have to wait and see.” he sat down behind Rose and let her lean against his chest. “How are you holding up, Rosie?”

“Well, they’re coming a lot faster now.” she said as she softly took his hand. “But we’re still doing great.”

“Do you need anything?”

“If I’m going to say ‘bathroom’, you’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

“No.” he chuckled. He helped her up and went with her to stay standing outside of the door. He hated for her to have a full painful contraction on the wobble stairs and fall down and get hurt.

“Ahh...” Rose said blushing as she opened the bathroom door. “I think we need to get me onto the bed... I think I saw the head coming out and I’m not doing anything...”

“Fuck.” George took her arm and walked back. “Mum.” he said a bit scared.

“Yes sweetie?”

Rose gently pat George’s arm. “I’m not pushing, but the head’s coming.”

Dru held George get Rose on the bed, before getting the blankets for the baby to be wrapped in.

Neville shook his head. “Next pregnancy, you and I are going to work on switching back on again.”

“Neville, I’m on. I don’t know, it’s just gravity or something. Big baby with small hole and gravity is baby slipping out? I don’t know.”

He smiled at her. “Just focus on that beautiful baby of yours.”

“You two girls never cease to amaze me,” Molly smiled as she caressed Rose’s hair. “You two are so alike and yet so different and yet so alike in your differences.”

Dru chuckled as she leaned against the wall, near the crib. She wanted to give Molly and George the space to move around Rose. Should Rose really need her at some point, she’d call, but Dru had a feeling for Rose it was enough to have her there in the room. Dru looked in the crib and caressed the forehead of her sleeping son. “Enjoy the space, Freddie, you’ll be sharing it soon enough.”

Rose grabbed her legs and winced. “That one hurts, want me to start pushing, Molly?”

“Yes, dear, you should have been pushing a long time ago.” she smiled, but sounded a bit concerned too. Rose’s ability to deal with pain was frightening and didn’t sound all too healthy.

“Okay,” she took a deep breath and tried to bare down like the books had told her to do.

Molly got the head out. “One more push and your little girl will be out, one more, Rose.”

“Come on, you can do this.” George softly kissed her forehead.

“Gosh, and everyone was freaking out and telling me how horrible this should be,” Rose chuckled as she pushed again when the next contraction hit.

Molly got hold of the baby’s shoulders and pulled the baby out before she gasped in surprise. “It’s a boy.”

“You were right,” Rose said stunned as she looked at George.

Molly handed the baby to George after she had used the cleaning spell and wrapped him in a blanket. George had already cut the umbilical cord. "Oh my god." he whispered. "He's so beautiful, Rose." he gave his son a kiss on his forehead before placing him in Rose's arms. "Look, Artie. It's your mummy."

“Artie?” Molly smiled at George.

“Yes mum, we’re naming him after dad.” George smiled and nearly melted at the sight of Rosie holding their son. She might not have been in pain a lot and the delivery had been a cakewalk for her (didn’t he read that deliveries were usually cakewalks after the first one or two children?) but he could tell that she was extremely tired (and still going).

Rose had fallen completely in love with her little boy. Well... he wasn’t little, as a matter of fact he was even probably slightly bigger than Freddie. She couldn’t believe it that something so beautiful as Artie had been growing inside of her and had fallen asleep in her arms. Already. “You’ve got the right idea, little man,” she softly said to the baby and softly kissed his forehead.

"Oh Rose, he's so beautiful!" Dru was holding on to Neville's waist with tears in her eyes. She could still easily cry over nothing.

“He’s amazing. They both are.” George sat down behind Rose and put his arms around the both of them. “I love you, Rose.”

Rose looked up to George and smiled at him. “I love you too.” She said before looking back at the sleeping baby. She felt sorry for him for already having had to deal with Rose’s stupidity and have him being so tired from just wanting to get out that he had fallen asleep once he had been put into her arms.

Molly had fetched Arthur from downstairs with a huge smile on her face. “Look Arthur, your second grandson!”

Arthur looked at the little boy that Rose was holding in her arms and laughed. “Only you and Fred could do this.” He pat George on his shoulders. “He and Freddie are almost identical.”

“Which is why we’re not naming him George,” Rose said as she softly caressed the sleeping baby’s cheeks. “His name is Arthur Remus Weasley. Artie.”

Arthur gave Rose a kiss on her forehead and did the same with George, he was at a loss for words.

Neville whispered something in Dru’s ear and Dru smiled and got Freddie out of the crib. “Well, Rose, shall we introduce our boys to each other then?” She sat down on the side of the bed.

“They do look like each other, don’t they?” she chuckled.

“Yeah, although Artie is a big bigger, but then again, Freddie was bit too early.” Dru chuckled.

Freddie had woken up and started to move in Dru’s arms and started to whine. As Dru was sitting next to Rose, his moving feet started to bump into Artie’s head who woke up and started to cry very loudly, leaving Freddie to stop moving and a big smile on his face.

“Freddie.” Dru moved him so he was on her chest again. “I’m sorry Rose.”

“It’s okay,” she chuckled and softly caressed Artie’s head. “As much as I want you all to have him in your arms and coo at him and what not... he’s just born and... maybe tomorrow, okay?”

“You keep him to yourself for as long as you need.” Dru gave Rose a kiss on her cheek out of the blue. “I remember how bad I felt when they took Freddie away from me, right after he was born. You’ll hold him as long as you want and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“Maybe we should get you to St. Mungo’s, just in case.” George said as he softly kissed Rose on her other cheek.

“No, both Artie and I are fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“But I do.”

Neville started to laugh when he saw the look on Rose’s face. “Yeah, you do.”

“Of course I do.” Rose shrugged. “Same way that Molly and Arthur want you three and Luna to stay here for Christmas too and are going to ask you as soon as you’re out of here and that you’ll reply that you’d love to but you have Dean and Seamus coming over, which is also not a problem to take them here.” She said as a matter of factly.

“Yeah, but aunt Andy and Teddy are coming and so is Gran.” Dru slowly got off the bed. ‘We’ll … we’ll just see you in Diagon alley some day soon, I’m sure.” Dru wasn't sure if Rose wanted her to stay. She said only a few hours ago that she was still mad at her and Dru wasn't even sure how she was feeling right now.

“Dru, please come. Wouldn't it be nice for the boys to spend their first christmas together and you can bring all your guests, can’t she mum?” George caressed Rose’s arm. He was the only one that noticed her disappointed when Dru was vague about seeing them again.

“Oh you know me and having people over, the more the merrier.” Molly smiled. She actually liked the idea of her house bursting at the seams again, just like last Christmas and the Christmas before that. She loved her kids, every single one of them, but Christmas was meant to be shared with all. “And I think that it’d be a great thing too, to have all of us together and celebrate and remember.”

“Could I talk to Neville alone about it before we decide? It’s not just my decision.’

“Of course sweetheart, no pressure. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do.” Molly smiled at Dru and gently caressed her hair. “You can take our room to talk in.”

“Mooooom!” Ginny knocked on the door. “Can we see our niece now?”

“Never.” George replied. “Or at least not for a long long time.” he snickered.

The door opened and Ginny waited before walking in as Dru and Neville exited with Freddie. “But I want to see my niece!”

“You can’t.” George caressed Artie’s head. “But if you stop whining you can see your nephew.”

“Bah, you had a boy?” Ginny pouted as she walked in. “Oh he’s adorable!” she said the moment she saw him. “But seriously, you were supposed to get a girl.”

“Oi!” George gave her a look. “I said if you’d stopped whining. Go bug Bill for a niece.”

“Can I hold him?”

Rose pulled the once again sleeping Artie closer to her chest. “He’s sleeping, Ginny.”

“Tomorrow, Ginny. Right now Rose and I would rather be alone with him.”

She nodded. “I’d better transfigure my Christmas presents for you so it’s blue instead of pink.”

“Goodnight Ginny.” George smiled at her.

“I’ll come back in a bit with something to eat and to drink for you two,” Molly smiled at her son and daughter in law. “I’ll make sure you won’t get bothered again tonight.”

“Are you warm enough, or do you want another blanket?” George asked Rose when they were finally alone.

“I’m fine,” she smiled at him. “We have a baby, George.”

“We have a son, Rose.” he smiled back at her.

She softly kissed him and moved a little to be more comfortable while still sitting against George, holding their baby. “I’m going to follow him into dreamland, I’m so tired.”

“I’ll put him the crib then. You don’t want to accidentally smother him.”

“I won’t but whatever you want is okay.” Rose said as she placed Artie in his arms.

George gave Artie another kiss on his head, before placing him in the crib. “Goodnight my little wonder.”


	68. Freddie and Artie's first Christmas

Dru walked into Molly and Arthur’s room. It was strange as she never came in here. And the only time she had done so, was with Neville, on Rose’s wedding day. Dru sat down on the end of the bed. “So...” 

“Your decision.” Neville said and shook his head.

“Oh no.” Dru shook her head with a smile. “You always said we’re going to be like a real family, then this is a family decision. You can’t just dump the decision making on my lap every time.”

“Well, they all seem to be behaving themselves and are deeply sorry about what they’ve done and said,” Neville said.

“But yet, you’re still so angry with them. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“Well... yeah. They hurt you. Don’t get me wrong, they are wonderful people and they’re warm and kind and have a good head on their shoulders and they don’t seem to mind me but they’re also warm and kind and... it feels a bit like suffocation. You wanted some time away from them and it has done you good.”

“Yeah, but...” She got up and started pacing, still with fred in her arms. “But that was also mostly hormones, for me and Rose’s part.”

“You’ve missed them, haven’t you?” He smiled at her. “You don’t really want to admit it but they’re your family still.”

“Of course I do, but it feels strange..still. Like I’m doing something wrong for being with you. I can’t seem to shake that feeling around them.” 

Neville nodded. “But you’re not doing something wrong, you know that, right?”

Dru was still pacing. “I know that, but I... I guess it’s weird, because most my memories here are from my being Fred’s girl and I...” she sighed. 

“But the question is... do we want to stay here for Christmas? I mean, Luna could say no and we wouldn’t have to go but do we want to stay here for Christmas? Maybe it’s a good idea for you... us... to start making some memories of our own here. For Freddie’s sake too.”

Dru shrugged. “This will be our first Christmas we’re actually a couple. Not breaking up or getting back together, but just being together. I don’t want you to look back at this and think. ‘why did we have to spend it with her dead husband’s family?’ I know we have to think about what’s good for Freddie, but we can’t forget ourselves in this too.” 

“Babe, wherever we are is fine with me as long as I’m with you.” He smiled at her. “They seem to tolerate me and it’s not really that bad and would you please stop pacing? I don’t think that Molly would like a hole in her floor. If you’re not comfortable with spending Christmas here, then we’re going home and have our own planned Christmas.”

Dru sighed and sat down next to him again. “It’s not that I’m not comfortable, but I hate it when my sweet funny Neville turns into Neville, the boy who hardly says a word all day.” 

“That’s because we were with Rose most of the time and you know how she gets when it gets too crowded or noisy for her.” Neville put an arm around her and softly kissed her cheek. “How about we’ll just go home tonight and see what tomorrow brings? If you want to come back here for Christmas, we’ll bring our food and our stuff over here as well and bring everyone who comes to our place here too. If you don’t, then we’ll stay home and have a nice Christmas with our friends and family.”

Dru nodded and kissed him. “Yeah, maybe that will be a good idea.” she softly kissed him again, before Freddie put his hands on her face and was muttering a bit. “What? Can’t I kiss Neville?” She asked him playfully. “Are you jealous? Do you want Mummy to kiss you instead?” She gave him butterfly kisses all over his little face, making him smile. 

“And Freddie really needs to sleep some,” he chuckled.

“Alright. let’s get Luna then and go home.” Dru got up and walked down the stairs. “Luna, we’re going home. Are you coming?”

“Aw, already?” Charlie said with a frown. “We’ve hardly seen you all day!”

“Freddie needs to get to bed.” Dru got the diaper bag and Freddie’s coat. 

“He can have mine if that makes you stay for a bit longer, have something to drink and stuff?”

“He’s a bit too little for your bed.” Dru chuckled. “Besides we really need to get home. Will you guys say goodnight to George and Rose for us? We didn’t want to disturb them.” 

“Oh alright,” Bill sighed and carefully hugged Dru. “It was great seeing you again, Dru and Neville.” he smiled at them. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“You people don’t have enough beds as it is.” Dru chuckled. “And we won’t be a stranger, will we babe?” 

“Ah, no. Of course not.” Neville smiled as he peeled the diaper bag off Dru’s shoulders and put it on his own. 

“I’m not pregnant anymore, babe. I can carry stuff now again.” She smiled at him.

“You’re carrying the most important load.” He planted a kiss on her cheek. 

“Thank you for having us,” Luna smiled at Fleur and Bill. “It was enlightening.”

‘Thanks Molly, for dinner and all.” Dru gave her a kiss on her cheek. 

“You’re welcome sweetheart.” She smiled at her. “Come back when you can, we miss you around here.”

“We will.” Dru gave Arthur a hug. “Don’t let George put the kittens in the oven.” 

“Don’t worry,” Arthur chuckled. “The kittens will be safe.”

“Do you have everything, Luna?” Dru asked. “Did you leave all the gnomes in the garden, you didn’t hide one in your bag?” 

“Don’t worry,” Luna smiled at her. “The gnomes are safe. I had a lot of fun patching them up today.” She showed Dru her hand full of gnome bites.

“Oh dear.” Dru chuckled. “We can’t leave you alone for two seconds now, can we? Come on, let’s go home.”

When they got home, Neville made some tea while Dru gave Freddie a bath and put him to bed. He had given Luna some ointment to put on her hand with gnome bites and put some cookies on the table. “Did you have fun today, Luna?” Neville asked her.

“Oh yes.” Luna answered with a smile. “The Weasleys are always such a pleasure to be around and Harry’s looking good, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he is.” He chuckled.

“So, how was it seeing a baby coming out of Rose? Can’t believe I didn’t get to see this baby get born either. That would have been so magical.”

Neville chuckled. “One day you’ll get one of them on your own.” He poured her some tea. “It was better for Rose not to have as many people around her, you know...” he then sighed. “She worries me. She shouldn’t but she does.”

Luna cocked her head. “You have a special kind of bond with her, don’t you?” 

“Yeah, I guess. Don’t know how or why but I suppose.” He shrugged.

“I’ve never had siblings, but if I had, I would have liked a bond like you have with Rose.” 

“But Luna, you’ll always be one of my girls, you know that, don’t you?” He smiled at her. “I would do the same for you as I’d do for her. If you need my help or Dru’s help you can always come by.”

“Oh, I know, but you and Rose, you’re different. Like two lost souls finding a strange bond of siblinghood, while half the time you just want to kill each other.” 

“Oh it’s easy wanting to kill Rose.” he chuckled. “Admit it, even you had thought over the last few years to flush her down a toilet.”

“Me! Never.” she laughed. “Throw her off the owlery, maybe.” 

“There you go,” he smiled. “I knew it!”

“But then again, I can’t even count the amount of times I wanted to drown Dru in the Black lake.” 

Neville chuckled and took a sip of his tea. “I think at one point or another we all would have loved to drown someone in the Black Lake or the Prefect’s bath tub.”

“Yeah, most of mine where of Dru though. I mean in my third and fourth year, but that all went away.” 

“She’s amazing.”

Luna blushed. “And you’re thinking that was the reason I wanted to drown her.” 

“No because she was a handful too.” He chuckled. “But a very loveable handful.”

Luna smiled at him. “Don’t worry, Neville. That was a long time ago. I’m so over that now.” 

It then hit him. “Oh!” He started to blush. “You’re weird.”

“And that’s the weirdest thing I think anybody has responded with when told somebody had crush on them.” Luna laughed. 

“Who had a crush on who?” Dru came into the kitchen wearing a tight top and a pair of Neville’s pajama pants, that were baggy on her.. She didn’t own any and she wanted to be a decent infront of Luna. 

“God you’re sexy,” Neville sighed happily as he handed her a cup of tea.

“Okay, somebody had a crush on you.” Dru said with a smile. “That response said it all.” She sat down on his lap. “Go on then, who was she or was it a he?” 

“A he?” Luna asked surprised. “Neville?” 

“Dru?” Neville said a bit freaked out.

“Yes, babe?” she asked innocently before taking a sip of her tea. 

“Do you know something that I don’t?”

Dru softly kissed him. “Don't you remember the train ride beginning of our sixth year? Rose and I were going to find you a girlfriend and you said you didn’t want one, so I decided to find you a nice boy?” She chuckled. 

“Oh god...” he groaned. “Yeah I remember. You wanted me to hook up with Luna!”

“Really?” Luna chuckled. 

“Yeah, why?” Dru looked at Luna, before she looked back at Neville. “No!” she said surprised. 

“Why not?” Luna said with a smile. “I always saw how great he was and was going to be and his bone structure was very promising back then.”

“See, I told you she had a crush on you.” Dru hit Neville on his chest. “See, I wasn’t jealous over nothing.” 

“Jealous?” Luna smiled. “You were jealous? Why? You were the prettiest girl in school!”

“But that didn’t stop girls like Hannah Abbot to openly flirt with my boyfriend.“ Dru looked down to her cup of tea. “Besides, being pretty is not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“But you’re also very smart and generous and very daring.” Luna summed up. “Hannah deserved a good whacking though.”

“You’re sweet, Luna Lovegood, you’re just too sweet for his world.” Dru smiled and put her arms tightly around Neville’s neck. 

“And then they say that I am weird,” she chuckled. “You two are perfect for eachother. I will find my perfect fit one day.”

“I’m positive you will.” Dru smiled at Luna, before she softly kissed Neville. “I’m exhausted. I didn’t have my nap today. I’m going to bed.” she yawned, but instead of getting up she crawled even closer against Neville. 

“Alright,” he chuckled and put his arms around her before getting up from his seat. “Goodnight, Luna.” he smiled at her.

“Good night.”she smiled back.

“I’m too heavy to carry, put me down, I’ll walk.” She said sleepy while yawning. 

“I’m a big boy,” he chuckled. “And you’re not heavy, you weigh absolutely nothing.” He softly kissed her and started to walk towards the stairs with her. 

“I am heavy.” She yawned again. “You’ll drop me on the stairs.” 

“You’re a lightweight.” He said as he walked the stairs with her. “And should we fall, I’ll apparate us onto the bed without hitting the floor.”

Dru giggled. “I need to check that Freddie’s still asleep.” 

Once he had reached the landing, he kept her in his arms and softly opened the door to Freddie’s bedroom and had her peek into it. As there wasn’t any noise coming out of the room, he moved them both to the bedroom. “He’s all tuckered out. Like you, he didn’t get his beauty sleep today.” he smiled at her. “And he did so well.”

“He did sleep. Well a bit.” Dru closed her eyes almost the second she was on the bed. ‘I’m tired.” 

Neville chuckled and softly kissed her as he was taking off his clothes. “Then sleep some. I’m going to take a quick shower and I’ll be right with you.”

Dru nodded and fell asleep so fast, she didn’t even hear Neville leave the room to the bathroom.

* * *

It was the middle of the night and George had gone out of the bed for the third time. He had kneeled down next to the crib and softly caressed Artie’s head. He was still only in the blanket and no clothes on, but that was fine. “When tomorrow comes, first thing mummy and I are going to do is give you a nice bath together and get you in some clothes, before you meet the family. But you have to promise not to freak out, there’s a lot of them.” George chuckled. 

“There’s even Uncle Fred, the friendly neighborhood ghost,” Fred spoke softly from behind George with a big smile on his face. “Who can’t believe that his ugly brother made such a beautiful little person.”

“Oi!” George said. “Do you have to come scare my son on his first night?” he chuckled. “Oh and by the way, your son already kicked mine, thank you very much.” 

“My son is a bloody empath and wanted to make everyone smile.”

“By kicking my 10 minute old baby?” 

“Yes.” he chuckled. “He takes after me. I kicked you in the head when I was 10 minutes old and you were older. You survived.”

George chuckled. His eyes never left Artie. 

“I’m so proud of you, Georgie.”

“We have sons, Fred.” 

“Yes, we do,” He smiled. “I told you you were going to get a boy. You’re going to be a great dad.”

“Yeah.” George caressed Artie’s head. “You would have been too, you know.” He said with a tear in his voice. 

“Yeah... well...” Fred shrugged. “So, Merry Christmas and all that. Have fun with everyone tomorrow. I’ll see you in a while.”

“I love you Freddie.” 

“I love you too, Georgie.” he smiled. “Artie looks like a king in that crib.”

“You should have seen Freddie, Artie is already bigger than him.”

“Freddie will grow into it, don’t you worry,” he grinned. “Bye George.”

“Bye Fred and thank you.”

Rose was sobbing in her sleep, rolled to her side and made herself as little as she possibly could before waking up because she realised that George was missing. “George.” she said panicked and sat up. 

“I’m here, I’m here.” He quickly made his over to her. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” 

“Nightmare,” she muttered as she nestled herself against him. “I hate Neville.”

George chuckled. “Yes, Rosie, you hate Neville for saving Artie’s life, I know.” 

“No, that’s good. That was a good thing but there’s a lot of crap in my head that hasn’t come out yet and I didn’t want that to come out.” She sighed as she softly kissed him. “We made a beautiful boy, didn’t we?”

“The most handsome baby boy I’ve ever seen.”

“Of course, you’re his father.” she smiled at him and snuggled up as she yawned. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep again.

* * *

The next day, Christmas morning, Rose still felt so tired, she felt like she could sleep the whole day but she couldn’t. She had a baby now and he needed to be fed. After Molly had explained her how to feed him, she started to breastfeed Artie. The feeling was surreal. Artie was very greedy (well that’s what Rose thought) and sucking really hard to get some milk. Molly had already warned her that the first time would be difficult because it was something new for Rose’s breasts too, but once they had been ‘shocked into realisation’ that they had to work, it would get easier.

George was wonderful with Artie. After breastfeeding, he and Molly gave him a nice warm bath, got him into a diaper and some warm jammies and wrapped him back up in a blanket and took him downstairs to introduce him to everyone while Rose stayed in bed and continued to sleep. She woke up with a start half an hour later, realising that she should be downstairs with George and Artie because that’s what George would have wanted. 

She slowly made her way out of the bed and grabbed some of her clothes before making her way to the bathroom and took a shower. After getting dressed and making herself look at least a bit presentable she slowly walked down the stairs and followed the sound of people laughing and talking and just being so happy.

Rose sat down on the bottom of the stairs and just listened to everyone talk for a while. Christmas was all about spreading cheer, being with family and having fun. Sharing delicious meals and have more fun. Despite one important member of the family missing, the Weasleys sounded truly happy. It was the best sound she had ever heard in a long long time.

She yawned as she leaned against the banister, closed her eyes and let the sound of a happy and cheerful family lull her back to sleep.. 

“Sweetie, won’t you be more comfortable sleeping in bed?” George had kneeled down in front of her and put his hands on her knees. 

“It’s Christmas.” Rose said sleepily as she opened her eyes. “I just wanted to hear all of you so happy and stay on the sofa or something but I found a nice resting spot here.”

“I think the sofa would be more comfortable.” George chuckled and scooped her up in his arms. “Alright, Ron, Granger, find another place to snog.” He said to the couple on the sofa. “Rose needs to put her feet up.” 

“Oh Rose!” Hermione smiled widely. “Merry Christmas! Artie is so wonderful!”

“He looks like a real Weasley,” Ron chuckled. “Good job, Rose.”

“Where is he?” Rose looked at George. 

“Dad’s got him.” George put Rose down and put a blanket over her, before walking over to his father. “Hand him back, grandpa.” 

“No.” Arthur smiled widely as he cradled his namesake.

“Give me my child.” George laughed and took Artie over from his dad. “Artie, looks who’s awake. Mummy.” He gave Artie over to Rose. 

“Hi baby!” she smiled at him and cradled her son. “Did you have fun meeting everyone?” 

The boy yawned and stuck his thumb in his mouth, looking at her with his ... “George, have you seen this?” Rose chuckled as she was looking into Artie’s eyes. “He’s got one brown eye and one green one.”

“No.” George sat down behind her. “This is the first time he really opened his eyes like this.” He gave her a kiss on her cheek. “I think he was waiting for his mummy.” 

She softly kissed the top of the boy’s head. “Go to sleep sweetie.” she said softly as she leaned against George. She then looked up to George with a smile. “Merry Christmas, George.”

George kissed her tenderly. “Merry christmas, my sweet darling Rosie.” 

“Would you like some breakfast, sweetheart?” Molly said as she walked into the livingroom. “Are you sure you want to stay down here on the sofa? I could easily take some food up to your room. I know you don’t really like all the buzz and noise of the entire family all at once.”

“It’s why I came downstairs,” she chuckled.

“Don’t fuss, mum, if Rose wants to go upstairs or something, she’ll tell me.” George gave Rose a kiss in her neck as he kept looking at Artie. “I can’t take my eyes off of him, he’s so beautiful.” 

“He is,” she smiled at him. “He looks like you.”

“Which probably means he’s got your character.” George chuckled. “God help us all.” 

“I hope not.” Rose chuckled. 

“How about a cup of tea?” Molly had walked back in with two cups of tea and some sandwiches. 

“Thanks, Mrs. Weasley.”

“Molly.”

“Nope, still not calling you Molly.” Rose shook her head.

“Then call her mum.” George whispered in her ear. “It would make her Christmas.” 

Rose smiled at George and nodded. She had never called anyone ‘mum’ and Molly was a damn good one. “But if you’d like... I could call you ‘mum’?”

Molly started sobbing and George was able to get Artie away from Rose just in time, because Molly pulled Rose in a bear hug. “I’d love that.” 

“Alright, I’ll call you mum then,” Rose chuckled as she hugged Molly back.

After a few minutes Molly let Rose go and wiped away her tears. “I’d better go back to making lunch.” she got up and walked back into the kitchen.

George chuckled as he gently rocked Artie. “I think she loved that.” 

Rose took a sandwich from the plate that Molly had brought them over. The living room was very quiet with everyone still in the kitchen at the table making a lot of noise and laughing. She noticed that she didn’t hear Dru or Neville’s voice or even Luna’s and she didn’t know how to feel about that. 

Just because Dru wasn’t Rose’s favorite person at the moment didn’t mean that she was family too. But she could understand why they weren’t there either. They had their own party planned and it was their first Christmas as a real couple without any problems and it would be a good thing to spend that together. With Luna in the mix. 

She nibbled on her sandwich and moved a little to get a bit more comfortable without bothering George and Artie. 

“No!” Ron laughed from the kitchen. “No, that’s not... that’s not what happened! No don’t look at me like that!”

“Oh come on Ron, that spell you used to turn Scabbers yellow didn’t even work.” Hermione’s voice sounded. “Who taught you that spell anyway?”

“George.”

“Ah, but we all know that George’s magic is rubbish.” Bill’s voice sounded. “Which is why he’s so successful now.”

“Just because we’re in the living room, doesn't mean we can’t hear you.” George laughed and rocked Artie, while glancing at Rose, who took her third sandwich. “Hungry are you?”

“George, you’re rubbish.” Percy, Bill and Charlie chorused.

Rose looked up to George and held up her sandwich for him to take a bite too.

“Hmm, delicious.” he grinned.

“I had a baby come out of me yesterday. Damn right I’m hungry,” she nodded and fed him some more. “Want me to take him?”

“After you finished. You need your food, besides I’ve hardly had the chance to hold him myself till now.” 

“Yeah well... that’s what you get with such an extended family.” She chuckled and finished her sandwich before reaching for her tea to take a sip. She moved so that she could feed George a bit more easily and put a sandwich in front of his nose. “Open wide, choo choo!”

George grinned and took a bite, biting her finger on purpose at the same time.

“Bad daddy.” she chuckled and tapped his nose with her finger.

“I have to give a good example for my son, don’t I?” George chuckled. 

“Well he’s too young to actually comprehend what’s going on around him and besides that... he’s asleep.” she chuckled.

“He’s in my arms, my bad-daddy-energy will flow into him.” he laughed and kissed her. 

“How do you do it?” Fleur asked as she sat down in the big chair next to the sofa with her cup of tea.

“Do what?’” George asked his sister in law. “Love Rosie? That’s the the most easiest thing in the world.” 

“No,” she chuckled. “Be such an adorable couple and cute.”

“It’s the baby.” George chuckled, he placed Artie in Rose’s arms when she had finished her tea and took his mug. 

“It was long before the baby that you were cute and adorable,” Fleur smiled. “The baby is an added bonus.” She softly caressed her stomach. “I cannot believe that in a short while I will have a belly like yours, Rose.”

“And I want to bet that you’ll snap back just like that.” Rose gave a nod. “Don’t worry, the belly makes things interesting... if you know what I mean.”

“Very interesting.” George said as he nuzzled Rose’s ear. “Maybe we could could get you a fake one, for in the bedroom.” 

“Or get pregnant again soon,” Fleur pointed out.

“No.” Rose shook her head. “No, no no, not until I’m complete again.” She then looked at George in shock. “No, right?”

“Rosie, I love you to bits, you know that. But I need at least a year without constant yelling at me, before you can think about having another baby.” he chuckled. 

“Me? Thinking about another baby?” she shook her head as she hugged Artie. “It won’t be just my decision you know, this wasn’t planned, but look at him...” she said as she sighed happily. “But no. Not until I’m stable at least. And not until you’re 100%.” she shook her head again. “Don’t scare me like that, Fleur.”

George yawned. “Wanna take a nap?” he softly kissed Rose. “Family nap?” he caresses Artie’s head. 

“Nap.” She nodded and nestled herself into George’s arms, making sure that whatever happened Artie wouldn’t fall off the sofa. “I’m comfortable.”

“Go, I’ll take up Artie.” Fleur smiled and picked up her nephew from the sofa.

George walked up the stairs with Rose. “You and Artie have made me so happy.” 

“I can walk,” she chuckled. “I just thought you wanted to nap on the sofa.” She put her arms around his neck and softly kissed him. “I’m so lucky to have you.”

“No, I’m the lucky one, I’ve got the most beautiful and sexy wife in the world. And the most handsome son I could ever wish for.” He softly kissed her back and put her on top of the sheets. He was too tired to undress himself and her just crawled next to her. 

Fleur came into the room and put Artie down in his crib, before putting a blanket over Rose and George. “Sleep tight.”

* * *

It was almost 10 and Dru had been working in the kitchen for two hours already. Fred was lying in his pram that Dru had put in the kitchen. She had put the roast in the oven, made broccoli soup, and was making her potato salad right now.

She looked into the pram, when she heard little noises come out of it. “What are you doing?” she smiled at her son. 

Freddie smiled up to her and flailed his arms around. He then started to blow bubbles again.

Dru smiled at him and gently caressed his belly. “It’s your first Christmas, monkey. And we’re going to make it a special one.” 

The baby gave a small whine and continued to blow bubbles.

“What do you want then?” She smiled as she hovered over the pram and gave Freddie a kiss. 

He managed to grab a stray piece of her hair after hitting her in the face and smiled.

“Alright then.” She lifted him up and placed him against her chest. “Is that better?” She had put on a new tight fitting emerald green dress with a black cardigan and for the first time in months she wore her high boots. She wanted to make sure she looked special for Neville, but she should have known better, with a baby she was going to get slobbered on in no time. 

Freddie continued to blow bubbles and started to make happy noises.

“Alright, no more making dinner then.” She smiled and walked into the living room with him and sat down on the sofa with him. “Let’s wait till Neville wakes up and then he has to hold you and I’ll finish dinner.” 

“Good morning,” Neville smiled as he got down the stairs. “Oh don’t you look lovely today,” he smiled at Dru and softly kissed her. “Merry Christmas, babe.”

“Merry christmas.” She softly kissed him back, before handing him freddie. “Here, I need to finish dinner.” She walked back into the kitchen. “Did you manage to get some sleep?” 

“Yeah.” He smiled at Freddie and stuck out his tongue to him. “I don’t know how you do it during the night though. He cries for food, you feed him, come back to bed and fall asleep immediately.” He then followed her into the kitchen and sighed happily. “You really look amazing and I don’t think you should cook today. Let me do it, don’t soil your clothes.”

“Uh, He’s spoiling them by drooling on it.” she softly kissed him. “And I don’t need much sleep. I’m more worried about those nightmares you had last night.” 

“Yeah... don’t worry... it’s just... when Rose needs to be opened up a part of me just... goes to a dark place. It’ll be over soon.” He smiled and bounced Freddie up and down in his arms. “She still frightens me with that thing of hers.”

“Yeah, it’s getting worse.” Dru said as she cut the potatoes into little pieces. “But I don't know what we can do to help her, or if that it’s even our place to help her.”

“I think that she won’t want help with it. It sort of makes her who she is, who she was and what she has managed to accomplish so far. I don’t know... take it away, somehow, and she might... I don’t know.”

Dru put the salad in the fridge. “I don't know either.” she caressed Freddie’s head. “Let’’s hope that having Artie around her, does her some good.” 

Neville nodded. “So, what time are your aunt and Teddy arriving? Dean and Seamus are coming around three.”

“Around that time too, Gran is coming before lunch I think.” She started to make the batter for pancakes. 

“Alright, do you need my help with anything?” Neville shot a look at Freddie who was smiling as he was tapping on his cheek. “You’re going to be a nightmare, aren’t you, Fred?” he chuckled at the boy.

Fred stopped smiling and gave a little whine. 

“Nightmares are good, you know. Your dad could be one at times.” Neville nodded. “In a good way.”

Freddie rested his head against Neville’s shoulder and drooled on his clean shirt while making happy noises. 

“Good baby.” He caressed the boy’s back. “Babe, you need my help with anything? I have one free arm left.”

“No, you don’t.” Dru glared at him. “He’s too little to hold him with one arm, Nev. What if he suddenly moves and you drop him?” 

“Alright, alright,” he chuckled and put his arm back around Freddie. “Did you make some coffee?”

“No, but I can do that now.” She smiled at him and softly kissed him again. “Do you have some more waking up to do?” 

“Yes.” He nodded. “I have a feeling that today is going to be yet again a long day.”

“I could think of another way to....” She giggled. “Never mind.” she turned back and started to make him coffee.

“God... Dru, I’m holding your son and you start about...” Neville whined as he sat down with the boy still in his arms. “That’s it, I’m going to pound the cobwebs out of you tonight.”

Freddie put his head against Neville and yawned.

“Go to sleep Freddie, because if I put you down now, you’d only want to be picked up again while you’re still conscious.”

Dru giggled. “Let’s hope he will grow out falling asleep in our arms by the time he goes to Hogwarts.” 

“Would be a bit embarrassing, wouldn’t it? ‘Wow, what did you pack in your trunk, Fred?’ ‘Well, my mum’s boyfriend. I wanted mum but she’s too busy cooking or looking at clothes. I need my cuddle before I go to sleep.’ Yeah... he’d be ME and just ten times worse.”

Dru laughed, put the mug down and kissed his lips. “You were never that bad, you just lacked confidence.” 

“So he can take me to Hogwarts with him then if he’s not weened off yet?”

“Yes, of course he can.” 

“You want to get rid of me?” Neville said as he gently lowered Fred into the pram, hopefully not disturbing his rest before he turned around to put his arms around Dru and kissed her passionately.

“Nah, I hardly know who you are, what’s your name again?” she giggled. 

“Neville Longbottom,” He let go of her to bow deeply and put his arms back around her as he smiled down at her. “Best boyfriend ever.”

“Oh.” She chuckled. “Well, your lack of confidence has vanished to make place for some having a pumpkin sized head.” 

“I’m not only the best boyfriend ever, I’m also the best spare ever.” He softly kissed her lips. “Did you know, I made sure that a mother and her unborn child would be okay? That was yesterday. And a few weeks ago, my hand nearly got crushed when I wrestled another pregnant mother. And a few months before that, I killed a snake.”

“Well, that sounds all fine and dandy, but that doesn’t say anything about the qualities that make you the best boyfriend ever.”

“Doesn’t it?” He softly kissed her lips again and pulled her against him. Shame she was wearing a dress. “I have big hands.”

Dru sighed. “That will do it.” She put her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist as she kissed him. 

“We can’t leave Freddie by himself in the kitchen,” he chuckled while they kissed and set her on the counter before starting to caress her leg underneath her dress.

“No, we can’t. But we can kiss here.” She gently blew in his ear. 

“Yes,” he said as he started to kiss her neck and moved his hand up her thigh.

Dru buried her hands in his hair and sighed happily. “Alright you win.” 

“Of course I win,” he nibbled on her earlobe. “I know what you like.” 

“Yeah, I like handsome boys like Dean.” She giggled. 

“Ah, so that’s why he’s coming over?” Neville asked as he moved his hand towards her center and started to caress her heat over her knickers.

Dru gasped. “Neville!”

“Ah, so you do know my name,” he chuckled and rubbed his thumb over her clit for a moment.

“Neville, stop.” She moaned, he was getting her _too_ turned on, if he continued like this, she wouldn’t be able to stop anymore.

“Good morning,” Luna’s sunny voice sounded. “Merry Christmas.”

Neville immediately removed his hands from Dru and looked at Luna. “Merry Christmas.” He said hoarsely.

Dru giggled as she hopped off the counter. “Merry Christmas, Luna. Do you want some coffee or tea?” 

“Oh tea please,” Luna smiled as she watched Neville finish his coffee. “I am sorry for walking in on you.”

“That’s okay, I needed to stop him anyway.” Dru smiled as she poured tea for Luna. “Here you go, sweetheart.”

“Thanks Dru,” Luna chuckled. “Do you need some help with anything?”

“No, I’ve pretty much prepared everything, I’m going to make pancakes for breakfast, I can make regular ones, with chocolate or with fruit. Which would you like?” 

“Any is good,” Luna smiled at her.

“Neville?”

“All of the above.” He nodded.

“Alright.” She got out three pans, divided the batter of three bowls and put chocolate chips in one and the cut up fruit in another and started making pancakes. “Did you sleep well, Luna?” 

“Oh yes, I absolutely love your bed.” Luna beamed. “So much better than the beds at Hogwarts.”

“Well, I’m glad you like it. It’s not too cold in here is it?” 

“Of course not,” Luna smiled. “How can it be too cold in here? It’s just right, I think you should ask Freddie if it’s too cold or not.”

“He’s a baby, Luna, he can’t talk yet.” Dru glanced in the pram to see if he was still sleeping.

Luna took a sip of her tea and smiled. “I know, but if it was too cold, wouldn’t you think that he would be awake and not sleeping like he is?”

“He’s a baby, baby takes naps.” Dru looked into the pram again and bit her lip, despite of what she just told Luna, she was now second guessing herself, maybe Luna was right. 

“It’s not too cold in here, babe. Luna’s right. If it was too cold, wouldn’t Freddie be crying?” he smiled at her and softly kissed her and flipped the pancakes.

Dru gave him a little smile as she watched him flipped the pancakes. “You’re right, if he was too cold or too warm he would be crying through the night.” She held up the plates for Neville could put the pancakes on. 

He put the pancakes on the plates and smiled. “Shall I put new batter in the pans or shall we wait until we’ve finished these?”

“Put the batter in. I can eat at the counter. Which one do you want?” 

“Whatever’s left.” Neville chuckled and put the batter in the pans. “I’m hungry, I can eat a house.”

“That would be awkward,” Luna remarked. “And heavy on the stomach too.”

Dru and Neville laughed. “Alright, Luna, since you’re the guest, you get to pick and don’t say whatever’s left.” 

“If I pick one, then you know what’s left because there are only three choices, but I’d like to have the fruit one then.” Luna smiled.

“See, that wasn’t that difficult.” she handed Luna the plate and handed Neville the chocolate one. she put syrup on the regular one and took a bit before shaking the pans, making sure the pancakes wouldn’t stick to it.

“I was just wondering if we were going to stay here today or take Mrs. Weasley’s offer of spending Christmas at their house because if we are, I need to make a lot of new gifts in a very short time.”

Dru looked at Neville, she didn’t know what she wanted at the moment.

Neville shrugged. “I don’t mind where we are, as long as we are with people we love and as long as there’s food.”

Dru chuckled. “There will be food, but are you sure?”

“Whatever you want is fine,” he smiled. “We’re getting people over too.”

Dru put her hands on her hips and glared at him. She hated it that he always let her make the decisions.

“Look, they are a touchy subject when it comes to your feelings. I’m letting you decide what you want, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Dru took a deep breath and closed her eyes, while she counted to ten. “Fine then, we’re not going.” she flipped the pancakes over.

“Oh good.” Luna said relieved as she took a sip of her tea. 

“Oh... okay.” Neville said slightly disappointed. He knew that Gran liked the Weasleys, and well Harry would love to see Teddy, Dean and Seamus would love it to go out and play quidditch in the snow with whoever and Neville... he actually wanted to go because he wanted to hold Rose’s baby and make sure she was alright. Besides, the Weasleys weren’t that bad. He understood that the way George’s siblings reacted to them was mostly because of George and since he seemed to have mellowed out...

Dru turned around and looked at Neville. “What? You said you didn’t care?” 

“Well I don’t, but you wanted some distance from them and to spend two days in a row at their place would probably drive you mad, wouldn’t it?”

Dru put the pancakes on their plates and put another round of batter in the pans. “You’re probably right, and since you don’t care to go, we might as well stay here.” 

Luna tried not to laugh as she ate her pancake, she knew exactly what Dru was doing.

“Alright, fine,” he sighed as he stuffed his face with the remainder of his pancake to make room for the new ones. “I want to go, so we’re going, whether you want to or not.”

Dru, who standing behind him, bent forward and kissed him full on his lips. “See, it wasn't that hard to say what you exactly want.” 

“Yeah but if you don’t want to go...”

“Neville.” she growled through the kiss. 

“Alright, we’re going.” he laughed and kissed her back. 

“Aren’t you cute.” Luna smiled widely.

“Yes we are.” Dru flipped the pancakes. “Alright let’s wait for the other guests to come and then we’ll go over there.” 

“Means that you can stop cooking now too,” Neville chuckled and held up his plate. “More please.”

She handed him the pancake and gave Luna her third one too, before she turned out the fire and sat down next to him with her own pancake. “But I’m going to take the food with me. If we’re going to turn up with 7 extra mouths to feed, the least thing I can do is bring the food to do it.” 

“Alright,” he chuckled. “We’re going to need a shopping cart to bring it over.”

Dru hit him over the head. “Fine, next year, we’re inviting all the Weasleys here and you cook, for all of them! Alone!” 

Neville started to laugh as he ducked from her assault. “Challenge accepted! I’ll just bribe George to help me!”

“That’s doing it alone.” Luna pointed out.

“Exactly, didn’t you say that he was rubbish at cooking?” He smiled victoriously at Dru.

“I hate you.” she said sweetly before she kissed him.

“I have a whole year to bribe Rose to teach George some decent skills.” He chuckled and answered her kiss.

“Good luck, she spent an entire summer, burning or overcooking at least one thing when she and George were cooking.” She finished her pancake and got up to check on Fred.

“Well, even I manage to do that when you’re in the kitchen with me but I manage to cover it up.” Neville pointed out. “George won’t be so bad, so next year we’re going to cook. Now all I need to do is inform him.”

“Neville?” Luna asked as she put her plate in the sink.

“Yes, Luna?”

“I still don’t understand.”

“You don’t understand what?”

“How you and George cooking next year is the same things as you cooking alone.” she said, while Dru laughed. 

“George can’t cook, so I’ll be doing most of the cooking anyway. Maybe I can get him to chop things but that’s it.”

“That’s still not alone.” Lune pointed out

“Not really, no.” he chuckled. “But that’s okay.”

“You can have someone to do the cutting up. Even Molly has that.” Dru gently squeezed his shoulders before removing his plate and clearing the rest of the table too. 

“Molly has an entire army.” Neville chuckled.

* * *

George gently kissed Rose’s lips. “Sweetie, you need to wake up now.”

She whined and stretched herself. “Why?” she looked around and wondered where he was before she found him standing next to the bed holding Artie and had put his finger in Artie’s mouth.

“My finger doesn’t provide him with milk.” George chuckled. 

“Well, I think a spell could remedy that.” Rose said sleepily and sat up before she pulled off her shirt and held out her arms for Artie. “Come and steal my milk, Artie.”

George wanted to say something really bad, but he swallowed it as he placed Artie in her arms. 

Rose chuckled when she looked up to George. “Maybe in a couple of days when we’re home and when I feel okay again you can have a taster, George.” she giggled when she let Artie latch on to her breast.

“Oh fuck.” George muttered quietly as he closed his eyes and started thinking about other things to stop making him so turned on. 

“I actually had a taste myself when Artie had spilled something during the night.” She smiled. “It tastes like normal milk but then warm and thick and sweeter...”

“Yeah...bye Rose.” George said and headed for the door

“Where are you going?” 

“Shower.” George said as he closed the door behind him to give Rose some privacy. 

“Honestly, Artie, we’re going to teach you some ways to control yourself better than your daddy can.” she chuckled at her son and caressed his little head. “Meditation works, did you know that?”

Artie just looked at his mother as he kept drinking. 

“Oh yes, your mum is silly, she likes talking to herself.” she nodded. 

There was a knock on the door.

“Hold on,” Rose said as she pulled most of the duvet around her so that she was at least halfway decent. She then sighed and put most of the duvet around the baby too and covered herself up that way. She made sure Artie was still able to breathe though. “Come in.”

Dru opened the door. “Sorry, Freddie is ….” Dru chuckled, when she realised what Rose was doing. “..hungry.” She closed the door behind her. 

“Oh thank god,” Rose said relieved as she uncovered Artie. “I thought you were one of the boys or something. That would have been awkward. When did you get here?” she smiled.

“Half an hour ago,” Dru said as she lowered her top and removed the patch from her bra. “But he was napping, so I couldn't feed him sooner.” 

“Oh I’m sorry, I was napping myself, I would have come and say hi.”

“It’s okay, Rose. You only just had your baby. I spent nearly a week in bed after Freddie was born.” 

“Ugh. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that.”

“I’m just saying don’t apologize for being tired and taking your rest.” Dru chuckled as she gently rocked Freddie while he was drinking, it made him drink better. 

Rose switched breasts with Artie and sighed. “Yeah I’m tired but I still feel like I should do everything, you know... it’s hard to... well it’s not hard to lay down and fall asleep but I feel even more useless now.”

“I know, I was hardly allowed to do anything the first few days, every time I asked If I could change him of give him a bath, one of the nurses had already done it. It only stopped after I told Gran. She went down to them and yelled at them, until they promised to let me do it myself from then on.” 

“Good old gran,” she smiled.

Dru put Freddie at her other breast. “Oh, just a heads up, your boobs will stay sensitive for a while, but that’s really great in bed.” she chuckled. 

A loud groan was heard from just outside the door and then some shuffling back towards the shower which made Rose laugh. “Teased him about tasting milk coming right from the source.” 

“Oh.” Dru smiled. “I’m so going to try that.” 

“How long did you wait until you and Neville... well... you know...”

“Six weeks, but that’s because I was still in the hospital for four weeks, my delivery left my body pretty weak, and also Gran had told Neville to wait at least 3 months.” Dru blushed a bit. “We only did it for the first time again yesterday.” 

“Oh! Ginny didn’t interrupt you when she got you right?” Rose said apologetically. “I’m sorry...”

“No, we were already done and showered and had breakfast.” Dru giggled and smiled at her son. “It’s a weird feeling, isn’t it? Feeding him.”

“It is, I still can’t believe that there’s food in there.” she shook her head. 

“I still can't believe that they fill themselves up within a few hours again.” Dru laughed, she placed Freddie on her chest and gently patted his back to make him burp. 

“Wow, he’s quick, isn’t he?” Rose laughed. “Artie just keeps drinking.”

“He’s Freds.” Dru laughed. “Besides he’s six weeks already, He wasn't so quick when he was just born.” 

“I really hope that Artie takes after George... you know...” Rose said softly as she caressed his head and Artie let go of her breast. Rose put him upright and against her chest to have him burp. “Don’t want him to have my temper.”

“Come on, Freddie, give me a burp.” Dru said softly as she kept patting his back. “I think the boys will be fine. They got loving people around them, with the right morals.” 

“I suppose... still I’m scared that... you know.” 

“I know, I have that too.” Dru sat down on Rose’s bed. “But you’ll be great. Look, I know that thing with you and Neville has really gotten to you. I mean I’ve seen how much it has gotten to him, so I can only imagine how much it had gotten to you, but you need to concentrate on the little boy. Let your instinct help you, Rose, just imagine he’s me and treat him the way you cared for me, when I was hurt or in distress. That will bring out those motherly feelings.” She smiled at Rose and hold Freddie infront her. “And why aren’t you burping?” 

 

Artie burped and spilled some of the milk on Rose’s shoulder. “Ugh.” she said as she put Artie down on the bed between her legs and pulled on her shirt. “Yeah... I know... I suppose it’ll kick in some day.”

Fred burped and spilled some of the milk over Dru with a big smile on his face. 

“Yeah, I should have seen that one coming, didn't I?” she turned to Rose, while milk was dripping off her face.

“Yeah. You’re doomed.” Rose chuckled and handed Dru a cloth to wipe her face with.

Dru put Fred between Rose’s legs, next to Artie and cleaned her face and looked at the boys. “I can’t get over how much they look like each other.” 

“Well, Fred and George looked like each other, obviously. And we used to look a lot like each other...” Rose shrugged. “But look at Artie’s eyes! I noticed that this morning.”

“Ah, that’s so cute.” Dru smiled. 

“It’s freaky.” she chuckled. “But so adorable.”

“Well they’re both cute. Freddie is a bit cuter, but still.” Dru smiled as she caressed Freddie’s belly. “You don’t mind, right? That we came.” 

“No of course not, why should I mind?” Rose asked confused.

“I don’t know. You were vocal about still being very mad with me yesterday.” Dru was lying on her stomach and kept rubbing Freddie’s belly, he loved it when she did that. “I don’t want to be in your way, you need your rest right now.” 

“They’re your family too.” Rose shrugged. “We’re not okay... but we will be, I just need some time.”

“That’s fine.” Dru smiled as she picked up Freddie. “Well, we'd better go downstairs. I’ll see later, right?” she got up and walked down the stairs. Neville was sitting on the sofa talking to George. Dru sat down on the arm rest next to Neville.

“Hello gorgeous,” Neville smiled at her.

“It’s so annoying.” She smiled at Hermione who was sitting on Ron’s lap in the chair next to her. “Ever since the baby is born, he only greets the baby when he sees us.” 

Hermione chuckled. “Neville, you could be polite and greet your girlfriend, you know.” she rolled her eyes. “Men are pigs.”

“Oi!” Ron said as he was chewing on some crisps.

Dru chuckled gently rubbed Freddie’s back. “See, babe, you need to be nicer to me.” 

“If I remember correctly, I was very nice this morning in the kitchen.” Neville pointed out. 

“Yeah, that was nice.” Dru smiled and put her legs over his. 

“God,” George rubbed his eyes. “Are all new mums like that?” 

“Oh your mother was insatiable,” Arthur laughed. “I wanted to give her some rest after each birth but...”

“Dad!” Bill, Ron and Percy whined. “We do not wish to hear that!”

“Rose just.. Never mind.” George rubbed his face. “And no, dad, I didn’t want to hear that either.” 

Harry had Teddy in his lap and smiled. “It’s a bit unnerving, yes.”

Andromeda smiled widely and shook her head. “I’m keeping my mouth shut.”

“Oh god.” Bill groaned. “Not another one, is that all you can think about? Everyone?”

“Well, I remember that my husband didn't know how to keep his hands off me when Frank was born. Especially my breasts.” 

“Gran!” Neville said with a high pitched voice. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Dru chuckled and smiled as Freddie was trying to grab Neville’s hair. 

“Women are evil.” Charlie nodded. “So glad I’m still single.”

“You battle dragons, right?” Luna asked, suddenly very interested in Charlie.

Charlie chuckled. “If I have to, yes. I’m actually helping out with a breeding program.”

“That’s so interesting, I want to start a breeding program for Nargles.” 

“Nargles?” Charlie said puzzled.

“They’re really interesting.” Luna said as she started to explain everything there was to ‘know’ about Nargles. 

George smiled as Rose came down with Artie. “Hello, sweetie.” He pulled her down on his lap. “Did you enjoy your nap?” 

“What nap?” she chuckled and softly kissed him. 

“Christ,” Seamus remarked as he saw Rose with the baby. “Already?”

“Watch your language.” Molly gave him a slap on his head. “There are little children around now.” 

“She was already past her due date, Seamus, but come here and meet little Artie.” George chuckled. 

“Barty? Seriously?” Seamus blinked. 

“Artie, like short for Arthur, you idiot.” Neville chuckled. 

“Well call him Arthur then,” he rolled his eyes.

“Is he your kid or mine?” Rose teased him and then looked at Artie. “Don’t mind the tiny Irish man, Artie.”

“Yeah, just ignore him.” George caressed Artie’’s head. 

“I’m not tiny, at this moment, of all of us, barring the babies, you’re the shortest, Rose.” Seamus laughed as he stood in front of her.

Neville and George looked at each as George gently pushed Rose off his lap and they both stood up. “You said what?” They chorused as they crossed their arms over their chests. They were both a lot taller than Seamus. 

“Aye, you’re giants, but she’s still the shortest.” He bravely smiled. “Of the uhh...” he swallowed hard. “Girls.”

The room laughed and Neville and George sat down again and George pulled Rose back on his lap. “Don't worry, little man, nobody tries to insult your mummy when I’m around.” 

Rose put her head on George’s shoulder and sighed. “Don’t tease the short Irish man, daddy.” she softly chuckled.

Dru had given Freddie to Neville and was leaning on him, while caressing his hair. Freddie was blowing bubbles again while chuckling. “He’s so cute.” She smiled.

“So are you,” he smiled at her and softly kissed her.

Rose looked up when all of a sudden Kingsley walked into the living room, followed by Molly who looked a bit worried. “Merry Christmas, everyone,” he smiled. 

“Merry Christmas, minster.” Dru smiled at him.

“Congratulations with the birth of your sons,” he smiled at Dru and Rose. “Neville, I have something that belongs to you, I think it’s time you got this back.” He handed Neville the enchanted DA galleon.

“What brings you here, minister?” Harry asked. “Do you need Neville and me?”

“Oh no, you should spend Christmas with your family. I’m actually here for Rose.”

“Huh?” 

“I think you two should talk in private dear.” Molly smiled at her. “Not everyone needs to hear what he has to say to you.” 

“It’s Christmas,” Rose whined as she slowly got up and placed Artie in George’s arms. Artie had nodded off again. “I gave birth yesterday!”

“I know,” Kingsley said as he put an arm around her and walked with her towards the kitchen. “But this couldn’t wait, it’s quite worrisome.”

“George!” Rose called for him. “Quite worrisome he says!”

George gave Artie to Ginny before going into the kitchen. “What’s going on?” 

“Please have a seat,” Kingsley said as he sat down. 

George sat down and pulled Rose on his lap and put his arms tightly around Rose. “My wife is still recovering after giving birth to our son yesterday.”

“I know, and I am truly sorry that I’m coming at a time like this.” The minister sighed. “We’ve done some extensive research lately, looked at all the books and wondered why this happened...”

“What?” George asked.

“A few months ago I came by your apartment to inform Rose about her father’s shell needing to be terminated.” He started to explain. “As I told Rose back then, we didn’t know how it was possible that his shell was still alive but that we needed to do something about him because his body is deteriorating.”

“Yeah, and you were going to help him out of his misery.” George caressed Rose’s back.

“We tried.”

“What do you mean, you’ve tried?” Rose blinked. “I mean, doesn’t the killing curse work?”

“We can't use that one on someone who is in your father’s state. You need a soul to kill to use that spell and your father’s shell is empty.”

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Why is it worrisome? Can’t you just let him die of starvation?”

“We tried that in the last few months. No food, no water.” the man sighed. “Doesn’t work either. So we did some research on your father and read up on him, turned your life and his upside down.”

“What?” Rose blinked. “I didn’t give you permission to do that.”

“Well, we didn’t really have to do much for you but we interrogated some of the people he used to hang out with and we now have an idea what might be going on.”

“Which is?” George asked carefully. “And I’m warning you again, that my wife hasn't given birth to our son more than 24 hours ago.” 

“Well we found out that Barty Jr. really loved his daughter and wanted to do anything to protect her from harm, even tried to protect her from himself.” 

“I could have told you that,” Rose said and shook her head. “Admit it, you haven’t found anything.”

“Well, we have, actually. We think that your father has done something to you to protect you from pain or something similar and has left a part of him inside of you.”

“I am not a horcrux.” Rose shot at him. “Dad couldn’t do that.”

“It’s not like that.” Kingsley assured her. “I mean, it’s quite possible you don’t have to die in order for him to die.”

“I don’t want to hear this.” Rose shook her head.

“What the hell, Kingsley?” George shot at him. “Let the man rot in that cell. You are keeping your hands off my wife.” he yelled so hard, that Freddie, Artie and Teddy all three started crying.

“I don’t want to hear this.” Rose said again and looked at Kingsley before slowly getting up. “I’m sorry, minister, but I’m not going to have this talk with you now. I am _sorry_ that my father’s shell is such a burden to you but you’re... I can’t...” she steadied herself by holding on to a chair. “I can’t.” 

“You don’t have to.” George got up too and put his arms around Rose. “Minister, I know it’s Christmas, but if you going on like this, I’m throwing you out.” 

“Rose, for how long have you been able to deal with extreme sensations of pain?” Kingsley asked.

“Ever since I can remember, got stronger as the years went on, why?” she clung onto George and tried not to cry. 

“I thought I told you to drop it.” George growled.

“Oh, your father was smart.” Kingsley chuckled. “Very very smart.”

“Kingsley.” George tried hard not to let his anger boil over, but he could feel Rose shaking in his arms. 

“George calm down.” Neville came into the kitchen, holding Artie. “Here hold him. It will help.” And placed Artie in his arms, while he made his way over to Rose. “Minister, this man has hurt Rose very much and he needs to be kept as far away from her as possible.” 

“I’m just trying to figure out what happened, that’s all. Some brilliant piece of magic though. It’s going to be hard to find the right kind but I’m sure that once we break this bond...”

“Breaking it without her.” Neville said on a friendly but at the same time harsh tone. “She’s a mum now, not an instrument of the ministry.” 

“No no, I know, and of course nothing would happen to her but with this information we can look deeper into this matter.”

“And you couldn’t have waited until after Christmas?” George asked Kingsley as he held his son and caressed his head.

“Yeah, why couldn't this wait one more day.” Neville had put an arm around Rose and was gently caressing her arm. Sure he wanted his man dead for the hurt he had caused his parents, his Dru, but mostly his Rose. 

“Because as I explained to Rose months ago, he’s still a human being, his shell, and he’s suffering. We want to end this for him soon. Normally kissed people die within a few months. And I’m sorry for having ruined your Christmas now. I’ll be back as soon as I have more news.”

“With respect, sir... but you’re a jerk...” she said as she hung on to Neville and wiped tears from her eyes. 

“You’re going to break the bond today, aren’t you?’ Dru asked. she had been standing by the fireplace with Freddie, listing to them. “You just needed to know how much Rose knew first.” 

“We want to try, yes.” Kingsley nodded. “But we have no idea what it might do to Rose.”

“Can’t it wait?” Rose said with a small voice. “I kinda need myself right now.”

“I’m sorry, Rose, but no. It can’t.” Kingsley said. “His state is attracting Dementors and creating a very nice atmosfeer to breed in and we need to stop that as soon as possible.”

“No.” Rose shook her head. “You just said you have no idea what it might do to me.”

“No.”

“Then you’re going to wait.” Rose said bravely as she moved to George. “I am going to spend the rest of this Christmas with my husband, my family and my newborn son.” 

George gave Artie to Rose and put his arms around her to shield her. “You heard the lady.” 

“Alright, we’re going to try and sever it on his end first then.” Kingsley nodded. “But like I said, your father was really smart and the magic... has been undetected for years so we have absolutely no idea what it might do to you.”

“Then don’t do it and wait after Christmas.” Rose said as she bounced Artie in her arms. He was being fussy. “Have a good day, Minister.”

“Minister?” Dru asked. She knew he was here for Rose, but she knew Neville wouldn’t asked it himself so she felt she must.

“Don’t worry,” Kingsley looked at Dru and then Neville. “Neville still has a job to come back to after the New Year.”

“Thank you, Kingsley.” Dru smiled at him.


	69. Adjusting

It was halfway through April and Dru was walking through Diagon Alley with Fred. He was nearly five and half months now and he had grown a lot. He still loved being on his mother's arms, so she usually let the pram at home. Neville had been away for three weeks now. They had found the Lestrange brothers and Neville, Harry and Ron, who started his training in January, were after them. 

Dru now went to his Gran every other day to check up on her, spent every Friday eating with George and Rose, like they had been doing since Christmas, although with Neville gone, she would always go over to there, instead of alternating between her and their house. 

Dru had picked up the stuff she needed and made her way over to the shop. She walked inside and greeted Verity. “Are Mr. and Mrs. Weasley upstairs?”

“Yes, Mrs. Weasley,” Verity smiled at her. “Wow, your son keeps growing every time I see him.”

“Yes, he’s going to be tall, just like his father, I think.” Dru smiled at the girl and made her way upstairs. “Rose? George?” 

“Hey Dru,” George smiled at her as he walked out of the kitchen. “Still no Neville?”

“Nope.” Dru smiled as she gave George a kiss on his cheek “How’s Rose doing now?” 

“She has one of her panic days, I’m afraid.” He sighed. Ever since Kingsley and some powerful wizards had managed to break the bond that Barty Crouch Jr. had made between him and his daughter, Rose was a mess. She hadn’t been without that bond for years and in the first week, she had totally lost the plot. She was doing better now, but she sometimes had bad days and today was a particularly bad one. “She’s locked herself up in the nursery with Artie.”

“Damn. I’ll go and try and talk to her.” Dru said and walked up the stairs. She knocked on the door of the nursery. ”Rose?” Sure, both she and George could easily open the door with _Alohamora_ but that wouldn’t solve anything and there was a risk of Rose blowing their heads off in her panicked state. She needed to let them help her. The help from the Ministry was welcome, but even they didn’t know what to expect.

“Still here. Go away.”

“Please let me in.” 

“No.” Rose shook her head as she sat in her corner, hugging Artie close to her. She had made her own little panic corner where she felt comfortable and where she was sure that she could see everything. She knew that her fear was irrational because she didn’t even know why she was afraid or panicking the moment she set foot outside the nursery.

“Now what?” Dru muttered as she gently bounced Fred up and down in her arms. 

Fred looked at her with a big smile on his face and started to laugh before settling down and looking at her in quite a serious way and then stuck his tongue out of his mouth and it looked like he was concentrating really hard on doing _something_ and it was extra smelly this time too.

“Oh god, not now, Freddie.” Dru sulked. “I didn't bring the diaper bag.” 

Freddie just smiled at her and breathed relieved when he was done. He started to blow bubbles with his mouth and started to pat his mother’s face with his hands. He was a lot more coordinated now and he managed to start tapping on her nose.

“Rose, I forgot my diaper bag, please let me in.” 

Rose got up and placed Artie in his crib and said a few protective spells to keep him safe before she opened the nursery door with her wand raised. 

“Jeez, Rose.” Dru said a bit scared as she held Freddie closer. “It’s just me.”

“Maybe.” Rose said as she took a few steps back to allow Dru access to the changing station. “Polyjuice potions can make people look like other people.”

“Fine, then ask me something.” Dru said as she put Freddie down on the changing mat. 

“Like what? They all know everything.” 

“Not about me.”

“Of course they do, you’re the child of a death eater, like me. You can lie to everyone else but _they_ know your true heritage.”

“Fine, then ask me something about Neville.” Dru wrinkled her nose. “Smelly monkey.” She said to Freddie as she discarded the dirty diaper.

“What gift did he receive from his gran in our first year?”

“A remembrall, on the day of our first flying lesson, that few out of his pocket during his disastrous broom rise during our lesson and Draco picked it up and Harry got it back for him, and Neville then lost it sometime in his fourth or fifth year, I think maybe in his third.”

“Fine.” Rose said as she lowered her wand. She couldn’t exactly ask Freddie a question so it better had to do. She’d change Freddie and get out again, which would be great, it meant that she could get Artie out of his protective crib and have him back in her arms.

Dru put Freddie’s tiny jeans back on and saw Rose by Artie’s crib. “Hello, Artie.” She smiled at him and noticed his arms reaching up to her, well, probably more to Freddie.

“Are you done?” Rose asked Dru and eyed the door warily. The last time she was like this she got stunned by someone to relax her and take her to bed.

Artie started to whine a bit. He didn't like being in a crib with protective spell on it. 

“Dru, are you done?”

Freddie started to kick his little feet and reached for Artie. 

Dru looked at her son and her nephew and walked to the crib and pulled out her wand, she released the crib from his spells and put Freddie on his back next to Artie. 

Artie started smiling again and swatted Freddie in his face. 

Rose blinked at Dru before retreating to her little corner and hugged her knees to her chest. “This is so wrong...” she said softly. “So wrong...”

Dru sat down next to Rose and pulled her in her arms. “Breathe, Rosie, breathe.” 

“I hate myself, Dru...” Rose started to sob. “I... I try to be a good mum and wife and then this happens and...” she hiccuped. “This is not good... why did they have to let him go?”

“I know, I know.” Dru gently rocked Rose and looked at the door, George had been watching them from the start, but he knew Rose didn't want him near her yet, as soon as she would she’d call for him. “I know it’s bad, but this had to happen, Rose.” 

“But this is so wrong,” Rose said again. “I mean, it’s unfair... I mean... I’ve been so bad during my pregnancy for George and now I’m even more useless when I’m like this. I’m trying to be good, Dru. I’m really trying hard to be normal and... I don’t even know why I’m like this today and I know it’s your day that you come here to eat but... It’s unfair and I can’t stop...”

“Rosie, don’t worry about me.” George smiled at her. “This is not your fault at all.”

“I’m not Rosie anymore George. I stopped being Rosie when I started to be mean to you while I was pregnant and now I’m a mess so I’m not Rosie. I’m... not even Rose. Maybe I’ve been crazy from the start and dad wanted me to be a normal person and locked... fuck this.” she muttered and got up. She slowly made her way over to George and looked at him. “I’m even afraid of you touching me and that shouldn’t be happening.” she was still sobbing. “I’m keeping you from your work. I’m keeping our son hostage... and I know that I have more good days than bad these days but...” she took a deep breath and took another step closer to him. He was still standing with his arms wide open and there was a look on his face that told her that he wasn’t dangerous. Of course he wasn’t dangerous, she wouldn’t have married him if he was. 

“Rosie, i’m fine, Artie is fine and you will get through this. And I’ve got a feeling then when you do, I’m going to have my Rosie back. The Rosie that I have seen between the time you’ve build up your walls. And I’m very patient.” He smiled at her. “I can stay standing here all day and even if you don’t come to me, I’ll love you not an ounce less and I’ll stand here again with my arms wide open first thing.” 

“You’re too patient, George.” Rose said as she put her arms around him. “I know how much this hurts you.”

“It hurts to see you in so much pain.” George sighed. “But I can handle that.” 

“No you can’t... I think that the days that I spend crying all day are easier on you than days like these.” She managed a chuckle. “It’s weird because I know that everything I feel is irrational and I know how to rationalize it but I can’t stop it.”

He cupped her face and looked straight into her eyes. “Rosalie Weasley, I love you every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year, of every decade of every century of every millenium and so on. And every fraction of that second I treasure in my heart.” He chuckled when he saw that Dru had tears in her eyes now too. “Oops, I’ve made Dru cry now.” 

“She’s got a deadbeat boyfriend, you’re forgiven.” 

“I don’t have a deadbeat boyfriend.” Dru said defensively. “He’s working hard.” She couldn’t tell them exactly what he was doing, she wasn't even supposed to know.

Rose tightened her grip around George. “I was joking, sorry Dru.” she said softly. 

“Okay.... sorry.” Dru got up. “I haven’t been sleeping very well, I’m a bit on edge myself I suppose.” She looked at the boys. “Why don't I take the boys down, make you two a nice dinner and then you too catch up in the bedroom.” Dru smiled as she got Freddie on one arm and Artie on the other. 

“No, don’t take Artie...” Rose said quickly and then hit herself on the head before walking towards the bedroom. “I’ll shut up now.”

George followed her and sat down on the bed. “It’s fine Rose, It’s Dru. Artie will be alright.” 

Rose sighed as she curled up against him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don't be.” George wrapped her up in his arms as he pulled her on his lap. “It’s not your fault.” 

“No, I know, but...” she sighed. “Just one of his last laughs, I suppose.”

George put her down on her side and crawled behind her and pulled her close in his arms. “I love you, Rosie, you’ll be okay, I’ll be okay, Artie will be more than okay, we’re all going to fine.” 

“I love you George...” she smiled as she closed her eyes, loving his arms around her. “I’m safe.”

“Yes you are.” he softly kissed her neck. “I’ll keep you safe.”

* * *

It was the middle of the night on April 30th and Neville was gone for 5 weeks. Dru had just gotten back to sleep after Freddie had woken up crying, he had been fussing for a while now at night. and Dru didn't really know what his problem was, she figured he’d probably was teething but she wasn’t sure. She had told herself she was going to give it one more week before going to the healer. She suddenly jolted up as she felt movement on the bed and grabbed her wand from her nightstand. 

“It’s me,” Neville’s voice sounded softly. He sounded tired. “I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

Dru turned on the nightlight with her wand and looked at him. “Oh babe.” she caressed his cheek. She hated it when he came back to her like that, all bruised and everything. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” he smiled at her and softly kissed her. “I’m sorry I was away for so long.”

“That’s fine.’ she smiled. “Well, it’s not fine, because I missed you like crazy, but I know why you needed to be. Did you get them?” she softly kissed him back.

“We got your uncle.” He smiled victoriously. “He’s in Azkaban now.”

“And my father?” 

“Not yet, babe. Next time.” He caressed her hair. “I promise.”

She nodded and put her arms around his neck. “I missed you.” She hated the idea of him going away again. She knew he was doing it all for her, for Freddie, for them, but she was so scared that he might not return one day. “You can stay home for a while now, can’t you?”

“Yeah, at least a week.” he smiled at her and softly kissed her. “Want me to take a shower before we go to sleep?”

‘It’s okay.” she pulled him against her. “I just want to hold you in my arms.” 

“Hmm... I always love coming home to you.” He smiled at her. “I’d rather stay but coming home to you is the best thing there is.” 

Dru giggled. “I love having you come home.” she kissed him tenderly. 

Neville wanted to sleep but he wanted her so bad too, he didn’t really know what to do and just eagerly answered her kiss as he started to caress her body. He loved the feeling of her skin and the way she responded to him. He moved and intensified the kiss. He just wanted her. Now.

Dru giggled. “Relax, babe, I’m not going anywhere.” She could feel him trying to rush into things, not that she minded, she had missed him so much and she wanted him too. 

“Sorry,” he apologized and slowed down a bit. “I... sorry.” he blushed as he softly kissed her neck. 

“It’s fine.’ she softly kissed him. “I don’t mind, but you’re so tired already.” she caressed his cheek. “But like I said, I’m not going anywhere and I’m all yours, all night.” she brought her lips to his ear and whispered. “To do with as you please.” 

Neville groaned. “That is so hot...” 

“So what do you want from me?” she wrapped one leg around him.

“I was thinking... some love and then some sleep before Freddie wakes up again.” He grinned and nuzzled her neck. “Please?”

“How do you want to love me, mister Longbottom?” She licked his ear lobe. “What do you want me to do to you?”

“I just want to fuck your brains out.” he said huskily.

“Then what are you waiting for?” she giggled, subtlety was never his strong point in the bedroom, but Dru didn't mind that at all, in fact she liked it that he was a bit more rough. 

He shed his clothes and then greedily kissed her as he continued to run his hands up and down her body. “God, I love you.” He muttered as he started to stray from her mouth with his kisses. 

“I love you too, babe.” she moaned as she arched her body into him. 

Neville didn’t even want to open her up for him, he knew that Dru could take him as he was and started to push himself inside of her while he kissed her neck. “You’re so beautiful...”

Dru sighed happily. “You’re so sexy.” 

He snorted and playfully bit her shoulder when he had buried himself completely inside of her, giving her time to adjust a bit before he started to move. “Talk dirty to me.”

“What do you want to hear?’ Dru said with a twinkle in her eye. “How massive you are?” 

Neville groaned and started to thrust inside of her. “No, give me your bad dirty talk.”

“No.” Dru giggled. “That’s embarrassing.” she blushed. 

“Oh but you’re so good at it and it’s a real turn on,” he planted a kiss between her breasts as he thrust harder into her.

“Fine,” she moaned. “Pick a subject.” 

“Baby bottles.” Neville grinned as he planted a kiss on top of one of her breasts.

“Yeah, not happening.” Dru giggled. “No baby related subjects.” she moaned as he bit her nipple. She had stopped breast feeding about a week ago, but her breasts were still highly sensitive. 

He continued to thrust inside of her. “We should take Freddie and go away this weekend, after the memorial,” he said, not stopping his movement. “Just us three, someplace nice.”

“Neville.” Dru whined.

“Yes, great idea,” he said as he gave a few long and deep trusts and flicked his thumb against her nipple. 

“Stop talking about stuff like that, when you’re inside of me.” she hit him on the head. 

“Yes ma’am.” he laughed.

“That’s a good boy.’’ she put her hand in his neck and kissed him hard. “A very big good boy.” 

“Fuck...” he groaned as he came inside of her. “Oh...”

“Hmm.....you look so sexy like that.” Dru smiled as she kissed him again. 

He returned the kiss and as he slowly moved out of her, he started to stimulate her clit with his thumb. Neville knew that Dru hadn’t come yet, he couldn’t help it that he was so high strung. The adrenaline build up in the last few weeks was responsible for that. 

“Fuck.” Dru breathed with a smile on her face. 

“I swear, once I’m not so tired anymore, I’m so going to fuck you hard and long and repeatedly.”

“Fuck.” Dru moaned and she felt herself topple over the edge. After she rode out her orgasm, she pulled Neville close to her again and held him tightly. “Go to sleep, babe. I’m here.” 

“I love you,” he sighed happily as he placed his head on her torso. “So much.”

“I love you too.” She gently caressed his hair. “More than you’ll ever realise, now go to sleep, babe.” 

“Hmm...” he said sleepily. He was already drifting off to sleep.

Dru let him sleep for hours after and didn’t wake him up till it was near one in the afternoon and she used her wand to carry up a tray of food, while she had Freddie on her other arm. She put the tray on the nightstand. “Look who’s home, Freddie.” She sat down next to the still sleeping Neville and let Freddie sit in front of her. 

Freddie laughed out loud and moved forward and smacked his hands into Neville’s face. When Neville opened his eyes, Freddie started to laugh even harder.

“When did you get so big?” Neville muttered as he looked at the boy. He moved a little and touched Fred’s nose, making the boy laugh so hard he was hiccuping.

“I think he missed you.” Dru smiled as she held on hand on Freddie’s back, making sure he wasn’t falling over. 

Fred smacked Neville’s face again. 

“I think he hates me.” Neville chuckled and touched Fred’s nose again with his finger.

Freddie grabbed Neville’s hand with both his tiny hands and brought his hand to his mouth and started sucking on it.

“Yes, the day that milk will magically appear from my fingers will be a good day,” Neville chuckled. “Good morning.” He smiled up to Dru.

“Good morning.” she smiled back and softly kissed him.

Fred whined and reached his arms out to Neville.

“Alright you little monkey,” he chuckled and rolled onto his back before pulling Freddie on top of him. “How’s that? Better?”

Freddie was making happy noises and was blowing little bubbles. 

“See?” Dru caressed Freddie’s red hair. “I told you, he missed you.”

“He needs to stop growing though. It’s like he’s become a lot bigger in the last few weeks.” Neville smiled. “What do you say, Freddie? Would you like to go away for a weekend with mummy and me? Some place new?”

Freddie chuckled and swatted Neville’s face.

“Is that a no?” Neville pouted. “Shame, because I went to a Muggle camp site and they have these beautiful wooden cottages with a beautiful garden and a nice swimming pool for you and mummy to relax in.”

Freddie put his hands on Neville’s pouted lips and murmured a bit. 

“Sorry, what’s that?” Neville talked against Freddie’s hand, sending vibrations through his little hands.

Freddie laughed and hit Neville’s lips a few times. 

“Nev, I’d really like to go with you, but I’m not sure if it’s good idea right now.” Dru said as caressed his hair. 

“Why not?”

“Rose is struggling and the memorial is going to be hard on George, I don't think it’s smart to just let them be.” 

“Poor George, she’s still struggling?” Neville groaned. He so wanted to go away for the weekend. 

“She keeps locking herself in the nursery with Artie. This is hard enough on George, and he’s really been there for me, while you were away. I don't think it’s fair to let him deal with everything on his own.” 

“Well, how about we take them with us? There are more cottages than just one, and I’m sure that Rose and George would love to see a change of scenery as well.”

“That’s is a brilliant idea.” Dru softly kissed him again and smiled as Freddie tried to push himself up. 

“Yeah! Go on!” Neville smiled at Freddie. “Flex those muscles!”

Dru laughed and got the tray with lunch from the nightstand, she heated it all up with her wand and got Freddie off Neville, so he could eat. 

“Yum lunch!” Neville sat up and after kissing Dru he started to eat. “So, we’re stopping by Rose and George today to talk to them about a weekend away after the memorial?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” She put Freddie on his stomach on the bed and watched as he again tried to push himself up. “He’s going to be crawling soon, I think.” 

Freddie sighed as he rolled onto his back and spread his arms on the bed. He then rolled back to his stomach and started to try and push himself up again.

“I think we need to go and get some of those things you put infront of stairs so that he can’t escape or fall off stairs.” Neville chuckled. 

“I think that might be smart.” Dru opened her arms to Freddie. “Come on, monkey, crawl to mummy.” 

Freddie looked at Dru and Neville could have sworn he saw the authentic Fred Weasley eye roll.

“Did you see that?” Dru was staring at him with her mouth wide open.

“Yep,” Neville nodded and started to laugh. 

“Come on Freddie, come to mummy.” Dru smiled at her son with her arms wide open again. 

Fred started to drag himself forward on his arms towards Dru and sighed before falling flat on his face just about as he had reached her and whined.

“You just crawled.” Dru picked Freddie up and hugged him tight. “Oh mummy is proud of you.” She gushed and gave a thousand butterfly kisses all over his little face. 

“Well done little man,” Neville smiled as he took a bite of his toast. “Yep, we’re going to stop by at George and Rose’s and then we’re going to get some of those barrier thingies.”

* * *

“Rose, where you two?” George asked as he walked into the bedroom. 

“We’re in the tub.” 

George walked into the bathroom, leaned against the doorpost with his hands in his pockets and smiled. “That’s just adorable.” 

“He’s a real water rat.” Rose chuckled. “Moving his little legs while I hold him away from me.”

George chuckled and squatted next to tub. “He’s getting so big.” he smiled at his son.

“I know,” she smiled and softly kissed George. Artie was laughing and was splashing his arms into the water as Rose held him underneath his armpits. 

“Maybe we should take him to a pool sometime. I think he’d love that.”

“I think so too.” Rose nodded. “You don’t mind being seen with a whale then?” she smiled at him. Unlike Dru, Rose’s body didn’t snap back in place without effort and still had some curves.

“Rose, you look beautiful.” George kissed her. “I like those new curves on you.”

“Alright, time to get out of the tub.” she chuckled and handed Artie to George. “Would you like to dry him and dress him?”

“I sure will, can I dress you too then?” He asked with a cheeky smile on his face.

“Maybe you can _undress_ me later, if you’re a good boy.” she winked as she got out of the tub and grabbed a towel. It was May 1st, the sun was out and she decided to be bold and get into one of her new clothing items that she had delivered from a few Muggle stores in London to the Leaky Cauldron and she was sure that George was going to get a heart attack when he’d see that most of her new clothes consisted of dresses. She wiggled her ass as she walked out the bathroom while drying her hair.

George wrapped Artie in his towel and took him to the nursery. “Mummy likes daddy.” 

Artie blankly stared at his father with his off colored eyes. 

George chuckled and dried Artie off before getting some fresh clothes and putting artie on the changing mat to put the diaper on him. “I think i’m going to ask Auntie Dru if she and Freddie will go with you and mummy to swimming, you’d like that don’t you?” 

Artie chuckled and put his feet against George’s hands and grabbed his hands with his tiny hands.  
“I can’t change you like this, Artie.’ George chuckled and kissed Artie’s head. 

Artie smirked and started to pee.

“Oi!” George laughed. “Artie!” 

Artie smiled at his father and started to blow bubbles as he lowered his feet and hands. 

“Is everything okay in here?” Rose smiled as she stood in the opening of the nursery wearing a figure hugging purple dress.

“Fuck.” George said as he saw Rose and swallowed hard. “That’s... fuck.” He kept his hand firmly on Artie, so that he wouldn’t roll off the changing station, but he couldn’t keep his eyes of Rose. 

“You like?” she smiled as she walked into the nursery on her bare feet. “It’s actually quite comfortable too.”

“Fuck, Rose.” he smiled at her. “Fuck!” 

“Maybe tonight,” She chuckled as she tiptoed and kissed him tenderly. “Artie and I will go shopping for food when you get him dressed, what would you like to eat tonight?”

“He just peed all over himself.” George chuckled. “Not really in a food thinking kinda mood.’ 

Rose smiled as she got a wet cloth and started to clean up Artie before putting him in his diaper. “Well at least he peed all over himself, he usually has a great aim.” 

George smiled and caressed Artie’s head. “Maybe he did it on purpose, because he just came out of the bath.” 

She moved herself between George and Artie and moved her body against George’s, just to tease him. “So... food...” she said as she started to put some clothes on the baby. 

“You.” he softly kissed her neck. “I’m going to devour you.”

“Not in front of the baby.” she smiled as she lifted Artie from the changing station and turned around to face George. “But after the real food tonight, I’ll be all yours.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Hellooo, anybody home?” Neville’s voice sounded from the stairs leading to the shop. 

“Who are you?” George chuckled as he came down the stairs. “Do I know you?” 

“Ah, amnesia?” Neville smiled at George. “I’m home for the week.”

Freddie laughed out loud and started to flails his arms about and reaching for George. “baaabaaabaaaa!” he prattled.

“Come here.” George lifted Freddie high above his head. “Hello you.” 

“George please be careful.” Dru said as she put the diaper bag in the corner. 

“I am careful, I just dropped Artie while I did this with him.” George stuck out his tongue to Dru and looked at Freddie who was laughing out loud.

“George!!” Rose shot at him as she walked down the stairs with Artie in her arms. “We do not drop the babies.”

“I’m not!” He whined as he looked at Freddie and started to bounce him in his arms. “Sorry buddy, no flying lessons today.”

Freddie pouted. 

“Ah, Rose, he’s gotten so big.” Neville caressed Artie’s head and gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. “Are you good?” he asked softly. 

“I am today,” she smiled at him and hugged Neville with her free arm. “Welcome back, Neville.”

“It’s good to be back.” he smiled back and held out his hands for artie. “Can I?” 

Rose looked at George, who was still busy with Freddie, and then slowly nodded as she placed Artie in Neville’s hands. 

“Hello, Artie.” Neville smiled at the little boy. “Boy, you look just like your cousin.” 

Artie sighed deep as he looked at Neville with a blank stare.

“What?” Neville smiled as he gently bounced Artie in his arms. “Do you like looking like Freddie?” 

“Tea?” Rose said as she walked into the kitchen and started to make some tea. George was going to make sure that Artie wasn’t going to get hurt. She was wondering why Dru and Neville were around now anyway as it wasn’t Friday, but started to make some tea anyway.

“How’s the shop going, George?” Neville asked as he sat down on the sofa next to Dru.

“Oh brilliant. Verity can manage the shop just fine these days as it’s not a holiday yet but once Hogwarts is with summer recess it’s going to be mad. Might ask Ginny to come and help out now that I’ve set Ron free,” he chuckled.

“Well, I could help out, I could let Freddie say in the back in the crib, or just drag him along.” Dru smiled.

“That would be brilliant because you actually know how the shop works.” He chuckled.

“I worked in the shop before.” Dru said with a smile. “I know how the shop works.”

“Alright, that’s settled then.” George smiled.

Rose walked in with a tray with tea and some cookies and set it down on the table before sitting down next to George.

“Do you want him back?” Neville smiled at Rose, he could tell she was nervous about him holding Artie. 

“Are you tired of holding him?” Rose asked as she tried to get the dress sit less constricted and pulled on her dress as she moved a bit uncomfortably.

“No.” Neville laughed. “Are you okay?” 

Rose pointed her wand at herself and transfigured her dress in a comfy sitting pair of pants and a shirt. “I am now.”

George pouted at her. ”Rosie.”

She sighed and removed the spell so she was back in her dress and got up to pull the dress more down before she sat down again. 

“That’s better, right Freddie?” George smiled at his nephew, before putting him on Rose’s lap. “Doesn’t Auntie Rose, look better in the dress?” 

Freddie sighed and started to play with Rose’s fingers. He put one of them in his mouth and chewed on it.

“This morning he rolled his eyes at Dru.” Neville chuckled.

“Teeth!” Rose chuckled.

“I know, that’s why I stopped breast feeding now.” Dru laughed. 

“Oh, so Neville can get a chance of feeding him too! You won’t have to leave the bed at night!” Rose smiled at her.

“Well, we take shifts.” Dru smiled. “He did his first crawling today too.” 

“Oh did you now?” Rose looked at Fred who was smiling at her. “You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you?”

Freddie happily bounced up and down, nearly falling off Rose’s lap.

Rose managed to keep him from falling but quickly lifted him up and placed him in Dru’s lap before reaching for a cup of tea. 

“Anyway, we were wondering if you two would like to spend the next weekend away from all of this, change of scenery. Go to a cottage or something.” Neville started. “There’s this great place that’s baby friendly and there’s a kiddie pool and everything.”

George looked at Rose. “Rosie?” 

She looked at George and nodded. Tomorrow was going to be hard on all of them, but mostly George and maybe spending the weekend away from the apartment would do him some good. Rose was going to do her absolute best to be her normal self. George deserved it.

“Alright, we love to come with you.” George smiled. 

“Brilliant.” Neville smiled widely. “I shall book it then for this weekend. Are we travelling to Hogwarts together tomorrow? I believe that McGonagall opened the fireplace for everyone who wants to attend.”

“Yeah, we’re all meeting up at the Burrow, I guess you’re picking up your gran first and then the Burrow?” George smiled as he looked at Artie and Freddie trying to kick each other.

Artie whined when Freddie managed to smack him in the face.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Neville nodded and looked at Dru. “What do you think?”

“It’s fine.” Dru pulled Freddie a bit away from Artie, so that he couldn’t hit him anymore.

Freddie whined as he stretched his arms out to Artie.

“Just put them in the playpen together,” Rose chuckled and pointed to the playpen that stood behind the sofa. “Let them duke it out.”

“No.” Dru laughed. When they’re older, no It’s not fair game yet. Artie can’t even sit up by himself yet.” 

“Babaaaabaaaa.” Freddie said happily as he uncoordinatedly clapped his hands. “Baaamamaa.”

Dru laughed. “Are you going to tell us a story, Freddie?” She caressed his head. 

Artie cackled and reached out to his mum. When Neville didn’t pay a lot of attention to him, Artie started to cry really loudly. 

“Neville!” Rose said panicked as she lifted Artie out of his lap and hugged him. 

“Rosie, calm down.” George said. “Artie needs to learn he's not the center of attention all the time. With Bill and Fleur's baby coming any day he won’t be the youngest and therefore the cutest one anymore.”

“Yes he will.” Rose said as she protectively put her arms around Artie and looked at Neville. “You squeezed him, didn’t you?”

Neville smiled sweetly at her. “Rosie, no offense, but I’ve taking care of a baby longer than you have.”

She got up and started to walk around with Artie in her arms, trying to stop herself from ruining a good day.

“Neville was looking at Freddie, he didn't do anything Rose.” Dru said defensive, but then realised something. “You immediately pick him up don't you, whenever he starts whining or fussing, or crying?” 

“No.” Rose shook her head. “He’s often playing in his playpen and I make sure that he cries or whines for a long time so that he learns that it won’t work.” She was still pacing around and looked at Artie, who looked worried. She put him down in George’s arms. “I need a bit of me time.”

“Rosie.” Neville pulled Rose on his lap, something he had never done before. “You need to calm down a bit. You can trust me, I’ll never hurt Artie.” 

“No no no... that’s not it.” Rose shook her head and got off Neville’s lap. “Today is a good day and I am okay.” she nodded as she walked into the kitchen and started to look for the ingredients to start baking cookies to get her mind off things. 

Neville walked after her. “Can I help you? I haven't baked cookies in a while.” 

“Go away Neville.” Rose said as she turned her back to him and sighed. “I’ll be okay. Just let me be.”

Neville swallowed. “Alright.” he gave her a kiss on her head. “I’ll talk to you another time then.” his voice sounded a bit troubled. 

“She will be okay, you know.” George said as Neville walked back. He could see the worry on his face. “She’s fighting as hard as she can to stop herself from going into a full lockdown like the last time Dru was here. Baking cookies by herself seems to help.”

Neville gave George a small smile and sat down next to Dru, he still looked a bit troubled.

Dru caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. “You didn't want to talk to her about her, didn't you?” 

Neville smiled at her. “No.” he gave Freddie a kiss on his hand and smiled at the little boy.

“Oh,” Rose said as she came out of the kitchen. She had realised that maybe it would be better if Neville helped her, even though Artie had started to cry. “If you don’t mind, if you’re not in a hurry you could come and help if you like but ah... I’d better not talk. The person from the ministry wanted to lock me away last week.” she chuckled. “But I promise I’ll be fine this weekend and tomorrow, and tonight after the cookies are done.”

“I’ll never lock you away.” Neville smiled as he walked into the kitchen after her. “What can I do to help?” he rolled up his sleeves.

“Uhm... you can make the dough. You’ve got bigger hands than I do.” she smiled at him as she put the things in the bowl and pointed at it. “Knock yourself out.” she said as she poured them something cold to drink before hopping on the counter. 

“Alright.” he washed his hands and started to knead the dough. “Are you...uh...like nervous...for tomorrow.” He tried not to stammer. 

“It’s going to be weird to be back at Hogwarts,” she nodded as she sat down on her hands. “Very weird and it must be so weird for you because you were the hero and amazing and an amazing leader that everyone loved.”

“No, I wasn’t. I only killed a snake.” He blushed.

“Which allowed Harry to kill Voldemort.” she nodded. “Without you, that wouldn’t have been possible. I mean, come on, you got the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat!”

“Yeah, but anyone could have gotten that out of the hat.” 

“A true Gryffindor, yes. Harry was the only one before you.” She smiled as she pushed him with her foot. “You still don’t get it, do you? You’re a hero, Neville. You’re this amazing person that... you don’t see the effect you have on people. You’re just as much of a hero as Harry is. You’re just as amazing.”

“I’m not.” He shook his head. “I let Rudolphus get away.”

“Yes, but you caught Rastaban. That’s already one Death Eater you don’t have to worry about anymore.”

Neville shook his head and smiled at her. “You still know everything, don’t you? I just feel so useless sometimes. When I see you and George with Artie and then I see Dru with Freddie, It just...” He sighed. “It would have been so much better if it had been me instead of Fred, Dru would have still been happy with Fred and then little Freddie would have a father too, just like Artie, kids need their parents.” he said with a small voice, sounding more like the eleven year old Rose first met on the train, than the 18 year old hero, _she did_ knew he was now.

“Yes, I’m still a smart ass even when I’m being an idiot.” she nodded. “You should stop thinking like that, Neville. I know that you had to miss your parents while growing up, but Freddie still has his mum, and to be completely honest, you’re going to be the only father he has known. He might not call you ‘dad’, but you’re going to be just as good as Fred would have been.” She hopped off the counter and got the cookie cut out forms, they were in the shape of broomsticks and witches hats, just for the sake of it. “You’re a great friend to George, you’re an amazing boyfriend to Dru, you’re willing to do everything for her, even try a dangerous profession that’s not really of your fancy.”

“And I messed you up.” 

“Nope. Not your fault. I was already messed up long before we met, we just didn’t know it yet.”

“I’ve always tried so hard to protect you, but I always seem to fail when it comes to you.” 

“Neville.” she hit him with a spatula. “If it hadn’t been for you, Artie wouldn’t have been here.”

“But I let...”He looked at her with tears in his eyes. the upcoming memorial had been bringing back a lot of bad memories. “It was all my fault, If I hadn't made you my right hand, he would have never had the chance to come that close to you. And I should have never been in the greenhouses that day, what was I thinking?” 

“Neville, you can’t protect everyone. You can’t do everything all by yourself. Hindsight is a bitch. Yeah, we could have done things differently. Like have a code word every day to make sure that we knew for sure that we were who we claimed to be. But that’s all hindsight. It happened. It’s fine, it wasn’t like I wasn’t afraid of boys before that.” she managed to give a chuckle. “And I was the best candidate to be your right hand, I didn’t want to put Dru in that position because she’s Dru and I was tougher.” She shrugged. “Don’t feel guilty about it. Things happen. I suppose I’m sort of okay with it now because he got what he deserved in the end.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t even want to be my right hand, I used Dru to make you do it, because I needed you, but I should have let GInny helped me and let you stay out of it. I mean.. you never wanted to help me, just the rest, because I made you do it.” 

“Yeah well, I wanted to be a coward and you wouldn’t let me. See? You’re a true Gryffindor.”

“But not a true good brother.” He muttered as he started to knead more dough.

“Are you kidding?” she chuckled and hit him with the spatula again. “I never had a brother. You’re great.”

“Really?” 

“Yes. And I’m an ungrateful older sister.” She nodded as she started to press broomsticks out of the dough that she had been rolling out. “And a nutcase.”

“You’re a great little sister.” He stuck out his tongue to her.

“Keep kneading, dough-boy.” she smiled at him and put the cut out cookies on a tray.

“I’m scared though, Rosie.” He looked into the living room. “That I can’t give them what they need.”

“All they need is you.” she smiled at him. “Just you. And your wonderful self. So don’t lose that on your Auror journeys.”

He sighed and nodded. “But I don’t even think Freddie really likes me, half the time.” 

“He’s a baby, you idiot.” she chuckled. “His brain is still so tiny and his attention span is really short. With you gone for a few weeks in a row and not seeing you, of course he’ll react differently to you. When he gets older, he’ll understand but right now he loves what’s close to him, what’s there every day.” She pushed him aside with her ass and started to put the first load of cookies in the oven. “I think you should have a talk with Professor Sprout tomorrow after the memorial, like Ginny and Hermione had said.”

“Why? I’m not good as a teacher and I couldn’t just leave Dru and Freddie for 10 months of the year. That’ll be bonkers.” 

“You’re Neville the hero, you could make it a part of your package that Dru and Freddie are at the castle with you. Maybe Dru can teach too.” She smiled all knowingly at him. “I love taking little peeks sometimes.”

“Like potions?” Neville glanced at her with a smile. “You think McGonagall with let us live as a family there with Freddie?” 

“And now he believes me.” she rolled her eyes at him. “Neville, you’re in this amazing place in your life. You can ask for anything and people could say no, but they will usually say yes. You and Dru would be amazing and you could be on this sort of internship at first for the next few years and...” she shook her head. “You just have to talk to McGonagall and Sprout about it. Use your words.”

He put his arms around her. “I always believe you, unless you tell me I’m great and a hero and stuff, other than that I believe you.” 

“Well you’re great.”

“Nope, still not believing you.” 

“God, you’re even worse than I am.” 

“Like brother like sister, right?” 

“You’d better stick around until all these cookies are made because George and I can’t eat them all. I think we made a bit too much.” she giggled as she shoved another tray into the oven and saw that they had plenty of batter left to make more. 

“We can take the rest with us tomorrow.” he shrugged.

“Yes, great idea. Let’s put some happy herbs in them!”

“Yep, you’re still mad.” 

“Yeah and I meant it.” she nodded. “I think George has some of those plants in the basement for some of the stuff he makes.”

“No, Rose.” 

“Damn.” she sighed as she hopped back on the counter. “Thank you, Neville.”

“For what, being an awesome brother?” he chuckled. 

“For being you. For being good to Dru and Freddie... and to George... and not fed up with me.”

“I’m never fed up with you, true I’ve dreamed of throw you off the owlery, but that were just dreams.” he laughed and managed to duck the spatula this time. 

“But if tomorrow... if it gets hard on you and you don’t want to bother Dru with it, you can come to me, you know that, right? I’m going to do my absolute best not to be flaky like today.”

“Thank you.” He gave her a kiss on the head.

* * *

“Get out of my face,” Rose looked at the reflection in the mirror. It wasn’t her. Someone had hijacked it. “Come on, my hair looks ridiculous.” she glared at the reflection. “I know this is a special day for you too, but to do this and bully me is ridiculous.” 

“I’m not bullying you. I’m getting in your way and that’s annoying.” The reflection spoke back.

“I mean it, don’t make me get George.” she threatened.

“I’m not afraid of my own brother, you twat.” Fred stuck out his tongue to her and moved so that Rose could see her hair. “It really is a mess.” he said with a nod. “So, the memorial.”

“Yep.”

“People are going to say loads of pretty things.”

“Probably. It’s a memorial.” she pointed out as she brushed her hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll be looking out for Dru, George and the rest of your family.”

“Ha, you can’t even take proper care of yourself lately.”

“Shut up.” Rose shot at him. 

“Pretty things then.” Fred shrugged. “I’m going to be there, it’s like haunting my own funeral or something. I was too dazed to actually be at my funeral. This is going to be fun.”

“People will see you at Hogwarts. I don’t think it’s a good idea if you came with.”

“Oh... true.” Fred sighed. “Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

“Fred.” Rose sighed.

“Rose.” Fred sighed.

“You’re really perky for a day like this.”

“I know, isn’t it great?” Fred grinned. “I died last year.”

“You’re a menace.” she then looked at Fred. “Are you going to talk to George or Dru today?”

“No.”

“So you just wanted to let me know that you like being a menace.”

“Yep.”

“Right.” Rose nodded. “You’re still missed, you know.”

“Yep.”

“Alright.” she smiled at him and left the bathroom and found George in the nursery with Artie. “How are you feeling, George?” she smiled at him.

George shrugged and held Artie close to him. 

She smiled at him and softly caressed his arm. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I hope so.” He gave Artie a kiss on his head, 

“Yeah, you’re going to be okay.” she nodded and saw the way he was holding Artie. “You want to carry him? I could get the harness out for you so you can cuddle?”

“No, let’s bring the pram. That way he can lay down too.” George softly kissed her. “Promise me something.” 

“I’ll do my best to stay in one piece,” she said as she returned the kiss. “And I’m staying with you.”

“I didn't... I was going to tell you that if I fall to pieces that you have to make sure Artie isn't there. I don’t want him to see that.” 

“He’s too young to understand, George.” She smiled bravely at him. “But alright, I’ll hand him to your mum if you fall to pieces. But you’re going to be alright. We’re going to be alright.” she said again, to convince the both of them. 

George used his free arm to pull Rose closer to him. “We’ll be okay.” 

“Yep, we’ve got each other. We’re going to be okay. Come on, let’s go to your mum and have breakfast with the rest of the family before Neville and Dru come with his gran.” she gently pat his arm. 

They gathered the diaper bag, the pram and an extra change of clothes for Artie and then went to the Burrow for breakfast. Once they arrived, Artie was being passed around from Weasley to Weasley and he didn’t seem to mind very much. Rose just stayed next to George at all times even during breakfast and made sure that she kept an eye on her son.

~~

Dru was sitting on the bed, she was dressed in the black dress she wore at Christmas two and half years ago, it was a dress Fred had always loved her in. She was wearing a nice jacket over it and tigh high boots. She was twirling Fred’s wand in her hands, she had kept the wand in her nightstand, but she hadn’t really touched it since he died. She missed him so much all the time, but she didn't really talk about it, because it felt like a weird thing to talk about with Neville. he was so good to her and she loved him so much, but she still missed Fred so much. 

Neville had been watching Dru from the door with a sad smile on his face. “It’s not getting easier, is it?” he said softly as he walked in and sat down next to her. He softly caressed her hair and softly kissed her. 

“I’m fine.” She said and put the wand on the bed, she felt like she just got caught. “Where’s Freddie?” 

“Gran has him.” he smiled at her. “And you’re not fine. It’s okay to be sad on a day like this. It’s been a year.”

“I’m fine.” She put her hair behind her ear. 

Neville sighed and nodded. “Alright, if you’re fine, you’re fine. But you know you can talk to me about anything, don’t you? Even Fred and how much you miss him.”

Dru closed her eyes. “I....I can’t.” she shook her head. “It’ll break you.”

“No it won’t. I know how much you loved Fred despite that things weren’t working out for you and I know how much you miss him. It’s only normal that you feel the way you feel and those feelings are a part of you.” He softly kissed her. “And as you know, I love every part of you, including your feelings and loyalty towards Fred.”

“I miss him so much.” 

“I know.” he said as he caressed her hair.

“I...I just want him back sometimes. I just … I don’t know how I can make it stop hurting.” 

“You don’t. You can’t. It’s something you have to learn to live with.”

“I feel so guilty for loving him so much.” Dru put her head on his shoulder.

“You shouldn’t.” Neville softly kissed her. “You shouldn’t feel guilty for loving the person you married.”

“I feel so guilty for loving you both so much.” She started to sob. 

“Silly girl.” Neville chuckled and pulled her on his lap before putting his arms around her. “You should not feel guilty for the amount of love you feel for someone. Guilt can eat someone from the inside.”

“Doesn’t it bother you, that I still wish I could hold him, kiss him and love him?” 

“Babe, ever since he took you away from me I felt a bit bothered by that, but I love you, you love him and you love me. So your love for him is a part of you. So. Not bothered.”

Dru nodded and put her arms around him. “He didn’t even come to see me today.” 

“Not yet. Or maybe he’s having a hard time with it just as you do and he doesn’t want to be seen.” He caressed her hair again. “But he still loves you. Just the way you love him.”

“I think I want to say something today, if I get the chance to.” 

Neville nodded and then looked at her in panic. “People won’t expect me to say something, do they? I mean, Harry should talk and...”

“Maybe, but if you can’t then just don’t.” 

“I wouldn’t even know what to say.”

“Use the baba Freddie always uses, everyone thinks that’s cute.” she giggled as she wiped her tears away.

“Yes, and I’m far from cute.” he laughed.

“You are very cute.” she softly kissed him. “But honestly babe, you are better at great speeches than Harry.”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “Alright, ready to go to the Burrow and have breakfast before we head off to Hogwarts?”

“Sure, but you are. I heard you utter two of the best speeches I’ve ever heard, and I heard George’s proposal to Rose.” 

“I only gave one speech,” he chuckled and shook his head. “And that was a spur of the moment thing.”

“Really?” Dru got up and pulled him up and started to straighten his tie. “I’ve heard you do a speech twice, bringing the entire room to silence.” She smiled at him.

“My memory must be lacking.”

“Fifth year. You against Umbridge when she called me and Rose by our real last name. That was so amazing.” 

“Oh, that.” he chuckled. “Also spur of the moment.” 

“Still amazing though.” she softly kissed him. “Blew our minds away.” 

“Yeah well, we’ll see. Harry’s the hero.” He kissed her back. “Come on, let’s go.”

Dru walked down stairs. “Hi Gran.” she smiled and kissed the elderly woman.

“Oh don’t you look lovely dear.” Gran smiled and gave Dru a hug. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Sad.” Dru smiled and took Freddie in her arms. “We’re going to have breakfast at the Burrow, if that’s alright with you?” 

“Yes, of course.”

Fred looked at Dru and sighed as he gently pat her on the cheek. 

Dru smiled and gave Freddie a kiss. “You’re a sweet little monkey.” 

“Mammabamammma.” Freddie giggled and reached for her nose. 

‘Babe, did you get the diaper bag?” Dru walked to the fridge and got the bottle she prepared for Freddie. 

“Yes and the pram.” He answered with a smile. “Ready?”

“Yeah, I got the bottles.” Dru put the bottles in the bag and got Freddie’s coat from the coat rack. It was sunny, but she didn’t like to take chances. She out her coat in the basket underneath the pram. “I’m ready.” 

 

Rose nearly jumped ten feet in the air when Dru, Neville, Gran and Freddie walked out of the fireplace.

“Gee, relax Rose, it’s just us.” Neville chuckled.

“Good morning Rose.” Dru smiled and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “How are you feeling today?” she smiled at her friend.

“Complete.” she nodded. “Other than that I’m not entirely sure,” she managed to chuckle. “You?”

She shrugged. “He didn't come.” 

“He...” Rose shut up as she saw the puzzled look on everyone’s faces, except on George’s and Neville’s. “He just needs some time, I think. Don’t worry about it.”

Dru looked at Rose and shook her head. “Of course.” She muttered a bit pissed. “I’m going for a walk.” She said to Neville. 

“No, You’re going to eat. You can yell at him later.” Neville said as he stopped her.

Dru sighed and sat down at the table.

Rose looked at George and bit her lip. “He was very excitable and hyper and not ready for today so he told me he’s not coming. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

“Who are you talking about, dear?” Molly asked.

“Nobody mum.” George smiled and caressed Rose’s hair. “Rose has this imaginary friend sometimes lately. The ministry worker says that it’s her way to express herself better.”

Rose wanted to say something but George stared her down. She took Artie over from Percy and nodded. “I’m sorry, uhm... I shouldn’t have ah... right.” She got up and started to clear away some of the dishes while she was bouncing Artie around on her arm. “Dru, we need to talk, now.” she said as she turned around and pushed some toast in her hands before pulling her outside while she was still carrying Artie.

“Ugh, women.” Neville rolled his eyes. “You tell them to sit down and eat and then the other one takes the other one outside.”

”Hold on.” Du said to Rose, walked back, smacked Neville on his head, before walking out of the kitchen again.

“You need to learn to wait until you're sure she’s out of the kitchen.” George chuckled. 

“While you’re at it,” Rose said with a nod. “George needs a smack too. I’m not that crazy.” Rose said to Dru. “Imaginary friend my ass.”

“It was a good cover up.” Dru shrugged and bounced Freddie on her arm.

They started to walk into the direction of the pond. “I asked him, you know. If he’d show himself to you, he even wanted to hitch a ride to Hogwarts but he didn’t want to show himself to you or George today. Maybe later today but not now. And certainly not at Hogwarts, everyone would see him there.”

“I just miss him.” Dru said.

“Yeah, I know.” Rose smiled at her. “He misses you too. But he was being... different this morning. He was obnoxious, annoying and a bit too cheerful. I think he’s struggling with this as much as you and George are, give him some time. Maybe he’ll show himself to you later today.”

Dru shrugged. “We’ll see.” 

“I said this to George and I’ll say it to you; I’m here for you, today. If Neville somehow won’t be able to catch you when you fall, I’m here.”

“Focus on George and Artie. I’ve got Nevile and Gran, but thanks anyway.” Dru gave Rose a kiss on her cheek. “I love you, Rosie.” 

“Love you too, Dru.”


	70. One Year On

It was weird to walk down the halls of Hogwarts with her son in her arms. Even though they had brought the pram Rose wanted to carry Artie because she knew the effect babies had on other people and at least this way she could somewhat shelter him from all the attention. Everyone would look in the pram and ignore her, so this was better. 

The castle was completely rebuilt. That’s what magic could do and it was amazing to see the students with a big smile on their faces instead of all the frowns and sadness the last time she had been there. But it was still weird. It was almost like coming home, but not quite.

George put his arms Rose and let his mum walk with the pram, she seemed to like it, even though her grandson wasn't even in it. “Just keep breathing Rosie, I’m right here.” 

“Oh my, would you look at that!” Professor McGonagall greeted the the group. “I am so sorry I couldn’t greet you when you came out of the fireplace, I was busy outside with preparing for the ceremony.”

“Hello, professor,” Harry smiled at her. “It’s so good to see you again.”

McGonagall pulled Harry into a massive bear hug before doing the same to Neville and Ron. She wasn’t much of a sentimental person but she had felt the need to hug her former students. She hugged Hermione on a weekly basis as thanks for saving so many lives but she hadn’t seen the other three in a year. “You’re a bit early, aren’t you?” she smiled as she looked at George and then at Dru and Rose. “You... have children?”

“Didn’t Hermione and Ginny tell you, professor?” Harry chuckled. 

“This is Freddie.” Dru showed her baby boy to her old Professor. “He’s six months now.” 

“Congratulations Miss LeStrange, uhh Malfoy... Mrs. Weasley... Dru.” McGonagall smiled at her. “Is he...”

“Fred’s. He was actually already in the works during the battle.” Dru gave him a kiss on his forehead. “It’s a miracle he and Artie survived it all.” 

Rose bounced Artie a little. He was getting heavy and a bit fussy. “Calm down sweetie,” she softly said to him. “You’re safe here, you’re at mummy and daddy’s old school and you’ll go here too in a couple of years.”

“Amazing, and you’re all doing well? Well... apart from having to deal with the losses and the battle?” McGonagall asked. She was busy but wanted to quickly catch up with them anyway.

“We’re okay. Neville and I got an apartment not far from Rose and George and he’s working as an auror now.” 

“So I’ve heard! Together with Harry and Ron!” she smiled. “The minister of magic told me that! You three make quite the team too.”

Neville shrugged. “I need to make a living so...” 

“I might have a proposal for you, Mr. Longbottom,” McGonagall said. “But I don’t think that today is a good day to discuss this. How about you come by at the end of term? I can make it quite worth your while.”

“Okay,” he smiled.

“Neville Longbottom, an auror...” she shook her head laughing. “Wasting his talent!” She then looked at Rose. “What about you, Rose?”

“Sorry?” Rose blinked. She must have zoned out a little.

“I think our old professor wants to know if you regret working at our shop yet.” George chuckled. 

“Oh no,” she smiled widely at him. “Of course not. I’m very proud of you and your shop.”

“Not interested in a teaching job?” McGonagall asked hopeful.

“Oh no, not me,” Rose chuckled. “I’m happy where I am.”

“Alright, well, feel free to roam around the castle, the ceremony is being held outside, which is in about an hour. There’s this tiny Gryffindor that’s very eager to see you all.”

“Ginny has just seen us at easter, professor.” George chuckled, knowing full well who she meant.

“Ah yes, but she’s not tiny anymore now, is she?” she smiled. “They’re in the common room... the password is King Weasley this week.” she handed a tissue to Molly who sniffed. 

They made their way up to the common room and slowly went thought the portrait hole.

“No!” Ginny laughed. “No! No! Get it away from me!” 

“Get her!” Adrianna’s voice sounded. “She’s mine!”

“No!!”

“Oh come on, it’s just a smelly sock.” An unfamiliar voice sounded.

“Yes, Hagrid’s smelly sock. I can’t believe you two stole his laundry!”

“Now that’s a great idea.” George laughed. “Wish we had thought of that.”

“Oi! I’m gone for one year and you’re terrorising one of my girls? What’s the first rule I taught you. Don’t mess with my girls.” Neville chuckled as he walked into the common room.

“Neville!” Almost every voice in the common room said before he was hugged by a massive amount of students.

“Freddie, Artie.” Ginny squealed and got to her feet to hold one of her nephew, Arite was closer this time. “Oh, I missed you Artie.” 

“Freddie.” Hermione took Freddie in her arms. “You have gotten so big.” 

“Yes, and this is how important we are to them,” Ron nodded. “Girls and babies... it’s bonkers.”

“ROSE!” Adrianna squealed and made her way through the crowd of people who were still hugging Neville and hugged her cousin. “Stop shrinking!”

“Oi! That’s my line.” Neville tapped Adrianna on her head.

“Yeah but you’re not growing anymore and I am.” Adrianna stuck her tongue out to Neville and then tugged on Rose’s arm. “Let me hold him! Let me hold him!”

“No.” Ginny said and held her arms already out. “I called him first.” 

“I’m younger!” Adrianna pouted..

“Sorry, not here.” Rose managed to say. She didn’t mind the big group of people per se, but around Artie it was a bit scary. Artie looked scared because of all the noise, she was surprised he wasn’t even crying.

“He’s a bit fussy, so he’s better off in Mummy’s arms right now.” George smiled and saw that Freddie was fussing too in Hermione’s arms. 

“Can’t imagine, must be weird for them to hear so many voices all at once,” Hermione said as she gently handed Freddie back to Neville as he was closer. 

“It’s like a chicken coop in here.” Molly chuckled.

Freddie was whining a bit and leaning against Neville. 

“I want to show you guys something.” Ginny said hesitating a bit. “Hold on.” She turned around to the group of students. “QUIET!” The entire common room fell silent and Ginny looked at her family again. “I didn’t tell you about this because it was a bit weird but now you’re here...” she took Dru and George’s hand and pulled them with her to a small little alcove next to the steps to the dormitories that hadn’t been there before. “Hermione and I blasted this little alcove without blowing up the tower,” she smiled a little. “We made a little shrine to remember the fallen Gryffindors, our own personal little place to remember, instead of the area in the courtyard that will be unveiled today. There are pictures and little knick knacks... uhm... don’t start to cry.” She knocked on the alcove and the glamour disappeared, revealing just that what Ginny just had described.

Dru bit her lip as she let her finger slide down the framed picture of Fred. She could feel a tear rolling down her cheek. 

“Damn, Ginny...” George said huskily and motioned for Rose to come over with Artie. “This is bloody brilliant.”

Dru took a step away from the alcove so the Weasleys could gather around the alcove. She held her hand on her chest as it tightened and it was becoming almost too much for her. She slowly tried to make her way out of the common room. 

Neville caught her just before she left the common room and pulled her in his arm, against his chest, while still holding Freddie in his other arm. “Breathe,” he said softly. “Breathe, don’t panic, I’m here.”

Rose saw the picture of Lupin and Tonks and managed to chuckle. “Tonks was a Hufflepuff.”

“Yeah, but it was the best photo of him that we could find... besides, she’s an honorary Gryffindor.” Adrianna had made her way over. 

“It’s amazing.” Ron said and pulled Hermione into his arms. “Thank you.” He whispered in her ear.

Molly was sobbing as she was being held by Arthur. “Absolutely wonderful.”

“It was a bit weird when the portrait choose the password of this week.” Ginny admitted. “I’m the last Weasley here at school and I’m not a king, but it’s weird to say it so I usually go with someone who says it so we can get in.”

“She has a heart after all,” Hermione chuckled.

Rose looked up to George and tiptoed so she could whisper in his ear. “I need to get out of here.”

George put his arms around her and walked her out of the common room and motioned Neville with his head to follow him. George could see Dru falling to pieces.

“Where do you want to go?” George asked Rose.

“Out.” Rose said softly. “To the open air, not confined spaces, Artie is fussy enough already and I don’t want him to feel me panic... you can go back in if you like but... it was just getting a bit too much in there.”

Neville took Dru out of the common room and put an arm around her while he was still holding Freddie. “What’s the plan?”

“Get somewhere in the open space.” George said.

“The greenhouses?” Neville suggested.

“The quidditch pitch.” Dru said with a small voice.

“Yes, great idea.” Rose nodded. “The Quidditch pitch.”

“Alright, let’s go then.”

Ten minutes they sat down on the bleachers and both Freddie and Artie stopped fussing. 

“Yeah, this is better.” Rose said as she put her head against George’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Yeah.” He said. 

“Dru? Still alive?” Rose said as she looked at her from her comfortable position.

Dru nodded while she took Freddie in her arms, she wanted to hold her son close to her. 

“It’s so weird to be back here. It looks like nothing has happened.” Neville said as he caressed Dru’s back. “Everything’s fixed, and there are flowers in bloom... it’s strange.”

“It is.” George put his arms around Rose and Artie. “Feeling a bit better?” He softly kissed her cheek.

Rose nodded and smiled as she bounced Artie on her lap. Artie was laughing now. “I’m sorry, I got a bit overwhelmed in there.”

Dru hugged Freddie a bit tighter. She could feel the tears coming back up again. 

Neville kept caressing her back. “It’s okay to cry, babe.” he whispered in her ear. “It’s alright.”

Dru shook her head and let Freddie sit on her lap while she looked down on him, making her long hair drop besides him.

Freddie chuckled and grabbed Dru’s hair and put it in his mouth.

“Freddie.” Dru chuckled and tried to get her hair out of his hand and mouth, but she could only do it with one hand. 

The boy prattled on while he was chewing on the hair and looked at his mother. 

“Nev, help me.” Dru laughed. 

“Freddie, let go of your mum’s hair,” Neville chuckled and gently grabbed his hand and got the hair out of his hand and mouth. “There, much better.” 

Dru put her hair behind her shoulder. “No eating hair.” she softly kissed Fred on the head. 

Artie, who was now against Rose’s shoulder, had been watching his cousin and was now chewing on his mother hair. 

“Are you hungry, Artie?” George chuckled as he started to pull Rose’s hair out of his mouth. “Mummy’s got breasts filled with milk, much tastier than hair.”

“George!” Dru laughed and softly kissed Freddie’s head again.

“What?” he chuckled .

“You and your obsession with Rose’s breasts.” Dru chuckled. 

“She’s got nice breasts.” He nodded. “That dress she was wearing yesterday? Oh god, that was just perfect.”

Dru laughed and put her head against Neville’s shoulder. “Are you going to do a speech?” 

“Blank.” he shook his head. “I’ll let Harry do the talking, he wrote this entire thing down on a piece of parchment.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes, “I think we better go down then, they’re going to start soon.”

“Yeah... not sure if I’m ready though.” Neville sighed. “The whole school is going to be there. Including those who survived and those whom we haven’t seen in a long time.”

“Neville,” Rose looked at him. “Just be yourself, you’ll be fine.” She smiled at him.

Dru took his hand. “You’ll be more than fine.” She softly kissed him. “You’ll be brilliant.” 

“And you’re not alone mate. You’ve got Dru and Freddie and us.” George patted him on the back and he got up and helped Rose up too. 

“Yep.” Rose smiled widely and handed Artie to George. “He’s getting heavy and your mum has still hijacked the pram.”

“Gran has ours.” Dru smiled and got up with Freddie. “But he likes it better being held anyway.” 

“You’re turning my nephew into a spoiled little brat.” George laughed. 

“Artie hasn’t left his mum’s arms all morning either,” Neville pointed out laughing. “He’s just now in your arms.”

“That’s not my nephew, besides my son is younger.” 

“Oh man.” Rose rolled her eyes at George as she walked off the stairs. 

“Oh, there you are!” Hagrid’s voice sounded. “Professor McGonagall asked me to come find you as the memorial is starting in a few... oh my would you look at that, congratulations you four.”

“What these?” George held up Artie. “We just found them at the edge of the dark forest. Want one?”

Hagrid laughed. “From the look on Rose’s face I think it’s safer to say ‘no, thank you’. Come on.”

Dru put Freddie on her other arm. He, too, was getting heavy. “Maybe we should find the prams now.”

“Want me to take him?” Neville offered. 

“Wanna go to Neville?” She smiled at Freddie, while holding him up in the air.

Freddie’s eyes went big when he saw Hagrid. Baby’s eyesight wasn’t great yet but someone as tall and big as Hagrid was definitely something a baby would notice. Freddie started to have a conversation with Hagrid as if he was using real words.

“Yep, he’s going to be a handful.” Dru smiled and gave Freddie to Neville.

“Oh don’t you worry Dru,” Hagrid smiled at her. “He’ll be fine. I’ll keep an eye out for him when he comes to Hogwarts.”

“You can look after this one then too.” George smiled as he caressed Artie’s back. “They’ll be in the same year.”

Freddie started bouncing a bit in Neville’s arms and tried to grab his nose, while chuckling.

“Good,” Hagrid said with a nod. “This school misses a load of Weasleys causing mayhem.”

“And then Bill’s kid will come too.” Dru laughed. “Fleur is having the baby any day now, that’s why they’re not here today.” 

“Absolutely brilliant. With 6 of the original Weasleys, we can count on ... at least a dozen of your kids to come back to Hogwarts.” 

“And this one is Fred’s, so it’ll be the descendants of all 7 Weasley’s.” Dru smiled 

“Yeah, I can see a lot of trouble in those eyes of his. Same with yours, George.” Hagrid laughed.

“They’re already kicking each other.” George smiled. “Pff.” Artie smacked him in the face.”And his dad.”

“Well you’d better go and have a seat, I’ll be at the back.” Hagrid said as they walked onto the courtyard. Most seats were already taken but the rest of the family had kept seats free for them. Once they were seated, Rose pulled Artie back in her lap and quietly started to bounce him around.

Dru was sitting next to George and she took his hand. She felt like he was the only one that missed Fred as much as she did, not that the rest of the family didn't miss him, but George and Dru were closer to him and therefore they felt closer to each other with their grief. 

“You okay, Dru?” George asked her with a brave smile. It was weird to sit in the courtyard, just as it had been weird to sit at the Quidditch pitch. He couldn’t help but replay that last Quidditch game they had in their Fifth year and had to beat up a lot of Slytherins because they had been annoying like hell and it had been a great match, Freddie had been great in that match. This was before George had finally picked up the courage to really talk to Rose.

“No.” She said in a small voice and put her head against his shoulder. She could feel the memories of the battle flooding back into her after she spent a year trying to block them out and it was hurting so much. 

He put an arm around her and softly caressed her back. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “I miss him too.”

“I know.” She tried to keep it together but it was hard. She felt like her heart was breaking all over again. 

“Heya Fred,” Oliver greeted George as he sat down in front of him and then turned around with a ashen face. “Sorry, George... Dru... I....” he then looked confused at Rose and back at George and Dru. “Sorry mate.”

“It’s fine.” George said with a strained voice. This wasn’t the first time somebody had called him Fred by mistake.

“It’s just... for a second, you know... I know you’re George but...” Oliver then noticed Artie and Freddie. “Twins?”

“Freddie is mine and Fred’s.” Dru took Freddie’s hand while he was still on Neville’s lap.

“And Artie’s is mine. He’s 6 weeks younger than Freddie.” George smiled. 

“Wow, you wouldn’t say.” Oliver chuckled. “Congratulations you both.”

“Thanks, Oliver.” George smiled and put his arms around Rose and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “You still good?” he whispered.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be okay.” Rose smiled at him and softly kissed him before gently caressing his cheek. “I’m here if you need me.”

 

McGonagall got onto the small podium and looked at the people sitting in the courtyard. “Welcome to Hogwarts for those who joined us today. Everyone sitting here has lost someone a year ago, a family member. A husband. A friend. A parent. Or maybe you’ve been affected by the battle in a different way. Today is a sad day, but also a day of rejoice, of happiness. Those who have fallen haven’t died in vain, the pain won’t get any easier, but in time, we all will learn how to live with it. Some of you have moved on already or some of you are still in the middle in dealing with what happened here. Know that you are not alone, every single person here at the courtyard can lend their ear to you and listen to what you have to say.” She took a deep breath. “Professor Albus Dumbledore once said; Do not pity the dead, pity the living and most of all, pity those who live without love.” she smiled. “Yes, today is a day to pay our respects to those who fell, but today is also a day to celebrate life, celebrate those who fell on this day in a battle for peace. Several of you have asked me if they could say something today, so...” she waved her hand around. “Mr. Potter?”

Harry squeezed Ginny’s hand, before getting up and walking to the platform, why did he agree to this? He thought to himself. He cleared his throat. “Well...uhm....god, I can’t believe I agreed to do this. (this caused a bit of laughter from the crowd) I’m not good at speeches, at all. Ask anyone. But then I kept being reminded that I should say something on a day like today. If you don’t know who I am, Hi, my name is Harry Potter and everything you’ve heard about me is greatly exaggerated.” He chuckled. “I’ve been part of many big things, but I wasn’t the only one in it. I had so much help from my friends. Out there, but also here at Hogwarts. I couldn’t believe my ears when I was told what had been going on here. Although I would have loved to attend the firewhiskey parties... yeah you know who you are.”

Dru giggled and leaned against Neville, while taking Freddie on her lap and bouncing him around a bit. 

“Yes, today is a very hard day on all of us. We’ve lost so much, but with our loss, we’ve gained so much as well. We’re working hard on rebuilding what we have lost, dealing with the losses of our loved ones, making sure that their legacy continues to live on. Making sure that the true heroes are remembered for their sacrifice. For example, Remus Lupin and Nympha--- Tonks will continue to live on through their son, Teddy. Little Freddie Weasley already takes after his father and he’s 6 months old! And we should also honor those who left us in the years prior to this day, they sacrificed themselves in order for us to achieve what we’ve achieved. Sirius Black, for example. Professor Dumbledore, of course. Both were great men and sacrificed so much. Cedric Diggory.” Harry ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Not to forget; professor Snape. Yes, he was terrifying. Yes, his allegiance was always unclear to us, but not to professor Dumbledore. Professor Snape was a very brave and a good man. I could go on and on by naming names and so we can remember them all, but to be honest, as long as we all remember them, they’ll never be too far away from us.” Harry chuckled. “Yes, that was rubbish. Neville, help me.”

Little Freddie looked up to Neville and reached out his tiny arms towards him.

“Alright then,” he nodded and got up.

Freddie whined and kept stretching his arms out to Neville while kicking his legs.

Neville looked at Dru and chuckled. “He wants to come with me.”

“Then take him.” Dru smiled at him and held Freddie up.

“Alright.” He lifted Freddie up and smiled at him. “Come on then little man, let’s help out uncle Harry.”

“See, Neville wants to be the cutest and takes a prop with him.” George grinned.

“Uh... hi, I’m Neville Longbottom and this is Freddie Weasley, he wanted to come with me and help Harry, but to be honest, I’m not good at saying good things either.”

“Liar.” Harry said amused. “I heard two great ones.”

“Bamamababama.” Freddie chuckled as he tugged on Neville’s tie.

Neville looked at Fred and then pulled his tie out of his vest and handed it to Fred. “Don’t choke me, alright?”

Everyone roared with laughter. 

“It’s weird, you know,” Neville said as he addressed everyone. “One day you’re this bumbling fat kid that always has bad things happen to himself... I’m sure most of you remember me hanging from chandeliers or that rather painful flying lesson... the monster book... I had this talk with Rose, you know, the Rose with the ever changing last name, the other day, yesterday actually, and she was her usual self, you know. Not helpful.” 

Rose groaned and hid her face behind Artie’s back. “Make him stop.”

The crowd started laughing and Freddie started bouncing happily in Neville’s arms, tugging harder on the tie.

“Because you see, I don’t see myself as someone who’s... I even hate using the word ‘hero’ because what defines a hero? Someone who’s doing something heroic. Well, Harry went head to head with the biggest bad guy out there and me? I killed his snake with a sword. Great sword, very beautiful but does that make me a hero? Not really.”

“Oh get off it, Neville.” Seamus’ voice sounded.

“Heroes are people who do some extraordinary things. We were all extraordinary. Students. Professors. Even the ghosts and house elves were helpful. And that was just here at Hogwarts. I think that even the muggles were extraordinary and did extraordinary things. This little man’s father was extraordinary because he had managed to tame his firecracker Dru. Fred laughed in the face of danger and died with a smile on his face. That’s extraordinary. That’s hero material right there. Seamus Finnigan was amazing with blowing up the bridge. Only someone as extraordinary and crazy as him could have managed to do that. Hero.” 

“Mabayamabamaba.” Freddie laughed and leaned against Neville.

 

“Even this little boy is a hero because his mother was pregnant during the battle and she didn’t even know it, he survived the abuse and curses his mother endured. And of course, she’s a hero for having him last year. You see, everyone’s a hero in their own way. We all have faced obstacles and we got through them. Or over them. I know that we’re all still struggling with what happened, some more than others, but in time, we will learn how to live with it. We have to move forward in order to make our world a better place to live in and I think that we are all doing a great job at it so far. So yes, let’s remember those who have fallen, celebrate them for who they were, what they meant to us and how much they loved us. And look ahead. Build a great world they would have loved to live in.” Neville looked over to Harry who nodded. “I already feel sorry for the teachers of Hogwarts who will have to deal with the offspring of all the trouble makers in a few years time, it’d be something like history repeating itself all over again, but this time, in a safe world with no dark forces forcing the kids to grow up quickly. Just happiness. Love. Hope. Kindness and warmth.”

The speech resulted in a very big applause and Neville didn't know how quickly he had to make his way off the platform and went back to his seat. Dru gave him a big kiss on his cheek, “I knew you could do it, I’m so proud of you.” 

Neville blushed fiercely and mumbled something along the line of “I had no idea what I was doing.” 

Dru smiled and gave him another kiss on his cheek. “And you still were brilliant.” 

Several more people made speeches including Kingsley. Seeing him made George feel very angry, he had always liked the man, but right now he was more than furious with the man he felt was responsible for Rose fragile state of late. 

Artie reached for George in Rose’s arms and made little noises to make sure that George would hear him. 

George looked at his son and caressed his cheek. “What’s wrong, Artie?” 

“Eh.” Artie made little grabby hands towards George.

George hesitated to take him, he knew that Rose needed the little boy to keep her calm. 

“EH!” Artie said loudly making everyone look at him and still made grabby hands towards George.

“Come here then.” George took Artie and held him to his chest. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly

Artie put his thumb in his mouth and closed his eyes before falling asleep.

George chuckled and looked at Rose. “Sorry, sweetie.” 

“It’s fine.” she smiled at him. 

George gave Artie a kiss on his head and gently rocked him a bit.

The memorial came to a close not too long after that and it was then when all the people there started to socialize with each other. George had put Artie in the pram so he could continue to sleep and Rose had taken the pram with her to the side of her courtyard where it was less crowded so that Artie could continue to sleep. 

People were crying, people were laughing and sharing memories, good memories of people who died and memories of their time at Hogwarts. Seamus had obviously said something that set off George laughing and crying at the same time. Angelina hugged George maybe a little bit too long for Rose’s taste but she couldn’t really say something about that, could she? Everyone was a bit too emotional right now and she was so glad that she wasn’t an empath like Dru had been. She would have gone nuts.

Dru kept Freddie close to her chest, she felt herself still on the edge of a panic attack and didn't know what to do to come away from it. She was feeling the shame feeling again, that she had been feeling throughout most of her 7th year and it was a dark and scary place to be drawn back into. she kept looking around but Neville was nowhere in sight and without thinking about it she started to look for Fred, he would keep her safe, wouldn’t he?

George saw that Dru was about to freak out and quickly made his way over to her and put an arm around her. “Come on, let’s get you some space.” He told her. 

“Where is he?” Dru asked a bit panicked as she kept looking around him and gave Freddie to George, why was she holding this baby anyway?

“Neville is being scolded at by a bunch of your former D.A. members for feeling so bad about himself, it’s not pretty.” George chuckled.

“No, Fred, where’s Fred?” Dru said and walked away from George to try and find him in the crowd.

George took her hand and pulled her out of the crowd again and got her away from everyone. 

“Let me go, I want to find him.” Dru tried to pull away from George. He might have been holding her with only one hand but he had a very firm grip. 

“Hiya Rosie,” George smiled at Rose. “Scoot Artie over, will you?” 

Rose looked at George and then at Dru and took Freddie before putting him next to Artie in the pram. 

“I’ll be right back, so will Dru.” He smiled at her before grabbing Dru with both hands and apparated off the grounds (which was allowed only today) towards the Burrow. “Let’s go and see Fred.” He said to Dru as he started to walk towards his grave with her.

“Where is he? I can't see him?” Dru was looking around. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see,” he smiled at her. “I think you need a healthy dose of reality. And the realisation that you can’t just not talk about things and hope they go away.” They walked towards the paddock and George sighed. This was hard on him as well. There was nothing more that he wanted to share things with Fred as if he was still there, but that was hard. Fred wasn’t around often, in fact, Fred shouldn’t be around anymore but he sort of was. “Hiya Freddie.” George greeted his brother’s grave. 

“No.” Dru sank through her knees as she read the name on the grave, suddenly she remembered everything again, Fred, trying to defend her honour, him falling, the blood coming from his mouth, the life fleeting way from his body, he lying on his soulless body. “No.” she started crying.

“I know...” George said softly and got to his knees and took her in his arms. “I know...”

“I want him back, he can't be dead.” She sobbed. “Oh god, it hurts so much.” she held her hands on her heart as she sobbed harder. 

“I know... I miss him too...” George said as tears were rolling down his cheeks. “And it hurts, but we have to go on without him and live our lives. He’s gonna be mad if we didn’t.”

“I can’t! I miss him so much.” 

“You’ve done so well in the last year, Dru. You’ve done so well. But you shouldn’t bottle everything up like you have...” George caressed her back.

Dru just sobbed in George’s arms. “It’s so hard, I just want to hear his voice, but he hasn’t shown himself for 6 months now, I miss him.” 

“Yeah, I know.” George said as he kept caressing her back. “But just because he doesn’t show himself doesn’t mean he’s not around, you know. The last time I saw him was when Artie was just born and he knew things that had happened but he shouldn’t have the knowledge of. He’s still around, and I’m sure he misses you as much as you miss him. I can’t even begin to imagine how it would feel if I’d have to miss Rose.”

“I just wish I could just hold him or have him hold me just one more time.” 

“That’s a bit impossible, I’m afraid,” George chuckled.

“I know, but I still want it.” Dru gave a slight giggle and sighed. “I went really nuts, didn’t I?” 

“Yeah.” George smiled at her. “But that’s okay, we all still love you anyway.”

“Wait, where’s Freddie?” Dru asked worried. “Oh god.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” George shushed her. “I gave him to Rose and she put him in the pram next to Artie. Once you’re feeling up to it, we’re going to apparate back to Hogwarts. Freddie is safe.” 

“I just wished he’d would have shown himself to me today.” Dru said as she got up. “Just to hear him talk to me, just so I could tell him, I loved him face to face.” 

“Yeah I don’t get it why he showed himself to Rose.” George got up too. “It’s weird.”

“Maybe he’s mad at me.” Dru said with a small voice.

“Why would he be mad at you?” George said confused. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I don’t know.” She said as they walked back to the Burrow. “Why else would he never show himself anymore?” 

“I don’t know, maybe because he wants us to move on?” George shrugged. “It hurts, and I miss him terribly but...”

“But I feel so much better if I could just hear his voice now and again.” Dru said frustrated. “And he asked me if he could come and see Freddie from time to time, of course that was before Rose kicked him out.” Dru though for a minute, before she cursed “Damn it Rose.” 

“Oi! I still look at Freddie you know, I just don’t appear like me!” Fred’s voice sounded and then stood right in front of them. “Damnit! I wouldn’t do this today!”

‘’Fred.” Dru said happily. 

“Sneaky minx you are.” Fred nodded. “Look, I’m still around. You just don’t see me all the time. You don’t need me, honestly you don’t.”

“But we love you and we want to hear from you, now and again.” Dru said.

“Oh yes, all is well here in the spirit world, just peachy. Just brilliant. I didn’t want to do this today and damn you for dragging me out. I’m not in the mood.”

“Freddie,” George warned him. “You could have chosen to have her rant on and ignore her and you didn’t so you better behave and talk to her.”

Fred sighed. “Sorry. I’m sorry Dru. It’s just really hard to be over here you know. I’m trying to have you move on and live your life without me, but it’s hard on me because I really want to be around but I’m dead. Dead space. A waste of space. Not normal or natural at all.”

“Shut up, Fred, that Rose talking, not you. Even you ever realized that for me and George especially, you’re always a part of our life and it helps us to see you sometimes?” 

“It’s not Rose talking, it’s me.”

“Yes, it is Rose talking. You spent every night in our bed, next to me, when Neville was gone and before you and Rose had that talk on the day George and Neville got into that fight. Damn it Fred.” 

“Honey, it’s not just Rose talking. There are other people here and maybe you should start listening to Rose for a change.”

“Maybe you should listen to us for a change.” George snapped at Fred. 

“Yeah if I do that, you two will never learn to live without me.” Fred pointed out. “Don’t you get it? You’re still in so much pain because I’m around all the time. Mum and Dad and everyone else seem to be doing so much better because they don’t know that I’m still here.”

“See you’re not listening to us, even if you stay away for the rest of our lives we’re never going to learn how to live without you. I had a panic attack because you weren’t there. Damn it Fred, we’re not like everyone else.” Dru started crying again.

“Fred, you don’t understand, it’s killing us to not hear your voice and that will never go away.” George caressed Dru’s back. “Don’t you get it? We’re worse if you don’t check in now and again.” 

“Dru, I can’t go to Hogwarts with you because the place is so magical and filled with magic that people can actually see ghosts. Mum would get a heart attack if she’d see me. And I’m always around, but I’m just keeping quiet. If you really need me, I do show myself. Like I did when Rose was in labor, Georgie. You saw me downstairs. I came when Artie was born. When Freddie was born.”

“I needed you this morning.” Dru cried. “If I asked you to show yourself three times.” 

“I know, but this is as hard on me as it is on you. I’m dead, Dru. It’s my death anniversary. It hurts. I just couldn’t do this to you or myself. I told Rose to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“Fine go then.” Dru cried. “Go to stupid Rose.” She ran back into the house.

“Happy now?” George said angrily. 

“You honestly don’t get it, do you?” Fred said to George. “You honestly don’t see that with me being around all the time you two don’t have a reason to heal.”

“You honestly don't get it. We can’t heal with you not around. Things get too ….never mind. If you don’t want to be here then just go then, Fred.” He followed Dru into the house. 

“Happy now?” Fred muttered and looked at Tonks and Remus who had appeared with the other two away. “I’m hurting him and Dru and they’ll blame it on Rose. You two always liked to mess things up. Especially you, Remus.”

“Fred...”

“No. I’m not going to listen anymore.” He looked at them angrily. “They need me. I can’t leave them. Damnit, it should have been Rose and not me.” He muttered as he walked into the house after George. “FINE!”

“Get out.” George said fuming.

“No.” Fred said. “You want me here, I’m here.”

“It should have been Rose, instead of you?” George was boiling on the inside. “Get out of my sight.’ 

“George.” Tonks walked into the kitchen, in a shushing voice.

“What the hell!” George said surprised.

“Dora, I told you to stay out of this.” Lupin said as he came into the kitchen as well.

“Oh just brilliant,” George rolled his eyes at the three ghosts. “Who else are you hiding? Rose’s father? Lavender? Dumbledore? Sirius? Everyone?” He then looked at Fred. “Explain yourself because you know full well that I wouldn’t be able to live without Rosie just as I’m not able to live without you.”

“Pretty much everyone yeah.” Tonks smiled, “Well, not Rose’s father.” 

“George... if it had been Rose, she wouldn’t be struggling now, would she?” Fred shrugged. “I know you love her but...” 

“Well, technically it should have been Dru.” Remus pointed out. “But somehow she survived.” 

“What?” Fred glared at Remus. “You never told me this.”

“Would it have made a difference if you knew?” 

“No...” he sulked.

“George, I am really sorry. We’ve been telling Fred to stay away from you, at least visually because he’s not ready for it. He’s still hurting and he’s not well. It’s wrong to entertain the notion that the dead aren’t truly dead but still lingering. And I know that you and Fred have a different bond than any of us but you have Rose. Dru has Neville.” Lupin said. “And we are all so very proud of all of you.”

“Clearly, neither one of you had siblings, let alone a twin.” George sat down on the sofa. “You just don't understand.” 

“Until Fred’s truly accepted his passing, and stop being angry, then... but right now he just messes things up in your life. He’s hurting just as much as you are.” Tonks smiled at him and sat down on the table. It looked a bit weird. She was see through and he could see the table through her. “He’s the one responsible for creating doubt in Rose’s mind and had caused the rift between you and Dru.”

“Will you ever stop laying out the rules how we have to live.’ George yelled at her. “You have always been doing that and I’m sick of it. Has it ever crossed those minds of yours that Freddie has trouble dealing with things because he’s been hiding away from me and Dru?”

“He’s dead! What do you want him to do, George? Hug you?”

“Talk.” George shot at her. “Just talk, it makes me feel better and so does Dru.”

Fred scowled. “And I’ve been wanting to do that. They always keep me away. And Sirius too. Stupid Order, why did the majority have to end up dead?”

“Since when do you listen to the adults?” George chuckled.

“Since I don’t have you to have me stray from the good path.” He shrugged. 

“Go to Dru.” George pointed to their bedroom. “And don’t be a stranger from now on.” He glared at Tonks and Lupin.

“Fine fine...” Fred sighed as he disappeared and went upstairs. “Knock knock.”

Dru laughed and turned on her side, trying to stop laughing, because she was still mad, so that she was now facing the the wall. “I thought you were leaving.” 

“I actually don’t have to, my brother bullied the ones holding me back.”

“Whatever.” She couldn’t help being curious to find out who he was talking about, but right now she was pissed at him.

“I’m really sorry.” Fred said as he walked into the room. “I really am and if you want to see me more often then I will... but it’s really hard, you know... not being able to touch you or Freddie...”

“You could have told me that.” 

“I could. And on top of that, I don’t want to disrupt your life with Neville either.”

“You’re the father of my child, you are part of my life, he knows that. Besides he keeps telling me he loves me with me every part of my life, and that includes you.” 

“Alright,” Fred sighed. “I’ll show myself more often.”

“I just miss you, is that so wrong of me? I need you in my life.” She stood up and made sure she was as close to him as she could. “And I’ve seen you as a happier ghost too. Like when you saw me more.” 

“I was... it’s just that _they_... make it really hard on me.”

“Fred, why don’t you ever just listen to me. I was your wife remember?” 

“Yeah yeah...” he smiled at her. “I’m coming by more often, I promise.”

Good,” She smiled at him, she brought her hand up to his face and held it against it. “I just wish I could touch you.” 

“Yeah, you and me both. Although Tonks has already mastered the sitting on solid objects now... probably because she’s more zen about all of this.”

“Tonks?” 

“She and Lupin are taking care of me, so yeah... weird ideas and all that.” Fred shrugged.

Dru narrowed her eyes in him. “Are they the ones telling you to stay away?” 

Fred nodded. “But all is well now, I promise.”

“Good.” She smiled at him. “I think I better go back then with George. They are probably worried what’s keeping us.’

Fred nodded and seemed to be in thought for a moment. “Neville is looking for you. He hasn’t had the idea yet to go to Rose and ask her where you are.”

“Idiot.” Dru laughed. “See you soon then?” 

“You bet.” He smiled widely. “Celebrate my death for me.”

“I will. Love you, Honey.” she smiled as she walked downstairs. She wasn't surprised now to see Lupin and Tonks, but she pretended she didn’t see them. “Are you coming, George?” 

“Yeah, let’s go.” George nodded and got up. He put an arm around her and apparated back to Hogwarts.

 _crack_

“Hi Rosie.” George softly kissed her. 

“Get Freddie and please give him to your mum or someone else because Neville’s gone and Freddie started crying and Dru’s gone, you’re gone and everyone is so far away and...” Rose said as she clung on to George. 

“I’m here.” Dru took Freddie out of the pram. “I’m sorry, monkey.” she said shushing.

“Sorry, Rose, I figured Neville would come to you, if he couldn’t find Dru.”

“He doesn’t care.” Rose said and shook her head. “I can’t take care of two crying babies by myself, and I didn’t want to mow through the crowd to find your mum either because that would look like I couldn’t handle it.”

“Damn it.” George softly cursed. He had though his family would keep an eye on her. 

“But I gave Freddie a bottle and I changed his diaper and he didn’t stop crying so I don’t know what’s wrong with him and Artie just slept through it all. I think you can set a cannon off next to him and he wouldn’t wake. Don’t worry, I checked, he’s alive.”

“I’m so sorry, Rose. Dru was freaking out, bad freaking out and i had to take her away.”

“It’s fine, Dru’s important and the only one feels the same way you do about Fred is you so it’s okay.”

“She thought Fred was still alive.” George whispered in Rose’s ear.

“I understand, I do.” she nodded. “It’s alright. Just...” she took a deep breath and loosened her grip on George when she saw people staring at them. “It’s okay.” she smiled. “Are you okay?”

He nodded and looked at Dru, who was still having a hard time calming Freddie down.

“It’s okay, monkey, mummy’s here.” she gently rubbed his back, she couldn’t believe Neville didn’t check up on Freddie. She was going to kill him, if he’d ever show up.

“My god, there you are!” Neville’s voice sounded as he walked towards Dru and the rest. “Where were you? I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Why didn’t you check on Freddie? Rose told me he’s been crying for ages.” Dru shot at him.

“Rose had Freddie?” Neville said surprise and felt the color drain from his face. “I thought... I saw her with the pram but you and George weren’t with her so I thought that she was alone with Artie and I went and looked for you. I’m so sorry.”

Dru kept bouncing Fred in her arms. “George took me to the burrow.” 

“Why?”

“I...I was having a bit a meltdown.” She held Freddie close to he. “Calm down,Monkey.” 

“Ah,” Neville nodded and looked at George. “Everything alright now then?”

“Sorry, Neville, I didn't think it through. I needed to get her out of here and I figured you would go to Rose when you couldn't find her.” George was still rubbing Rose’s back. 

“It’s okay,” Rose said as she looked at George. “Freddie is with his mum now. I think he’s just very tired.”

Dru held Freddie close to her chest, the little boy was still crying and now Dru was crying too. “He won’t calm down.” She sobbed to Neville.

Neville put his arms around her and around Freddie and put his chin on her shoulder. “Don’t cry,” he whispered in her ear. “I think it’d be a great idea to take the both of you home and rest some. I think he’s feeling Rose who’s trying to hold herself together.”

“We better find your Gran then and where’s our pram?” 

“Gran has it,” Neville said and smiled at her. “Guys, we’re going to gather Gran and we’re heading home.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to take Rose and Artie home too.” George said as he took Artie out of the pram. “Are you still alive?” he chuckled to his boy as he held him in front of his face. 

Artie stared at him blankly and blinked before putting his thumb in his mouth and kept staring at his father.

“Oh god.” George chuckled. 

“What? Is something wrong with him?” Rose sounded panicked. “He’s dead? No, he can’t be dead, I checked on him just before you returned. What’s wrong?”

“He’s got your stare. It’s frightening.”

Rose just stared at George and then smacked him on the arm. 

George chuckled as he held Artie to his chest. “Are you ready?” 

“Yeah, let’s go.” Rose nodded.


	71. Surprise

It was the beginning of July and Freddie was now mastering the art of crawling, he was now crawling between the legs of the kitchen chairs when Neville had taken his eyes off of him for a second.

“Oi, what are you up to?” Neville looked at the boy and shook his head. He grabbed Freddie’s legs and pulled him from underneath the chairs and Freddie was laughing out loud. He loved being dragged around!

Neville was making breakfast for Dru, who had been feeling a little under the weather lately. Freddie had been sick last week and he was doing fine now so Dru would be okay soon too. He just hoped that he wouldn’t get sick in the process. 

Freddie crawled back underneath the chairs and Neville had to pull him back out, making the boy laugh even harder. “Alright alright, we’ll play the game when mummy’s had her breakfast, just... don’t hurt yourself.”

Neville turned around again and Fred laughed and started to tug on Neville’s pants. “Oh would you stop?” He laughed as he lifted the boy into his arms and put him in the armchair. “Have a banana.” He said as he peeled the banana and handed it to the boy. “Go make a mess.”

Dru came down looking a bit dazed, she didn't say anything and just sat down at the table.

“Hey babe, why didn’t you stay in bed? Breakfast is almost ready.”

Dru shook her head and took the banana away from Freddie and got up to get a knife. 

Freddie looked dazed at his hands for a moment and then started to cry.

Dru cut the banana into pieces and then put them on his tray again, she sat down again without saying one word.

Fred was still crying and started to use his tiny fists to smash the pieces of banana. After a moment he stopped crying, started to smile widely and started to use his fingers to peel the squashed banana from the tray and stuffed it in his mouth.

Dru took a sip of the tea that Neville put infront of her before pulling a ugly face and pushing the mug away from her. 

“Not good enough? Want something else?” he asked as he caressed her hair. 

She looked up and him and bit her lip, how was she supposed to tell him this? She took a deep breath. “When do you have to go searching for my father again?” 

“Not soon, I hope. I’m going to have a talk with professor McGonagall today. Harry and Ron and the other Aurors are already gone, I’m going to join them if my talk with the professor doesn’t end up to be fruitful.” He said as he put down a plate with eggs and soldiers in front of her. “Why?”

“I think we should really find you another job.” she looked at her plate. Only two weeks ago they talked about how they loved Freddie and them being with three and if they should have more children it should be at it soonest a few years from now. 

“Okay... well... if you want me to be around more I can understand. Maybe George needs more help in his shop. Are you still going by them today to help out?”

“Yeah, I could ask him for a job for you. Of I could go by my mother and asked her for money.” Dru still hadn't seen her mother but desperate times called for desperate measures. 

“Babe, if you don’t want me to go, then I won’t rejoin Harry and Ron. I know how hard it is on you when I’m away.” He smiled at her and caressed her hair. “All you need to do is tell me that you want me home no matter what.”

“We need you here.” She was crying now.

“Uhoh...” Neville pulled her to her feet and pulled her into his arms. “What’s going on?” he asked softly as he caressed her back. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m making everything so difficult on you already and now even more so. I’m so sorry for this.” 

“You’re not making things difficult for me, Dru. What’s on your mind? Why are you crying?”

“I’m so sorry, I know you don’t want this, I‘m so sorry, I don’t how this happened.” 

“Uh?” Neville blinked at her. “Dru, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m pregnant.” She said with a small voice.

“Oh.” Neville said and thought for a second. “Well, I can tell you how that happened... we had sex.”

“But you didn't want this yet and now I...” She was getting another panic attack.

“We’re having a baby? You and me?” He smiled widely. “You and me are going to be parents?”

Fred gave an annoyed whine and smeared some banana puree on Neville’s vest.

“But I know you don't want this yet, not so soon after Freddie and now I..” 

“Are the most beautiful person in the world.” He kissed her tenderly and smiled. “I’m going to be a dad. Gran’s going to get a heart attack.”

Freddie started wailing and threw his plate on the floor. 

“Babe, I don’t care that we said we’d wait.” He smiled at her. “Freddie is going to have a little brother or sister to play with and that’s just brilliant. We’re going to be fine.” He softly kissed her again. “This is brilliant.”

Dru took the crying Freddie in her arms. “Monkey, what’s wrong?” He seemed really upset. 

Neville grabbed another banana from the fruit tray, peeled it and handed it to Freddie. “Here you go.”

Freddie scowled and started to push the banana against his mother’s pyjama top. 

“Freddie!” Dru said and handed him to Neville so she could clean her top.

“I think Freddie’s a bit mad about the fact that he’s not going to be an only child anymore. He’s too smart for his own good.” Neville chuckled as Fred smeared his banana hands all over Neville’s face.

Freddie started wailing again.

“Or maybe not.” He said as he grabbed a cloth and started to clean Freddie’s hands. “Hey, stop crying you silly boy.” 

Freddie was sobbing a heartbreaking sob and crawled against Neville.

Neville kissed Dru tenderly. “I’ll stop the Auror business and I’m going to make this alright for all of us. We will make this work.” He smiled at her. “I have good hopes about the talk with McGonagall today.”

Dru nodded and caressed Freddie’s back, who was still sobbing and clung onto Neville’s shirt. “I never seen him so upset, well apart from the memorial.” 

“Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on either.” He said as he bounced the boy up and down.

“Dada dada,” Freddie muttered as he was still clinging on to Neville. “Dada dada.”

Dru closed her eyes and bit her lip. “Oh Freddie.” she muttered.

Freddie turned his head towards Dru. “Mama. Dada.” 

She took Freddie in her arms. “It’s okay, mummy’s here.” She gave him a kiss on his head. “Mummy’s here and I’ll ask daddy to come by later, okay?” 

“Dada dada.” Freddie had his grabby hands out to Neville. “Dada dada.”

Dru looked at Neville. “That’s Neville, Freddie.” 

“Dada dada.” Freddie said as he stared at her and sighed.

Dru looked at Neville, she didn't know what do now. “Freddie, that’s Neville, I’ll ask daddy to come by later, okay.”

Freddie rolled his eyes at her and decided to give up with a big yawn. He was quiet for a moment and then Neville saw a big grin appear on his face.

“Babe, he’s smarter than he looks.”

“DADA!” Freddie shouted. “DADA!!!”

“Alright alright, sheez, what’s the fuss?” Fred said as he appeared into the kitchen. “Hullo, sorry, Freddie was calling. Morning. Oh, congratulations.” he smiled widely.

“Fred, I’m sorry, I swear I always call you daddy, Neville and I always called Neville, Neville.” Dru said defensively.

“I know.” Fred chuckled and stuck his tongue out to Freddie. “Like Neville said, he’s smarter than he looks. I know why he got upset just now, because Neville was being insensitive.”

“What?” Neville blinked. “No I wasn’t.”

“Yeah, you were, mate. ‘I’m going to be a dad’, does that ring a bell?”

“I said that, she’s pregnant.”

“Yeah I know, I just said congratulations.” Fred rolled his eyes at Neville. “To him, you’re his father too, you know. Yeah, he calls me dada, but you’re dada dada. Get it? He was hurt because you’re his father too and you don’t see yourself as one.”

“I love him like he is my own, but he’s your son, it would be disrespectful to let him call me dad.” Neville caressed Freddie’s head. 

“Let Freddie choose what he wants to call you, Nev. You’re more of a father to him than I am and ever can be. Right now, you’re dada dada. Daddy two.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with that?” Dru sighed as she rocked her body left and right and placed her cheek against Freddie’s head. 

“Oh for the love of everything, woman.” Fred sighed. “I told you to find Neville after I was gone, didn’t I? If my own son wants to call Neville dada, then my son can call Neville dada. Had it been some nob like Seamus then I’d have seriously doubted the way your heart works.”

Dru chuckled. “Alright. Sorry, you had to come, but thank you for explaining it.” She blew Fred a kiss. “Oh, but don't tell us what we’re having this time please.” 

“I won’t. Rose probably will.” Fred grinned.

“I’ll kill her if she does.” Neville smiled. 

“Uhm, yeah, about Rose... just don’t go over there today Dru. George had to close the shop today. She’s fine but uhm... seriously messed up.” Fred scratched his head. “Go and have a swim.”

“Why what’s wrong? Neville and Dru both asked.

* * *

“Rose, please.” George begged her.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Rose said as she looked at George.

“Please Rosie. Please.” George was nearly in tears.

“It’s been gone on long enough, George and I’m not getting better, I don’t feel like I’m getting better. Do you think I’m getting better? I don’t think I am. I’m falling to pieces George and every time it feels like I’m falling harder and shatter into more pieces and it’s not... it’s... so hard to... I just... I don’t want to give up but I don’t want to do you any more pain.”

“Please, Rose.” George was bouncing Artie in his arms, the little boy was crying. “I need you, Artie needs you, please Rose.” 

She looked at George and Artie and knew she was being an idiot. She couldn’t stop herself though. She managed to throw away her wand and the knife she had previously been holding and started to cry while she was still sitting underneath the dining room table. “I’m so sorry... so sorry...” she said softly. “I’m sorry sorry... I don’t want to be like this anymore, George... I really don’t and it’s not getting better and you’re better off --”

He crawled underneath the table and used one arm to pull her close to him. “We need to find a different solution, Rose.” He said in a grim voice.

“The ministry worker suggested to put the barrier back in place, without the bond that my dad had... he actually believes that I’ve been crazy from the start and dad wanted me to be normal.” She curled up against him and put her arms around George and Artie. 

“Hell, no. No more barrier.” George kissed the top of her head. “I think we should let....I got a different idea, but we’re going to have to take Artie to Dru and Neville first.”

“Alright,” she slowly nodded. “Whatever you want, George.” she said shakily. “I’m willing to try everything because I’m... so tired of this and I’m hurting you and on days like these I can’t even take proper care of our son.”

“Good, Come, on let’s go over to Neville and Dru then first.” He pulled her from under the table and got a bag with Artie’s stuff, that he had ready. 

Artie sighed and grabbed hold of George’s collar and started to suck on it.

“Hungry, are we?” George chuckled and gave Artie a kiss on his head. ”Don't worry,   
I’ll ask uncle Neville to give you a bottle.” 

“Isn’t Neville going to Hogwarts today?” Rose asked as she pulled on her shoes. “Maybe we should take Artie to your mum’s.”

“Dru can take care of Artie, and Neville probably won't be long.” He took Rose’s hand as they walked out on the street towards the Longbottom apartment. 

Neville followed Dru out of the house. She wanted to make her way over to George and Rose as quickly as possible and then nearly bumped into them in the street. Neville was holding Freddie and he was just laughing as he was bouncing around.

“What’s going on?” Dru asked concerned.

Rose took a step back as if to use George as a shield. “I was being stupid.”

“Can you take care of Artie for me.” George shot Neville a look as he handed Artie to Dru.

“Yeah, I will probably be just an hour so two babies shouldn’t be a problem for a while.” Neville nodded. “Do what you have to do.” He put an arm around Dru.   
“I hope so.” He gave Artie a big kiss. “Give mummy a kiss, Artie.” 

Artie chuckled. “mamamamaaaamama.” he said as he reached out his hand for her. 

Rose chuckled and planted a kiss on his nose. “Behave you.”

George took a deep breath and put his arms around Rose and wanted to walk away

“Wait, I need to tell Rose something.” Dru said.

“What?” Rose said as she looked at Dru. 

“I’m pregnant.” Dru said

“Oh that’s brilliant Dru.” she smiled, not letting go of George. “Great news! I’m going to hug you some other time but yes brilliant news!” She then looked up to George. “Don’t worry, I’m not.”

“You better not, but that’s amazing guys, but we have to go now.” George said, trying his best to smile. He walked to the Leaky Cauldron and got out of the other side and walked into the muggle world.

Rose blinked at George. “Where are we going?”

“St. Mungo’s.” he said bitterly. And he was holding her very tight.

“Alright.” she said softly. Of course, George was going to drop her off and leave her there. If he wanted to do that, it was up to him. She would have put herself in there.

“I’m not leaving you there. I’ll stay with you as much as I can, that why I dropped Artie off with Dru and Neville and not mum.” George gave her a kiss on her head.

“I don’t understand.” she said. “Why wouldn’t you bring Artie to your mum? She’s more than capable to take care of Artie.”

“She only spoil him rotten, besides she’s helping Fleur at the moment, Vicky is having cramps and Fleur is down with the flu.” 

“Ah, I lost that bit I suppose... I’m sorry.” She looped her arm through his. “St. Mungo’s it is. Sorry. You think that the ministry did something wrong with me?”

“Yeah. Kingsley came around a few days ago. He had told them to wait a bit longer after our talk on Christmas day, but they did it anyway behind his back. He was furious, he had no idea what was going on and they did it in one go, not little by little like he wanted to.”

“And of course, Neville made me switch on so the effect was even worse, so Kingsley isn’t evil?”

“No, he got furious when Neville had an outburst at work a week ago and started yelling at Kingsley, who had no idea what he was hearing.”

“So I’m not bad either?” she looked up to him. “I’m going to be okay?”

He stopped walking and kissed her tenderly, while the people around them started whistling. He gently broke off the kiss and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “You’re my Rosie, of course you’re going to be okay.” 

Rose blushed and tiptoed to kiss him again. “It would be so nice to be a normal functioning Rosie again.” she smiled at him. “Oh! Maybe when we’re done at St. Mungo’s we could stop by this shop you’re definitely going to like,” she giggled.

“What shop?” He put his arms around her shoulder and they continued to walk to St. Mungo’s.

“Toys for adults.”

He frowned at her. “Please tell me you’re not pregnant.” 

“George, I am not pregnant.” she looked at him. “I promise, I’m not pregnant. I don’t want to be pregnant and I am not pregnant because I want to be healthy first.”

“Good, as much as I love Artie, I think another one would be too much of a good thing right now.” 

“Yes, exactly. And our house a bit too small.” she snorted.

“I could extend the apartment.” 

“George, not until I’m 100% and not until we’re certain that my body can handle it.” she chuckled as they walked into St. Mungo’s.

“I’m here to see Mr. Cave.” George smiled as he walked up to the registry. “Mr and Mrs Weasley.” 

“Ah,” she smiled warmly. “Mr. Cave has cleared his schedule for you, you can go right up to his office.”

“Thank you, which floor again?” 

“Fourth Floor, Spell Damage, sir.”

George took Rose’s hand and took her with him to the lift.

Rose was scared out of her wits but George was with her and apparently he had been talking to this Mr. Cave person. She loved George, she trusted George with her life and she shouldn’t be scared because George was with her. “We need some new baby wipes too.” 

“I’m sure Dru has enough.” George kissed her when they were alone in the lift. “Don't worry, when you’re a bit better, I’ll bring Artie to you.” 

Rose blinked at him. “You _are_ leaving me here!”

“No, I mean this afternoon.” He chuckled and held her close to him, he hated lying to her, but he had no choice, he couldn't risk her running away.

“I trust you. Even if you are leaving me here, I know that you’re doing this for my own good. And yours. And Artie’s.” she looked up to him. “I wouldn’t like it, but I understand.”

“I love you, Rose and I want you back. I need you back, Artie needs his mum.” He softly kissed her.

She answered his kiss for a moment and tried not to cry. “Then I suppose it’s better that you just drop me off and go back to Artie.”

“No, I’m staying with you for as long as they let me. I’ve put a note in Artie’s bag to explain it all to Neville, he’ll understand.” George held her close to him.

She took a deep breath when the lift doors opened. “Alright, let’s do this then.”

George took her hand and the walked to the ward and George spoke to the first nurse he saw. “We’re here for Mr Cave.” 

“Right through that door, sir.” the nurse smiled as she pointed at a door. “We’ve been expecting you.”

“Come on, Sweetie.” George said softly and took her with her to the office.

They walked into the office and Mr. Cave was sitting in his chair, reviewing some of his papers. He was this kind, grandfatherly looking man and seemed harmless. “Oh! Hello!” he smiled widely and got up from his chair to shake George’s hand and then Rose’s. “I’ve been expecting you. Please sit down.”

George sat down and pulled Rose on his lap.

“It’s good to see you again, Rose.” he smiled at her. 

“Sorry? Again?” she stammered. “I haven’t been here before.”

“Yes, you have. You helped your friend find her way back to this world and stunned us all with your ability to do so.” he smiled at her.

“Dru Weasley, I mean Dru Malfoy?” George asked. 

“Oh yes, it was... four and a half years ago? Just after Christmas. Miss Malfoy was suffering from a long lasting attack on her memory and had her brain had shut down completely. Rose here was here with the son of Alice and Frank and she managed to get Miss Malfoy back to us without permanent damage, for someone untrained, this was an amazing feat.”

“I remember that, she was just my girlfriend then.” George softly kissed her cheek. “And I suppose you’ll be happy to know that we found out this morning that Dru Malfoy and Neville Longbottom are having a baby.”

“That is great news!” Cave smiled. “And the Minister told me you two have your own son? How’s that like, Rose? Do you love being a mum?”

“I do.” She looked down to her hands and started to play with George’s fingers. She didn’t like being asked questions and she knew it was necessary but still... 

“Do you think you’re unfit to be a mother?”

Rose looked at George and then at Cave. “I’m not the one you should ask that question to.”

“I know you’re a great mum, but he’s wonders what you think of yourself.” George softly kissed her cheek.

“I’d never do anything to harm Artie. Even this morning, I made sure that he wasn’t with me. I wouldn’t hurt Artie, George. I wouldn’t.”

“I know that, I know that.” He shushed her. “The problem is that she always put everyone before her own, to a bad extend.” He said to the healer. “And now with all the barriers that always surrounded her gone, she thinks she’s better off gone.” George eyes were filling with tears, that morning had been the third time that week he tried to stop her from killing herself. “But I can't live without her.” 

Cave nodded. “The minister gave me all the paperwork on what the ministry workers did and what their ideas were. To me, it reads like one big scary book. They shouldn’t have done what they did because the mind is a tricky place and shouldn’t be messed with. When she was here to help out Miss Malfoy, she looked like this powerful little witch, ready to take on the world and help her friends out. What made you fall in love with her, Mr. Weasley, if I may ask?”

“Sheez,” George blushed a bit. “She's funny and sweet. She’s always walked to her own beat and never just did anything because other people told her to. She’s unbelievably strong, I mean You heard about Neville Longbottom and what he did at Hogwarts, well she had been his right hand for most of their last year. She unbelievably smart, she went for 6 newt and she’s caring and loving and she’s great with Artie and she can put up with me. And I just love her to bits really.”

Cave chuckled. “Alright, then I’m sorry but I’m going to break your heart right now. I promise you that you will get your wife back in one piece, but I can’t help her while you are here. It’s pretty obvious that she’s getting her strength from you and I need her to be on her own. The magic that has been used on her in the past to get the blocks up was pretty dark and powerful and it’s going to take a little bit of time to fix what has been damaged by the careless spell breakers at the ministry.”

“But.. I can’t be without her.” George held her more tightly to him. 

“You’re going to be fine, Mr. Weasley.” Cave smiled at him. “Rose will be safe here.”

“Can I come to see her?” George was in tears now.

Rose was still calm and let it all come over her and softly caressed George’s hair. “It’s going to be okay, Georgie. I promise.” she softly kissed him. “You won’t have to miss me long.”

“Please, can I come and visit her?” he asked again.

“You can come to St. Mungo’s as much as you want, but I can’t tell you if you can visit her yet, I need to do a bit more of assessing and I have no idea how she’ll respond to the treatment.” Cave replied. “But you’re always welcome to stay at the tea room and come and see if she’s up for visitors.”

George nodded, “Can I have a few minutes to say goodbye then?” 

Cave got up from his seat and nodded. “Take your time.” He said as he exited his office.

George put his arms closer around her. “I’m so sorry Rosie, I thought I was going to be able to stay with you.” He put his head against her chest. “If I’d known this, I would have never taken you here.”

She caressed his hair and softly smiled. “George, this is the best you could have done. It beats losing me and it beats having to deal with me for much longer. If they can’t fix me here, then you still have me but this was a brilliant idea.” she softly planted a kiss on his head. “I don’t blame you and you’re going to be alright. This has to happen so I can be a good mum and a good wifey.” she said as she wiped a tear from her face. “I’m scared though, but I’m going to do this so I can be your good girl again. It’s scary, but it’s going to be alright.” she cupped his face and softly kissed him. “I’m going to be brave and get better. You’re going to be brave and take care of Artie while I’m gone, deal?”

“I’ll come by every morning, every afternoon and every evening to see if I can visit you, I promise.” 

“Promise me you’re going to be brave too. Just like me.” she smiled at him as she softly kissed his lips again.

“Whenever I’m in Artie’s presence.” he softly kissed her back, longer this time, he didn't want to part with her.

“We’ll be okay,” she smiled bravely. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

“I love you, Rosalie Weasley.”

“And I love you, my wonderful husband.” she smiled at him.

George kissed her tenderly for a while.

“Go now my love,” she said softly as she caressed his cheek. “You’re only going to make it harder on yourself. Go pick up Artie and go cuddle him for the rest of the day. He loves playing row row the boat.”

“I know that, silly.” he chuckled and kissed one more time and then gently pushed her off his lap and got up. “I’ll come back tonight to check up on you, I love you.” He walked out of the office and quickly made his way home.

~~~~

“I have good news!” Neville said as he nearly fell into the apartment. Both Freddie and Artie were crawling all over the floor and there were toys everywhere. “Babe? Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Dru was lying on her stomach on the sofa, watching the boys crawl over the floor. “They’re having fun.” 

“Dada dada.” Freddie was so happy to see Neville he reached up his arms to him, but since he was crawling that made him fall straight on his face and the boy started crying.

Artie started to laugh out loud when Freddie started to cry and then crawled towards him and started to chew on Freddie’s foot.

Freddie cried louder before kicking Artie in his face.

Artie started to cry now too.

“Yep, everything was all nice and peaceful before I came in,” Neville chuckled and picked Artie from the floor. “Hey, you bit him, you get kicked.”

Dru got off the sofa and picked up Freddie, who was struggling, he wanted to go to Neville and really hated Artie for getting picked up by him.

“Dada dada.” Freddie cried.

Neville looked at Dru, who just shrugged. “Baby swap?” he suggested as he held out Artie to her.

Dru took Artie and handed Freddie to Neville. “Alright Artie, you stay with Auntie Dru.” 

Artie licked his lips and smiled widely at Dru before moving himself so that he could start drinking.

Neville laughed. “Oh god, why is Rose still breastfeeding him?”

“Yeah.” Dru moved Artie so he was now with his head on her shoulder. “But George gave us some milk. It’s in the fridge.” 

“Alright,” Neville said as he walked towards the kitchen to heat up Artie’s bottle. “What about you, little man? Want another banana?”

“Nananananananana.” Freddie liked the sound of ‘banana’. “Nanananananana” he said again with a smile.

“He needs his bottle too.” 

“Ah, well mummy says you’re going to get your bottle.” He gently placed Freddie down in the high chair and started to prepare the formula. 

Dru came in with two bibs and put Artie into the other high chair as she started to heat his bottle. Both Neville and Dru as well as George and Rose had two high chairs, because of their weekly dinner parties it was easier to have two chairs for the boys. “So what’s the good news?” Dru put a toy on each of the high chair, so they could have something to play with while they waited for their bottles.

“I can start with an internship at Hogwarts next school year to take over from Professor Sprout when she retires.” Neville smiled as he saw the look on Dru’s face. “Best part? Rose was right. I can get anything I want if only I ask. I’m getting one of the bigger teacher’s chambers where there’s plenty of room for the both of us, Freddie and the uhm... future bump.”

“Wow, that’s brilliant, but how are you going to get a big room, the biggest is Slughorns?” 

“He’s agreed to move to a smaller one and... he’s retiring soon too and would love it if you’d be his apprentice and take over in a couple of years.”

“Me.” Dru asked surprised

“You.” he smiled. “Apparently, you’re still better than Hermione and you made quite the impression on him.”

“Yeah, I knew that Snape always wanted me to take over for him, he told my dad that a couple times, but Slughorn never seemed that impressed with me.” 

“You’re the hero’s girlfriend.” He said smug, which earned him a hit on the head. “But it’s true!” he laughed.

“So, we’re going to move to Hogwarts?” 

“We are going to move to Hogwarts.” he chuckled. “If you want to, of course. I mean, I am not going to do this without you.”

“As long as I’m with you.” she softly kissed him. 

Neville smiled as he kissed her back. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Dru looked at Artie who was tugging on her shirt. “Right, your bottle.” 

The two boys laughed out loud when George appeared from the fireplace, looking slightly distraught and he had red eyes. “Hey George, where’s Rose?” Neville greeted him as he rummaged into Artie’s diaper bag and found the note he had written. 

“They kept her.”

Neville held up the note and sighed. “Sorry mate, I just found the note.” He set George down on a chair and poured him a glass of firewhiskey and set it down in front of him. “You weren’t allowed to stay?”

George shook his head. “No, and they don’t know when I can see her and they don’t know how long she has to stay.” 

Dru gave him Artie’s bottle. “Then you and Artie are going to stay with us until she’s home.” 

George took Artie from the chair and gave him the bottle. “That would be really nice.” 

Artie looked at George with big eyes and then put his hands around the bottle with a huff, almost as if the bottle wasn’t good enough for him, and started to drink. 

“Yeah mate, it’s the least we can do for you.” Neville said as he sat down next to him. “What was she like when she realised she had to stay?”

“Calm.” George gave a little smile. “Trying to calm me down.” 

Dru gave Neville Freddie’s bottle. “That’s Rose alright.”

“She’s going to be alright, George. Dru was there and she turned out to be okay, slightly more crazy but just fine.” 

“Thanks,” Dru shook her head.

Freddie was stretching his arms out to Neville, who was still holding his bottle.

“Oh, you want your bottle?” Neville said as he looked at Freddie and shook his bottle in front of his face. 

Freddie started to whine before “DADA.” 

“Whaaaaat?” Fred’s voice sounded before he appeared and then looked at the scene in front of him. “Freddie, you honestly can’t keep calling me when dada dada is bullying you.”

Dru and Neville roared with laughter, while George just looked confused. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh,” Fred grinned. “Hi Georgie, let me catch you up. Dada, that’s me. And this morning, Freddie called Nev Dada dada, so daddy two, and these two idiots were confused and upset and Freddie called me down to explain. And right now he’d very like his bottle Neville so you get him out of his chair and have him kick Artie and then feed him the bottle.”

“Oi!” George threw an apple through Fred. “No kicking Artie.” 

“Why not? He bit Freddie’s foot.” Fred shrugged.

“Alright.” Neville took Freddie out of his chair and gave him the bottle. “No more calling Dada just because you can’t get what you want.” 

“That’s the abuse of power,” Fred nodded. “You look like hell George.”

“I just bought Rose to St. Mungo’s, department of spell damage.” 

“Bloody hell.” Fred sighed. 

“She tried to off herself this morning.” George said with a small voice.

“Yeah I know...” Fred sighed again. “I’m so sorry.”

“But Neville brought me in touch with a healer, Mr Cave, and I brought her to him. I didn't have another choice.” 

“Mr. Cave really knows what he’s doing.” Neville nodded. “He’s very thorough, you’re going to get Rose back, George. I promise.”

“I hope so.” George said, “So, how was your talk at Hogwarts?” 

“Great,” Neville said with a nod. “We can start next school year.”

“You’re going back to school? To redo your last year? With Dru pregnant?” 

“No mate,” Neville chuckled. “Both Dru and I can do an internship, as teachers assistants and later on teachers, for Herbology and Potions.”

“You a potions teacher?” George chuckled as he patted Neville’s back.

“Come on Neville. They spend so much time rebuilding Hogwarts, now you want to burn it down again?” Fred grinnend

“Idiots.” Neville chuckled. “You two must have left your brains and common sense somewhere else.”

“It’s great, but what about Freddie and the new blob?” George laughed as he put Artie on his shoulder to burp him.

“They can come with. Madame Pomfrey looks after Freddie when he can’t be with us in class.”

“Good for you.” Fred smiled. “I better go, Lavender and I are going to throw a firewhiskey party up there and she can’t do it without me.” Fred winked at Freddie, before disappearing. 

Artie burped loudly and snuggled up against George.

George gave Artie a kiss on his head and hugged him tight. “Oh I need to get wet naps for Artie.’

“I’ll get them. I need to shopping this afternoon anyway.” Dru smiled as she made some tea for George and Neville.

George laughed as he saw Freddie spit milk over Neville’s shirt when he burped him. “Payback for not giving him his bottle sooner.”

“I suppose,” he laughed. “So, we’d better swing by your apartment then to gather some of your stuff then. You’ve packed for Artie but not yourself.”

George nodded. “I’m going over to see how Rose is doing and bring her some overnight stuff too.” 

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Neville knew how fragile George could be when he saw Rose in distress or broken or in pain or not there. “We kinda need you in one piece mate.”

“She’s going to need her stuff and I promised her.” 

“I’ll come with then, to make sure you stay in one piece.”

“I’d like that.” George gave a little smile.

“Alright, that’s settled then.” Neville looked at Freddie. “Artie sleeps and you don’t. Go to sleep.”

Freddie stuck his tongue out to him and hit Neville in the face.

“That’s it, nap time for you.” Dru took Freddie from Neville’s arms. 

Freddie whined and took a deep breath, about to call for his father again. “Da..---”

“Freddie!’ Dru spoke sternly. “You do that, and then one day he won't come anymore when you need him.” She figured if he was smart enough to use Fred, he was smart enough to understand that.

Fred sighed and settled against Dru’s shoulder.

“Yeah, bedtime for you.” Dru took Freddie up to his room, changed his diaper and put him down in the bed.

Neville accompanied George to St. Mungo’s that night and even though they were allowed to see Rose, it even broke Neville’s heart to see her like this. They had given her a private room, it was padded for her own safety and she was sitting in a corner, crying.

Dr. Cave explained that he had asked her some simple questions because he wanted to get to know her a little and she had fallen to pieces when he had confronted her with some questions. George had given Dr. Cave Rose’s overnight bag and Neville just stayed at the door when George walked into the room to go and see Rose and calm her down a bit. 

“Rosie?” George kneeled down in front of her.

Rose flung her arms around his neck and the sheer force of it made him lose his balance and fall flat on his ass, making it easy for her to crawl into his lap. “Don’t leave me,” she sobbed. They hadn’t been apart for long periods of time ever since the battle and it was weird to be without George for a long time. 

“Shh.” George rocked her back and forth. “I’ll stay until the nurse kicks me out.” 

Rose nodded and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. “They’re making it hard for me to be a good girl.”

“Well, you know I love bad girls.” George chuckled.

She giggled. “Did you go to that toy store and pick something out?”

“I don't know where it is.” George laughed and motioned Nevile to go away.

Neville chuckled and walked away. 

“I’d draw you a map but they don’t want me to have pencils.” she shrugged. “We’ll go there soon.” She said as she rubbed her eyes. She was tired of crying. “Did you bring Artie? He needs to milk me.”

“I brought the machine.” George kissed her. “He’s asleep now. He’s had a very busy day with Freddie, who, by the way, has a brilliant new way of manipulating Dru and Neville.” 

“Really?” 

“Yep, he calls for Fred.” George chuckled.

“And let me guess, Fred’s coming every time he does that?” she smiled. “Oh poor Dru, she has her hands full!”

“Yep, it’s brilliant. Freddie calls Fred Dada and Neville Dada dada, like daddy 2.”

“That’s adorable.” she smiled. “Get me the machine, please.” 

George looked at her breast and licked his lips. “Or we could put Artie on formula and I’d could milk you.” 

“Yes, lovely. But Artie doesn’t really do good on formula, we tried that, remember? He was hungry all the time and he developed some diaper rash and rashes in his face.”

“No, we haven’t.” George looked at her. “Have we?” 

“We have.” Rose nodded and then thought for a second. “Or we haven’t but it could have happened or... well you can try but I’m pretty sure that he’ll get rashes in his face and since I’m not there, you’ll have to deal with the wet poop diapers.” she wrinkled her nose. “Smelly.”

George handed her the machine. “Maybe we should start with one bottle of formula a day, see how he adjust to that.” 

She nodded as she turned her back towards the door and lifted up her shirt after she assembled the machine and put it on her breast. “Whatever you think is best,” she smiled at him. “I actually don’t mind breastfeeding... it’s just difficult when he’s actually not around to be fed.”

“Alright, not formula then.” George softly kissed her. 

“I mean, if he was as greedy as Freddie and actually bite...” she shrugged. “But he doesn’t. Artie is very gentle.” she kissed him back.

“Well, Neville did tell me Archie bit Freddie today.” 

“He did what?” Rose said as she removed the machine from her breast and disconnected the bottle before moving on to her other breast. She frowned. She normally had more milk inside of her. She smelled the bottle of milk and scrunched her nose. “It’s sour. He needs to get formula.” she sighed.

“I’ll borrow some of Dru and get some of our one tomorrow. They won’t mind. They insisted I stay with them while you’re here.” 

“My milk is sour!” Rose started to cry again. “I can’t even do that right anymore!”

“It’s the medication, Rose.” George shushed her. “It’s not your fault.” 

“You’re going to have to find a different cow to milk milk from to give to Artie.” 

“Stop it.” George cupped her face. “Dru is not a bad mother because she stopped breast feeding, is she?”

“No, but she’s not having mental problems either, is she?” She unplugged the machine and got the bottle off of it. “Go to Artie, George.” Rose said as she looked at him before laying down on the floor and laying her head in his lap and closing her eyes. “He needs a good dad, don’t let Dru take him away from you.” She yawned and sighed. 

“Dru would never do that.” George said a bit shocked. “She’s doing everything with Neville to support me, so I can be there for you do Artie can have his mother back.” 

“Yes... and then switch Neville for you.” she muttered.

George groaned. “Fine, when we get out of the hospital, we’re going to break all ties with them and Freddie. Will that make you happy?”

“No. Fine. She won’t. Sorry.” She shivered and shook her head. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean it.”

“She loves Neville and the only one whose place I might take over in her heart, is the one of Draco.” He caressed her hair.

“I said I was sorry.” 

“I know, but I want you to understand it.” George softly kissed her foréhead.

“I'm not stupid.”

“I know you’re not.” he chuckled. “You’re the smartest girl I know, you’re even smarter then Granger.” 

“Damn right I am,” she nodded. “I’m excellent at predicting the future too, although it’s a little bit foggy right now, it’s not working.”

“Silly bint.” George softly kissed her.

“Mr. Weasley, it’s time to go.” The nurse said.

Rose got to her knees again and softly kissed George. “Goodnight George, don’t forget to read a story to Artie, he loves bedtime stories. I read a muggle fairy tale to him the other night.” 

“I’ll read him lots of stories.” He softly kissed her. “I’ll come by tomorrow if they let me, okay?”

Rose nodded and smiled at him. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” George gave her another kiss and then walked out of the room, picking up Neville who was at his parents bed. 

Neville gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and smiled at his father before walking to George. “Are you still certain you want to come back tomorrow?” He asked him as he looked at George’s face.

“Yeah.” George nodded. “And you were right about the breast milk, can I borrow some of your formula for tonight?”

“Of course,” Neville chuckled. “I had Dru pick up extra anyway, just in case. Some organic stuff that’s supposedly healthier and better for the baby.”

“Thanks, I might try that one first if you don't mind, Rose is scared of rashes.”

“Alright,” Neville nodded. “Let’s just go home and get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

“Yeah.”

* * *

Neville went to see Rose the next day and he was glad that George didn’t. She was shouting and yelling at the doctor, he was doing a better job at picking Rose apart than Neville was and it wasn’t pretty. 

The day after that, the doctor was talking to a much more calmer Rose and she even managed to smile and wave to Neville when he came to see her. George had wanted to go so bad, but Artie was sick and George didn’t want to leave his side. Dr. Cave even wanted to talk to Neville abit to gain a bit more insight into Rose and Neville gave him all the answers that he could. 

On the third day, Neville accompanied George to see Rose, Artie’s fever had broken and George wanted to show Rose that he wasn’t going to just leave her there but Rose was exhausted and was sleeping, so his visit was a bit useless. 

On the fourth day, Rose was looking a lot better. More like the Rose Neville had gotten to know in his first year, and George was smitten by her yet again. 

On the fifth and sixth day Rose had proven to be stable again and even had been allowed to wander around the ward and helped other people because she knew she could help them along with their own recovery and she actually did. 

A week after George had brought Rose to St. Mungo’s, Rose was ready to come home. She still had some medication to take but she was back to her normal self. Rose was bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited for George to come and pick her up. She couldn’t wait to see Artie again. She felt great, free and clear headed and she hadn’t felt this good in a very long time. She still had to come by on a weekly basis to have a chat with Dr. Cave but that was fine. She just wanted to come home and be with her family. 

George walked into the ward with Artie on his arm. “Look who it is Artie?’ he pointed at Rose.

“MMMMMMMMA!” Artie squealed and stretched out his arms for her. “MAAAAAAA!” he yelled and realised he loved the echo of the corridor. “MAAAAA!!!”

Rose ran to George and Artie with a big smile on her face and took Artie from George before planting tiny little kisses all over his face. “I’ve missed you so much!” she said to the giggling baby. 

“MAAAA!!” 

“Hello my dear husband, oh hello sweetie, I missed you husband, I missed you too wifey.” George grinned with his hands now stuffed in his pockets.

“Hello my dear, sweet, patient and handsome husband.” Rose smiled up to him and kissed him tenderly. 

“Hello, wifey.” he grinned as he kissed her back.

“I’ve missed you, husband.” Rose chuckled as Artie was tugging on her hair.

“I’ve missed my Rosie.” he grinned and took her bag, “Ready to go home?” 

“God yes, the food here is horrible.” she smiled widely.


	72. Sleepovers

Rose had been home for a week now. She was doing great and she was making sure that she kept taking her medication. When George woke up one morning, it was Rose’s birthday but she didn’t want to celebrate it so they decided to ignore the whole birthday day (like they had with his, he hadn’t felt like celebrating his first birthday without Fred), he looked over to Rose, to find her sleeping with her front facing him. He rolled over and put his arms around her as he softly kissed her shoulder. 

He loved waking up with her every morning and now that she wasn’t feeling the restraint from the barrier anymore or the hurt from breaking the barrier, he loved waking up with her even more, she wasn’t cranky anymore when she woke up. 

Rose opened her eyes and looked at George with a smile before rubbing her eyes. “Morning.”

“Morning.” He grinned as he kept on kissing her shoulder.

She straddled his waist and rolled the both of them over so she was sitting on top of him with a victorious smile. “I love waking up to your kisses,” she smiled widely as she started to kiss his lips.

“I love waking up and you on top of me.” He grinned as he buried his hands in her hair.

“What time is it? Do you have to open the store today?” she asked as she nuzzled his earlobe.

“It’s seven so we have some time.” George flipped them over so that her was on top now. “I didn’t wake you up bright and early without good reason.” Hhe kissed her passionately.

She answered his kiss for a while and then started to remove his shorts with her feet, not breaking off the kiss.

George removed her nightgown and started to make a trail of kisses leading from her mouth, to her neck, to her shoulder, down her collarbone before focussing on her breast.

“George...” she moaned. “I love your lips on my skin.”

“I love your skin under my lips, you taste delicious.” He grinned as her rubbed his thumb along her other nipple. 

“Fuck...” She said with a moan. She had to stop breastfeeding because of the medication she was taking, but her breasts were still sensitive as hell. 

“I like fuck.” George said before sucking on her nipple.

“George!” she giggled, straddling his waist again and started to pull him closer to her.

“What?” He asked innocently. “Don’t you like fuck?” he gently inserted a finger inside of her.

She cupped his face and pulled his face closer to hers before she started to kiss him. He was driving her crazy with his touches and right now she just wanted him inside of her. She moaned into his mouth when George rubbed his thumb against her clit and intensified the kiss.

“That’s not an answer.” George muttered through the kiss, before slipping another finger inside of her. “Hmm, I like you wet.” 

She arched her back into him. Since when had she become so easy to get turned on? “Fuck me.” she breathed. “Please George.”

“As you wish.” George removed his finger from her and reached into his nightstand. He and Rose wanted to be careful and not have another mishap, like Neville and Dru had. Rose needed to be proper healed before they had another kid. “Damn, I can't find them.” he cursed. 

Rose reached for her wand. “ _Accio Condoms!_ ” She managed to catch the package before it hit George’s head and laughed. “Never thought I would use those two words in the same sentence.”

George laughed and kissed her passionately, “Do you have a spell to put them on too?” he waggled her eyebrows at her.

She put her wand down next to her as she fumbled a condom out of the box. She then placed the box on the nightstand and got the condom out of its wrapper. Rose thought for a second before putting her wand away and kissed George tenderly. “I have magical hands.”

“Then work your magic on me and let me fill you up.” 

She gently squeezed George’s cock a little when she rolled the condom over his cock. George hissed and moaned at the same time as she had her hands on him and she innocently looked at him. “I told you, I have magical hands.” she said before pulling him back down for a kiss. She could feel how he was shifting a little on the bed and Rose put her legs around him again when George started to push himself into her. 

“You feel so good around me,” he said as broke off the kiss for air. He sloppily kissed her before trailing off to her earlobe and her neck with his lips. Once he was completely inside of her, he started to trust. He didn’t really like wearing condoms, but Rose was allergic to the other muggle birth control thing called ‘the pill’ and this was one of the less invasive solutions to make sure that they wouldn’t have another accident (although Artie was a very loveable accident and very very welcome). He was just worried that one day it would break or slip off during sex. 

Rose was so responsive. Her skin seemed to be on fire and made him feel so good. She was moaning and making happy little noises as he softly kissed her skin and moved inside of her and that was a real turn on for him. “Fuck Rosie...” he moaned as she pulled him closer towards him with her legs, holding him in place and making him trust harder. “How close are you because I don’t think I can hold it any longer.” Alright, he had to admit it, he just loved having his Rose back.

Rose sighed happily as her own hand trailed off to her clit and started to stimulate herself while George was pounding into her. “Oh this feels so good...” she let out a long moan. “You feel so good...” She felt how he exploded inside of her and the feeling was enough to send her over the edge herself. “Oh wow...” she breathed.

“Hmmm...” George kissed her long and deep. “I love you Rose.” 

“I love you too, George.” she smiled at him and caressed his hair. “I love waking up like this.”

“Me too.” He rested his head on her torso and sighed happily. “We better enjoy this, I don’t think we’re going to have a chance for this, the rest of the week.” 

“I doubt it, with all the students from Hogwarts being at home now.” she chuckled. 

“And we got Freddie for the week, remember. Dru and Neville’s romantic week away, the birthday present we got them?” 

“Oh right.” she chuckled. “Well, the playpen is already in the shop next to the counter anyway, they love greeting the customers with their big smiles.”

“Yeah.” George smiled. “Freddie has Fred’s gift for charming the customers already.” 

She softly kissed him again and caressed his hair. “Yep, this week is going to be crazy. I also need to get some groceries done.”

“Yeah.” George held Rose a bit tighter. ”But first you need to cuddle your husband.” 

“I can cuddle.” she giggled as she buried her hands in his hair and put one leg over his. She softly kissed his lips and smiled.

George greedily kissed her back before growling as the peace was disturbed with Artie crying. “I’ll go.” he got off the bed, punt on his boxers and walked over to the nursery. “What are you doing awake?” he smiled at Artie.

Artie looked at George with a sigh and rolled onto his stomach before pulling himself up to a stand. He wasn’t even aware what he was doing but he wanted to get out of the crib and be held. He wobbled on his feet before falling back down on his ass and Artie sighed again. “Dadaaaa” he whined.

“Come on, try again.” George beamed with pride. 

“Dadaaa.” Artie whined and reached out for him. “Mama.”

“Dada.” George pointed to himself and got Artie out of the crib. “Let’s get you nice and changed or do you want a bath with daddy?” 

“Dada.” Artie put his arms around his neck. “Mama?”

“Mama is in bed.” George kissed Artie before putting him down and changing his diaper. 

Rose had pulled on her nightgown and had gone to the kitchen to make Artie’s bottle. She looked at the shopping list on the fridge and added bananas and watermelon. It was hot outside and she had found out that she liked putting little chunks of watermelon into the fridge and hand them (without the pits) to Artie one at the time during the day which also helped against his teething problem. And the banana... well, Artie (and Freddie) just liked to make a mess of themselves.

She put on the kettle to make some tea and cleaned the kitchen with a flick of her wand. She was too lazy to do it the muggle way today. She finished making the bottle and walked up to the nursery to see George getting Artie dressed. “Aw, my two favorite men in the world. Would one of you like his bottle?”

“I like breast feeding if I can choose.” George grinned.

Rose looked at Artie and grinned. “Dada is a bit weird, isn’t he?”

“Mama,” Artie chuckled and reached out for the bottle. “Mammmmmmma!”

“Wait, Rose, check this out.” George took Artie hands and made him stand on the changing mat while George was holding his hands. “Look at that.” George chuckled. 

“Oh! Artie!” Rose squealed and started to plant little kisses all over his face. “You’re such a big boy!”

“Oi! I‘m standing up. Where are my kisses?” George pouted.

Rose chuckled and softly kissed George. “Well done, daddy, you’ve been walking around for 21 years now.”

“20, but that’s okay.” George said as he kissed her back.

Artie sighed and started to move a little. “Mama.” he said impatiently.

George got Artie of the changing mat and gave him to Rose. “I don't think he loves me anymore.” He chuckled. 

“I have the power. I have the bottle.” Rose nodded as she handed the bottle to Artie who happily started to drink from it, using Rose’s shoulder as a good place to hold his bottle up. “Remember Artie, you might be a boy, but girls are always the boss.” she smiled at her boy. 

“Don’t listen to mummy.” George said as he started making breakfast for him and Rose. “What time were Dru and Neville going to drop Freddie off?” 

“I don’t know, but you’re far from being decent anyway. At least I’m wearing a nightgown and your pants.”

“Yeah, I better change then.” George turned the burner down and apparated upstairs.

Rose sat Artie in his high chair and gave him his bottle again so that she could finish making breakfast. She started to sing a few children’s songs she remembered and Artie was laughing and making happy noises as he listened and sucked on his bottle.

“Knock knock.” Fred walked into the kitchen. “Happy birthday, Rosie.” 

“No birthday, Fred.” she shook her head. 

“Alright.” he smiled and waved at Artie.

“George is upstairs, if you’re looking for him.”

“Can’t I say hello to you?” he hopped on the counter and sat there.

“Fine. Hi Fred.”

“You know, there was a time you loved me.” Fred sulked.

“I know that Dru, Neville and George are more than okay with having a normal conversation with you but I’m still not... you’re dead. Seeing you every time or hearing you talk makes me long for having a conversation with my dad again or with Lupin or... it just hurts, okay? So forgive me for not liking to have you around.”

“Fine, I’ll go.” Fred disappeared.

Rose looked at Artie and sighed. “I’ve hurt your uncle’s feelings now. Do ghosts have feelings?”  
Artie threw his empty bottle on the floor and laughed.

“Yeah.” She picked up the bottle and put the fried eggs on plates. “George! Breakfast is ready!”

Artie started whining and reached for the empty bottle.

Rose got one of Artie’s stuffed animals and put it on the tray of his high chair. 

George came down and picked up the stuffed animal from the floor, that Artie had just launched through the room. “Yeah, dragons can fly.” he chuckled.

“Charlie and his dragons,” Rose shook her head. “Oh, next time you see Fred, he might start to complain about me.” she shrugged. “I might have hurt his feelings.”

“Okay.” George smiled and picked up the dragon from the floor again, he knew Fred’s visits were hard on her. “I’ll ask him to leave you alone more, alright?” 

“It’s fine if he comes by and such for you or Artie... and I don’t mind being in the room when he does but... you know...” She poured them a cup of tea and sat down.

“I know, I’ll explain it to him, he just misses you, that all.” George started eating his eggs. “Hmm delicious.” 

She smiled at him and took a bite of her toast. “I was thinking about making something with rice today and then make a cake. I know we’re not celebrating my birthday but I just want to see Artie play with cake. Would be fun to do that with Freddie too. They’re going to make such a mess out of it.”

“Yeah, and if it’s quiet, we maybe can take them to the muggle pool this afternoon.” 

“That would be great!” she said while bouncing in her chair. 

Artie looked at his mother and threw the dragon in the direction of her and actually managed to hit her. 

“Oi.” she laughed. “You’re not supposed to have great aim yet.”

“Artie.” George chuckled. “It’s mummy’s birthday, don’t throw things at her.”

“Good morning!” Molly’s voice sounded from the stairs and then Rose heard feet running up the stairs from the shop leading up to the living space and her head popped around the corner, making Artie laugh out loud. 

“Hi mum, what a nice surprise.” George got up and gave his mother a kiss. 

“It’s eerily quiet at home.” she chuckled. “Your father is at work, Harry and Ginny are at their home, same with Ron and Hermione and... all I have left are the cats.”

“Morning mum.” Rose smiled at her. “Would you like some eggs?”

“Is anybody home?” Neville asked as he walked up the stairs with Freddie and Dru behind them.

“We’re in the kitchen!” Rose called out as she got up and started to finish eating her breakfast while she poured tea for everyone.

Dru kneeled down in the living room and let Freddie stand between her knees. Neville kneeled down next to her and called. “Come to the den, will you?” 

Rose lifted Artie from the high chair and handed him to Molly who just proudly smiled. She was a very proud grandmother. George and Molly followed the still eating Rose into the living room. 

“Alright monkey, like we practiced.” Dru smiled at Freddie.

Dru and Neville started singing. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to aunt Rosie, happy birthday to you.” Freddie was clapping his hands uncoordinatedly. 

“Hip hip hooray!” Dru smiled and Neville helped Freddie raise his hands, they repeated that three times.

Rose chuckled. “That’s so cute, thank you.”

“We’ve been practicing all week.” Dru smiled. 

Molly put Artie on the floor who quickly started to crawl towards Freddie and smiled up to him. “Fafa.”

“Arrrr.” Freddie smiled and reached for Artie, while Neville was still holding him.

“Fafa.” Artie nodded and tugged on Neville’s pants. “Fafa.”

“Awiii.” Freddie whined and started stomping one foot on the ground.

Artie sighed and then started to chew on Neville’s pants.

“I think they want to make something clear or something.” Molly said with a sob. “They are so cute together, can I have them?”

“Take Freddie, they’ll have another one soon.” George chuckled.

Rose hit him on the head. “George!” she scolded him.

“You are?” Molly smiled widely. “Dru, are you pregnant?”

“Yeah, but we’re not telling anyone yet.” Dru smiled as she caressed Freddie’s hair, while he was still stomping on the ground.

“Dada dada, Awwiiiii!!” Freddie whined.

Molly squealed and hugged Dru before hugging Neville. “Congratulations!”

“FAFA!” Artie demanded and started to drool all over Neville’s boot.

“Neville, give up.” Dru chuckled as she rose to her feet.

“No, this is fun.” Neville laughed. 

Rose looked around the room and blushed. “I feel severely underdressed, I’ll be right back.”

Dru smiled and gave George a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks so much for looking after Fred this week.” 

“Hey, you’ve looked after me and Artie for a week, it’s the least I could do.” George chuckled and hugged Dru. “Don’t worry, we won’t put him in the oven and have Freddie kebab.”

“George.” Dru laughed. “That’s not funny.” 

“It is.” George nodded. “Hmm... yep, Rose and I are going to get kebab this afternoon.”

“No spicy food for Fred yet. He’s too little.” She looked at Neville, who was playing with Artie and Freddie. “Maybe we should take him with us.” 

“Relax,” George said as he caressed her back. “We’re not going to feed Freddie things we’re not feeding our own kid. Rose and I do know what we’re doing, you know.”

“Yeah, but I think he should come with us though. He’s never been away from me for more than two hours.” Dru picked up Freddie from the floor.

Artie stared at Dru. The same stare Rose usually got when she was getting annoyed. “FAFA!” he said and sat up. “FAFA.”

“Fafa is coming with us, sorry Artie.” Dru said as she kisses Freddie and held him close.

“No babe, he’s not.” Neville smiled at her. “Freddie will be fine with Rose and George.”

“No, he needs to be with me.” Dru was crying now.

Molly put her arms around Dru and Freddie and caressed her back. “Sweetheart, it’s okay to feel like this, but you’ll have to let go of him sooner or later.” She chuckled. “It’s just a couple of days. You’re going on holiday with your gorgeous boyfriend, spend some time with him alone, you don’t have to worry about having to feed Freddie or keeping him busy. You just have time for Neville.”

“I don’t worry about him, I love giving him his bottle.”

“Awi.” Freddie said with a sad face.

“Pfew, stinky.” Rose said as she picked up Artie from the floor and pushed him into Molly’s arms. “Would you mind changing him, Mum?”

“But...”

“Please?” Rose smiled sweetly.

“Alright then.” Molly laughed as she took the stairs to the nursery.

Rose looked at Dru and smiled. “Dru, if something’s wrong, you’re only an apparate away. If Freddie’s being fussy, well... we can always call Fred. He’s going to be okay. I promise.”

“I know he will, but I don't think I can be without him.” Dru held Freddie close to her and she bounced him on her arms.

“When was the last time you and Neville spent a couple of hours uninterrupted by Freddie?”

“Last night.” Dru shrugged.

“While you were asleep.” Rose nodded.

“What? I like sleeping with Neville.” 

“When was the last time you and Neville went out for a romantic dinner with just the two of you?”

“Well, last year I guess.” Dru gave Freddie another kiss. “But Neville loves Freddie, he doesn't mind taking Freddie along, do you, babe?”

Rose then grinned. “When was the last time you tried something new and daring with sexy times?”

“Rose...” Neville groaned.

“What?” she chuckled. “I went by the adult toys store last week and got George and me something fun and exciting to play with when Artie is staying the night at Mum’s.”

George nodded while smiling widely.

“Big success.” she nodded. “I mean... _big_ success.” She then smiled at Dru. “When was the last time you were treated to a real spa treatment? When you were pregnant. But didn’t it feel good? You can’t take Freddie everywhere.”

“But what if he misses me?” Dru said as George gently took Freddie over from her. 

“Then he misses you.” Rose smiled. “Even babies have to learn that their mum can’t be around all the time. And besides, he’s going to be kept busy with Artie so he won’t even have time to miss you.”

Dru just stood there, feeling a little lost and still sobbing softly.

Rose hugged Dru tightly and pushed her into Neville’s arms. “You two have fun this week. You deserve it.”

“Can I kiss him goodbye?” 

George moved Freddie infront of Dru’s face but didn’t let go of him. “Say goodbye, Freddie.” 

“Baba.”

“Bye Bye monkey, Mummy loves you okay.” She gave him a few kisses.

“Dada dada.” 

“Behave,” Neville chuckled as he caressed Freddie’s head. He too, had a hard time letting go. George and Rose were far more relaxed with Artie in that way and letting have sleepovers at the Burrow. And on top of that, he had to miss Freddie for weeks in a row when he was still with the Auror’s office. 

“Dada dada, mama.” Fred chuckled. 

“Be a good little boy.” Du gave him another kiss.

Freddie sighed and turned himself into George. “Baba mama dadadada.” 

“You better go.” George said to Neville, he could feel that Freddie was going to start crying any second, because he was realising what was happening and he knew that Dru wouldn't be able to after that at all.

“Alright, see you in a couple of days.” Neville smiled widely at George and apparated him and Dru away.

“Right then, what was all that fuss about?” Molly came back down with Artie. 

“Dru’s having to leave Freddie behind for longer than two hours for the first time.” George said as he put Freddie in the playpen.

“Yes, I realised that, but why was I being told to go upstairs and change Artie?”

“Artie likes his nana.” Rose smiled at her. “Right Artie?”

“Nana.” Artie giggled. “Nananananana.”

“Nananana.” Freddie had pulled himself up by the bars of the play pen.

“Fafa!” Artie laughed out loud and reached for Freddie in the playpen. He was grateful that his nana put him down with him. Artie wobbly got to his feet and then fell into Freddie’s arms.

“Oh god, the cuteness.” Rose melted and looked at George. “You know, I think I’m 100%.”

“I’m not.” George chuckled. 

Freddie pushed Artie over and started laughing.

Artie made a sound that sounded like a roar when he flopped over to his stomach and scrambled to his hands and knees. He bumped his head into Freddie’s knees and made him fall over too, falling on top of Artie. They looked dazed at first as if trying to figure out what had just happened and then started to cry from the top of their lungs.

“Alright, naptime for at least one of you.” Rose chuckled.

Freddie stopped crying and looked at auntie Rose for a second before; “dada?”

“No!” Rose said shocked. “Don’t!” What if he’d call for Fred if Molly was here? She’d get a heart attack.

“God, I’m glad we don’t have them together all the time.” George said as he picked up Artie and put him on the floor, before putting Freddie next to him. 

“You and Fred were worse, sweetheart.” Molly smiled at him. “You were of course of the same age and Fred always wrestled you to the ground.”

Freddie’s smile grew big.

“Don’t give him any ideas, mum. He’s smarter than he lets on.” Rose pointed out as she went into the kitchen to fetch them their tea.

Freddie got to his hand and knees, looked at Artie before wiggling his bum a bit, he looked like he was ready to move in for a kill. 

Artie started to laugh and started to crawl away on his top speed.

Freddie crawled towards Artie with his head ready for attack but he kept crawling and crawling and then looked up as Artie was crying. Molly had picked Artie up, Freddie was now too crying. 

“Hey mum, would you like to have two boys over for a sleepover?” George chuckled. This week was going to be messy and busy and even messier.

“I think I’ll pass.’ Molly chuckled.

“Just let them crawl around and tire themselves out.” Rose chuckled as she set the mugs of tea on the table. “Tea. Drink. Then we’re going to open the shop.”

“Rose, they’re babies, not kittens.” Molly shook her head.

“They’re not entirely fragile either,” Rose pointed out. “Every corner is baby proof, every corner that’s not baby proof has a spell against it that pushes the baby away from the corner. They can’t fall off the stairs, crawl into the kitchen or any other tight space. The floor is clean. There are toys.”

“And they’re boys, do you have a spell for that?” Molly chuckled.

Rose smirked and twirled her wand. “Yes, but they’re too young to be transfigured into girls.”

“Don't you dare.” George smiled as he finished his tea. “Mum, it was good to see you, but I’ve got to open the shop.” he gave her a kiss, and took both boys in his arms, (they both shrieked with excitement) and made his way downstairs. 

Rose started to clean up the living room and the kitchen while Molly was drinking her tea. “Are you alright, Mum?”

“Of course I am, sweetheart. It’s just so very quiet at home, it’ll take some time to get used to.” she sighed.

“Well, you’re always more than welcome here. But I have to help George in the shop today so it’s going to be quiet here as well, sorry.” she hugged Molly and went downstairs where she was greeted by two very charming smiling babies in the playpen next to the counter. She planted a kiss on Artie’s head and caressed Freddie’s head before quickly going down to the basement to get some _Aviat Mobile_ s that needed to be stocked up. Apparently everyone loved flying Ford Anglia’s these days.

Freddie loved all the customers that walked by the playpen and tried grabbing hold of as many robes as he could, while smiling at the people.

“Oh, he’s a real charmer, isn’t he?” Angelina had walked into the shop. The babies were a real eye catcher. “Hi Rose, hi George, how are you doing?”

“Hi Angelina,” Rose said as she was packing up some of the items that the customer she was helping had bought.

Angelina kneeled down in front of the play pen. “So this is Freddie, I guess?” she smiled at Freddie.

“Yeah.” Rose nodded as she serviced another customer.

“So, where’s Dru then?” 

“Out. George and I are baby sitting.” she smiled. 

“Really, a whole day of two of these little angels? That must be fun.” 

“Oh it is,” Rose nodded as she rung up the next customer. It was crowded and Angelina really wanted to talk to her? Why? “Can I help you with something, Angelina?”

“I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I drop by, is George around?” 

“Yeah he’s at the back trying to contain the Puffskein population.”

“I’m going over to say hi then.” Angelina smiled and made her way over to the back, before Rose could say anything. 

 

Verity was shaking her head. “You better be careful with that one, Mrs Weasley.” 

“Oh I know, she was very very mean at Hogwarts towards the end of her time there...” Rose sighed. “But George loves me. He’d never leave me for her.”

“He loves you alright, but women like that have a way of playing a man that he can forget he already has the love of his life and she, Mrs Weasley, is after your husband.” 

“Verity, I’m not worried.” Rose chuckled. “Angelina knows very well what I’m capable of.”

“Hello, Georgie.” Angelina smiled at him.

“Hello troublemaker,” he chuckled as he was covered in fur. “Long time no see. How are you?”

“Coping.” She smiled at him. “You?” 

“Better,” he nodded.

“So, you have two adorable little babies now, don’t you?” 

“I have one adorable baby. The other one is Dru’s.” he pointed out. “But I must say that he’s an adorable little nephew. If you had shown up at the memorial, you would have known.”

“I was there, remember.” She smiled. “I saw Neville Longbottom giving the speech, while holding Fred’s son.” 

“You were? Oh, sorry, must have missed you then. Sorry.” he chuckled. 

“That’s okay, I saw you leave with Dru. She’s a bit of a handful for you, isn't she?”

“Dru is still trying to cope with Fred’s death, it’s understandable. I am too. She’s not a handful, not at all. Why are you asking all these stupid questions anyway?” He blinked at the puffskein he was holding and saw that it had sharp pointy teeth. He put it in a box labelled “bites”.

“It’s not stupid and I’m just interested how she is doing.” 

“You didn’t make it a secret that you didn’t like Rose and Dru, Angelina.”

“Yes, but this is different.” Angelina got out her notebook and wrote something down before putting the notebook back into her pocket. “So how long is Freddie staying with you?” 

“What are you up to?”

“Just answer the question George.” She shook her head to him. 

“No, not until you’re telling me what you’re up to.” He turned around to face her and crossed his arms over his chest.

“My job.” She got her notebook and wrote something down again.

George snatched the notebook from her and tossed it in the puffskeins and pygmy puff pit who started to devour it within seconds. “And what’s that?”

“Oh you really should not have done that, George.” Angelina shot at him.

“Fine, I’ll buy you a new notebook.” he shrugged.

“That’s propety of the ministry.’ she said as she put her hands in her side, “And you just made the whole thing worse.”

“Uhuh. I don’t believe you. Get out of my shop, Angelina.” 

“Fine then. Freddie is staying with you, for the whole day, right and the rest of the week?” She said as she walked out of the back room.

“Why do you care?”

‘“I don’t. The ministry department of child care does.” She blasted at him.

“Wow.” George nodded, pretending to be impressed. “I still don’t believe you, get out of my shop Angelina.”

“I was trying to help, George, to convince them to let Freddie stay with you, but if you’re this violent...” 

“I’m not violent. I’m just telling you to get out of my shop, which is my right to do so.” He gave a shrug. 

Rose made her way over to George and Angelina. “Something wrong?” 

“I’m trying to help you, but he’s making everything worse. There are tracking devices on those notebooks, to keep track of them, George. And now you went and destroyed it.” 

“First, you come in here, ask stupid questions and you write things down in your silly little notebook without telling me why. Then you tell me you work for the ministry? Angelina, you’re doing things in the wrong order. Get out and go bug someone else.”

“I was supposed to ask questions without you know why I was here. She’s the daughter of death eaters and a single mum. She’s in trouble, George, and you just made things a whole lot worse.” Angelina stormed out of the shop.

Rose looked at George. “Go to Kingsley ask if this is true.” She said before she told Verity to keep an eye on the boys and followed Angelina. She managed to stop Angelina and looked at her. “Now you listen to me, Angelina, should you indeed work for the ministry, ask them to train you better. Secondly, she’s not a single mum. Thirdly, she’s done more than enough to prove that she’s on our side. Fourthly, if you ever throw a scene in George’s busy shop again, god help me not to blast your head off.” 

“Rose, she is a single mum according to the ministry. Neville is not a registered partner. And she is...’ 

“Who cares that he’s not a registered partner! It’s not of anyone’s business whether she has a boyfriend or not.”

“The ministry, where the complaint about her was made. God, Rose I....” 

“Who filed the complaint?”

“I’m not at liberty to say that..” 

“Who filed the complaint, Angelina?” Rose growled.

“Calm down and let me finish.” Angelina yelled at her. 

“I am calm, you’re not. You’re afraid of me.” Rose chuckled. “Who filed the complaint?”

“Rose, you need to shut up and let me finish talking.” 

“Who filed the complaint?”

“Fine, if you don't want to listen, I can't help you and god knows I’ve tried.’ 

“Who filed the complaint?” Rose asked again. She had her hands in her pockets and sighed. 

“Somebody that was present at the memorial and no I don’t know who. They wouldn’t tell me after I’ve begged for this case to help you.” She shot at Rose.

“You’re doing it the wrong way, you should have come after the shop was closed. Besides...”

“You don’t understand, if I hadn’t interfered, they would have already taken him away weeks ago. I talked them into an investigation before separating them.”

“How convenient that you’ve waited until Dru and Neville were out.” 

“I have orders, about how and when to do this. I’m trying to help to let Fred’s son stay with his mother I don't care one shit about Dru, but I know Fred would never want them to be separated so I’m really trying here.” 

“What’s wrong about being a single mum?”

“Nothing, but she left Freddie crying for an hour, before coming back and no offense, she left them with someone who was not in her right mind to take care of her own kid, let alone the child of someone else.” 

“The ministry really needs to learn how to shove it and leave good mum’s alone. It’s normal to let a kid cry for a long time to teach him that --.”

“Not like that, but **I** understand that there was more to it than negligence, but Rose, you and George are making things worse now by attacking me.”

“George and I haven’t attacked you. George merely fed your stupid notebook to some hungry magical creatures.” Rose gave a shrug. “Go back to your superiors and tell them to shove it.”

Angelina sighed. “Fine, but don't come running to me, I’ve really tried all I could now.” 

“I shouldn’t be too worried.” She smiled at her. “But honestly, ask them to retrain you, you’re far from being a professional. Good try though.” she nodded, turned around and headed to the shop. She lifted Artie from the pen and Freddie too and headed upstairs. “Come on lads, let’s take a nap.”

“Mrs Weasley, I need you to come back down with him.” A voice said from behind her. 

Rose turned around with the half sleeping boys in her arms and looked straight in the face of Pansy Parkinson. “Get out.”

Pansy held up a piece of parchment. “I’m taking Fred Weasley with me. If you stop me or try to withhold him from me, I have the authority to take you to Azkaban for endangering an underaged wizard.”

“Verity, please close the shop for me?” Rose called to her friend. 

“You have three seconds.” Pansy said as she hold out her arms to Freddie.

Once the shop was cleared out and closed, Rose looked at Pansy. “What would Draco think about you wanting to take away his nephew?”

“I don't care about Draco Malfoy, now give me the child before I arrest you.” 

“Over my dead body, Pansy. The boy is almost asleep, let him have his nap first.”

“We got cribs where I’m taking him, now give him to me, before I arrest you and take your son as well.” 

Rose really hoped that George would come home soon, she couldn’t do much with both boys in her arms. “Go away.”

“Give him to me, I won’t hurt him.” Pansy said as she was now standing right in front of Rose. 

“Rosie, take the boys upstairs.” George’s voice sounded from behind Pansy. “Everything’s alright.”

Rose smiled at him and turned around to walk up the rest of the stairs.

“Miss Parkinson,” Kingsley’s voice sounded. “Have you lost your mind? Or better yet, have your superiors lost their minds?”

“There were official complaints made about the welfare of this child. We just followed the law.” 

“I understand. And I understand that the department of child welfare still needs to be reorganized, but you’re not taking young Fred Weasley away from his mother. Go back to the ministry and have your superiors report to my office immediately.”

“Alright minister.” Pansy walked out of the shop, but just before she walked out she turned around and said; “I only did as I was told, sir.” 

“We’ll talk about this later. Out.”

Rose had put Artie and Freddie in the super sized crib that Molly had brought over and they were now peacefully asleep. Rose was terrified. She had been afraid that George wouldn’t have returned in time and made more of a mess than it already had been. She put protective spells around the crib and the nursery just to be on the safe side and made her way back to George. 

“Are the boys asleep?” he asked as he put his arms around her.

“Yes, and anyone who’s not us that comes in that nursery is in for a hell of a surprise,” she muttered.

“Good.” 

“I truly am sorry,” Kingsley said. “The child welfare department has a lower priority to be reorganised than the rest of the departments and if I had known that something like this would happen...”

“It’s alright,” Rose smiled bravely. “Thank you, Kingsley.”

“I’m just glad we still have Freddie.” George sighed and turned to Kingsley. “Find out who made the complaint, will you?”

Kingsley chuckled. “Yes, I shall do that. Have a good day you two, sorry for the inconvenience.”

When Kingsley had gone Rose clung on to George and sobbed. “Nearly lost Artie too! And they think that I’m an unfit mother because I had some issues and... I was really close to just apparating away and hide us all... they can’t take Freddie. They can’t take Artie... and I shouldn’t break down but... I was so scared, George.” 

“Shhh. You’re not an unfit mother, well you were, but you’re better now and Kingsley will find out who did this.” 

She took a deep breath and just held onto him for a while. “I am ready to go to the department of child welfare and give them a smack around their heads.”

“Yeah you do that.” 

“Awiiii!!” 

“Fafa!!” 

“Ugh, they’re supposed to be asleep.” Rose groaned as she let go of George and headed up towards the nursery. “You two need to do the sleeping thing, and not wrestle.”

“Awi.” Freddie was cuddling Artie.

“Fafa,” Artie chuckled and then looked up to see his mother. “Mama.” he said drooling.

“Mama?” Freddie’s lip was quivering.

“Oh I know sweetie,” she said as she smiled at Fred. “Your mama will be back in a couple of days, dada dada is going to do something really special with her.”

“Rose, that sounds really dirty.” George chuckled as he leaned against the doorpost.

“Gigi.” Freddie reached out to George.

“Oh no he did not just say that.” George said and rubbed his face with his hand.

“Gigiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii” Freddie laughed and stretched his arms further.

“I’m going to kill you Fred.” George muttered and looked at Freddie. “Go to sleep.”

“Dada gigi.” Freddie chuckled and cuddled Artie again.

“Gigi?” Artie asked.

“Gigi.” Freddie reached out to George again.

Artie chuckled and decided that ‘gigi’ sounded much better than ‘dada’ “Gigi!” he squealed.

“FRED!”

“Yes, Georgie?”

“Why did you teach your kid to call me Gigi, who, in turn taught my kid that it sounds so good?”

Rose was roaring with laughter and sat down in the rocking chair because she couldn’t get any more air and needed to stop hiccuping. 

“But you liked Gigi.” Fred grinned.

“Hit yourself over the head.” George glared at him. “Because I can’t do it.”

Fred winked at Rose. “Ah yes, the perks of being a ghost, Can’t be hit over the head, and peaking at your wife when she is in the shower.”

“Oh don’t let Neville hear that,” she chuckled.

“He caught me, but he was okay with it. You know what he said; It’s fine you can look, since you can’t touch anyway. Dirty bastard.” Fred chuckled. 

“OH, good one.” George looked at Artie and Freddie. “You two are going to sleep. Nap. Auntie Rose, mama, is going to take a nap too because she’s been busy defending the castle in the last half an hour or so. Sleep, no sound.”

“Dada?” Artie asked.

“Ah, no sound, Artie.” 

Artie huffed and Freddie echoed the sentiment and started to chew on Artie’s hand while Artie started to chew on Freddie’s.

George pulled Rose up from the chair and left the room. “Fred, don’t keep them awake.”

“I’m just going to watch them sleep.”

“Alright.” George nodded and lifted Rose off her feet and then brought her to the bedroom. “I have to reopen the shop.” He said as he kissed her. “You take a nap. You were absolutely wonderful today.” he kissed her again. “Our lioness Rosie.” he smiled at her. 

“Almost lost them.”

“Almost, but not quite.” He kissed her again. “Don’t worry, everything is going to be alright.”

She nodded as she hugged the duvet. “I’ll see you when they wake up again.”

George kissed her again and closed the door behind him after leaving the bedroom. He peeked into the nursery. “You’re not going to tell on Dru and Neville, are you? We’ll tell them when they get back.”

“He’s going to ask her to marry her, Georgie. I’m not going to spoil that for them.” 

“Just checking,” he smiled at his brother before going back downstairs and re-opened the shop with Verity. 

~~~

“Neville, where are we?” Dru asked as they apperated onto a beach.

“Uhh... South of France?” He said sheepishly.

She looked at him and giggled. “You have no idea , do you?” 

“No.” he chuckled. “But it’s absolutely beautiful. George and Rose are incredible, they haven’t gone on a holiday themselves and they give us this?”

“It’s like paradise.” Dru gushed as she looked around.

Neville looked at the piece of paper he had in his hand and pointed to a building at the edge of the dunes. “That’s our hotel. Dru, we have a hotel on the beach.”

Dru turned around and softly kissed him. “Let’s check out our hotel room then.” 

They checked in and were shown to their hotel room (shown! this place must have cost George and Rose a fortune!). The room was big, really big with a big bed and a big bath tub in the bathroom. “Wow.”

“This is amazing.” Dru smiled and dropped herself onto the bed. “Comfy bed too.” she smiled as she propped herself onto her elbows.

“Really?” Neville smiled as he crawled onto the bed and fell down. “Oh... yep.” he nodded before kissing Dru eagerly.

“Nice bed for sleeping.” Dru teased and turned on her side, facing the wall.

“Perhaps.” He moved his hand underneath her shirt and caressed her back as he scooted over to be closer to her. “I want to see how well this bed does under stressful situations.”

Dru giggled and got up from the bed. “I wanna go to the beach.” 

Neville pointed to her bag that was standing in the corner of the room. “Rose bought you some new clothes.”

Dru smiled, got out her wand and just hoped Fleur went shopping with her. _”Accio Bikini.”_ She pointed at the bag and this tiny hot pink bikini came out. 

“Fuck.” Neville swallowed hard. “Are you actually going to wear that?”

“Well, there’s not much to wear, but i’m going to try.” Dru went into the bathroom and got out dressed in her bikini 5 minutes later, like she had thought, it was a very tiny bikini, that covered up what needed to be covered for decency, but nothing more. 

“Oh fuck.” Neville pulled Dru onto the bed. “I have this sudden urge to just rip that bikini off of you and take you right now.” he said huskily.

“Shame, I’m going to the beach.” She tenderly kissed him, before getting up from the bed and grabbing a beach towel. “Are you sure you’re not coming?” 

Neville pulled down his pants, revealing a very big bulge in his shorts. “Not like this.” He groaned as he rummaged through the bag to find shorts and only found speedo’s. “I’m going to kill George.”

Dru smiled “I got some in my bag. I think Rose knows her husband to well.” she smiled and handed him his swimming shorts.

“Pfew.” Neville got into the speedo anyway because he once had this accident with swimming shorts that got pulled off of him by the water and he had ended up naked. He took a few deep breaths and thought of off putting things (dead bodies always helped) to calm himself down. He then pulled off his shirt and found another towel. “Let’s go to the beach then.”

Dru made sure she kept walking in front of him, (the bikini bottoms were very tiny too) and wiggled her hips as they walked down the beach. The man from the hotel showed them to a cabana where there was food and drinks and everything waiting for them. “Oh wow.” 

“Wow.” Neville smiled as he put his arms around her just to look at the things in the cabana and the view from it to the sea. “This is brilliant.”

Dru leaned in against him and threw her head against his shoulder. “Yeah.... it’s pretty _hot_ here, don't you think?” She put the towel on the bed and then got out of his arms and slowly walked towards the sea, making sure her hips were wiggling.

“Mad... she’s mad...” Neville muttered to himself and ran after her. “You are driving me crazy.” He said as he scooped her up and continued to run towards the sea before walking into the water with her.

“Neville!” She shrieked while laughing. “Put me down.” 

“Okay.” Neville shrugged and dropped her in the ocean.

“Ahhhhhh.” Dru emerged from the water again, soaked through and through and shivering. 

He grinned and put his arms around Dru before kissing her tenderly. “You asked for it.”

“You’re mean.” Dru pouted.

“You told me to put you down.” He kissed her again and pulled her body against his.

“This does mean no sex for you.” 

“That’s okay, I have two hands.” he said as he kissed her again and caressed her hair. 

Dru looked at him before she pushed him over into the sea and the quickly started to swim away from him, she wasn't a strong swimmer, but she was sure going to try.

Neville went after her and had quickly caught up with her. He tugged on her feet and pulled her back towards him. “I’m going to eat you.” He grinned and playfully bit her shoulder.

“Yum.” She laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “With what part of my body are you going to start?”

“Your neck, most definitely.” he said as he licked the salt water off her neck.

“Hmmm...” Dru smiled and wrapped her legs around his waist. “And then?” 

“Your breasts.” Neville said as he kissed her collarbone and buried his face between her breasts. 

Dru giggled. “Don't eat too much though else you’ll get fat.”

“I can eat what I want,” he said as he kissed her breasts.

“Hmm.” Dru brought his face up to her and kissed him passionately. “All you can eat buffet then?”

“If the kitchen’s open.” He nodded.

Dru pulled Neville with her to the surf of the sea and laid down in the wet sand, while she kissed him. “Not a smart idea with all the sand.” The beach was deserted except for them two. 

“We’ve got water to rinse ourselves off,” he said huskily as he kissed her neck.

Dru was really getting turned on by the idea of doing it in the open. “Would you do it?” 

“Nobody knows us here, who cares?” he chuckled and started to caress her heat through her bikini bottoms.

“Fuck.” Dru giggled and wrapped her legs around him. 

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do with you.” Neville whispered in her ear. “Here, at the beach, in the sand and salty water. I’m going to fuck you.”

“Oh you know I like being fucked in the water.” Dru whispered back and licked his earlobe, She started tugging on his swimming shorts. “Take them off, Longbottom.” 

He pulled down his shorts and tossed them onto the sand before he pulled down her bottoms and threw them with his shorts. “You are so gorgeous.”

“And you’re so sexy.” 

“Oh stop it,” he laughed and silenced her with a kiss before reaching behind her and started to pull on the chord to free Dru’s beautiful bouncing breasts.

“But you are, you’re so damn sexy.” Dru bit his bottom lip playfully. “And hot.” 

Neville blushed and got rid of the bikini top. He softly started to caress Dru’s breasts and pinched her nipples a little. 

“Damn.” she moaned and arched her back to him. “Nev..” 

“Yes babe?” he looked up to her. He was now kissing her torso and occasionally got a mouthful of water in his mouth. 

“Stop teasing me.” she moaned.

“Ah, but this is fun.” He said as he licked her nipple and gently bit it.

“You’re killing me.” She moaned and arched her back into him again.

“Nah, you still have a pulse.” he said as he caressed her stomach. He couldn’t believe that his own flesh and blood was now cooking in Dru’s oven. He caressed her heat and then moved so that he could enter her. She was getting restless and he needed to hurry. No, his Dru wasn’t demanding at all. He smiled at her and kissed her as he started to push himself inside of her.

“Fuck.” She gasped and she buried her hand in his hair. “Oh you feel good.” 

“So do you,” he said huskily as he started to push a little bit harder. “So good...” it was fun to do this in the water. It gave this extra dimension to making love to each other. He just knew that sand was going to be everywhere for weeks. 

“Deeper.” She whispered.

“Christ.” Neville moaned and did his best to hit her deeper, harder and faster. 

“Oh...Nev....” She moaned and closed her eyes as she felt him kissing her jaw. “Oh..” 

He bit down on her shoulder as he came hard and fast with a grunt. This was great. This was heaven. 

“I love you.” Dru whispered to him and she put her arms tightly around his neck, she loved the fact he would always stay inside her and on top of her for a minute or two after they had rode out her orgams, it made her feel closer to him somehow. 

“I love you more.” he chuckled as he softly nuzzled her neck. 

“Impossible.” she softly kissed his temple. 

He slowly got off of her and handed her her bikini parts. “Let’s have some food and bake in the sun for the rest of the day.” 

“What ever you want.” she smiled at him. “My day is already perfect.”

~~~

"Gigi." Freddie had pulled himself up with help from the sofa and was standing next to George. "Gigi."

It was a quiet evening after they day they had had the day before. Rose was still reeling because of it (but she wouldn’t admit it. George knew that she had put spells around the shop and the house to make sure the kids wouldn’t be taken.) but she was doing fine. She wasn’t shut down or anything, she was just extremely pissed off, and had not lost her marbles like she would have before. She was in the kitchen baking cookies and the house smelled great. George just wondered how he was going to eat all those cookies.

George chuckled as he pulled Freddie onto the sofa with him. Artie was still crawling around and making funny noises and sometimes crawling towards the kitchen to see if his mummy would give him another banana. “What’s up, little man?” he set Fred onto his lap and looked at him. “Are you still having fun?”

“Gigi." Freddie uncoordinatedly clapped his hands together and smiled widely. "Gigi dada do bo, dada do bo."

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” George laughed and started to bounce him on his lap. “Do you want a banana?”

Freddie sighed and tried to get off George's lap again, adults could be so frustrating sometimes.

“Hey,” George pulled him back on his lap and made him look at him. “You’re maybe too young to understand everything, well you probably are because you can’t even talk yet and you’re just this baby, but be a normal baby, okay? Don’t grow up too fast, live a little, be a baby. Cause mayhem with Artie.”

“Oi!” Rose called out from the kitchen. “No mayhem!”

“Mayhem,” George nodded to Freddie and put him on the floor again. “So, swimming tomorrow then?”

“Can we go to the Burrow and swim in the pond? Or is the pond too dirty for the boys?”

Freddie crawled to the bookcase and tried to get a book out, but the book as too heavy and wouldn't move so he started crying.

Rose climbed over the little child gate that they had put in front of the kitchen entrance and walked to Freddie to pick him up. “Want to hear a story?” She said as she shushed him. She looked at Artie, who smiled brightly. “You do, don’t you?” she chuckled. She then looked at George. “It’s 8 pm, why haven’t they fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion?”

“Because he’s Fred’s son, and Fred didn't like sleeping earlier, and Artie is my son, which means, he doesn’t want to go to bed earlier than Freddie.“ George chuckled as he picked up Artie from the floor and got out “The tales of Beedle the Bard”, Hermione had given them the rough translations of the book that was left to her by Dumbledore. He sat down next to Rose and Freddie on the sofa and opened the book. “Alright, which one should I read today?”

Personally, Rose liked to read the non-threatening Muggle fairy tales to Artie. Mostly because they did have some sort of morality in them but they weren’t as scary as the magical fairy tales. Plus, they were usually shorter. She put her feet on the sofa and placed Freddie against her legs and smiled at him. “As long as you hear words everything is fine, isn’t it, Freddie?” she said as she started to tickle him.

Freddie started laughing and tried to grab Rose’s hair.

“As long as we use a certain tone of voice everything is fine, isn’t it?” she stuck out her tongue to him as she continued to tickle him.

“Dada do bo, dada do bo.” Freddie laughed. 

Rose used her wand to get the two baby bottles with warm milk out of the kitchen and handed one to George for Artie and then she started to help Freddie drink his. 

Freddie looked up to his aunt and nestled against her while continuing to drink his bottle.

She smiled at Freddie. So he _was_ tired after all. She looked over to George who had an already snoring Artie in his arms. “Success!” she mouthed.

“Give him a few more minutes and then he’ll be gone too.” George smiled. 

Freddie grunted and sighed as he violently started to suck on the now empty bottle. He whined, let go of the bottle and tried to bury himself inside of Rose and fell asleep.

“See.” George laughed and smiled at Rose. “I can’t believe we’re going to be married for two years at the end of the week, I mean look at us. A shop, a house, a kid.” he chuckled.

“We’re getting old and we’re not even thirty.” she snorted and softly kissed him. “Let’s take these two upstairs.”

“Yeah.” George carefully got up trying his best not wake Artie.

They brought the babies to bed and Rose put her arms around George when they were on the landing together. She smiled up to him before tiptoeing and softly kissing his lips. “I love you.”

George wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet as he kissed her back. “I might love you too, I’m not convinced yet.”

“Might?” She put her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Might? Alright, I can live with that. What do you want me to do to convince you that you do love me? Do you want to get tied up to the bed while I suck your cock?” she whispered in his ear.

George kissed her eagerly as he walked them into the bedroom. “Just don't tie me up.” He gently placed her on the bed. “I don't want to have to explain to dad again, why I have bruises on my wrist.” 

“That was your own fault,” she chuckled. “I told you to keep lying still and you kept moving.” She pulled him onto the bed and sat down on top of him. “But that’s not a no towards to cock sucking, is it?” she smiled deviously.

“I’m never going to say no to that.” He greedily kissed her, “But I’m going to spoil you too, I’ve missed your body.” 

“Was my body missing?” Rose blinked at him as she unbuttoned his shirt. “I hadn’t noticed.”

George licked her collarbone. “You know what I mean.” he put his hand on her heat. “I want to spoil you.” 

“Shame that I’m on top then,” she giggled and helped him out of his shirt before moving her hands down to his pants.

“You have your fun, I’ll make you mine later.” George groaned and closed his eyes, he couldn't help but love the new sex drive Rose had discovered within herself. Not that she didn't love sex before, but the new Rosie loved to try new things and George was all for that.

She opened his trousers and moved so she could pull them off, including his boxers and socks. “Yum.” she said as she licked her lips in appreciation. 

George chuckled as he pulled her top of her, “God, you’re hot when you’re like this.” 

“Like what?” she smiled at him as she slowly started to open her pants.

“Like my wild Rosie.” he tenderly kissed her. “I like bad girls, remember?”

“Hmm... I should have let Pansy take me away to Azkaban then.” she said as she moved so she could kiss his neck and get out of her pants as well. 

“Not that bad.” George chuckled and pulled Rose close on top of him. “I love you, wild Rosie.” 

“Well, that was easy, to make you love me, and not ‘might love me’.” she chuckled as she started to kiss his neck again, moving her body all over his. She liked feeling his skin against hers and this was already driving her wild.

“Fuck, Rosie.” George groaned, he loved her body on his and he felt like he was going to explode and if she didn’t help him soon, he was going to have to take her. 

She hummed as she licked his nipple and then kissed her way over his chest towards his other nipple. She licked it and softly blew on it.

“That’s it, you’re mine.’ George flipped them over so sudden that Rose gave a little shriek. “I need to fuck you, right now.” he said huskily. 

Rose laughed and put her arms around his neck. “Then fuck me.” She said as she licked her lips. “Hard and deep.” she whispered in his ear. 

“Rose.” George groaned and started push himself inside of her. Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew he was forgetting something, but he couldn't remember what and right now he just didn’t care.

“Oh god, George!” she moaned as she let her head fall back into the pillows. She put her legs around his waist and kept his arms around his neck to keep him closer to her. “Feels so good...” she moaned.

“Oh Rose.” He groaned as he kept thrusting harder and faster and deeper. “Oh my beautiful hot Rose.” 

Her breathing had become shallow and she was getting light in her head before she felt how her body just pleasantly exploded. The arms she had had around George’s neck just fell onto the bed as if they were strands of spaghetti. “I’m seeing stars,” she chuckled.

“I’m seeing an angel.” He groaned before he came hard himself and buried his face in her neck. “God, you’re explosive.” 

“Boom?” she giggled as she caressed his hair.

“Oh, I love having my Wonder Witch back.”


	73. Ten Minutes of Heaven

They had been out sightseeing all day, taking everything really slow. It wasn’t hard to blend in with the rest of the tourists as there were hardly any for some reason (who wouldn’t want to be on a beautiful island during their holidays? This was just perfect!) and went to some old castle and took a nice long walk through a forest that made them cool off for a bit, the sun was scorching hot (although Neville really liked to apply sunscreen on Dru).

It was almost dinner time and he had taken them back to the hotel and told her to dress up nicely because they were going out to a fancy restaurant. He had done the same. He wanted to wear something black, but it was still really too hot outside to wear something black. George had gone out with him and made him pick out a suit and Neville decided to wear it anyway. He had to admit, it did look good on him. He could always ditch the jacket or put it around Dru’s shoulders should it get too cold.

“You spoil me, Neville.” Dru smiled as him as they walked hand in hand over the beach after dinner. “You’re way too good for me.”

“You deserve to be treated like a goddess, like a princess, and lately, I haven’t done that because I wasn’t around much and this is all going to change now with our new line of work.” He smiled at her. “And it’s you who’s spoiling me. I still can’t believe how someone as beautiful as you fell in love with someone like me.”

Dru stopped Neville and took both his hands in hers. “Neville Longbottom, you are everything any girl could ever want.” She softly kissed him. “And I don't blame you for not being around because of your work. You did everything for me and Freddie and I know that.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “We wouldn't have made it without you.”

“I love you so very much,” he blushed at her.

“I love you more.” She smiled at him and softly kissed him, before she let him go and started walking again.

“Wait,” he gently pulled her back towards him and took her into his arms. “I need you to see something,” he said as he softly kissed her and turned them around so that she was facing the sea with her back. Behind him was a display of candles that spelled out “will you marry me?” and with a flick of his wand, he lit them before gently breaking off the kiss and stepped aside before going down on one knee for her.

Dru gasped and put her hands in front of her mouth, she hadn’t expected this. “Neville.’ she whispered in shock. Her eyes filled up with tears. “Oh babe...” she said softly.

“I don’t want to live without you anymore. Or without Freddie and with our new package on the way,” he smiled at her. “Don’t worry, I received Fred’s blessing, he’s completely okay with me asking you to marry me.” He fumbled in his pocket for his grandmother’s ring and held it up to her. “Will you please, please, do me the honor of making me your husband?”

“No.” Dru shook her head softly, a tiny smile lingering behind her hands that were still in front of her mouth.

Neville looked at her in shock. He had been so certain that she would say yes and he didn’t really know what to say now. “No?” he stammered. “But I thought ---”

“It’s going to be _my_ honour of being your wife.” she smiled at him.

Neville released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and smiled. “Oh good, you gave me a good scare there, thought I was making a fool out of myself again.” He got to his feet and softly put the ring around Dru’s finger before kissing her passionately. “I love you.”

“I love you, Neville.” Dru giggled and put her arms tightly around his neck. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

“Just promise me one thing...” he said as he kissed her tenderly.

“Yes, I will have sex with you every single day and twice on Sunday.” she laughed.

“Sounds great, but that’s not what I wanted you to promise.” he grinned.

“And I'll wear skimpy lingerie every day, even while I’m teaching.”

Neville groaned. “No, not that either, but sounds great!” he softly kissed her. “No, you have to promise me that despite us going to learn how to be a teacher, we’ll never become dull and content.”

Dru chuckled and kissed him. “Why do you think I’m going to the lingerie shop when we get home? I’m going to sneak up on you between classes.” she whispered.

“Oh future Mrs. Longbottom, you’re such a sexual deviant.” he started to kiss her passionately and pulled her against him.

“Oh god.” She said while suddenly breaking off the kiss. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“You’re going to be Dru Longbottom-Weasley-Malfoy-LeStrange?”

“I’ve got more last names than Rose.” Dru laughed. “That is if I take your name.”

“Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to...”

Dru laughed. “Don't be daft, of course I will, I just....would it be weird if I became Professor Weasley-Longbottom? Then that way I have the last names of both my children.”

“Whatever you want.” He started to kiss her again.

“I want to marry you.” She muttered though the kiss.

“Good,” he kept kissing her. “Here?”

‘Here?” Dru swallowed, “Okay.” she said in a small voice, she had wanted at least Freddie to be with them, but if he wanted to do it here.

“Yes, here. Tomorrow around lunch. All I need to do is give word to a certain someone and they will all be here, including Freddie and gran.”

“What?” She blinked. “Everybody knew?”

Neville shrugged. “You know how it goes... guy goes to another guy, talks about wanting to get married, asks dead guy, another guy asks wife to go shopping for clothes, guy thinks it would be fun to get married there, so guy makes sure it won’t be on the same date as the first time girl got married but just a couple of days later because July is just a wonderful month and guy thinks that ---”

Dru just shook her head before kissing him. “See, I told you you’re everything any girl could ever want.”

“Rose doesn’t know though,” Neville chuckled. “She had to buy some of your clothes for here but George let Fleur pick out your dress.”

Dru bit her lips and her eyes were filling up with tears again. “I can't believe you did all this.”

“I had some help.” He smiled at her and softly kissed her before lifting her up. “Let’s go to the hotel and celebrate your upcoming wedding and upcoming birthday.” he chuckled.

“Yes, I do want that.” she giggled.

Once they were in the bedroom he sent a message to Dean, who would relay the message to George (Diagon Alley didn’t have muggle phones, sadly). There was a huge time difference anyway so there was plenty of time for them to gather everyone and travel to wherever they were. George knew.

When he returned, he started to peel off the beautiful dress that Dru had been wearing and kissed her tenderly. “Are you sure you’re okay with getting married here? Tomorrow?”

“I’ll marry you any day you want, as long as I have you and Freddie with me.” Dru was loosening the tie that Neville was wearing and then she started to unbutton his shirt.

“Alright,” he chuckled and kissed her. “You’re going to get more than that.”

Dru answered his kiss, while taking off his shirt and started opening his pants, “That does means this is the last night we’re not married.”

“I know,” he chuckled. “Scary isn’t it?” he caressed her breasts.

“No.” Dru chuckled and tugged on Neville’s boxers making them drop to the floor. “I was more thinking we should take advantage of that.”

“What did you have in mind?” he asked huskily. He already knew that they didn’t have to be _too_ careful with their attentions to each other because the baby was still not fully a baby, and he’d never reach it with his cock anyway. The womb was far away. He softly caressed her hair and looked into her eyes. Neville loved her eyes. It was almost as if he saw himself reflected in them, the way that she saw him and it was weird.

After all these years, he still found it hard to believe that Dru _truly_ loved him, that she saw him as this great man who could do anything and well, maybe he could. He had managed to arrange a great internship deal at Hogwarts for the both of them, didn’t he? Of course, hadn’t it been for Rose telling him to be bold he wouldn’t have done it, probably but he had done it nevertheless. 

He could tell that in her eyes, he was flawless and brilliant. Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t, all he wanted right now was to screw her brains out. He greedily kissed her as he lifted her up and put her down on the bed. Dru was giggling as a response. Neville loved it when Dru giggled; it was an involuntary reaction to feeling great and happy and he wanted her to feel great and be happy.

He gently broke off the kiss after a while and started to run his fingertips up and down her arms, then up and down her torso and by now she was squirming and begging for more. She was still so very high strung and sensitive despite the fact that she had lost her empathic ability last year. She really loved to _feel_ and she, as always, was just too impatient to continue to _feel_ his hands on her body.

“Stop touching me,” Neville laughed. “I’m touching _you_.” He softly kissed her lips and then nuzzled her earlobe while his fingers circled her breasts. He then had a brilliant thought. “And I’m going to keep on touching you until you stop moving.”

“Oh that’s mean.” Dru moaned and let her arms fall to her side, grabbing hold of the sheets and tried really hard not to move.

Neville on the other hand, had other plans. He started to kiss his way down her neck while his hands were caressing her stomach and nibbled a bit on her collarbone before moving down her torso. Maybe he was going to avoid paying attention to her breasts. Yeah, that was a great idea (although he really wanted to pay attention to those beautiful breasts).

As he was kissing her stomach, his hands were peeling off her soaking wet underwear. “You’re so wet!” He groaned. What was it with the idea of not touching her somewhere she was highly sensitive to draw all of this out? Make her squirm even more? “Fuck,” he said as he planted a kiss just above her center and then started to lap up her fluids while nuzzling her clit.

“Nev!” Dru moaned. She had managed to keep her arms and hands still, but her legs had a different idea. She was fighting herself hard not to wrap them around Neville’s neck and keep him down there. Neville’s hums sent pleasurable vibrations through her body and she could feel she was almost _there_ already. His big, strong hands were on her thighs, gently squeezing while he was working on her heat, licking her lips and nuzzling her clit. “Oh fuck it,” Dru sighed happily and stopped fighting her body. She came, hard. Maybe a little too loud too.

Neville had made her come at least three more times that night and she felt blissfully weak in the knees and exhausted but she didn’t care. She was floaty and loving it. She had made sure that Neville had gotten off too but he had insisted that she was the focus point of the night. She loved the soak in the bath with Neville afterwards. They didn’t talk, at all, both just lost in their own heads and loving being in each other’s arms.

Dru had given up in trying to figure out how this all had happened. The vacation did seem to be perfectly mapped out. Neville seemed to know what he was doing at all times (where to go, where to have dinner, even his proposal was geologically planned) and it was a strange feeling to just let herself be guided through the experience but she had to admit, it was _fun_ not to try to be in control all the time.

She would have wanted to share this with Freddie too, but he was too young and if Freddie had been with them, there was no way that she and Neville would have had such an amazing night. Maybe it was good that sometimes, Freddie was going to have sleepovers. Most definitely.

Dru couldn’t believe that she was going to get married. Again. And in such a short period of time. She and Fred had been married for less than a year when he passed away and it had been a little over a year since he passed and it was a bit weird, but for some reason, it felt right. Like this was exactly what Fred wanted to happen. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had been one of the main people who planned all this.

She and Fred might not have been completely perfect with each other, maybe, if she had been more honest with him, they would have waited. But she was ready now. Completely ready and committed to this new step that she and Neville were going to take and the new chapter in her life. She was actually going to be a teacher one day and she was going to learn from Slughorn. She never thought that he wanted her to step into his shoes, she didn’t think she was even in his sight before.

The timing for all the changes was right. She was ready.

* * *

Rose watched George pack some bags after she had come back from doing shopping. He had given her a list what to buy (sunscreen? hats for the babies?) and he wasn’t saying anything to her. Just to keep an eye on the babies but they were now taking their nap.

It was weird. It was Friday the 13th and usually they had something special planned for the store, to make it more fun for every customer, but George had closed the store and had given Verity Friday and Saturday off. Whenever she tried to ask George what the hell he was doing, he changed the subject and she frowned when George packed some of her new dresses. He had already packed the bags for Freddie and Artie and he seemed to be having _fun_.

“You know, I could just cheat.” Rose finally said.

“Do that and you’re going to wish you didn’t. Come on, let yourself be surprised for a change.”

“I have had plenty of surprises this week, thanks.” She answered dryly. She was going to kill Hannah Abbot, and once Dru and Neville would find out what happened when they returned, they were going to kill Hannah all over again. It was her who had made the complaint against Dru at the department of Child Welfare and Rose knew why. Hannah was jealous. She wanted to have Neville back and she would do anything to accomplish that. Jealous bitch.

Kingsley admitted that the department needed a good reorganisation, better rules, their investigators better trained and maybe a different approach but he hadn’t thought of it as being an important department to reorganise just yet as it had been one of the newer departments created over the last few years. Their latest reorganisation had been when they had found out about what had happened to Rose as a child and that was quite recent.

It had her thinking though. Would the department had done something about her situation in a helpful way if it had been around when she was a child? Probably not because her grandfather had been a ministry official. No way they would think he could do something wrong in raising her (then again, her grandfather had raised her father and he had turned out to be as mad as a hatter and a Voldemort groupie. Surely the ministry wouldn’t allow him to raise her by himself so that history could repeat itself? She was glad that she ended up the way she did. It was a struggle but she landed on her feet, didn’t she?).

It was a ridiculous rule that single mums had to register their boyfriends, especially if the mother was a daughter of a Death Eater. It made Rose a little paranoid about herself too. Sure, she still had George who was from a good family and seen as such, but she couldn’t help but feeling that if she’d do something wrong that they’d take Artie away from her and George. No, the department _really_ needed to change.

But yeah, Hannah Abbot. Rose was going to kill her.

“Rose, sweetie? Could you pop over to Neville’s gran and pick her up?” George smiled at her.

“Why?”

“Because she’s elderly, her bag is probably heavy and she’s not going to travel all by herself. Pick her up.”

“But why?” Rose didn’t understand. What did Neville’s grandmother have to do with all of this?

George softly kissed her. “Just do it.”

Rose blinked when she saw Bill, Fleur and Victoire come out of the fireplace with bags of their own. What was going on? “George?”

“Go.” he laughed and saw Rose disappear.

“She has no idea, hasn’t she?” Bill laughed.

“No.” George chuckled. “She threatened to cheat but I don’t think she will. Did you give the apparate instructions to mum, dad and everyone else?”

“Of course. Mum is thrilled that Dru is going to have a proper wedding.”

“Oi, the wedding with Fred was proper.”

“Yeah, with just you and Rose. You know mum, Dru’s like a daughter to her and she’ll always be like a daughter.”

Andromeda Tonks walked out of the fireplace with Teddy on her arm, both wearing big smiles on their faces. Teddy had taken his first steps a few weeks ago and he was turning into this uncontainable ball of energy, just like his mother. “Icky!” Teddy squealed, started to move until his grandmother would lower him to the ground and then he wobbled his way over to Fleur and Victoire.

“Sorry Teddy, Vicky is sleeping.” Fleur smiled at him.

Teddy sighed and sat down on the floor.

“Oh!” Fleur said with a smile. “I’m going to make my way over already to make sure that Dru looks absolutely wonderful in that dress.” She turned to Bill and gently placed Victoire in his arms. The girl was still blissfully asleep. She was a lot calmer than Artie and Freddie when they were still so little. “Do not drop her.” she warned him and after gathering Dru’s dress (and Neville’s suit) and her make up equipment from the storage room of the shop (Rose never went there) she disappeared.

“Wait, hold on.” George said. “She hasn’t given me the boys suits yet.” 

“Relax, George.” Bill chuckled. “I’ve got them.” 

“Okay, I’m gonna get the boys in their suits before Rosie get back with Neville’s gran.” George took the suits that Bill had gotten out of his bag and went upstairs to dress the boys. When he came back 15 minutes later, Rose wasn't back yet. Like Gran had promised George, she was stalling Rose. 

“Oh that’s so adorable.” Andromeda said as George put Artie on the ground. Artie was wearing a nice shirt and pants in the same colors of Teddy’s little suit and Victoire’s dress. Fleur had matched them perfectly. Freddie was wearing a tiny cream coloured suit, the same colour as Fleur had picked out for Neville’s suit. 

“Now all we have to do is wait for Rose and Gran, tell Rosie what’s going on and go the the wedding.” George smiled while still holding Freddie, George didn’t want to get the suit dirty before Neville and Dru could see their little boys all dressed nicely. 

Rose loved Augusta Longbottom for being Neville’s gran and being to the point (what’s the point of making things more difficult than they should be?) but right now she could strangle her. Like George, Augusta didn’t say what was going on or why she needed an overnight bag but for some reason she thought she had forgotten to pack something so Rose had to unpack and repack the whole bag (undetectable extension charms were lovely) at least six times until Rose was fed up and just grabbed the bag and pulled Augusta with her through the fireplace. A woman of her age shouldn’t apparate. 

“Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Rose said frustratingly as she walked towards the living room where she saw the little ones all dressed up and even George had crawled into a suit. His suit was light colored, unlike some of the darker pretty colors he wore for work. Artie looked handsome too. “Oh, don’t I feel underdressed...” she muttered as she looked down to her jeans and shirt. 

George chuckled and softly kissed her. “Alright, I can tell you this part of what you’re not supposed to know; Dru and Neville are getting married _today_ and we’ve gathered here to take the floo-network to the Island we sent them off to. There’s an old Witch there who has a working fireplace. I am not going to tell you the rest.”

“Married?” Rose blinked at George. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.” 

“I didn’t know that they were engaged?”

“They weren’t, not until a couple of hours ago.” George smiled widely. “Go upstairs and get changed, there’s something more appropriate on the bed.”

“Mama!” Artie cried out and stretched out his arms for her. 

Rose picked up her son and wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Oof. My handsome boy left me a present to take care of too.” she planted a kiss on the side of Artie’s head and took him upstairs. She changed Artie and pulled his clothes back on and smiled at him. “You look so cute.” 

“Mama,” he giggled.

She took him to the bedroom and put him on the bed locked in between two pillows and looked at the dress. A dress. The fabric was light and it was white. White dress. With a baby? Who was crazy enough to get her a white dress? It was a white summer dress with spaghetti straps and there was a little bit of detail on the hem of it. Flowers. Rose sighed, got into the dress and observed herself in the mirror. Didn’t look too bad on her (since when did she care what she looked like anyway?), she just wished that it hadn’t been a white dress. 

They all used the floo-network to go to the tropical island that George had picked out for Neville and Dru to spend their holiday and ended in a small shack halfway up a mountain. “Thank you so much, Bertha dear,” Augusta smiled at her friend. “Most of us will be coming back tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe your boy is getting married.” Bertha smiled. “You’re more than welcome. You should come by more often.”

“Oh I know, I know... but my health isn’t what it used to be, you know how it goes.” Augusta smiled.

George wasn’t surprised that Neville’s gran knew Bertha. They were both old anyway. When they stepped out of the shack to make their way down the mountain, Rose was amazed by the view. “Wow.” she breathed as she held Artie close to her. Now she knew why she had to buy sunscreen and baby hats against the sun. She grabbed one of the hats out of George’s back pocket and put it onto Artie’s head and then put the other one on Freddie’s. “This is paradise.”

George loved seeing the stunned look on Rose’s face. Unknown to her, they were going to spend the rest of the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, on the island themselves. They’d be on the other side of the island as to give space to Neville and Dru and their honeymoon, but also for Rose and George to have one of their own, since they hadn’t had one. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He held Fred with one hand and with the other he held Rose’s elbow, he didn’t want her to fall.

She nodded. She would have loved to stay here as well. She knew that most of the family had coined in to give Neville and Dru their dream vacation on this island (and getting married, who knew?) because it looked like a very exclusive island with big expenses, but it would cost too much. Even a weekend away would be like a month’s worth of food. Yes, even though the shop was doing fine, Rose still didn’t like to spend money whereas George did. “It is.”

“You know.” George grinned. “We never really had a real honeymoon, did we?”

“That’s fine,” she smiled at him. “I don’t need a real honeymoon because I have you.”

Artie smacked her in the face. 

“Oi, watch it.” She told him as she stumbled into George. “This is a very narrow path and your mummy isn’t very coordinated. You can’t surprise me like that.”

“Let me hold him.” George took Artie on his other arm. “Now, Artie, what do you think? Should mummy and daddy finally have their own honeymoon?” He gave Freddie to Rose, Freddie was very calm and quiet right now, he was missing his mother since he hadn’t seen her for three days now.

Artie blinked and looked frightened.

“What is this? My wife and my son don’t want to go on holiday? I should have known that before I booked us that cottage for the weekend.”

“You did what?!” Rose didn’t know whether to be angry or surprised. Bill and Andromeda chuckled. “Have you... George!” she hit him in the arm. 

“Oi! I’m holding our son and you’re holding Neville’s best man, don’t drop him.” George chuckled. 

She hit him in the arm again. “Typical, telling me this while I have to concentrate to stay on this narrow path and me having to concentrate to put one foot in front of the other. Have you lost your mind? This place must cost a fortune!” 

“You’re doing the books for the shop and still you’re saying we can’t afford this?” George laughed. Deep down he knew that she was happy, she just had an issue with spending money. “Sweetie, there’s nothing wrong with spending the extra money you have on people you love and you and I really deserve a weekend away from everything and also to have a proper honeymoon. Mum even offered to take Artie and Freddie.”

“No.” Rose said as she shook her head.

“Alright, then we’ll go home after Dru and Neville get married.”

“No. I’m not handing the boys over to your mum. I don’t care that things got settled, I’m not handing the boys over to your mum.”

“So we’re staying?” George stopped for a second and smiled at Rose, who was smiling up to him. “Oh this is brilliant.”

She tiptoed and softly kissed George on his lips. “Thank you.”

“Keep moving,” Augusta muttered. “The sooner we’re off this mountain, the sooner we can get some shade.”

“Yes, ma'am.” George smiled and they continued walking. when they reached the hotel, a lot of the other guest had already arrived. The rest of the Weasley family, members of the DA (Hannah hadn’t shown her face), Kingsley and Seamus, Dean, Luna and of course Neville, who was getting really really nervous. 

“Hello Neville.” George smiled as they walked up to the deck area. 

“Dada dada! Dada dada!” Freddie’s face lit up when he saw Neville and reached his arms out to him, nearly toppling out of Rose’s arms.

Rose handed Freddie to Neville with a smile. “Wow, Nev, look at you.”

“Dada dada!” Freddie bounced in Neville’s arms and managed to actually hug him without bumping into him.

“Look at you, you’re such a handsome boy.” Neville smiled at the little boy and gave him a kiss on his head. “I can't believe you did all this for us, thank you.” He smiled at Rose and George.

“There was some help involved,” George chuckled and looked at Rose. “Why don’t you take Freddie and go and see what’s taking Dru?”

“If I had any idea where I was going, sure.” she nodded and got Freddie out of Neville’s arms. “Want to go and see mum?”

“Mama.” Freddie sighed happily. Rose shrugged and walked into the hotel. It wasn’t hard to find Dru or Fleur as Fleur’s voice could be heard through one of the doors. Rose put Freddie down on his feet and turned him towards the door. “Mummy’s in there.” she said, pointing at the door.

Freddie grinned and started to slap his tiny hands on the door. “Mama! MAMA! MAMA!”

“Freddie?” 

“Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Freddie shrieked as he heard his mother.

“Freddie.” Dru squealed when Fleur had opened the door and hugged her son tightly. “Oh, mummy’s missed you.” She smiled as she covered his face with a million kisses, which seemed to make him laugh. “Oh you look so handsome.” She smiled looking at his cream coloured little suit.

Dru was wearing her princess dress, her hair was done and so was her make up. Dru felt like a princess almost. Fleur had picked out a white dress with a full shirt and a tight body. It reminded Fleur of Dru’s yule ball dress. Dru’s long hair had big stretched out curls in her hair and Fleur had put tiny little daisies in her hair.

“You look amazing.” Rose said and hugged Dru. “I can’t believe you’re marrying Neville.”

“Considering he just asked me last night, neither am I.” Dru giggled as she returned the hug. “I don’t even have a clue where I’m going to get married.”

“Just enjoy it.” Rose smiled and planted a kiss on Dru’s cheek.

Dru sighed, she wasn’t used to let other people have control over life and she wasn’t sure rather she like it or not, but she tried to stay relaxed as she wasn’t going to change things anyway, so she just let things unfolded and so far everything had turned out picture perfect.

“I’m going to see if my husband hasn’t dropped our daughter.” Fleur smiled as she left the room.

Dru was bouncing Freddie in her arms, she had missed her little boy so much. “Rose, would you mind if I had a half hour by myself with Freddie?”

“Of course not. I’ll make sure that you get picked up in 30 minutes.” Rose gave Dru another hug. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Neville doesn’t do a runner.”

Dru chuckled and sat down on the bed with Freddie on her lap. She looked at her little boy and smiled as she caressed her hair. “Mummy is so glad she has you, you know that? You’ve made Mummy’s life really special.”

Freddie smiled up at Dru and nestled himself in Dru’s arms.

“You know, mummy is going to marry Neville today, so we’re going to be a proper little family from now on. You, me, Neville and the little baby we’re going to have.” She gave him a kiss on his head. “And then we’re going to move to Hogwarts, you’re going to love Hogwarts, Freddie.” She rocked him in her arms. “Mummy and Daddy met at Hogwarts too.”

Freddie giggled and put his hand on Dru’s mouth. He loved seeing her mouth move.

“You’re a funny little boy.” She kissed his fingers. “Mummy loves her funny little boy. Your daddy was really funny too, he was a real jokester like uncle George.” 

“Dada?” Fred cocked his head.

“Yeah, dada.” Dru smiled. “You look so much like him, you know.” Dru could feel tears go down her cheek. “I really loved dada and he..” Dru bit her lip and took a deep breath, she didn’t want to cry in front of Freddie, but all this was bringing up memories of her wedding to Fred not even two years ago and she missed him so much right now.

Freddie knew what he had to do. “DADAA!!! DAADAAAAA!!!” he started to yell in a demanding tone. His mummy needed his dada. End of.

Dru looked up at Fred, who was standing in front her. “Hi.” 

“Oh don’t you look beautiful.” He smiled at her and then looked at his son. “I was watching, you know, but thank you for asking if I’d show myself... little tyrant that you are.”

Freddie giggled.

Fred sat down on the bed next to her. “How’s your vacation so far? Are you liking this place?”

“I should have known.” Dru shook her head laughing. “You picked it didn’t you?” 

“Well, the story is this. Neville asked me down to ask his permission, yes, permission, to marry you. And I said that there wouldn’t be a greater honor to see you and him married and happy so I said yes. Then, I told him to hold his thoughts and I went to George. George helped me arrange all of this. Everyone chipped in, a little bit as not to make a certain someone to get a coronary for spending money, but for the most part? It’s a few years worth of vacation money.” He shrugged. “You won’t miss it because of the interest rate of Gringotts so... I just wanted you to have a great vacation, have the love of your life propose to you in a very romantic way and then get married here so you can have your honeymoon here aswell. This island just... it’s so you.”

Dru had put Freddie on the floor, she had the the balcony doors closed so he couldn't go anywhere anyway. “Thank you, but you have to realize something, Rose was right all along. I don't have one love of my life, I have Neville and you.” She wiped her tears away. “I love him, but I love you too. I still love you so much.” She smiled at him. “And no matter how happy Neville makes me, he will never take your spot in my heart, you know.”

“I know,” he smiled at her. “It’s going to be hard to forget me with mini me crawling over the floor.”

“Honey, even if I didn’t had Freddie, I would still feel the same way.” Dru reached up her hands to cup his face, before she sighed, because she remembered he was a ghost. 

“Ah young love.” A voice chuckled.

“Professor?” Dru said shocked. 

Professor Dumbledore appeared with a big smile on his face. “I always found it so tragic when half of a couple would die, leaving the other one behind and now that I’ve witnessed it from this side of things... it’s heartbreaking. And I always said that dead is dead and I was wrong, apparently.” He looked down on himself before looking back up. “I will not show myself again, I’m afraid.” he chuckled. “I look rather... transparent.”

Dru looked at her old headmaster with her mouth wide open. “O...okay?” 

“Love always messes with the bigger plan.” Dumbledore said as he looked at Freddie and then at Fred. “Oh dear,” he said as he then shifted his gaze back upon Dru. “You’re going to have your hands full with that one.”

“Professor, what are you doing here?” Fred rolled his eyes at him. “You’ve been one of those people over there that told me to stay away as much as possible and ---”

Dumbledore held up his hand, silencing Fred. “As I said, love always messes with the bigger plan. And stupidity and courage like to do that too, but that’s what has brought me here. Love. Stupidity. Courage. And as a small wedding gift. A parting gift, if I might say so.” He smiled. “I do miss having a corporeal body. I miss eating sweets.” he then shook his head. “The battle was fought brilliantly. Believe me, I’ve scolded Mrs Lupin-Tonks numerous of times because she wasn’t supposed to be there but she was. The two of you were together at all times and even that shouldn’t have happened. But that’s love. And stupidity. And courage.” Dumbledore was far from being finished and Fred decided to lay down on the bed, waiting until he was finished speaking, which made Dru giggle at Fred. “Small ripples have big consequences. For instance, and please don’t get upset for the sake of your wedding day and your little boy, Dru, you were supposed to die in the battle.”

“What?” Dru looked at Dumbledore. “I...” She looked at Fred. “Oh god, did he die in my place?” she pointed at Fred as she looked back at Dumbledore.

“Oh yes,” he gave a nod. “You see, I consulted with many seers about the battle, to make sure that everyone was prepared and I had them pinpoint certain problem areas so I could guide all of you in the right direction should it be the proper time. Mind you, Rose was the one who had the clearest view of the battle, poor child. I had to make sure that she didn’t remember seeing the battle so clearly and seeing who was dying. She was so upset.” Dumbledore paused for a minute and saw the blank faces on the two people before him. “And then there was her father, yeah she did not have a good year, like yourself. But love... you two found love and that was... destined. Anyway, I’m trailing off...” he sighed. “It was unexpected that Fred went after Alecto Carrow for hurting you during the year. It was expected that someone else would have a go at her but Fred went instead. Because Fred saved you from her by injuring her so bad and distracting her with his death, you were alive. Oh don’t cry. Because he saved you, he saved your unborn child. And your unborn child saved you too, Dru.” Dumbledore smiled. “And this is all so tragic. All out of love and stupidity and courage... like true Gryffindors.”

“I didn’t want you to die for me, I really didn’t.” Dru took a deep breath and then smiled faintly. “I told you, I was supposed to die young and beautiful and you were supposed to get old and wrinkly.” 

“I would love to see you with wrinkles.” Fred grinned. “You’d look sexy.”

Dumbledore smiled. “So many people have been taken away from you, Dru. So many things have happened to you that shouldn’t have happened and I have a thing for love. Magic doesn’t really die when a wizard or witch dies. It’s just a matter of tapping into it.” He then looked at Fred. “Don’t get any ideas, young man.”

“I wasn’t.” Fred smirked. “I wouldn’t know how.”

“I know, and I hope it stays that way. However, I do know how and I want to give you my wedding present, Dru.”

“I don’t understand.’ Dru said. “What magic? What ideas?” she looked at Freddie who was happily playing with the toys that Rose had brought with them and put in the corner, when she had brought Freddie up.

“I have no idea, don’t look at me.” Fred shrugged.

“There’s no such thing as a miracle.” Dumbledore said. “There is such a thing as permanent as death and it... sucks, as you youth put it. My gift to you is that when I leave this room, Fred will be corporeal for ten minutes. You can kiss, touch, carry, hug... well I’d eat, but you can be seen and touched for ten minutes. Use it well.” he then bowed towards Dru. “Congratulations on your wedding and your baby girl.” he then disappeared.

“Yeah, right.” Fred chuckled.

Dru took a deep breath and slowly put her hand on Fred’s and gasped.

“Are you serious?” Fred blinked and saw his hand underneath Dru’s. He wasn’t see through anymore. For the first time in his life, and death, he was speechless.

Dru put her trembling hand on his cheek, “Am I dreaming this?” she felt his skin against her hand. “Oh god... Fred.” 

“I have this strange urge to put my arms around you and kiss you, but that would be weird, you’re getting married today...” he was still a bit confused.

Dru put her arms around his neck. “I can’t believe this is happening, I’ve been dreaming about his for more than a year.” 

He gently put his arms around her. “Oh wow...” he said softly and then looked her in the eyes. “Can I please kiss you? Please?”

”Please.” she nodded.

He softly caressed her cheek and moved his face closer to hers. He closed his eyes as he kissed her softly and then blinked. “I can kiss you,” he said in surprise before grabbing her face with both hands and kissed her eagerly, needily, longingly. 

Dru pulled him as close as she could and kissed him a minute or two, before she felt something tugging on her dress. Dru gently broke off the kiss. 

“Mama, dada.” Fred had pulled himself up with help of Dru’s dress.

“Baby!” Fred bent forward and gently lifted his son off the ground. He was holding him slightly awkward. He had seen everyone pick up babies for the last few months but it looked easier seen than done. “My god, I’m holding my son.”

Dru put her hand in front of her mouth as she cried and smiled at the same time. “That looks so... you two look so handsome together.” 

Fred pulled Freddie closer to him and found a way for the boy to be settled on his arm. “Hullo.” he smiled at the boy.

“Dada?” Freddie was confused. Wasn’t his daddy see through? He started to sob a little because he didn’t understand and then hugged him anyway. “Dada!”

Dru scooted on the bed and put her hand on Freddie’s back while leaning against Fred. “I missed you Fred.” She softly kissed him again. 

Fred softly kissed Dru and swallowed hard. “I’m trying not to cry and love every minute of this but...” He softly planted a kiss on Freddie’s forehead. “Can’t believe we made this one.”

“You can cry, Fred. It’s okay.” Dru caressed his cheek and kissed him again as she scooted even closer to him, she had gotten a second chance that only last ten minutes, so she was going to make the most out of every second of it. She knew that if Neville knew what was going on he wanted her to grab this chance with both hands, he knew no matter how much she still loved Fred, she was his for the rest of their lives. 

Fred put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. “God, it’s so good to feel you against me.”

“I know.” She smiled through her tears. “This is the best wedding present I’ve ever gotten.” She chuckled. “And mind you, this is my second marriage.” 

“Stick to two marriages, will you?” he chuckled and kissed the top of her head. Freddie had nestled himself in his mother’s lap. 

“I love Neville, but I’ll never stop loving you either. You’ll always have a big piece of my heart, I need you to know that.” Dru caressed Freddie’s head, while she leaned against Fred and enjoyed him just holding her. 

“Honey, I know that.” He smiled at her and caressed her hair. “And I’ve said it before, Neville is a great guy. He’s decent, he’s funny, intelligent and kind and warm. He would never hurt you or Freddie and he’s actually a great dad too. I was so right in telling you to go to him.” he softly kissed her lips. “Oh, this is cruel and marvellous at the same time, isn’t it?”

“I still think I’m dreaming.” She grinned while kissing him tenderly. 

“Oh I know!” he chuckled and kissed her again. “Oh Dru...” he sighed happily.

“Yes?” She uttered through the kiss.

“Don’t get me wrong but you know what would make this even better?” Fred chuckled. “No, forget it, I’m greedy.” He kissed her again and caressed her hair.

“What?” she asked curious. “Tell me.”

“I said goodbye to you but I never said goodbye to...” He sighed and shook his head. “Nope, not going to be greedy.” He looked into her eyes and smiled. “You look absolutely beautiful and you deserve this proper wedding.”

“Fred tell me.” She said frustrated, as she put the sleeping Freddie on the bed. 

“Is it weird that I want to hug my brother?”

“No,” Dru bit her lip. “But you only have like a minute left and I have no idea where he is.”

“I know.” he sighed and kissed her again. He had been careful not to touch her in the wrong places, she was still his wife but he was dead and she was getting married so it was a bit wrong. 

Dru could see his hand twitch a little. “Oh Fred, you got one minute left, what do you care, it’s not like Neville can kill you for it.” she put his hand on her breast. 

Fred giggled. “Ohhh hello favorite playthings!” 

“Now I’ve really heard it all, Fred Weasley Senior giggled.” Dru chuckled and kissed him. 

“I’m so happy I could explode.” He said while kissing her. “So forgive the giggle, your giggle is cuter anyway.”

“No, I finally believe you when you say that giggling turns you on.” 

“Ah, you do huh?” he smiled at her as he kept caressing her breast a little. “They’re big.”

“His fault.” Dru muttered through the kiss as she pointed at the sleeping freddie. 

“Good boy!”

Dru put her hands on his face as she kept answering his kiss. “I love you, Fred Gideon Weasley.” 

“OH god, who told you that?” Fred said as he started to blush. “Ah hell... I love you too, Druella Lucretia Weasley-LeStrange-Malfoy-SoontobeLongbottom.”

“I called my son after you, I had to give him his full name.”

“Just Fred would have sufficed.” he chuckled. “I mean... Fred Draco sounds awesome too.”

“Nope, Fred Gideon Weasley.” 

“There’s one more surprise for you today.” He grinned as he kissed her to stop her from talking. He wanted to make the most of the last few seconds he had with her and she was going to ask him why and he wasn’t going to be able to touch her anymore. 

“What?” She muttered through the kiss.

“Shh,” he said as he gently broke off the kiss and quickly kissed Freddie on his head and caressed his stomach. “You behave. And cause mayhem. Throw up on Auntie Rose as much as possible and be good to your mum.” He kissed Freddie again on his head and caressed his hair. “Oh and always be nice to your mum. She gave birth to you, she’s very important. And be nice to Neville. He’s going to teach you more things than you’ll ever imagine. And Uncle George... well... Gigi doesn’t like it when things get out of control, so when you’re ready, you can set his basement on fire. He’s going to love that.” He grinned. “Or maybe start with something small... hide Artie in the closet.” He kissed Freddie on his head again and sighed. He could feel himself become less corporeal already. 

“Fred.” Dru laughed. “Oh I’m so going to have my hands full with him.”

Freddie opened his eyes. “dada.” he reached up and could still feel his face, barely, but still.

“I love you, son.” Fred smiled at him. He then looked at Dru with tears in his eyes. “Your surprise will be at the door in a minute, I’d better go. Enjoy your day, Dru. Love every moment of it. Love every moment of every day and I’ll be seeing you one day. I can’t go to Hogwarts, that would be... weird.”

‘I know.” She smiled. “I love you.” she got up from the bed. 

“I love you too.” he smiled and disappeared.

She walked to the mirror and check her make up and smiled. Apparently Fleur had learned from Rose’s wedding and used cry proof make up, because everything was still perfect, her eyes weren't even red from crying. Dru went to the bed and picked Freddie up. “Ready for Mummy to marry dada dada?” 

Freddie giggled and curled himself back up against Dru to resume his nap. Silly dada woke him up.

There was a knock on the door.


	74. Took them long enough

“Coming George.” Dru assumed that George was giving her away, with him being so close with Neville lately. She opened the door and nearly dropped Freddie. “What?”

“I promised you I’d give you away on your wedding, didn’t I?” Draco smiled widely and gave her a peck on her cheek. “You look amazing.”

“Draco.” Dru used her free arm to hug him. “I can’t believe you’re here. How did you know I was getting married?”

“Potter came to our house and told us you were going to get married to Longbottom and said that he invited us to come too, so mother and I are here.” He took a deep breath and gave a nod. “And it’s weird, people keep looking at us like we’re going to do something awful. Harry did want our wands though so...” he shrugged.

“Mother is here too?” Dru smiled happy and bit her lip to stop herself from crying again.

“All for you.” Draco said as he caressed her cheek before looking at Freddie. “Oh god, a Weasley... damnit they have better genes.” he joked.

“Shut up.” Dru slapped him on his head. “Alright bring me to my husband to be.” She looped her arm through his, while holding Freddie with her other arm. “You do know my other children will have Longbottom’s genes.”

“Yes, that’s going to be fascinating.” He chuckled as he started to guide her towards the exit of the hotel. “I do have to admit, they do know how to throw a party.”

“They do.” Dru chuckled, she looked around but the patio was empty, “Where are we going?”

“The beach.” Draco smiled. “You love romantic settings, you’re getting your romantic setting.” He gave a nod. “And just a fair warning, there are a lot of people out there.”

“What do you mean, just The Weasleys right and Gran?” Dru let go of Draco because she needed one hand to hold up her dress as she was going to walk down a set of stairs that lead down to the beach.

As she reached the top of the stairs, her heart skipped a beat. Right on the beach the beach were chairs and white carpet, leading to arch that was decorated with white flowers. And there underneath the arch, Dru could see Neville and even though she was far away, she could see he was nervous.

The guests hadn’t noticed her yet and George had his hands on Neville’s shoulders, trying to calm him down while laughing. Rose was standing opposite Neville and George and was holding Artie in her arms. Draco had been right, this was the most romantic setting she could ever imagine. She took a deep breath as she started to descend the stairs.

“Mum, look.” Adrianna squealed as she saw Dru come down the stairs. The little girl squealed so loud that everybody turned to see the bride.

Dru looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress. Rose could tell that Fleur had gone shopping and that had been a wise decision. Fleur knew exactly what was pretty on Dru. Rose could hear Molly suppress a sob when she laid eyes on Dru and chuckled. Yep, Dru was and would always be a fully integrated Weasley. She then looked at Neville who looked like he was having a heart attack. Sure, George had told him that the initial jitters would fade away, eventually, but he hadn’t exactly reminded him to breathe. “Breathe, Nev.” Rose chuckled. “Breathe.”

He gave a nervous smile. “I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“Yes, you’re dreaming Neville.” Rose rolled his eyes at him. “Does that look like a dream to you?” Rose cocked her head as she looked at Dru. “Well... to a guy maybe... I must say that the dress fits her beautifully. I bet you can’t wait to rip it off of her.”

“Rose!” Neville squeaked.

She grinned. “There you go. Relax and breathe.”

“Stop teasing him, Rosie.” George chuckled. “Although that dress...”

“George!” Rose growled. “That’s Dru in a dress, she probably has baby barf all over it already.”

George and Neville both started laughing. “You know you’re the sexiest woman alive in my world.” George smiled at his wife.

“We’ll see,” she smirked at him and licked her lips. In all honesty, she wanted to have George the moment she saw him in his casual suit. He had a few buttons loose on the top and it just looked so good on him. Relaxed, not businesslike, just George. And some peekage.

“Behave.” George warned her with a chuckle as he locked eyes with Rose for a second before looking away. She had _that_ look. He put his hand back on Neville’s shoulder, “Rose told you to breathe, remember?”

Neville nodded. “Trying. My god... she’s so beautiful.”

Dru was now at the bottom on the stairs and she gently woke Freddie as she walked towards the aisle. “Wake up, monkey, you’re can’t sleep through mummy's wedding.” she smiled at him as he hoisted him a bit higher and let him rest on her hip. 

Freddie blinked at the strange man next to his mum. And what happened to dada? “Dada?” he said with a yawn. “Dada dada?”

“Look,” Dru pointed at Neville who was standing underneath the arch. “There’s dada dada.”

Freddie looked over his shoulder to Draco and if it was possible, he would have narrowed his eyes on him. There was a strange man touching his mama.

Dru chuckled as she saw Freddie looking at Draco. “That’s mummy’s brother. Your uncle Draco.” She gave Freddie a kiss on his cheek. “He’s okay, he’s family.” Dru caressed his cheek. “Come on, let’s go to dada dada, or else he’s going to think we’re going to do a runner on him.”

Freddie huffed and turned his head back. Draco laughed. “Oh my, he’s hilarious already.”

“You have know idea.” Dru giggled and gave Freddie a kiss on his head. She took a deep breath as she finally reached the beginning of the aisle and smiled at Neville. All of a sudden she felt this feeling inside of her, what was it? Nervousness? She bit her lip and looked at Rose, who was grinning from ear to ear and so was George. No, this wasn’t nervousness. This was the feeling of being glued back together and the idea of spending the rest of her life with someone she loved, wearing his name. It was the feeling of being loved, even more so than before.

“God, you look beautiful.” Neville smiled nervously as Draco had taken a seat next to his mother.

“Thank you.” Dru smiled. “You look... wow.” She grinned appreciatively as she switched Freddie to her left hip so she would have her right hand free.

The ministry official cleared his throat. “Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to witness the holy matrimony between Neville Augustus Longbottom and Druella Lucretia Weasley. If you two would give each other your right hand...”

Neville smiled at Dru as he took her hand and gently caressed it with his thumb.

The official took out his wand, pointed it at their hands. A white satin ribbon magically appeared and bonded itself around their hands and wrists.

“This marriage that Neville and Dru both have willingly agreed to commit to is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. A bond between people based on love, equality, honesty and trust. A safe heaven to come home to where you can share your feelings, talk about your daily life and a place to create a loving home for children, but from the looks of things that’s already well in order.” The official smiled at Freddie.

Dru looked at Freddie, who was smiling. He had no idea what was going on, but it seemed that Mummy and Dada dada were really happy, so it had to be fun.

“Did you have your vows prepared or would you like to go through the traditional ones?” 

Dru smiled. “I’ve got my own vow.” She had been been thinking about what to say the entire morning. 

“Well, would you like to go first then?” 

“Yes, I would.” Dru smiled and looked into Neville’s eyes. “I’ve loved you since I was 11 years old when you went into a fight you knew you couldn’t win, but you did it anyway. Then when we were 13, you learned the truth about who I was and after some time you realised that it didn't matter to you where I came from, only who I was now. And then, with the help of our beloved professor, you finally kissed me and from that moment on you’ve had a piece of my heart and a lot has happened since then. A lot of bad and sad things, but also good things like this little one here.” Dru kissed the top of Freddie’s head. “And soon, we’re going to start our new life at Hogwarts, the place we met and fell in love. But now we’ll be returning there as man and wife, with our little boy and in 7 months time, our little girl.” she smiled at him.

Neville had forgotten to remember and listen to Dru’s words the moment she started to speak, her voice was just so beautiful. Or maybe that was the sun getting to him. “Girl?” he blinked.

“Yeah, we’re having a baby girl.” She smiled as she could hear whispering from the crowd. With Dru only being 8 weeks pregnant, they hadn't really told anyone yet, besides George, Rose and Molly. Well and Professor McGonagall, but that was to get the room they need to at hogwarts. 

“A girl!” he smiled widely and looked at Rose. “Really?”

Rose chuckled and shrugged innocently. “Pay attention to your wedding, Neville.”

This made the crowd laugh.

“So I, Dru take you Neville, to be my husband, the one to scare away the monsters under my bed and those under our children’s beds and I’ll promise to be a loyal, loving wife and to support you in all your endeavours for the rest of our life.” 

“Mister Longbottom?” The official looked at him.

Neville hesitated for a second, he had been racking his brain as what to say but he was afraid of saying the wrong thing, so he kinda hoped Dru would have gone for the traditional vows. 

“Come, Neville, wow us with one of your famous speeches.” George chuckled. 

Dru gently squeezed his hand as she kept smiling at him, right now she didn’t really care what he what he would say, as long as he was going to say I do later on.

“Merlin, I honestly don’t have a clue as what to say, really.” Neville said as he scratched the back of his head. “No words could ever describe the way that I feel about you or measure how far I would go for you, what I’d do for you, because for you, I’d try to reach for the sky and try and steal a star if you wanted me to. So... I really don’t have a clue as what to say.”

“I think you just did, Nev.” Rose beamed to him. “You’ve made Dru cry. And Gran. And mum. And her mum.”

“And Rose.” George chuckled. 

“Oh crap,” Rose said softly as she wiped the tears from her face.

“So then... I Neville would very much like to take you Dru, as my wife. I need you to scare my monsters away from underneath the bed. As I just said, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, you’re not going to lose me again and I will not allow you to lose your way and stray from me. I promise that I’ll listen to all of your troubles and try to fix them accordingly, for the rest of our lives together.”

“Yes, I think you just made all the women here cry now, and even some of the men.” The official chuckled. “Who are here to witness to this marriage and confirm it?”

“I am.” George smiled. 

“Oh and me.” Rose was still sobbing and Artie was tugging on her hair.

“Here, let me.” George smiled as he took Artie from her, at least Artie couldn't tug on his hair. 

“Arr.” Freddie reached out his hands to Artie, when he saw him, When Rose was holding him, he hadn't seen him, because Rose was behind Dru. 

“Fafa.” Artie extended his little grabby hands towards Fred.

“Later.” George chuckled and took hold of his son’s arms while the crowd was gushing and laughing at the two little boys. 

“Icky?” Teddy’s voice sounded.

“Icky.” Freddie laughed.

Teddy was already on his knees on the chair next to Fleur. And caressed the little girls head carefully. 

“Who has the rings?” The official asked

“I do.” George got the rings out of his pocket and gave Neville and Dru each a ring to put on each other's finger.

“Druella Lucretia Weasley do you take Neville Augustus Longbottom to be your husband , in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, through the good and the bad, till death do you part?”

“With every bit of my heart, I do.” She smiled as she gently tugged on Neville’s finger to get the ring on, which made her giggle. 

“Neville Augustus Longbottom do you take Druella Lucretia Weasley to be your wife, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, through the good and the bad, till death do you part?”

“Oh yes I do.” Neville smiled widely and carefully slid the ring onto Dru’s finger.

“Let this ribbon be a reminder of the vows you’ve just spoken to each other and keep it safe for a long and proper marriage.” The official waved his wand and the satin ribbon, rolled himself up into a bun on his hand and he gave it to George to hold. “And if the young lady (pointed at Rose) would take the young little man from the bride, then I can pronounce you husband and wife and then you can kiss each other. 

Dru gave Freddie to Rose and turned around as she put her arms around Neville’s neck and kissed him.

Neville wrapped his arms around Dru’s waist and kissed her back with such force he lifted her of her feet. 

Dru gently broke off the kiss and smiled at him. “I love you very much.” She whispered to him.

“I love you too,” he smiled at her and softly kissed her again.

“May I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom!” The official smiled widely.

Dru took Freddie over from Rose and hugged him. “Mummy and dada dada are married now.” she knew he didn't understand, but she wanted to hold him first. 

“Mama.” Freddie smiled widely and gave her a big sloppy baby drool kiss.

Dru giggled and gave him another kiss, before the rest of the people came over to hug them. 

Rose and George had been among the first of the people to congratulate them and then Rose quietly excused herself to get Artie into the shade, she took Freddie with her aswell. She loved seeing Dru happy and Neville at a loss of words and the entire family and extended family with big smiles on their faces. She was even surprised that Draco and Dru’s mum were smiling from ear to ear and she had to admit, that was a little bit creepy.

She set Artie and Freddie down in a makeshift playpen, there was a blanket on the sand as to minimize the amount of sand the boys would eat and she had magically raised the edges a little to stop them from crawling away. 

George had come over with two glasses of champagne. “Here sweetie.” 

“Oh, no, not for me,” she chuckled. “Thanks though.”

George raised an eyebrow. “Why not?” 

“Someone has to stay sober and watch over the kids.” she chuckled and softly kissed him. 

“How about we both only have one? Come on, it’s Dru and Neville’s wedding.” he smiled and kissed her back. 

“I’m still scared that...” she bit her lip. “You wanted to be alone with me this weekend, didn’t you? You wanted your mum to take Artie, and possibly Freddie, to the Burrow so we could be alone, didn’t you?”

“We can take them.” George softly kissed her lips. “I know why you’re too scared to leave them at mums, I mean, I’m scared of them taking the boys too.” he put his arms around Rose as he looked at the boys.

“I’m not having a relapse or anything, George. This is... I don’t know, this feeling is... weird, like... I have to protect what’s mine and I think that until the situation at the ministry is resolved, I won’t stop feeling this way.” she said softly as she leaned into him. “So I’d rather not have alcohol while the boys are conscious and playing around, just in case.”

“Rose, you’re not listening, I know you’re not relapsing, I just told you I’m scared as well.” he caressed her hair and put the glasses on the table. “And you’re right, some people should stay sober and look after the kids, although....Fleur’s still breast feeding isn’t she?”

“Perfect Fleur is still breastfeeding.” Rose still hated it that she had lost her special moments with her Artie due to the medication she was taking. It had only been a week and a half but still, she missed it.

George tapped her on her head. “I meant if she’s still breastfeeding, that means she can’t drink anyway.” 

“Yes, but what if they do show up and see that we’re around and put someone else in charge of taking care of our son? While we’re having a drink?” She softly kissed him. “You can drink, I just drink cola. Sun and Cola makes me hyper.”

“As you wish mylady. Although nobody will come and take them away, while the minister of magic is at our party.” He kissed the top of her head and when to get her that cola.

Rose had totally forgotten about the fact that Kingsley was present. “George!” Rose nearly tripped over her feet and caught him by the arm. “You can ask him if we can have a drink. If he says yes, we can have a drink.” she giggled.

“Oi! Kingsley.” George called out.

“Yes George?” Kingsley chuckled as he made his way over to them. 

“My wifey wants to know if someone is coming over to take ours kids away from us again or is it safe for us to have a drink?” 

Kingsley sat down with them and sighed. “I can promise the both of you, that no one will come and take away Artie or Freddie for that matter. I know that you two are great parents and Dru and Neville are too. No one is going to take away your babies or come in and check up on you. I promise. You two have a good head on your shoulders and you know what you can and cannot do. Have a drink. Celebrate a happy day.” He smiled at them. “You and the rest of your family are safe from the child welfare department, I assure you.”

George picked up the glasses and handed Rose one. “Maybe you should let Rose reorganise that department for you, she’d be great at it, or my mum.” he chuckled as he took a sip of his own champagne.

“Ah, but Rose already made it very clear that she didn’t want to work for the ministry and your mum... well Arthur has already asked me to find something to do for her because she’s a bit lonely.”

“As an auror, Rose didn't want to be an auror.” George kissed the top of Rose head. “Think about it.” he said to the both of them, before walking over to the boys to stop Freddie from eating the sand. “Fred, that’s disgusting.” 

“But I like working at the shop.” Rose said slowly. There was nothing than she’d rather do than to shake the whole department upside down but she wasn’t that great. “Mum would be much better at it than I am anyway, I only have to take care of Artie.”

“You could do it part time.” Kingsley suggested.

“I’m honored but I’m far from qualified for the job.” 

“Well, I could do a good word for you with the minister of Magic, he’s the one that hires people.” He smiled at her. 

“Yes, I know that, but I hardly think that the minister of Magic would like to have someone incompetent to run the department and shake it upside down and stuff.”

“Maybe he does like it, it’s a breath of fresh air and if you’re onboard, it’s easier to get the mother of all mothers on board as well.” 

Rose grumbled and took a sip of her champagne. “You’re not giving up are you?”

“I think that your husband knows what he’s talking about. Rose, you are an amazing person. Despite all the hardship you’ve gone through, last time due to a mishap from our side, you’ve protected students of Hogwarts and you’ve protected your friends. You’re amazing with Artie. I’ve spoken to little Adrianna the other moment and she said that you and Dru were the mother hens for the first years. I would love to have you onboard. You have a great head on your shoulders, you’re smart and you’re resourceful. And you’re a mother. You can take Artie with you to work if you want to. I can pay you very well. Please. Don’t make me beg.”

She blinked at the man, he was pleading already. “Can I let you know when George and I get back?”

“Of course.” he smiled at her and got up. “You’ll be great, go and have a look yourself.” he mused as he walked away.

When the last people were done congratulating Dru and Neville, Dru went to Freddie, lifted him up and wiped the sand from his hands and face. “Oh, Freddie.” she smiled as she walked him back to Neville. “He’s eating the sand.” she said as she shook her head.

“Great, we’ll get sandy poo next time.” He chuckled and softly kissed her. “Do you want to keep him here for the rest of the weekend? George and especially Rose, are still on the fence about having Molly take Artie back to the Burrows so they can enjoy their own weekend in their cottage.”

“Yeah, let’s keep him here with us. I’ve missed him too much anyway.” She softly kissed Neville, before turning to Freddie. “Do you wanna stay with mummy and dada dada here?” 

“Mama, dada dada.” Freddie giggled and then started to chew on a strand of Dru’s hair. 

Neville put his arms around Dru and put his head on her shoulder. “Can’t believe we’re married.”

“Well believe it, you’re stuck with me from now on.” she giggled as she removed her hair from Freddie’s mouth.

“I love that giggle,” he chuckled and softly brushed his lips against her neck.

Dru giggled so more. “We’re married.” she smiled at him and softly kissed him.

“Oh that means that that giggle is forever mine now.” he said kissing her back. 

“Idiot.” she smiled.

“Forever your idiot now.” he nodded.

“You already were.” Dru stuck out her tongue to him and put Freddie on the ground when he had seen Teddy nearby. 

“TedTed.” Freddie said as he crawled through the sand towards Teddy. 

Dru smiled and put her arms around Neville’s waist. “Thank you.” 

“For what?” he smiled and softly kissed her lips.

“This fairy tale wedding.” She softly kissed him back. “And for you to look so damn sexy.”

Neville laughed. “What do you say, shall we abandon these lovely people and withdraw to our room?” He softly kissed her cheek. “I want to peel that dress off of you.”

“No.” she hit him on the chest. “They’re our guests,we can’t leave them.” she laughed. 

He groaned and softly kissed her. “Okay, I’m going to drag Gran off to the shade.”

Dru smiled and bit her lip as she walked towards Draco and her mother, who she hadn’t spoken to since well... the summer she got held by Bellatrix, which was now 3 years ago. “Hi.” she said a bit shy.

“You look amazing, Dru.” Her mother smiled and gently pulled her into a hug. “I am so proud of you... and I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” Dru put her arms around her mother and hugged the woman very tightly “I missed you so much, mother.” 

“Then why didn’t you come and visit us?” her mother kept hugging her. “You’ve become a mother, and...” she was sniffing.

“Because....Well....last year has been hard on me.” Dru said in a small voice.

“On all of us, sweetheart.” she sobbed. “Draco and I... we could have helped you.”

“I know, but....” Dru let her mother go. “I wasn't ready for you yet.” 

“Are you ready for us now? Would you like us to leave?”

“No, please stay.” Dru said. “It’s okay now.” Dru had her hand on her stomach, she was a bit nauseous, but not too much. 

“I am so happy for you, Dru. I truly am.”

“I can’t believe I’m having a girl.” Dru looked at her stomach, it was still flat and there was yet no sign of being pregnant, but still. “A baby girl.” she gushed as she caressed her stomach.

“Isn’t it a bit too early to tell?” 

“Mother, Rose is still a seer,” Draco chuckled. “And she can’t keep her mouth shut about these things.”

“I’m going to check on some other guests.” Dru smiled and made way over to Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones. “Hello you, it’s good to see you again. Is Hannah with you?” 

“Oh no, not after what she pulled, can’t believe you’re actually asking for her.” Susan chuckled. “You look great, Dru.”

“Thanks.” Dru gave Susan a hug, “But what do you mean, after what she pulled?” 

“Rose didn’t tell you?” she bit her lip. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Susan, what’s going on? You’re scaring me. Please tell me what Hannah did.”

“Talk to Rose.”

Dru grabbed Susan’s arm. “Tell me what she did. Now!” She said in a very low and treating voice.

Susan sighed. “Hannah was being jealous, again. She launched a formal complaint at the Ministry for you being a single mum... as a child of a death eater you were at risk.”

“She what?” Dru said shocked. “Is she mental? Thank god they didn't take her serious.” Dru looked at Susan’s and Ernie’s faces. “What?”

“You should talk to Rose.” They chorused. 

Dru made her way over to Rose and George who were dancing. She grabbed Rose’s arms and violently pulled her off the dancefloor, this was noticed by a lot of the guests, but Dru didn’t care. “What the hell happened?”

“Huh?” Rose blinked at her as they walked away from everyone. “What are you talking about?”

“Hannah Abbot.” 

“Damnit, who told you?” Rose groaned as she ran a hand through her hair. “I didn’t want to tell you _now_ because it’s your wedding day. This is your vacation.”

“Rose, what happened?” Dru asked again.

George was standing with them, he was caressing Rose’s back. “Look, it’s all sorted now.” 

“That’s not what I asked.” Dru raised her voice as she was seriously freaking out, she knew something was wrong and not knowing it was scary.

Rose sighed. “There’s something wrong with the department of child welfare, okay? We had a scare, but everything’s sorted. We’re all safe now. I made sure that Pansy and Angelina didn’t take Freddie away. I nearly was sent to Azkaban for that,” she said. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to Freddie. It’s sorted. Ask Kingsley.”

“They tried to take him.” Dru had her hand on her chest as she found it hard to breathe all of sudden. 

Neville had made his way over and looked worried. “What’s going on?”

“They tried to take Freddie away.” Dru sobbed and walked over to Fleur, where Freddie, Teddy and Artie were all crawling over Victoire. Dru picked Freddie up and held him very tight while she cried. 

“What?” Neville looked at George and Rose. 

“Sorted, mate.” George sighed. “We didn’t want to tell you until _after_ all of this, you know.”

Dru tried to calm herself down, but she found it hard to do and little Freddie was crying now too. 

Kingsley had made his way over to Dru and gently put his hand on her shoulder. “Mrs. Longbottom, you and your family are safe. I’ve put my best people on the task of making sure this won’t happen again to another family... well... until my best people say ‘yes’, which I will hear after this weekend. You are a great mother, you have a wonderful little boy and you are safe.”

Dru nodded, but she was still panicked and knew that she couldn't calm Freddie down like this, so she made her way over to Neville and gave Freddie to him. He would be safe with him.

Neville put his arm around Dru and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s get you out of the sun and to someplace more private, okay?” he said as he started to walk away with her and Freddie. Freddie had his head on Neville’s shoulder and was sobbing. 

“We should go...” Rose said softly. “Everyone’s looking at us as if we’re the bad guys...”

“No,” Dru turned around. She was still sobbing, but made her way over to Rose and hugged her. “You kept him from being taken, right? I’m just freaked out that something like this happened.” she kissed Rose on her cheek. “Stay eat, drink something. We’ll be back in hour or so.” She caressed Rose’s cheek, while she was still crying. 

“I was scared too, Dru.” Rose started to sob. “I fought really hard to make sure they didn’t take him, Pansy nearly took me to Azkaban for it and I was so so scared.”

“I know.” Dru gave another kiss on her head. “And I love you for it. George don’t let anyone leave, we’ll be back.” Dru let go and went back to Neville, before the three of them left the party.

When they got to their room Dru laid down on the bed and laid Freddie between her and Neville. He had calmed down a bit. “I can’t believe she did that.” 

“What did Rose do now?” Neville blinked at her as he caressed Dru’s hair.

“Rose protected Freddie from being taken.” Dru caressed Freddie hair, while he was playing with Neville’s tie, that Neville had taken off and handed to him. “Because that bitch had filed a complaint against me.” 

“Rose?”

“Hannah Abbot.” 

“She did?” Neville blinked. “Why?”

“Why do you think?” Dru looked at him. “She’s been after you for years.” 

“I’m going to kill her.” he muttered.

“Me first,” Dru rolled Neville’s on his back, out Freddie on his chest and snuggled up against Neville. “He’s staying with us now for the rest of the week, Nev.”

Neville chuckled. “It makes a lot of sense now as to why Rose and George are still thinking about spending their weekend on the other end of the island with Artie or alone. Can’t imagine what Rose must have felt like when she was in the hospital for a week without him.”

Dru sighed. “I’m not planning on finding out.” She softly kissed him. “But Rose and George tried to protect him, Rose almost went to Azkaban protecting Freddie.”

“Rose defying the ministry... I wish I would have been able to see that,” he chuckled and put his arm around her while he had his other on Freddie’s back.

Freddie was still holding Neville’s tie and was swatting his arms, which made the tie move and made Freddie laugh.

Dru also put her hand on Freddie’s back. “Nobody touches my son and gets away with it. Or goes after my husband.” She giggled and looked up to him. “That’s sounds weird.”

“Sounds perfectly normal to me, wifey.” he grinned.

“Still weird.” She softly kissed him while giggling.

“Mrs. Longbottom.” He stuck out his tongue to her.

“Mr. Malfoy.” she playfully tried to bite his tongue.

“Oh please, that’s my brother in law, I’m ... screwed.” he laughed.

Dru laughed and rested her head against him. “We have to get back down soon.” 

“Freddie needs his nap.” Neville shrugged, looking at the fully awake baby on his chest. 

“Freddie, it’s napping time.” Dru caressed the boy's cheek.

Freddie snorted and kept playing with the tie.

“Oi! No snorting.” Dru took the tie and put it behind her back. “Sleep.” 

The boy whined and put his head down on Neville’s chest.

“That’s a good boy, and see, mummy and Dada dada are going to take a nap too.”

~~

George was sitting on the sand with Rose in his lap. He convinced her to let Molly take care of Artie for an hour so he could calm Rose down a bit. “She's not mad at you. She gets it.” 

“I know, but I’m just... we decided we weren’t going to tell them until after they had gotten back... and Susan and Ernie just...” she sighed as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

“It was an accident.” George kept caressing her back. “They’ll be fine.” 

“It’s their wedding day, shouldn’t be tainted like this.”

“Ah, it’s not like they had a fight and the groom walked away and disappeared for a few hours, now that ruins someone's wedding day.” he chuckled. 

“I don’t think that our wedding day was ruined... it became extra stressful... but I loved our wedding day. This feels too... elaborate. I like things being simple.” she softly kissed him. “Low budget. I would have been all too happy to be at a campsite in a tent with you.”

George tickled her and pushed her on her back as he hovered over her. “What I meant was our wedding day had a huge hiccup but in the end all I remember was how pretty you looked coming down the aisle.” He softly kissed her. 

“We still have to manage to get Neville into a dress.” she chuckled as she answered his kiss. “He was my unofficial bridesmaid.”

“No.” George chuckled and kissed her again. “I like you in a dress, not him.”

“Oh he’s so going to be in a dress one day.” Rose dug her hands into his hair and answered his kiss. Making out in the sand felt really good. 

“No I only like you in a dress.” George slowly let his hands slide under the dress and up her thigh. “I can _undress_ you.” 

“You can undress Neville if you wish.” She shrugged.

“Ew, Rose, that’s gross.” George rolled off her and onto his back. “Why did you have to say that?”

She laughed and climbed on top of him. “So I could sit on top of you.” she licked her lips and caressed the skin that was peeking out from his shirt. She was so glad that he wasn’t wearing a tie. “I’ve been wanting to tear off your clothes for a couple of hours now... you look so hot in this... Might I suggest you stop wearing ties at work too?”

“No,” He chuckled. “Then you give me that look of yours and I’ll have to take you on the counter in front of the customers. And I’m not sure that's good for business.” 

“But you don’t want me around in the shop anymore, you told Kingsley I would be perfect for helping him out.” she said pouting and started to unbutton his shirt.

“Part time, Rose, because I know you'll be brilliant at it.” He flipped them over and kissed her eagerly. “And to stop me from wanting to nail you everytime I see you bend over.”

She giggled. “Yeah, I should stock the lower shelves more often.” 

“Fuck.” George looked around, they were at a very secluded spot. “Ah fuck it.” He pulled her dress up and removed her underwear, before lowering his pants and boxers. “I need to be inside of you right now.” he said huskily in her ear. 

“I’m all yours,” she whispered and bucked her hips into him. 

George gently pushed himself inside of her while kissing her neck. “Oh, you feel good.” 

“Fuck...” she moaned. “You feel good inside of me... don’t hold back, I want you.” she said as she tugged on his hair.

George slowly started to thrust inside of her, he loved to start slow. An impatient Rosie, was a sensitive Rosie and then she usually came harder and he liked her to come hard. “You're beautiful, Rosie.” 

“I love you so much, George,” she sighed happily and had one of her hands caress his chest. “Oh god... that feels so good...” she let out a long moan.

“I love you too, sweetie.” George groaned as he started to thrust harder. He squeezed her breasts and kissed her longingly. “I love you so much.” 

She arched her back into him, making him slide even further into her and she moaned in surprise. “Oh...” she pulled on George’s shirt to have him even closer to her and looked him in the eyes with a big goofy smile on her face.

George chuckled as he kept moving inside of her. “I love that goofy smile on your lips.” he tenderly kissed her while picking up the pace of his thrust. 

“Hmm...” she bit her lip as she kept looking at him. She was so close. When George rolled his hips into his thrust she felt how her body was spontaneously combusting and tried hard not to make a lot of noise when she came. 

“Oh Rose.” He grunted as he released himself into her when he came. He kissed her tenderly while they rode out their orgasms and then gently rolled off her. “Wow.” He said as he pulled her closer to him.

“Uh...” Rose nodded and chuckled. “Alright, Artie is going with your mum.” she softly kissed him before putting her head on his chest. “I want you all to myself for a day or two.”

“If you’re sure.” George kissed the top of her head, “But we could always just apparate to the Burrow if you want him back.” 

“Exactly.” she smiled up to him. “No, I really want you for myself... it’s been a while.” she chuckled. “Artie will be fine with your mum because she raised you, and you’re perfect.”

“And you’re even more perfect.” He softly kissed her, while pulling his boxers and pants back up. “I am going to need a thorough shower though tonight. I think there’s sand everywhere.” he laughed

Rose’s eyes went big as she looked at him. “Deal. I’m going to soap you all up and rinse it all off of you, slowly.” 

“Oh Rosie, you’re insatiable.” he laughed and stuffed her underwear into his pocket.

“Hey!”

“Sand, too much sand, not good for you.” He said evilly and kissed her. “Your dress is long enough.”

“George...”

“Nope, I don’t want to hear it. We’re going to be alone this weekend, time to _play_ and act our age.” he grinned. “Oh the ideas...” George helped her to her feet and smiled. “I have so many ideas now.”

“I need a drink.” 

George laughed. He straightened Rose’s dress and hair as they were walking back towards the party and handed Rose a glass of wine.

Dru made her way over to Rose and hugged her. “Are you okay?” 

“Yep,” Rose nodded. Her voice was an octave higher before she took a sip of her wine and smiled. “How was your nap?”

“Good, I’ve calmed down. Listen, I really want to thank you, Kingsley told me you put up a hell of a fight for Freddie.” She hugged Rose again.” I love you Rosie.” 

“I love you too Dru,” Rose chuckled and caressed her back. “So, have you eaten at all today?”

“No, I’m a bit nauseous today.” Dru smiled. “I’m having a girl, Rose.” Dru gushed. 

“I know that, but I didn’t tell you, who did?” she smiled at her. 

“Dumbledore.” Dru laughed. “He came and gave me a wedding present.” 

“D--- huh? Are you okay? He’s dead, you know that, right?”

“Are you still shocked to see dead people, with Fred living in your house?” Dru raised an eyebrow. “Anyway he gave me and Freddie a nice present to cherish for the rest of our lives.” 

“Yeah but... especially Dumbledore said that dead is dead and there’d be no way of returning. Sure, I know he must be out there, somewhere, but...” Rose chuckled and shook her head. “So he told you you’re getting a girl.”

“Yes, but that wasn’t his present.” Dru said as she took a glass of orange juice of the waiter that passed by her. 

“Oh?” Rose was intrigued. 

“Nope, his present was the best one I’ve gotten so far.” Dru smiled as she watched Neville standing a few feet away talking to Seamus and Dean, while holding Freddie on his arm. “Except for Neville, then.”

“Go on then, tell me.” she laughed as she took a sip of her wine.

“He made Fred corporeal for ten minutes.” Dru whispered in Rose’s ear.

Rose blinked at her. “Really? How? What? That’s... wow.”

“Yeah, to see Fred hold Freddie...” Dru wiped a tear from her eye. “That was so special, I never thought I’d ever see that.”

Rose hugged Dru. “I’m glad he could do that for you and Fred and Freddie.”

“Me too. So, Neville and I are keeping Freddie with us, so You, George and Artie can enjoy your weekend a little family.” She put her arm around Rose. “Or Neville and I could take Artie, so you two can have some time to yourself.” 

“No no no,” she chuckled. “It’s fine if you want to keep Freddie but you’re not taking Artie. He’s going with mum.” 

“Molly? Really?” Dru looked at Neville and Freddie, she had missed her little boy, but tonight was their wedding night.

“Yes. She raised seven kids, she knows exactly what she’s doing. Artie wouldn’t be safer.” She then giggled. “George and I are planning on acting our age.”

“That seems like fun.” Dru smiled. “Neville and I have been doing that the last few days too. We’ve had sex every morning and every evening in the surf. You should try that.”

Rose giggled. “Well... not in the surf but...” she looked over to George. “I mean... look at him, his shirt! Buttons loose! No tie!”

“Oh but in the water is so much better.” Dru giggled. “It’s a whole other thing.” 

“Yes, but we’re still at your party. Can’t come back in soaked clothes.” Rose nodded. “This wedding was so you... so perfect for you.” she said with a big smile. “Are you happy?”

“More than happy. I can’t believe I’ve married Neville Longbottom.”

“Took you long enough.” she giggled.

“Yes it did.” Dru smiled. “So if you would excuse me, I’m going to dance with my husband now.” Dru made her way over to Neville who was talking to Bill now. “I want to dance with my husband.” she smiled at him.

“Of course,” Bill said as he held out his hand. “Come on then.”

“My husband.” Dru said as she handed Freddie to Bill. “You dance with uncle Bill. Mummy wants to dance with Dada dada.” 

Freddie sighed and rolled his eyes at Bill.

“Oi,” Bill said as he walked away from Neville and Dru. “No eye rolling.”

Dru took Neville's hand in her and put her other arm around his neck. “I can't remember if we have ever danced before.” She smiled at him.

“I think we had one dance together on Rose and George’s wedding.” he smiled at her and softly kissed her lips.

“Really?” Dru though. “I drank a lot that night, so I don’t really remember.” She then shrugged at looked at him. “I still can’t believe you and George put this all together. It’s so perfect.” She softly kissed him. “Are you happy?” 

“Ecstatic.” Neville smiled widely at her and softly kissed her. “One of the best days of my life.”

“One of?” Dru smiled. “What were the other ones?” 

“Birth of Freddie. Seeing you in that dress at Rose’s wedding. Yule ball dress... the first time you got your memory back and looked at me like I was your world...”

“I remember that night. I had a bad dream and all I wanted to do was see if you were still alive.” 

“That night also made me a very impatient boy and rude and inconsiderate and...” he sighed. “Jealous.”

“What?” She looked surprised at him. “Why jealous? I was all yours. And you were very patient with me, I was the impatient one. I kept begging you to kiss me.” 

“Yes, but all those boys looking at you...” Neville blushed.

Dru softly kissed him. “You never saw it, did you? That all I had eyes for at the time was you.” 

“We were very young,” he chuckled and returned her kiss. “Raging hormones and all that.”

“And now here we are almost 5 years later and there’s 4 of now. You...me....Freddie...and ...Alice?” 

“Dru...” Neville blinked at her. “Really?”

“Would you like that?”

“I...” Neville was tearing up. He didn’t miss anyone at his wedding, but he did miss his parents. He really wished that they could have been here and see him get married and to name his and Dru’s daughter after his mother was just... “I think she’d love that.”

“Then Alice it is.” She softly kissed his lips.. “Maybe you should go tell Gran.” She whispered softly in his ear. “I’m going to see if Molly wants to have her grandson over for a sleepover.” 

Neville nodded and kissed her again before going off and look for his gran.

“Hello dear.” Gran smiled at her grandson as he sat down next to her. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“I am, are you?” he smiled at her.

“Seeing you like this makes me happy.” She gently patted him on his cheek. “You look very dashing today, Neville. Seeing you like this, Dru on your side, that cute little boy on your arm. It makes me so proud of you and I know your parents would be proud too.” 

“Gran!” Neville chuckled and hugged her. “So Dru’s having my baby and it’s a girl and we thought we’d call her Alice, would you like that?”

“Oh, Neville...” She hugged her grandson even closer. “I would love that. I can’t believe I’m getting a second great grandchild already.”

He chuckled. “Me neither.” 

The rest of the evening everyone partied until it was very late. Molly and Arthur had taken Artie and Freddie home and when it was nearly two o’clock, Dru thought it was a decent enough time to steal Neville away from the party. He was laughing and joking with some of his old classmates. He was a far bit drunk, but Dru didn't mind. “Do you still want to peel this dress of me?” she whispered in his ear.

Neville lifted her over his shoulder and walked towards the hotel with her. “Oh yes.” 

“Neville.” Dru shrieked while laughing. “What are you doing?” 

“I’m going to peel that dress off of you and... and... and... make love with you.” he nodded as he steadied himself against one of the rails. “Don’t worry, won’t drop you.”

“And you can’t think of a more romantic way to carry me up?’ She hit him on his ass.

“You don’t like the view?”

“Love it, but...come on....Nev!” She chuckled.

He playfully bit her leg as they made it up towards their room. He gently eased her down on the bed and then pulled off her shoes before softly starting to massage her foot.

“What are you doing?” Dru giggled and softly kicked her feet away from him. “That tickles.” 

“Yep,” he grinned and started to apply more pressure.

“Don’t.” Dru laughed and kicked her feet away from him again and hid her legs and feet under her big skirt. 

“Mrs. Longbottom,” Neville said as he crawled onto the bed with her. “You have very lovely feet, they deserve to be loved as well.” he softly kissed her and then started to help her out of her dress.

Dru smiled as she unbuttoned his shirt and giggled. Fleur got her some very skimpy lingerie, including garter belts for under the dress and she wondered how Neville was going to react. 

“Oh...” Neville swallowed hard as he had managed to get the dress off of her. “Oh wow, that’s...” he could feel how the blood was even more rushing towards his cock. 

“You like?” she grinned as she tried to pose in a seductive fashion. 

“Very.” He lost his clothes in record time and started to kiss his way up her leg. “You’re so beautiful.”

“No I’m not.” Dru giggled as she buried one hand in his hair. “Oh..that’s good.” She moaned softly.

Neville occasionally took a little bit of skin between his lips and sucked on it or rasp his teeth against it as he made his way up her leg. He playfully tugged on the garter belt and let it snap back in place and grinned. 

“Neville.” Dru giggled. She loved him being drunk when they were in bed, it made him even more fun. 

“Want me to do that again?” he grinned as he tugged on the garter belt and released it again. He then playfully bit her inner thigh.

“Oh damn.” Dru moaned happily. 

Neville tugged on her underwear and then decided to leave that alone for now and continued to kiss his way up. He kissed her hipbone and then her stomach. He swirled his tongue around in her bellybutton, which made Dru make all these cute little involuntary movements and then reached her breasts. “Hmm.. what to do...”

“You’re a tease.” Dru sighed happily. “This isn’t fair.” 

“What isn’t fair?” Neville asked as he reached behind her and unhooked her bra, freeing her beautiful breasts. He cupped one of her breasts with his hand and gently squeezed it.

“You’re doing all the work.” Dru moaned and tugged on his hair. “Let me help you.” she said seductively and kissed him. 

“It’s my duty as your husband to please you, and right now, I’m making sure that all your needs are going to be taken care of.” he softly pinched her nipple with his index finger and thumb.

Dru took a deep breath and suddenly flipped them over. “But what about my duties as your wife?” she started planting kisses on his chest. “I feel I’ve been neglecting them lately.”

“You’ve only been my wife for a couple of hours and I’d say that my needs are pretty much taken care of.” he chuckled.

“Neville.” Dru sighed and kept kissing him lower and lower. “Don’t you like it when I help you?” She pouted at him.

“But I do, but I was planning on making you feel so good that you were going to beg me to take off your underwear and just take you.” he grinned. “I love it when you’re impatient.”

“You can do that later.” Dru smiled and gently tugged on his cock. “I want to devour you first.” 

Neville groaned. “All yours.”

Dru smiled and licked the tip of his cock before she gently started to suck on it. Neville’s groaning was a real turn on and it stimulated her to work faster, taking him in deeper and ran her teeth down his shaft from time to time while simultaneously playing with his balls. 

“Bloody hell... that’s...” he panted. “Fuck...”

Dru moaned as she started move her mouth even faster, it had been a while since she done this with Neville and she had really missed it. She playfully bit the tip of his cock, before she continued to suck.

“Fuck!” Neville cried out when he reached his climax. Biting something so sensitive was cheating. Very much so and oh he felt good.

Dru swallowed everything and looked up to him. “Hm... tasty.” 

“Let me have a taste then,” Neville panted as he tried to catch his breath. Holy fuck that was one hell of an orgasm. 

Dru giggled as she crawled up to him and kissed him needily. “I forgotten how delicious you are.” she said huskily in his ear. “Now, what was this about me begging?”

He gently pushed her onto the bed. “Where was I?” he asked huskily and started to draw circles over her belly with his index finger.

“Hm.” Dru sighed happily. 

“Hmm?” Neville chuckled. “Alright, let’s start over, if we both can’t remember where I was...”

Dru giggled as she felt Neville tug on the garter again. “That’s a good husband.” 

He nibbled on the inside of her thigh for a moment and tugged on her underwear. “God, you’re wet and you smell so good...” 

“Take it off.” she moaned.

“Nope.” Neville started to kiss his way upward again. He dipped his tongue into her belly button and gently squeezed her thighs as he did so. 

“That’s tickles.” Dru giggled. 

“Does it?” he smiled as he did it again and then started to move upwards again. “Oh yes, the breasts.”

“Neville, come on.” Dru moaned. “Don’t be mean.”

Neville slowly licked her nipple, his tongue circling it and then gently bit in it, making Dru’s body arch into his. He repeated this a few times in a row and she was squirming underneath him. He then moved to her other breast. 

“Neville, come on.” Dru moaned. “I want you to fuck me.” She arched her back into him, trying to make him give in to her.

“I’m not done yet.” He said as he kissed his way further up to her collarbone and neck. His hands stayed behind and massaged her breasts.

“Come on, it’s our wedding night. Fuck me.” Dru moaned, she wanted to beg, but she knew that was what he was after and she didn’t want to give in to him. 

“You’re so bossy.” he said as he nuzzled her neck. “We’re married now, I own half of this body.”

“Oh that’s just...” Dru laughed. “but wait that means I own half your body right?” 

“Yep, everything above the belt.” 

“No.” Dru wiggled under him in frustration. “Below the belt.” 

“Why? So you can command me to fuck your brains out?” 

“Yes, fuck me, fuck me fuck me.” 

“Nope. You’re not begging yet.” he smirked and started to kiss his way down again, this time he put his hand on her heat and started to massage her through her soaking panties.

“Neville,” She moaned. “Come on.” 

He then smirked and moved his face next to her ear. “If you come, right now, I will take you when you’re coming down so you can come again.” he said with a low voice.

“No, fuck me now.” Dru moaned.

Neville sighed and was too lazy to slide her panties off of her and started to rip it apart.

“Neville.” Dru gasped in surprise. “Fine, please, I’m begging you.” 

“That didn’t sound sincere enough.” He shrugged and rubbed his thumb against her clit before moving himself down the bed and started to lick her lips below. “Hmm... salty.”

“Please, baby, please.” She arched her back into him. “Begging...oh go...begging you.” 

“Fuck,” he moaned as he got to his knees and plunged himself right into her.

“Ohhhh.” Dru moaned and dug her nails into his shoulders. “Oh fuck Neville.” 

He started to thrust into her. Hard and long. Her little sounds were driving him crazy and he loved every sound.

“Christ, Neville.” she breathed. “You’re so sexy like this.” 

He started to thrust faster. “Fuck, Dru... you’re driving me insane.” he grunted.

“Likewise.” she licked his earlobe. “Make me come, babe.” She could feel herself on the edge of climaxing for a while, but she was trying to let the moment last as long as she could.

“Come for me,” he whispered in her ear. “Let it go.” 

“Ohhhh.....”she moaned as she let go and felt her body shuddering underneath him. 

He felt how her body tightened around him and that sent him right over the edge again. “Oh that...” he buried his face into the crook of her neck and rode out their orgasms. 

Dru was breathing heavy, “Oh damn, babe.” 

“That was...” he softly kissed her neck and rolled off of her. “Wow.”

“Damn.” Dru snuggled up against him. “We should get married more often if this is the result.”

Neville laughed and put his arms around her. “Yep.”

~~

George had lifted Rose in his arms as they walked into their cute little cottage. “Welcome Mrs Weasley to your long awaited honeymoon weekend.”

“Wow, this looks so cozy!” Rose giggled. She may or may not have had a bit too much to drink after Molly had left with Artie and Freddie. 

George took Rose to the bedroom and gently put her down on the bed. “You know, you’re a cute drunk.” he chuckled as he removed her shoes.

“I’m sorry I’m drunk.” Rose said as she pulled George onto the bed. Being drunk still made her horny as hell. She sat down on top of him and kissed him eagerly. “You still have my panties in your pocket.”

“Yeah, and you’re very drunk.” He tenderly kissed her as he put her on the bed again and went to get them something to drink. When he came back with two glasses of juice, he gasped. “Rose that’s hot...” 

She had managed to get out of her dress and was now slowly running her hands all over her body while she locked eyes with him. She was pouting. “I wasn’t thirsty.”

“Rose.” George groaned. “You’re drunk, sweetie. I can't take advantage of you now.” He put the juice on the night stand. 

“I’m your wife, you can take advantage of me whenever you wish.” she said, still pouting. “But fine, if you don’t want to touch me, I’ll continue to entertain myself.” she softly started to caress her breasts, rolling her nipples between her fingers and let out a loud moan. 

“Oh that’s sexy.” George sighed as he stood next to the bed watching her. “You’re hot when you entertain yourself.” 

She looked at him and giggled. His eyes were dark with lust and it was frustrating that he wasn’t going to take advantage of her. She licked her lips and started to stimulate her clit, occasionally dipping one finger inside of herself. She was horny as hell, she wouldn’t need much to come. 

“Fuck.” George slipped his hand into his pants. 

“Does Mr. Weasley need some help in there?” she asked coyly before she let out a large moan. The idea of her touching herself and having his cock in her mouth was a big turn on. 

“Damn, Rose.” George dropped his pants as he started to help himself, two could play this game.

“Oh god George...” she moaned. “Look at you, helping yourself by touching your beautiful cock, your big cock, my lollipop cock.” she ran a fingernail across her clit and moaned loudly.

“God, this is so hot.” he groaned. 

“Yes, you are.” she replied as she closed her eyes and let herself fall down onto the bed so she had better access to herself. “Sizzling...” she moaned and arched her back. “Still not wanting to take advantage of your very drunk and horny wifey?”

“I want to see my wife make herself come.” he said huskily, while still helping himself.

Her eyes flew open when she came loudly. “Oh fuck...” she moaned loudly. “Damnit Rosie, no control.” she sighed happily as she kept touching herself as she came down from her orgasm. 

“Fuck.” George got on the bed and entered her before she was down riding out her orgasm.

“Oh George!” she moaned and put her legs around his waist to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere anymore. “Fuck, that’s... oh so good...” She could feel how he was slamming into her and she loved it. He was keeping her on her high, not allowing her to come down from the orgasm she had just had and it just felt amazing. The look on his face was intoxicating. “Let go, sweetie, you can let go...” she cried out in pleasure when George bit her nipple. “George...” she moaned. “So good...”

“Rose.” He grunted as he came hard, biting into her shoulder. “Damn, Rose.”

She came again and the feeling was intense. “Fuck...” she breathed heavily. “Oh George...” she sighed happily. “That... was... I’m... my mind is blown.”

George chuckled and kissed her neck. “That was mind blowing.” 

Rose was a bit woozy but then she remembered that she had said something on the beach earlier. “Ready for your bath?” she smirked.

“What?” he laughed. “Already? No no no.” he shook his head and handed her a glass of juice. “We’re going to sleep and see what tomorrow brings. We had a long day today.”

Rose pouted and drank the juice before curling up against him again. “I thought we were going to act our age this weekend. Muggles of our age go clubbing until the crack of dawn or have sex all night.”

“Alright, bath it is.” he put his glass down, scooped her up and took her to the bathroom. He put her in the empty tub and then turned the faucets open. 

“COLD!” she screamed. “George!!!” 

George laughed and lifted Rose out of the tub. “Sorry, Rose.” he smiled as he put her on the edge of the tub.

She pouted and got her wet hair out of her face. “I get it.”

“Get what?” he softly kissed her. “I just wasn't thinking.” 

“You wanted me to cool off.” she pouted. “You think that I’m out of control.”

“No silly.” He chuckled and kissed her. “I was thinking of which way I’m going to take you in the tub and I forgot that the tab wasn’t warm yet.” 

She reached for a towel and put it around her. “Well, you were right. It’s been a long day, we should sleep some and see what tomorrow brings then.”

“No, I’m going to take you in the tub now and then again in the bed.” he felt the water, it was warm now.” He tugged on the towel and watched it fall. “Hmmm....hot naked wife.” he scooped her up and gently lifted her up and put her in the tub. “Better?” 

She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted as she looked at him.

“What?” He got in the tub as well, it was a huge tub and he could sit next to her. 

She wiggled her nose and toes and kept looking at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

“That’s adorable.” George softly kissed her. 

She wasn’t moving. She was going to make him work hard to get what he wanted. 

“Fine, I’ll just help myself again.” he smiled at her and closed his eyes as he started working on himself. “Oh...that blue yule ball dress looks so good on you.” 

“It’s not working for you, is it?”

George took Rose her hand and put it on his hard cock. “Come again?” he chuckled and let her hand go again as he went back to helping himself. “You turn me on every second, Rose. Damn You’ve already make me come hard twice today, what more proof do you want?” He said huskily.

“I feel like some sort of nymphomaniac ever since I got back from St. Mungo’s.”

“Sweetie, you’re twenty.” he reluctantly removed his hand from himself and looked at her. “You’re supposed to be horny all the time. I was.” 

“Yeah but you’re a guy, dad always said that guys were horny all the time, you have an excuse.” she chuckled and blushed. “I just... it’s a weird feeling. I’m feeling everything so intense.”

“You’re feeling real things for the first time in years again.” he softly kissed her. “Wanna hear the truth?” He took a deep breath and looked down. “I was so afraid when you lost your barrier that you would find out that you actually didn’t love me and that you would take Artie and leave me.” 

“George, it’s a miracle that I fell for you due to that barrier,” she chuckled and softly kissed him. “I love you so very much, it hurts and it’s a pleasant kind of hurt.”

“I was so scared I would lose you.” he said with a small voice.

“Never, George. I could never love someone else. I... really really love you and if I’d leave you, then it’ll be in a coffin, shared with you.” she sat down on his lap and kissed him tenderly. “You and I were made for each other.” she kissed him again and buried her hands in his hair. “And I want a big family and share the love we have for each other with them and make sure that nothing will ever happen to them and that they’re happy and nice and when they grow up, they’ll get children and we’ll be the hip grandparents.”

“I love you Rose. I want to grow old and wrinkly with you.”

“We’ll have the wrinkly part covered soon,” she said as she shifted in his lap against his erection and smiled at him.

“You minx.” he smiled at her.

“Me?” she said innocently as she licked her lips. She grabbed the shampoo and started to massage it into his hair. She kept moving her ass up and down until she finally caught his cock in the right place and sunk down on him. “Hmm...” she moaned as she kept caressing his skull.

“Fuck.” George took her hips and started to bounce her on his lap. “Oh...god...Rose.” 

“Oh that feels good,” she sighed happily.

“Damn.” He groaned as he kept moving her. 

“We’re going to need a vacation to recuperate from our weekend away,” she moaned. 

“Yeah.” he grunted and he came inside of her, with this being their third time today, it didn’t take either of them long to come. He put his arms around her waist as she came too. “Wow, you’re so beautiful.” he kissed her tenderly, he pulled the plug out of the tub and waited for the water to be gone, before he got towel and started to dry her off, while she was still in his lap.

“Can we collapse in bed now?” she giggled as she softly kissed him.

“Of course.” He got out of the put and scooped her up in his arms and walked them to the bedroom. “This is the best honeymoon ever.” he kissed her as he put her down on the bed and crawled against her. He didn’t even bother putting the sheets over them, it was too hot for that. “Goodnight, Rosie.” 

“Goodnight my gorgeous husband.” she smiled at him and put her head on his chest before falling asleep.


	75. Life is Beautiful

“Neville, did you dress Freddie yet?” Dru called from their bedroom. They were going to spend Christmas at the Burrow. They had gone home to the apartment for the holiday. The last few months had been tough on them. Their new jobs and a new home and then in the end of october Gran suddenly passed away. It was hard on Neville and now he had two houses and didn’t know where to go, so Dru had suggested to just stay at Hogwarts and go to the Burrow for Christmas. “Babe, did you hear me?” she asked as she walked into Freddie’s room.

Neville smiled at Dru and whispered in Freddie’s ear. “Mewwy Cwima mama!” Freddie smiled widely and wobbled his way over to her. He was dressed as one of Santa’s little helpers in a green little suit and a funny little hat, but just with normal shoes so he wouldn’t trip. Freddie had started to talk, picking up words here and there and the ‘r’ was hard and so was ‘christmas’ but it was adorable.

Dru laughed. “Oh god, that so cute, but you unless Artie is wearing something like it too, we better change him or Rose is going to mock the hell out of him.” 

“Nah, she won’t. She’ll be like... ‘oh that is adorable!’ and then transfigure Artie’s clothes into something similar.” Neville softly kissed her. “I’ve packed a bag with everything he needs and in case we need it, some of our stuff as well. And of course, the presents.”

“Thank you.” Dru softly kissed him. “Did you pack Artie’s birthday present as well?”

“Babe, I’m so organised, you have no idea what I’ve packed.” He grinned.

“Good.” She softly caressed her belly.

“How’s Alice doing?” 

“Alisssss.” Freddie hummed and gently pat his mum’s belly. “Alisssss wake.”

“Careful.” Dru laughed. “She’s not even born yet and you’re already hitting her.” She picked Freddie up from the floor and put him on her hip. “You need to be sweet to your sister.” She walked to their living space and got Freddie’s dragon of the sofa. “Are we going straight away or are we going to say merry christmas to the other professors first?” 

“Straight away. Slughorn likes to talk and so does Trelawny.” He rolled his eyes at her.

“Alright, let’s go then.”

~~~

“I still can’t believe we just bought a new house and an empty shop.” Rose chuckled as she was getting Artie dressed. The last few months had been crazy. She had started to work as the _head_ of the child welfare department of the ministry, a job title she shared with Molly, but she was still reeling from it. 

Even though most of the ministry communication went through Molly, Rose was her equal and together they had worked on a new set of boundaries for the protection of children, thinking of any scenario and what not and it was getting better. Both Angelina and Pansy still had their jobs but didn’t like it at all when they had to re-train and things like that (and that Rose was their boss now).

She was working mornings at the ministry and afternoons at home (and the weekends too) and it was actually quite fun to work half and half but she had to start taking it easy soon. Rose had known for a couple of weeks now but wasn’t sure how to tell George and she still wasn’t sure because it was... big.

“Well, Fred and I always talked about opening a shop in Hogsmeade.” George shrugged and put his arms around her while she was still taking care of Artie. “The shop is smaller there, which we can run with just the two of us, open it only in the afternoon to accommodate your other job and we need a bigger house, don’t we?”

Rose blinked at him. “We do?”

He nodded as he put her head on her shoulder. “I saw you drink tea with marshmallows the other day.” he whispered in her ear. “I don’t think you even noticed.”

She softly caressed her stomach. She was pregnant alright, she just didn’t know George had noticed. “I wanted to tell you for Christmas as a present.” She pouted. Rose would tell him _how_ pregnant later.

“I thought we would wait?”

“Yes, until hormones started to fly around and we both forgot someone’s jacket.” she chuckled. “After Christmas I’m going to St. Mungo’s to make sure that my medication is harmless for the baby and after the baby is out in a few months, I’ll go and see a Muggle doctor about some pill so you don’t have to wear jackets anymore.” Rose softly kissed him. “Now, did you pack everything?”

“I can’t believe we’re getting Artie a brother or sister.” George said as he hadn’t let go of her. “God Rose, this is brilliant.”

“Let’s just go.” She chuckled and pushed George away from her with her ass before looking at Artie. “Daddy’s becoming sappy at his old age.”

Artie giggled.

~~~~

Dru walked into the burrow with Freddie on her arm. “Look, nana.” She said as she kissed Molly on her cheek. “Hi Molly.” She handed Freddie to her. Her back was nagging today and Freddie was very active today which made him heavier. “Are George and Rose here yet?” 

“Oh my goodness, he looks adorable,” Molly smiled widely and set Freddie down in the big playpen. With three crawling babies, with a walker or two already, Arthur had installed the old big playpen with enough room for the babies to do what they wanted and not feel constricted.

“Neville’s idea.” Dru smiled and looked him, when he just came through the fireplace himself. 

Molly gave Dru a big hug and Neville too. “George and Rose should be here any moment. Bill and Fleur are already here.”

“Oh good, Fleur has some dresses for me for Alice. Fleur?” Dru took Neville’s hand and walked into the tent outside. Arthur had made it waterproof and warm inside, The family was becoming too big to all fit in the house. The tent was decorated with Christmas ornaments and there were three big sofa’s and a lot of comfy armchairs. 

“Doodu!” Vicky crawled over the floor. “Dada doodoo.” Vicky was laughing.

“Hello, princess.” Dru got to her knees and caresses the little girls head. “Oh she’s gotten so big.” With their jobs at Hogwarts, they hadn’t seen a lot of the family in a while. 

“You look great, Dru.” Fleur smiled at her and hugged her once Dru was back on her feet. “We missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Dru smiled and hugged Bill, who came to join them. “Sorry, we haven’t been around lot, it’s just...” 

“That’s okay.” Bill gave Neville a hand. “How are you holding up?” 

“Work helps.” Neville smiled at him. “Other than that, just fine. How have you been, Bill?”

“Busy, and at home trying to keep up with that one, she keeps trying to crawl underneath the sofa and gets stuck.” 

“There’s one solution to that, Bill.” Neville nodded with a serious look on his face.

“What’s that?”

“Buy a new sofa.”

“Or let her stay stuck for ten minutes, kept Freddie from doing it for two weeks.” Dru said as she sat down on one of the sofas. “Pfff...I’m telling you Neville, this is the last one, my back is killing me.” 

“Alright sweetie, just stay off your feet for the rest of the day.”

“And you should definitely stop wearing heels.” Fleur chuckled as she sat down next to Dru and started to pull off her shoes. “Bad heels.”

“I’ve got to buy new flats, I lost my old ones.” Dru chuckled.

“I think that you didn’t lose them. I bet you burnt them.” Fleur grinned.

“I didn’t.” Dru laughed. “Neville bought me those.” 

“Mum?” George walked through the fireplace.

“George!” Molly smiled widely and hugged her son, who was holding her grandson. 

“Awi! Gigi!” Freddie was bouncing up and down in the playpen.

“FAFA!” Artie started to wiggle around and George had to put him down in the playpen otherwise he’d fall. Artie then hugged Freddie tightly.

“What on earth did Dru dress him in?” George chuckled as he took the bag from Rose’s shoulder.

“Hi mum.” Rose smiled and then looked at Freddie. “Oh that is so cute!” she squealed and then pointed her wand at Artie to transfigure his clothes into the same outfit Freddie was wearing.

“Rose.” George growled. “Did you have to?” 

“Yes, it’s Christmas.” she smiled widely and kissed George. “Santa’s little helpers.” She then hugged Molly. “Hi Mum.”

“It’s not christmas yet, it’s christmas eve tonight, Artie’s birthday, remember and now he’s going to look like that on all his pictures.” George shook his head. “Mum, did dad put a playpen in the tent too? Or should I move this one out there?”

Rose sighed and changed Artie’s clothes back to normal. 

“Of course your dad put a playpen in the tent, sweetheart.” she smiled. “That was the first thing he set up.”

“Good.” George took the boys on his arms and walked with them to the tent. “Hello people.”

“Ha, told you Rose wouldn’t chance Artie’s clothes.” Dru smiled at Neville. 

“I did,” Rose sulked as she walked after George and the babies. “But he didn’t like it because it’s Artie’s birthday and not Christmas yet.” She flopped onto the couch next to Dru and hugged her tightly. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” She smiled. “What if we change Freddie clothes and then they can both look ridiculous tomorrow?” she chuckled. 

“He doesn’t look ridiculous.” Neville sighed and opened the bag to find something else to wear for Freddie. 

“He does a little bit.” Dru smiled.

“He does a lot.” George laughed. and put the boys on their mother’s lap.

“Alissss.” Artie put his hands on Dru’s belly.

“No he doesn’t, he looks adorable.” Rose nodded. 

“Alisss wake!” Freddie grinned and started to pet his mother’s belly.

“Not yet,” Dru chuckled. 

“Alissssss.” Artie smacked Dru’s belly and laughed. 

“No hit!” Freddie pushed Artie away from his mother’s belly.

Artie pushed back.

Freddie pushed Artie back and Rose sighed as she put Artie on the floor. “Stop it.”

“You too.” Dru said sternly and put Freddie on the floor as well.

“Icky.” Artie crawled towards Vicky. He could walk a little bit, but crawling was still faster. 

“Icky.” Freddie got to his feet and wobbled towards Vicky, walking passed Artie, trying not to trip over his own little feet.

“Freddie, come here.” Neville held out his arms to him. 

“No.” Freddie answered and got to his hands and knees and hugged Vicky.

“Freddie.” Neville said stern and reached over to him and pulled him towards him. He had found some other clothes to wear for the little boy.

“No! Like!” Freddie started to kick his feet around.

Rose chuckled and started to whisper in Dru’s ear. “I’m pregnant again.”

“What? Oh my god.” Dru squealed.

“Freddie, sit still.” Neville said as he tried to put a new shirt on the little boy, getting out of clothes was easy, getting him in them was harder. 

Freddie managed to get away from Neville and started to walk away. “Icky!”

“Come here.” Neville grabbed the little boy again and put him back in his lap. “You’re not going to crawl around in your diaper.”

“No?” Freddie asked him. 

“No.” Neville laughed and gave him a kiss on his forehead and got him in the shirt, before putting the jeans on him.

“Yes.” Freddie nodded.

Neville laughed and put Freddie’s shoes back on. “Alright now you can go.”

“No.” 

“Yeah, he just learned himself a new word.” Neville chuckled and hugged the boy, while smiling at George. “What’s with the goofy grin, George?” 

“Rosie’s pregnant.” he grinned.

“No way.” Neville laughed. “That’s brilliant.” 

“I knew it before she told me too.” he laughed.

“That’s brilliant, mate.” Neville had put Freddie in the playpen and hugged George. “Let’s hope you get your girl this time.” 

Rose giggled and got up from the sofa to see if Molly needed some help in the kitchen. She and Molly had become even closer over the last few months because of their work together and it was fun. At work, she still refused to call Molly anything other than Mrs. Weasley (more formal, of course). She wasn’t going to start calling her Molly either. “Need some help, mum?”

“Yes dear.” Molly had missed being in the kitchen with Rose, and with Dru, but the last one didn’t seem to want to spend time in the kitchen anymore, at least not in the burrow. “Could you start on the cake, please?”

“Yes, I can do cakes. Batter and all.” she laughed. “I told George one half of what’s going on. He knows I’m pregnant.” She had already told Molly because she was giving her odd looks when she was drinking tea with marshmallows at work. “He’ll get to know the rest later.” she chuckled.

“He’ll love that surprise.” Molly chuckled.

“He will.” she smiled widely. “The way you reacted to it was already ... well...” she chuckled as she started to mix the ingredients of the batter in the big bowl. 

“Molly, do you have some crackers?” Dru asked as she walked into the kitchen. 

“I do,” Molly said and pointed at a chair. “Sit down sweetheart.” She then rummaged through a cupboard and handed her some crackers.

“Thanks.” Dru sat down on the chair and started to eat some of the crackers. “So, how is everything at work?” 

“I think that Rose is taking pleasure out of the fact that she can boss Pansy and Angelina around and give them the worst assignments.” Molly smiled. 

“That’s the Rosie I know and love.” Dru laughed. “Could you stick another one on Angelina, she still never apologized for that stunt she tried to pull on me and Fred, back in school.” 

“Oh definitely.” Rose nodded. “She’ll be the subject to my raging hormones because they will be double in size.”

“Really? I’m having a bit a better time this time around. Maybe it’ll be easier on you too.” Dru reached in the drawer behind her and got a knife so she could clean the potatoes.

“Double.” Rose said again.

Dru looked at her. “I don't get it. My brain is mush. Pregnant, remember?” 

“Yes.” she laughed and nodded. “George wants a girl. He’s getting two.”

“Two?” Dru asked, and though for two second before she realised what Rose was telling her. “No? Twins?” 

Rose nodded again and pulled her oversized shirt so that Dru could see the small bump already forming. “Nearly three months already and a bump.”

“Rose!” Dru got up and hugged her friend. “That’s brilliant.”

“George can’t know yet, I made him a very special Christmas present.” she chuckled. “But yeah, this is going to be yet another new thing.”

“That’s so good. I’m so happy for you.” Dru sat down again.

“So, what’s it like, at Hogwarts as a teacher this time? Adrianna isn’t giving you lip, is she?” Rose chuckled.

“Of course she is.” Dru laughed. “But it’s good, a bit weird though. But we got Slughorn’s old office and living chambers. Which is good, cause we have three bedrooms there. And Neville put a playpen in the greenhouses, so Freddie can stay with him during the day. I’ve been teaching a lot of advanced classes so it’s better if Neville takes him. And it keeps his mind from wandering off.”

“Advanced? Wow.” Rose smiled. “Must be really hard on Neville now that his gran’s gone.”

“Yeah, he really misses her.” Dru sighed. “But luckily having Freddie around keeps his mind off it. He told me the other day that he was very happy that she at least got to see him get married.”

“And hear about another great grandchild.” Rose smiled at her. “His Gran lived a full life, I mean, it would be great to reach her age one day.”

“I know, but it still his gran.” Dru wiped the tears from her eyes. “Sorry, I cry easily these days.” 

“I would hug you but I’d get batter all over you.” she smiled.

“That’s okay.” Dru chuckled. “I’m just glad Neville’s having a good day today. It hasn’t been easy on him, me pregnant, his gran dying, new job.” She caressed her belly. “I’m just glad he’s feeling a bit better.” 

“So, you’re going to have another kid.” Neville sat as he was sitting on the ground with George, watching Freddie and Artie play with tiny wooden block, they were trying to make a tower, well, George and Neville were making the tower and Freddie and Artie kept knocking it over. 

“Have to keep up with you, don’t I?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, well Dru told me that you and Rose want 5 or 6 children and I doubt Dru will be up for that so.” Neville laughed as he put another block on the tower.

“I win by default? That’s nice.” 

“So, secretly hoping for a girl or another one of those monkeys?” 

“A girl, of course.” George chuckled. “We have to keep things even in case Rose does decide that this one is the last.”

“Dru’s already saying that this is the last one, but then again, she said that last time.” Neville caressed Freddie’s hair.

“That’s what I love about our women, Nev.” George nodded. “They like to change their minds every single time to keep us on our toes.”

Artie chuckled and pushed the blocks, so they all fell on an unsuspecting Freddie’s head.

“AWTIE!” Freddie yelled and pushed Artie away from the blocks before he started to cry.

“Come here.” Neville pulled the boy in his arms and rubbed Freddie’s head. “What is it with you two today?” 

Artie started to cry too, Freddie’s push had knocked him over. “Dada.” he cried loudly.

“Oh no, this is your fight, I’m staying out of it.” George put his hands up and got up. “Come on Neville, let them be for a while.”

“Dada.” Artie sobbed and reached out his hands to George.

“Awtie.” Freddie reached out his arms to get to his crying cousin.

But Artie crawled towards George. “Dada.” 

“No, you two are having this fight, don’t drag me and uncle Neville into this.”

“MAMA!” Artie sobbed and crawled towards the kitchen. “Mama!” he sobbed. 

“What is it sweetie?” Rose had washed her hands and kneeled down on the floor where her sobbing son wrapped his arms around her neck and started to cry even louder.

“Dada mean.” he sobbed.

“Why sweetie?” she caressed his back. “What did dada do?”

“He keeps fighting with Freddie and then comes crying to me and I told him to fight it out.” George said as he walked into the kitchen. 

“Dada’s right, Artie. Fight your own battles.” She planted a kiss on Artie’s forehead.

“Fafa push.” Artie sulked.

“Yeah and?” Rose chuckled.

“Yeah, what to do with those two?” Neville asked as he came into the kitchen with Freddie and gave him to Dru. 

“Let them fight it out.” Rose shrugged. “As long as they don’t hit each other with a solid object, it’s fine. Vicky has started to play rough with Artie too. We just let them, they’re kids, they need to play.”

“Alright.” Dru chuckled. 

“Especially because Freddie doesn’t have someone to play with right now it’s quite important to just let them. I often leave the room when they’re safe in the playpen and just let them be.” Molly smiled at Dru. “That’s how things get learned.”

“Yeah, but he’s already hitting Alice and she’s not even born yet.” Dru chuckled as she handed Freddie to George, who put him in the playpen with Artie. 

Rose finished the cake and popped it in the oven. “Can I please indulge myself with a cup of tea with some marshmallows?”

“Of course you can.” George smiled. “I’ll make you some.” 

Dru took Neville’s hand and gave a kiss on the back of his hand, before smiling up to her, as he was still standing behind her.

“We bought Zonko’s yesterday.” George smiled proudly. “Well, that old shop in Hogsmeade.”

“That’s brilliant, Fred used to talk about you two wanting to do that.” Dru smiled.

“Yes. It’s a lot smaller than the shop in Diagon Alley, but the house behind it is a lot bigger and we plan to moving over there permanently. We’ll be closer to you two and you won’t have to travel a lot if you want to go away from Hogwarts for a bit.” George said excitedly. “And and, on top of that, we’ll only be open in the afternoons in Hogsmeade.”

Rose chuckled. She loved it when George was so excited. Yesterday he couldn’t stop bouncing around and she eventually had to take him there and then in their future bedroom on the floor. 

“Which gives me the time to go to the other store and see how things are going, of course.” George nodded.

“Then we can go back to our friday night dinners.” Dru smiled and looked up at Neville again.

“Yep,” George nodded. “I really miss that.”

“We too, don’t we babe?’ Dru hated it when Neville got quiet, well he wasn’t that quiet, but since she was pregnant, she was bit overprotective of him. 

“Yep.” Neville nodded. “I’m going to see if Mr. Weasley needs some help. Congratulations on expanding your store, George.” he smiled.

Dru watched him leave and bit her lip to stop herself from crying, clearly it wasn't such a good day as she thought he was. “I don’t know how to help him.” she said softly.

“Want me to try?” Rose asked Dru as she caressed her hair. “See how he’s really doing?”

“I....I don’t know anymore, I’m such a bad wife.” Dru sobbed.

“Nah.” Rose chuckled and handed Dru her tea with marshmallows. “You’re a great wife and you’ve dealt with grief before. Neville’s Neville. Drink up. I’m going to see what’s eating him.” She kissed Dru’s cheek and went after Neville. She found him outside the tent, looking over the pond. She looped her arm through his and smiled up to him. “How are you doing, Nev?”

“I’m fine.” he said with a blank look on his face.

“Liar.” she said as she gently kicked him in the shins.

“Then why do you ask, if you already know the answer?” 

“Because I want you to admit it, verbally, how crappy you feel. How you feel that there’s a big gaping hole inside of your chest and you’re trying your best to fill it but it’s not working and that it’s not fair that you’re the only one left. That you can’t go to her and ask for advice.”

“Stop it, Rose.” Neville tried his best not to cry. “I gotta stay strong for Dru and Freddie.” 

“I know what you’re going through, Nev.” she rubbed his arm and sighed. “And sometimes, being strong means that you have to admit that you have feelings and share those feelings. You can’t keep it inside of you, it has to come out eventually and I know it’s hard and scary and you think you’re weak for crying about it but it’s alright. It works cathartic, you know, crying.”

“I can’t...” he shook his head. “She needs me, he needs me, I can't let them down.” 

“You’re not letting them down for having a good cry,” she chuckled. “Besides, it’s just me here, and you.”

“I can't... gran hated it when I cried.” Neville wiped the tears from his eyes. “She wouldn’t want me to cry.” 

“Gran’s not here and if you need to cry...” she shrugged. “Cry. You’re not less of a man to admit that you need a good cry, believe me.”

“I can’t.” He shook his head. “I mean, everybody keeps telling me she was old and it was her time. But...she was my gran.” he closed his eyes as tears were rolling down his face. 

“I know, she took care of you.” she was still rubbing his arm. “And it hurts to lose that part of your life, the person who took care of you for as long as you’ve known. You’re probably feeling completely alone right now but you’re not and it doesn’t matter that she was old. She mattered a lot to you. You’re her grandson. You’re entitled to feel sad and cry about it.”

“I finally get the life I always wanted and then I lose Gran, it's just not fair.” he sat down on the ground. 

She sat down next to him and sighed. “Life isn’t fair. I lost my grandfather, my dad in the same year and ended up with a werewolf as a godfather.” she chuckled. “At least you are already standing on your own two feet, and you’ve got your gran to thank for that. I think she’s proud of you, no matter what you do, because you’re Neville Longbottom, her only grandson and a hero.”

Neville chuckled. “Yeah and you, and Dru mostly. I just wished...I’m sorry.” he wiped the tears from his face. 

“Don’t apologize for crying.” she chuckled. “We all wish that we could still have one more talk with the dead... fortunately for Dru and George, they got what they needed, unfortunately for me, my dad was a bad guy and my grandfather... well... he didn’t care much. Unfortunately for you, your gran was like the female Dumbledore and she won’t show her face. It hurts, but the pain gets less over time.”

“I’m sorry, Rose, I’m spoiling your son’s birthday.” 

“He’s too young to notice that his uncle Nev is not feeling okay.” she shrugged. “Stop apologizing for stuff.”

Neville put his arms around Rose and hugged her tight. “Thank you, Rosie.” 

“Any time.” she smiled as she hugged him. “You’re amazing, Nev, but even amazing people are allowed to cry and it’s okay.” she ruffled his hair. “Now go inside and tell your wife that you love her because she was crying too.”

Dru was already outside pacing by the door, still upset, but she stopped crying, Molly and George had told her to come back inside but she wanted to wait for Neville to come back.

She and Neville were walking back towards the house and the tent. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Neville put his arm around her, “Thanks.” 

“You’re very much welcome, Mr. Longbottom.” she smiled at him.

“Mama!” Artie wobbled outside past Dru as he saw Rose coming back.

“Oh there’s the birthday boy! Shall we see if your cake’s ready?” she said as she took his hand. 

Dru smiled as Rose and Artie went inside, before she turned to Neville. “Are you okay?” she gently caressed his cheek.

“No, not really,” he chuckled. “But I will be.”

Dru put her arms around him. “You need to talk me sometimes, let me help you.”

“I will.” he softly kissed her lips. “I will, I promise.”

She softly kissed him back. “We’re in this together, babe. I miss her too, you know.” 

“I know...” he sighed and caressed her hair. “And we will talk about it, but now, it’s time for Artie’s birthday.”

“Yep, let’s see if we can get Freddie to sing again.” 

Neville kissed her and took her hand before taking Dru back inside. When they got in, everyone else had arrived too and Freddie was looking around in awe. So many people! So many legs to crawl between!

“Come here you.” Percy picked up his nephew. “This is my oldest nephew, Audrey.” He said to his new girlfriend.

“Oh my, he’s adorable!”

“Nope, cake not ready yet.” Rose said to Artie, who just shrugged. “Oh, you’re going to have one cake all to yourself. You’re going to love that.” Rose smirked.

“Fafa.” Artie said as he saw Freddie.

“Awtie.” Freddie nodded.

‘Yep, they’re friends again.” George smiled and kissed Rose. 

“I told you,” she chuckled. “They have to fight it out themselves and they’ll be fine.”

“I know.” he laughed. “Those two didn’t.” he pointed at Neville and Dru.

“That’s because Neville needed a little nudge. They’ll be fine.” she smiled up to George. “I promise!” she laughed as she saw the look on his face. 

“Alright, go get Artie’s present.” He smacked her on her behind.

“I thought you were going to bring it.” Rose looked at him. “Didn’t you bring him his present?”

“It’s in the livingroom.” he chuckled. 

“I know it’s in the livingroom, I put it there.” she rolled her eyes at him.

“Then why did...” George took a deep breath and smiled. “Would you like me to get it, sweetheart?” he asked sweetly.

“I’ll get it.” she laughed as she walked into the house.

“I like playful Rose,” Charlie nodded from behind George.

“Just wait, you never met hormonal Rose.” George sighed. 

Charlie chuckled. “I don’t think you have to worry about her being pregnant, George. We got you those ... things, together, remember?”

“What?” George asked confused. “What are you talking about?”

“You forgot about the condoms?”

“Those things!” George laughed. “Yeah, Rose’s pregnant.” 

“You forgot about them?” Charlie blinked. “I thought you---”

“You should see her sometimes,” Bill chuckled. “Sometimes she’s just blatantly flirting with him to get him alone and have wild monkey sex.” He grinned teasingly. “She’ll wear this gorgeous tight fitting dress and she’d just bend over and he’s gone.”

“Ah, young love.” Charlie grinned and started to laugh as he looked at his younger brother who was now looking red faced. “Congratulations George.”

“She’s just....Rose.” George grinned. “And maybe I’ll get my girl now, but I’ll be happy with a boy too, but I’d love a baby girl.” 

“You’re going to keep going until you’re getting a girl? Like mum and dad?” 

“No, we want 5 or 6 children, but if they’re all boys I’d love them all the same. And if we do get a girl, we’re still going to have more children.”

“Get a move on, Charlie, you’re going to end up alone with no kids.” Bill chuckled.

“I like being alone.” Charlie frowned at his brother. “What’s wrong with being alone?”

“It’s lonely.” George patted his shoulder.

“No it’s not.” he smiled at him. “I mean, I have all of you to come home to.”

“Yeah and all those women in Romania he keeps nearby.” Ron chuckled as he came and joined his brothers.

“They follow me around, that’s a whole other thing.” Charlie pointed out.

“Yeah, he asks them for a nightcap and then says goodbye in the morning.” Ron laughed. “Don't worry, Charlie, it’s fine.” 

Charlie shrugged. “I like my life uncomplicated.”

“And I like changing nappies.” George smiled as he picked up Artie from the floor and threw him above his head, before catching him again. “And throwing my son around.”

Artie chuckled. “Gain!”

George threw him in he air again and caught him. “You like flying don’t you?” he kissed the top of Artie’s head. 

“Gain!” Artie squealed.

“Careful, you might drop him,” Neville looked at George in shock. Why was he throwing Artie around like that? He’d never do that to Freddie, not only would Dru freak, but surely this couldn’t be a good thing?

“Oh come on, Neville. Freddie loves it.” George chuckled. 

“Dada dada.” Freddie was tugging on Neville’s pants.

“No, Dru will kill me.”

“Oh come on, I do it all the time with Freddie, he loves it.” 

“Dada dada.” Freddie was standing on his feet reached out his arms as high as he could. 

“Dru will kill me.” Neville said again and groaned. He lifted Freddie up and looked at him. “Your mum is going to kill me.”

Freddie giggled. “Up!”

Neville threw Freddie up in the air and caught him again.

“Yeahhh.” Freddie squealed.

Dru laughed as she walked back into the tent. “I thought you didn't like him to fly.” she chuckled at Neville.

“What? You never allow me to make him fly.”

“I never said anything.” Dru softly kissed him. “George always throws him in the air.” 

“Must have dreamt that bit then.” he muttered.

“Up!” Freddie said impatiently.

“No, I think you remembered Rose yelling at George for it.” Dru gave him a kiss on his cheek. “And I can't blame her, unlike you ever would, George dropped Artie once.” she whispered 

“Seriously?”

Dru giggled and softly kissed him again.

“UP!” Freddie yelled.

“UP!” Artie yelled.

“Up?” Vicky asked confused.

“I think she just got taught her first word.” Bill laughed.

“Yeah, but she’s not going up.” Fleur said and hugged her daughter. “I mean George dropped Artie and he is a better catcher than you are.” 

“You got that wrong, sweetie.” Bill smiled widely. “George was a beater, he likes to hit things. I’ve always been the better catcher.”

“Oi!” George laughed. “I can catch.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“QUIDDITCH GAME!” Ginny yelled excitedly. “IN THE SNOW!”

“Oh boy.” Dru chuckled as took Artie from George so he could join the others. “Well, that surely cleared the tent.” she smiled at Neville and Fleur.

“Where did everybody go?” Hermione asked when she and Rose came back into the tent.

“George is proving to Bill that he can catch by a family Quidditch match in the snow.” Neville chuckled as he threw Freddie in the air. 

“Great, we’re going to end up with sick husbands.” Rose sighed as she got Artie from Dru and looked at her son. “You better not become a Quidditch player.”

“Up.” Artie said eagerly.

“Up.” Freddie smiled.

“Up, up.” Vicky repeated.

“I’m not going to throw you up.” Rose kissed Artie’s nose. “You’re too heavy!” 

“Up.” Artie sulked, and then reached out to Neville. “Up?” 

Rose put Artie on the ground and pointed her wand at her son and started to make him fly around the tent.

“Show off.” Neville laughed.

“I wan I wan.” Freddie bounced in Neville’s arms. ”I wan.” 

“You’ll be okay Neville,” Rose said as she kept her eyes on Artie. “Just don’t break eye contact and stay focused.” Artie was having a blast.

“I wan I wan.” Freddie looked at Neville. ”Dada dada?” 

“Now... see...” 

“Mama?” Freddie looked at his mother with big eyes. “Want!”

Dru chuckled and pulled out her wand. “ _Levicorpus_ ”

Freddie laughed out loud. “Mama!”

“What are you two doing?” Molly asked shocked as she walked into the tent with the cake. “Put them down.” 

Rose chuckled and pulled Artie towards her, back into her arms. “Don’t worry Molly, the boys wanted to fly and they’re getting too big for us to throw them up... speaking of which...” she had caught a whiff of the scent of the cake and quickly pushed Artie into Neville’s arms before running out towards the bathroom.

“Oh, I remember that.” Fleur chuckled. 

Dru had put Freddie in the playpen and crawled onto the sofa. 

“Molly, please, have some faith in Dru and Rose’s magic.” Neville smiled at her. “They wouldn’t do anything to hurt their babies.”

“I do, but my god, I’ve seen Arthur drop Percy once and ever since then...” Molly winced as she saw the memory in front of her eyes again.

Hermione started to laugh. “Oh I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about dropping my own children yet.”

“George dropped Artie once, he’s still alright.” Dru chuckled.

Rose had to go back to the bathroom when she entered the kitchen. The smell of the cake was still lingering. “Oh come on!” she cried to the ceiling and turned on her heels to do some more of the icky stuff.

“I wonder if she’s going to throw up double as much now too.” Dru chuckled at Molly.

“When I was pregnant with Fred and George, even the tiniest smells made me vomit.” she chuckled. “The other day at the office Pansy was chewing gum and Rose caught a whiff of that and off she went.”

“Hold on...” Neville put Artie in playpen. “Rose’s pregnant with twins?” 

“Yes.” Molly nodded.

“Oh my god!” Hermione exclaimed.

“George can’t know about it yet, Rose has this special Christmas gift for him.” Molly said as she looked at the people currently in the tent. 

“Does she know what she’s having?” Fleur smiled.

“Yes, she does.” Molly beamed.

Dru giggled and pulled Neville next to her. “I’m so happy for them.” 

Neville softly kissed her. “They’re going to have their hands full, literally.”

Dru crawled against him. “But we’re going to save Alice’s dresses, they’re going to need them.” She whispered in Neville’s ear.

“Oh that’s great news,” Neville chuckled. “George desperately wants a girl.”

“Yeah, and he’s getting two now.” Dru giggled. 

“Who’s getting two of what?” George asked as he came back inside the snow soaked, He and Harry had a tiny accident and they had fallen off their brooms into the snow.

“Nothing sweetie,” Rose said as she came back into the tent, white as a sheet. “You’re wet, I likey.”

“Yeah, I love you pregnant.” he smiled and tenderly kissed her.

“Oh, you have no idea _how_ pregnant.” Fleur smiled widely.

“What?” George broke off the kiss and looked at the smiling faces. “What’s going on here?” 

“Nothing, George, the girls were teasing Rose about her morning sickness, it’s a bit mean actually.” Neville said quietly.

“The cake is offensive to my nostrils.” Rose said as she wrinkled her nose and pulled him towards her. “You better change into dry clothes because I want you right now.” she whispered.

“Fuck.” He whispered back and kissed her behind her ear on that special place that drove Rose wild, before he went to his old bedroom to change.

Rose bit her lip as she looked into the direction of where George had gone. “I love that man.”

Dru had crawled on Neville’s lap, seeing Rose and George tease each other, made her want Neville. she gently caressed his neck along the thick vein with her finger nails. 

“Yep, hormones flying around like woah.” Hermione chuckled. “Honestly, can’t you four ever behave?”

“Sweetheart, we can’t even behave if we’re not pregnant.” Dru giggled and started kissing Neville’s neck.

“Ugh, I’m going to drag Ron off that broom of his.” Hermione said as she stomped out of the tent. 

“Hm, shame we’re not at home.” Dru whispered into Neville’s ear.

“We could go home,” he said huskily.

“Hmmm.” she smiled at him. “Well, we did start something in the shed a few years ago.” 

“Oh what the hell.” Neville grinned and gently lifted Dru into his arms. “Shed it is.”

“Oh ew.” Bill laughed.

“Oh, come on, it’s a family tradition by now.” Harry laughed as the rest came back into the tent too.

When George came down in dry clothes he sat down next to Rose. “How are you feeling, Sweetie?” 

“I’m okay,” she smiled at him and peeked into the playpen where Artie, Freddie and Vicky were sleeping. “I’m really happy.”

“So am I.” 

“And I think that I should already get you your Christmas present before everyone will spoil the surprise.”

“Alright.” He asked a bit confused. “You showed it to everyone already?” 

“No, I told one person who told another and another and another...” She smiled at him and softly kissed him. “Your family is very excited.”

“Then give me my present, woman.” he chuckled and pulled Rose on his lap. 

Rose chuckled and handed George a piece of parchment. “There you go.”

“What’s this?” he chuckled.

“Read it.”

_Dear George, as of today, December 25th... I’m three months pregnant. Remember three months ago? You and I... a lot of alcohol... in a forest somewhere? I suspected I was pregnant when I got sick of the smell of the puking pastilles and then craved for tea with marshmallows. Now, I haven’t been to the doctor yet but I’ve cheated a little. Now I have a question for you; why do you think I’m wearing such an oversized shirt? Answer me this and I’ll give you another present, your ever loving wifey, Rosie._

George read the note three times and he kept looking at her shirt. Finally he put the note down and lifted her shirt, “Fuck.” he swallowed as he let his hand caress her stomach. He had a big goofy smile on his face. “Two?” he asked carefully.

Molly stifled a sob.

“Two,” Rose chuckled and softly kissed him. 

“Rose.” George pulled her into a hug and kissed her deeply. “This is the best present ever, I don't even need the other one. You just made my world complete.” 

“Then let me blow your mind,” she whispered as she caressed his hair. “You want a girl, right?” she smiled at him. “How about two at the same time?”

George just stared at her with his mouth open. 

Rose looked at Molly. “You were right, mum. I think I broke him.”

“Two girls?” George whispered with tears in his eyes.

“Two girls,” Rose nodded and smiled at him. “Are you ready to be outnumbered in a bit?” she giggled.

“I love you.” He whispered gobsmacked and tenderly kissed her. 

“And I love you.” she smiled at him and answered his kiss.

~~

It was after dinner and Dru was sitting on Neville’s lap with Freddie sleeping on her lap with his head against her belly. 

“You three look cute.” Charlie smiled as he handed Neville a glass of Firewhiskey and a glass of juice to Dru.

“Four.” Dru said with a smile. “There’s four of us.” 

George was sitting on the other side of the sofa with Rose curled up against him and Artie curled up on his lap, both were asleep. “We win, there’s five of us on this side.” he chuckled. 

“Yes, but they look cuter.” Charlie stuck his tongue out to his brother.

“Yeah but...” George chuckled and shook his head. “I just realised that never in a million years I’d think that all of this... all of us, would be here like this, the way we are now and I know it’s weird with not having Fred around anymore but...”

Dru closed her eyes and rested her head against Neville’s shoulder. The thought of Fred not being around anymore (he stopped coming after Dru and Neville’s wedding) hurt. 

“We still have mini-Fred.” Neville chuckled and caressed Freddie’s fiery red hair. 

“Yeah, but still...” George got lost in thought for a moment. “I mean, I’d never have thought I’d have my own family so soon.”

“I don’t think any of us thought that, George.” Dru said. “Which reminds me, since Rose already gave George his Christmas present, would you like to have yours tonight too?” Dru asked Neville with a smile. 

“Yes!” Neville nodded eagerly.

“Alright.” Dru reached into her bag and got a neatly folded piece of paper out and handed it to Neville, who looked a bit confused. “Merry christmas.” 

He looked at her in surprise. “What is this?”

“Open it.” she laughed as she handed the still sleeping Freddie to Charlie. She didn’t want him to be woken by Neville’s reaction when he would read the paper.

Neville opened the paper and started to read it. He swallowed hard as he just kept staring at the paper.

“I just want to know if anything ever happened to me... that you would have no problems of keeping him.” Dru said softly. “I know you already see him as your son and he you as his, well one of his dads, but this way nobody can take him away from you again.”

Neville softly kissed her lips. “I do, but I think adoption goes a little bit too far... I could never... I mean... if you’re afraid that I won’t take care of him if something happens to you, then just write a will and put it in your will that...”

“No, that’s not it. you’re his dad and this just makes it legal, so you will never have to worry about someone taking him away from you.” she looked down and bit her lip. This was not the reaction she had thought he would have, she thought he would be over the moon with this. “I’m going to get a glass of water.” she got off his lap and walked into the kitchen, they were too many people in the tent watching them. 

She leaned on the kitchen counter with her hands and tried to think what went wrong here. She had thought about this since the wedding and it seemed like the right thing to do, Molly had helped her to get the paperwork and she had talked about it with George and he even said that this would be what Fred would want, Freddie would still carry the last name Weasley, so Molly had that drawn up in the papers. But now, he didn't want it. 

Dru heard footsteps behind her and quickly got a glass and held it under the running tap to make her the glass of water, she said she was going to get.

Neville sighed and put his arms around her and put his chin on her shoulder. “Babe, don’t be mad...” he softly kissed her neck. “I love the gesture and I would love to be legally Fred’s father, but we’re married now. No one is going to take away Freddie.” he kissed her neck again. “But is it okay that I’m going to see if Fred agrees with this too? I don’t want a ghost to be angry with me.”

“Neville, Fred’s not coming back. George and I haven't talked to him or seen him since our wedding. I think....I think he’s moved on, for good.” 

He took a deep breath. “Are you really sure about this?”

“Neville, I’ve spent three months getting everything in order. George told me this is what fred would have wanted and Molly even helped me with the paperwork. I thought....” Tears were rolling down her cheeks. “I thought you would have loved this. I’m sorry I’ve messed it all up, haven’t I?” she put her hands in front of her face.

“Babe, I love it and I’d be honored to adopt Freddie.” Tears were rolling down his cheeks as well. “I love you and I love Fred and I’d love to become his dada dada for real.”

“You’re not upset with me then?” Dru turned around, and gave a slight chuckle before wiping the tears from his face with her sleeve. 

“No.” He smiled at her. “I’m not upset with you, I was just worried a bit...” he softly kissed her. “Best Christmas present ever.”

“Are you sure?” She asked insecure. “I mean, I got you something else too, nothing special, but ...are you sure?” 

“Most definitely.” he smiled at her.

Dru softly kissed him. “Merry christmas, babe.”

* * *

It was Christmas and all the babies were asleep and Rose and Dru decided to take a little stroll in the snow. It was getting dark already but Rose really liked the view of things at the Burrows. She was glad that once she and George had fixed up the house in Hogsmeade that she’d have a big garden of her own and start doing some gardening... although she might needed a little bit of help from Neville. 

“Look at us, Dru.” she chuckled. “We have a family.”

“Oh god, are you going to be just as cheesy as George?” Dru snorted.

“When was that? No, never mind. But still.. I mean... who would have thought?”

“Not me.” Dru laughed. 

“Me neither,” Rose grinned.

Dru took a deep breath. “And I finally think things are going to be okay, I mean, they’ll never be perfect anymore, but as close as.” 

“I take that over ‘perfect’ anytime.” 

Dru smiled at Rose. “You and George have perfect.” 

Rose laughed. “Far from it. I mean, we have a new shop to redecorate, a new house to fix up... the responsibility to raise Artie well and soon his two sisters... yeah... that’s... scary.”

“But still...you two are perfect and have the perfect little family.”

“You and Neville are perfect. The road you had to take to get it was less than smooth but you and Neville are amazing.” Rose looped her arm through Dru’s.

“Yeah.” Dru smiled, but she couldn't help but to sigh too. “He’s amazing and Freddie is and I know Alice will be too, but still... there is always that little voice in the back of my head that says, I shouldn't be here, but then he made sure I am.” 

“Don’t feel guilty, Dru. It was supposed to be like this, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened.”

“I guess.” Dru gave a weak smile. “I just still miss him, that’s all.” 

“We all do.” she smiled at her. “And as long as we keep thinking of him, he won’t be truly gone.” she then chuckled. “I kept thinking about what he and George did to try and get their names into the goblet of fire when George pulled on that fake beard this morning.”

“That was funny.” Dru smiled.

“It was hilarious.” she snorted. 

“What about the love potion try out? Do you remember that?” Dru giggled. “You were hilarious.” 

“I was all over the place!” she laughed. “I couldn’t handle myself, at all. I’m glad that George didn’t run away screaming.”

“Or George fell through that sofa.” 

“You and Neville in the greenhouses.” Rose giggled. “With Joey, how is Joey, by the way?”

“He’s all mature now. Which means, more groping.” Dru chuckled. 

“Keep him away from Adrianna then, I don’t want him to have a bad influence on her.” she grinned.

“She loves him already. Sorry.” Dru smiled. “Oh, do you remember that balding spell?” 

“Oh...” Rose smiled widely. “One of my finest moments!”

“Yeah....that spell is all the rage now, thanks to you telling Adrianna about it.” Dru narrowed her eyes on Rose. “Thanks for that.” 

“Well, it could have been worse,” Rose shrugged. “I could have taught her the charms for lifting up the benches with the students and keeping them there.”

“You do that, I’ll put Artie in detention for his entire first year.” 

“Ohh, abuse of teacher privileges.” Rose laughed. “Careful, you might get power hungry.”

“Yep, I’ll already am.” Dru smiled. “I put Neville in detention at least once a week.” 

“Drunk with power!” Rose roared with laughter. “Well, heads up then, I’m afraid that the girls are going to be even worse than Fred and George.”

“Especially if they team up with Alice.” 

Rose thought for a second and smiled. “Yep. Loads of detention in their future and they’re not even born yet!”

”Well at least our kids are all gonna be okay, you know why?” 

“Because we’re kick ass mums?”

“True and Nev and George are the best dads ever, but no, because our kids will have each other, like we had each other.” Dru hugged Rose. “Love you, Rosie.”

“I love you too, Dru.” Rose smiled widely and hugged Dru tightly. Right at that moment, the snow started to fall down from the sky again in gigantic amounts. 

Life was beautiful.


	76. Epilogue

“Alright, headcount!” Rose cried out as she looked at her children. They were about to go to platform 9 3/4 but she needed to make sure that everyone was going through. George muttered something under his breath that sounded like ‘neurotic’, and she managed to slap him in the chest. 

It was Moira and Sarah’s last year of Hogwarts. Artie had decided to go and work for the ministry instead of helping them out at the shop and was now living with Freddie above the shop in Diagon Alley. Unlike Artie, Fred did decide to help out in the shop, he figured he owed it to his father, to his memory, and he knew a lot of new cool things for the shop to sell and he was part owner, he had inherited Fred’s shares at the age of 17.

Weasley Wizarding Wheezes now had five shops, even one in Muggle London, which Rose thought was fantastic. They didn’t really sell actual magical things, but magical enough for the muggles. Moira and Sarah (both redheads, like their father) had been getting into trouble for the past six years together with Alice and the girls still didn’t know what they were going to do for a career. They had been the star chasers of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team, George hoped they were going to do it professionally when they’d done their NEWTs at the end of the year.

Emily was going to start her fifth year at Hogwarts. She was more of the book smart people and reminded Rose a lot of herself, minus the anger part. She hated flying (much to the bemusement of George) and loved Divination. 

Eliot was supposed to be Rose and George’s last kid, he was starting his first year with little Gigi (Georgianna), Albus and Rose. Oh little Rosie... Hermione had gotten into trouble with Rosie’s birth and both Rose and Dru made sure that both girls survived. It was weird having someone getting named after yourself. Then again, Emily’s second name was Druella because Dru was this amazing person and she was still scolding Rose for naming her after her. Which was fun and then Dru retaliated by calling her youngest Georgianna Rosalie.

Rose took a deep breath and nodded. At least the kids going to Hogwarts weren’t going to miss their train. 8 year old Imogen and Neville (yes, another set of twins... and they weren’t planned but absolutely welcome) were already begging to go to Hogwarts after having seen off their brothers and sisters the past few years. Jayson (the smallest one) was just happily eating a bar of chocolate. After Jayson, Rose decided to go to a muggle hospital and made sure that she wouldn’t get pregnant again. Both she and George decided they had had enough and since they were both failing to use pills or condoms or both, they just gave up.

“Alright, move out.” she nodded again and watched her older children run through the barrier at full speed. Rose had worked for the ministry for a while to get the department of child welfare up and running the way it was supposed to, but resigned when she fell pregnant with Emily (it wasn’t an easy pregnancy) and just loved devoting her time fully to the kids, her gorgeous husband and the shop. “First one to spot uncle Neville and Auntie Dru gets a medal!” 

Sure, they were living practically next to Hogwarts, but it was tradition to go to Hogwarts by train. George didn’t want to give up on that tradition and neither did Dru. They usually spent the last few days of the summer holidays at the Burrows with everyone, with the little house nearly exploding each year. It was almost a military expedition for Rose and George to gather all their children and their things and take them somewhere, and Rose more often than not wondered how Molly and Arthur had done it when their kids were still young.

“Daddy, daddy.” Jayson and tugged on George’s coat. “I see uncle Neville.” 

“Go on then, go and tackle him.” George grinned. 

“George.”

“What?” George smiled innocently. “He’s very ticklish behind his knees, Jayson.”

“Daddy, Gigi is crying.” Imogen said as she tugged on George’s other sleeve.

“Yep, I don’t think she quite likes it that she has to leave her mum and daddy for the trip.” he chuckled. 

“Uncle Neville!” Jayson let out a battle cry and ran towards Neville. He then put his arms around his legs and started to tickle Neville behind his knees.

“Ah, here come the crazy Weasleys.” Neville grinned.

“Daddy.” Gigi cried while holding his hand. She had Neville’s brown hair and Dru’s eyes. She was the youngest one and a bit spoiled by her older siblings, but still a heart of gold. Her favorite subject already was Herbology, which was no surprise since she truly was a daddy’s girl. “He’s forgotten, hasn’t he?” She sobbed.

“Gigi, he promised you he'd be here, don't worry, sweetheart, it’s not time yet.” Dru smiled while checking to make sure that Frank, who was starting his fifth year, together with Emily, had everything. The boy looked every bit his father and had the same forgetful mind his father had. 

Gigi was still sobbing and put her arms around Neville’s waist. “He forgot about me.” 

“Moira, Sarah!” Alice squealed and hugged the twins. “Ready for Mayhem?”

“No.” Dru and Rose said simultaneously. 

“This is our last year, what do you think?” Sarah grinned. “I found mum’s old charms notebook.”

“Give it back.” Rose said shocked. “Hand it over.” 

Sarah sighed and handed the notebook back before winking at Moira and Alice. Of course she had made a copy of it!

“Mummy.” Imogen started, but Neville stamped on her foot. He figured if they kept their mouths shut, his sisters might give them the book when they were out of school.

“I hate you Neville!” Imogen screamed and started to hit her twin brother. “Stop stomping on my foot! I hate you!”

“I hate you too.” Neville shot back.

“Alright, you hate each other, fine, could you do it in silence?” George sighed as he hugged his niece.

“Thank you for the new beater’s bat, uncle George. My old one was worn down.” Alice, like her brother Freddie, was a good beater. 

“Only the best. Quidditch should be nurtured. With your mum and your dad not liking the sport, someone has to help you out.” George grinned.

“Daddy.” Gigi whined when she didn’t he still wasn’t responding to her cries. She had her mother’s impatience. 

“What?” Neville looked down to his daughter. “I’m not going to pick you up, you’re 11.”

“He’s not coming.” she whined as she tugged on his arm.

“Since when doesn’t Freddie stick to his word?”

“But he isn't here.” she cried. 

“Ask auntie Rose, she can tell the future. Ask her if he’ll make it in time.” Frank put his arms around his sister and hugged her. 

“Auntie Rose?” Gigi put her arms around Rose and hugged her tightly. “Please please please?”

“He’ll be here.” she chuckled. 

“Not good enough.”

“If you don’t stop crying, you’ll have red eyes for the rest of the school year,” Rose pointed out.

Gigi pouted while crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Yes, that’s Dru’s daughter alright.” George chuckled. 

Rose groaned as she looked behind her. Freddie and Artie walked through the barrier carrying a lot of balloons, all saying the same thing; ‘farewell Gigi!’ “And they don’t stop indulging her.”

“Freddie!” Gigi ran up to Freddie and jumped in his arms. “I thought you’d forgotten about me.” 

“What! no balloons for me?” Emily pouted playfully as she hugged Artie.

“Or me!” Eliot shot a look at his brother. “Oh wait, I don’t want balloons, balloons aren’t cool.”

“Balloons are stupid.” Artie shrugged and handed Emily a small bag. “These are more of use.”

Emily peeked into the bag and rolled her eyes at him. “Seriously? Mum!” she whined and handed the bag to Rose who got a look into it and then smacked Artie on the head.

“Seriously, Artie!” 

“Well, we all know that she likes Frank, don’t we?” Artie said sheepish.

“What are they?” Neville asked and grabbed the bag from his mother and peeked inside. “Mummy, what are condoms?”

Frank blushed and tried to look anywhere but to a member of his family. 

Rose grabbed the bag from Neville and hit Artie on the head with it.

“And now she’s channeling nana.” Sarah grinned. “Can I have them, mum?”

“No!” Rose cried out. “What is it? Drive mummy crazy day?”

Alice looked at Fred. “Did you get me balloons?” she giggled. 

Frank looked at the ground, he feared his big brother would pull something on him too, Freddie always did and it was usually embarrassing. 

Freddie handed Frank a bag as well, and smiled widely before taking a few steps back out of swinging range from either his mum or Nevdad.

Frank peeked in the bag. “I hate you.” he muttered, but hid the bag behind his back when he saw his dad look at him.

Moira snatched it from Frank’s hands and peeked into the bag before bursting out in a fit of laughter. “Oh this is priceless!”

“Give me that back.” Frank said and snatched the bag back and tried to put it in his back pocket, while glaring at Freddie. 

“Nice underwear with Em’s face on it.” Moira snickered and grabbed Sarah’s hand before running towards the train. “Bye mum! Bye dad!”

“Bye, aunt Rose, bye uncle Gigi.” Alice laughed as she followed the twins.

“Freddie.” Dru beckoned him to her with her finger.

“Yes, mother?” He grinned at her. He looked identical to his father at that age and his grins and smirks were identical as well. “Am I in trouble? But I’m of age, you can’t chastise me.”

“Here.” she pointed to a spot right in front of her.

Fred sighed and stood in front of his mother. He bent his knees so he was on eye level with her. “Yes, mummy dear?”

Neville had taken the bag from Frank and smacked Freddie on the head with it.

“Don't do that again.” Dru said to her son. 

“Do what?” Fred said innocently.

“I have no idea, but don't do it again.” Dru couldn’t help to chuckle a bit.

Rose hit Freddie on the head with the bag of condoms before hitting Artie over the head again too. “You two need to stop teasing your hormonal siblings like that. It’s not fair.”

“Mum.” Emily whined. “I’m not hormonal.” 

“Good.” Rose nodded and planted a kiss on Emily’s head. “Remember that spell I taught you? You have my permission to use it on Frank if he gets you into trouble. Works on your father every time.”

“Shame.” Frank muttered under his breath and grinned at Emily. Well, they weren't related by blood. Well, they were, but uncle Gigi and Aunt Rose were closer related than he and Em were. And Em was hot. Shame she was playing hard to get. “Fred, steal the bag from aunt Rose for me.” he whispered in his brother’s ear.

Fred grinned and snatched the bag from Rose’s hand before standing up straight and keeping the bag above his head. “Go long, Frankie and catch!”

“Oi!” George said and hit Fred on the head, before snatching the bag back, he was the only one as tall as his oldest son and his cousin. “We do not try and have your brother and my daughter to have sex.” 

“Oh come on uncle Gigi, Artie and I went through half the quidditch team in our fifth year!”

“And they so didn’t have to hear _that_.” Artie groaned. “That’s it, I’m going back to work.” He kissed his mother on the cheek and ruffled Emily and Eliot’s hair. “Have fun.”

“I’m going back to work too.” Fred nodded. “I’ll stop by in a week or so, I need to bring Uncle Gi some more supplies.”

George growled. “Is he ever going to stop calling me that?” he said to a chuckling Neville.

“Bye Freddie.” Gigi hugged her big brother. “Thank you for the balloons.” 

“Come on, Em.” Frank said as he gently took the bag from George when he wasn't looking. Frank might not be as loud as his brother or his sister, but he was a lot more sneaky and got in a lot more trouble, he and Em just knew better how to avoid getting caught. 

“Where’s Jay?” Rose asked panicked as she looked around. “I swear, if he’s on that train...”

“Lost one?” Draco asked as he brought Jayson over. He was followed by his wife and son.

“I went to say hello.” Jayson smiled at his mother. “What? You always tell me to be polite and say hello.”

“Yes, thanks Draco.” Rose smiled as she pulled Jayson close to her before looking at her son. “Yes, after you’ve informed mummy or daddy that you’re going to wander off. That’s the first rule, remember? Don’t wander off.”

“Hiya Draco, how are you doing?” George smiled at him. 

“Good, bringing Scorpius to school.” 

“Hi Scorp.” Gigi said to her cousin, while Freddie kissed his mum goodbye, before leaving the platform.

“Hi!” Scorpius smiled widely. “Ready to go?” He extended his arm to his cousin. “Let’s get you sorted into Slytherin.”

“Pff, or you in Gryffindor.” she stuck out her tongue to him.

“Yep, it’s two against one, we’ll make you one of us.” Eliot smiled as he followed them to the train.

“See you for Christmas.” Neville smiled. “We’re going to apparate home. Last few hours of the castle without students.” He put his arms around Dru’s waist and softly kissed her cheek.

“Last chance to make out in the greenhouses without getting caught.” Dru smiled.

“Yep, see you at the next Hogsmeade weekend. Rosie is going to dress up like something again.”

“No I’m not.” she looked at George. “Jayson would kill me.”

“Mama smurf?” Jayson smiled widely.

“Or not...”

“Mum.” Neville and Imogen whined.

“Alright! Let’s go to the hamburger place before we find a fireplace and head back home!” She threw her hands up in the air in defeat. Trying to control her family was like herding cats, but life was good and beautiful. 

Safe.

* * *

Six year old Rosalie Crouch woke up screaming and in tears. It was the middle of the night and she was scared. She had dreamt about so many awful things and so many good things but it was so awful and scary, she didn’t understand most of it and she wanted to go to daddy and hug him. 

Winky the house elf came into her room and Rose crawled against her. “Scared, Winky, so scared.”

“ _Obliviate_ ,” the house elf said and all of a sudden Rose couldn’t remember why she was crying. Or why she was awake, she was just really tired. 

She let go of the elf and laid back down in her bed before going back to dreamland.

* * *

“Daddy.” Five year old Dru crawled into her parents bed after having a nightmare. “Daddy, there’s a girl dreaming about me.” she sobbed.

“It was just a dream, princess. Go back to sleep.” Lucius pulled the covers over the little girl that had nestled herself between her father and her mother. 

“This was different.” Dru yawned, “It was like... she was dreaming about things that were going to happen.” 

Lucius looked at his wife, while caressing his daughter’s hair. “Like looking into the future? Who did you enter?” 

“I don't know her, but her name was Rosalie Crouch.” Dru put her thumb in her mouth. “She dreamed I became a Gryffindor and got married to a boy called Fred Weasley and then to another boy called Neville Longbottom. I looked really pretty in my dress.” She closed her eyes and quickly fell back to sleep. 

Narcissa looked at her husband. “We need to stop this.” 

“I’ll talk to Severus in the morning, it’s time we bind her gift, or at least make it less potent.” 

“Barty’s daughter... a seer?” Narcissa whispered. 

“The possibilities are endless,” Lucius kissed his wife. “Go back to sleep.” Once his wife was back to sleep, Lucius smiled widely. Should the Dark Lord ever return, he would be so pleased to hear about Barty Jr.’s little girl, and it would give Lucius more than he ever wanted or needed. Both Rosalie and Dru would make _him_ and Lucius unstoppable.


End file.
